A village coffee club that’s raised more than £30,000 for charity in the past nine years, is lending its support to Save the Children later this month.
The monthly get-together at Criftins parish hall near Ellesmere regularly attracts 100+ visitors, with more than a dozen volunteers, serving coffee and cake, while offering a chance to win prizes in a bumper raffle and even have a blood pressure check.
More than 30 charities have received support since the club was launched in 2017, and it recently received a special award from Shropshire’s High Sheriff, Jane Trowbridge, for services to the community.
The latest event takes place between 10.00-12.00 on Thursday, April 30.
Criftins parish councillor Kay Egerton, who leads the team, said: “In choosing Save the Children to benefit from our April coffee morning we hope to reinforce the strong link with the charity’s founders, Eglantyne Jebb and her younger sister, Dorothy Buxton, who were born and brought up just a few miles away in Ellesmere.”
Jean Ferries, chair of the local fund-raising branch, added: We’re extremely grateful to the coffee club for giving us the opportunity to raise much-needed funds. Too many children around the world are suffering poverty, starvation and a lack of education and proper healthcare. This is a way of showing that our caring community is still inspired by the ideals set by the Jebb sisters as they campaigned to help those most in need when they launched the charity at the end of the 1st World War more than one hundred years ago.”
Save the Children has grown to become one of the world’s leading aid charities, operating in nearly 100 countries, while giving support to youngsters affected by poverty in the UK.
In the past two years, the Ellesmere branch has raised £9,250 through activities including a quiz night , open gardens and coffee mornings hosted by long-serving members Angela Scott and Barbara Molesworth. Students at Ellesmere’s Lakelands Academy also boosted the coffers by holding a bake-off competition, a festive wreath-making session and supporting Save the Children’s annual Christmas Jumper Day.
In a recent message to local volunters, Fidelma Meehan, the organisation’s community fund-raising and engagement manager, praised the branch’s loyalty and commitment, adding :“At a time when life for millions has never been tougher , you are helping children to survive, grow and build the futures they deserve. Thank-you for fighting for childhood.”
Pictured: Volunteers who run the Criftins Coffee Club receiving their community award from Shropshire’s High Sheriff, Jane Trowbridge in February.
