Tag: CafeLife

LifeCare turns “blue Monday” to “brew Monday” with launch of chatty café scheme to combat loneliness

 A scheme to encourage members of the local community to “get chatting” in cafés in a bid to tackle loneliness and social isolation is being launched at local charity LifeCare Edinburgh’s community café, CaféLife, in early 2024.  

Part of the Chatty Café Scheme, the “chat and natter” tables offer a designated space in CaféLife where customers of all ages can come together to meet new people and have a chat.

The scheme is set to turn “blue Monday” to “brew Monday” as customers will enjoy free tea and coffee between 11am and 2pm, as well as the opportunity to meet lots of new and friendly faces, at the launch on Monday (15th January).  

LifeCare Chief Executive, Sarah Van Putten, said: “Our community hub and café is a unique space, embedded in the local community, that brings together generations for activities, classes, and groups. Signing up to be part of the Chatty Café Scheme with the addition of our “Chat and Natter” table will further enhance our already significant social value.

“100,000 older people in Scotland feel lonely all or most of the time1, with Edinburgh named recently as one of the loneliest cities in the UK2. Loneliness is an epidemic that can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, race or background. Something as simple as a regular conversation could change a person’s life.

“We’re delighted to be turning Blue Monday to Brew Monday by offering free tea and coffee on the day of the launch, and we hope it will make the start of 2024 a little bit brighter for those in our local community who need it.”  

LifeCare Edinburgh is a local charity with a proud 80-year-history of providing uplifting, positive and practical support for older people. Their vision is of a society where no older person is alone or isolated, and their professional and high-quality support is delivered to the most vulnerable members of the community – including those living with dementia and unpaid (often older themselves) carers – within the home and out and about.

Demand for the charity’s services have risen at an unprecedented rate through the cost-of-living crisis, and they recently launched an urgent appeal to raise funds so they can continue to provide vital support during the difficult winter months.  

The charity’s thriving community Cafe, CaféLife, has become a vital lifeline for many loyal customers.

71-year-old David, who has lived in Stockbridge all his life, has been coming to the Café for almost 10 years: “I stay in sheltered housing in the local area, and they don’t offer meals there. We can come, eat, and get a blether, we’re made so welcome and it’s a fabulous place with fabulous staff. It gets you out and about.”

The Café also holds a special place in the heart of Sofiya and her friends: “We’ve been coming to the café every Wednesday for over 10 years. In the beginning there were four of us, one person sadly died, the other person is now living with dementia and is about to go into a home so there’s now only 2 of us left.

“We think the staff are exceptional. We’ve got to know them all very well over the years and we have a good laugh every week.” 

The “chat and natter” tables will be a permanent addition to CaféLife following on from the launch, with two-hour sessions, supported by volunteers, taking place on a weekly basis. All proceeds from CaféLife fund the charity’s vital services.  

Jenny Bimpson, Volunteer Manager at Chatty Café, said: “The Chatty Café Scheme, launched in 2017, helps reduce loneliness via the use of Chatter & Natter tables.

“Designating a few tables in a café, pub or community centre creates a space for people to connect, have conversations and meet new people.  The sessions are supported by Chatty Café volunteers, welcoming people to the table and helping to create a friendly atmosphere”.  

The Chatty Café scheme is a brainchild of Alexandra Hoskyn, who founded it after a miserable day at a supermarket café with her infant son, where she noticed that no one was talking to each other.

She found that by simply putting ‘Chatter and Natter’ signs on tables in cafes it created a space for people to talk.

Anyone can join the table; if you’re on your own, in a couple, with a friend, if you’re a carer why not sit there with who you care for, mums and babies, dads and babies, grandparents and babies, young people, older people and anyone in between!

It’s a great way to meet new people in your community.  

LifeCare Edinburgh brings the local community together for festive Christmas lunches  

LifeCare Edinburgh brought members of the local community together to enjoy some early festive cheer this year at their annual charity Christmas lunches. Over 150 two course lunches were served across three days in the charity’s Community Café, CafeLife, by volunteers from aerospace engineering company Leonardo, who chose LifeCare as their charity partner last year.  

Guests also enjoyed entertainment from local choir, The Cheyne Gang, a community singing group for people living with long term respiratory conditions such as COPD, Asthma and Bronchiectasis, as well as a Tombola and Christmas Quiz. 

 LifeCare CEO, Sarah Van Putten, said: “Our Christmas Lunches are a fantastic way of bringing people together in support of a good cause.

“All the money we raise from our lunches and other Christmas activities go directly towards our Winter Warmer Appeal which we launched back in November, due to unprecedented demand for our services through the cost-of-living crisis.

“These funds will enable us to continue to provide vital support to local older people and unpaid carers during the difficult winter months. A huge thank you to all those who came along, including our wonderful volunteers and of course our fabulous choir. Your support funds ours, and it really does make a huge difference.” 

LifeCare Edinburgh is a local charity with a proud 80-year-history of providing uplifting, positive and practical support for older people.

Their vision is of a society where no older person is alone or isolated, and their professional and high-quality support is delivered to the most vulnerable members of the community – including those living with dementia and unpaid (often older themselves) carers – within the home and out and about. 

The LifeCare Christmas lunches have become a key date in the diary for many Stockbridge locals, with the 2023 events the second to take place since the covid-19 pandemic.  

Warm Space weekends at LifeCare

In response to the rising cost of living, thanks to funding from The Edinburgh Wellbeing Pact ‘Coorie in for Winter’ fund, LifeCare is opening a Warm Space for the community this winter.

We will be welcoming people to join us in our cosy cafe space at the LifeCare Centre in Stockbridge on Saturdays and Sundays between 3.30pm and 6.30pm. We will be offering free soup and hot drinks as well as board games and books to enjoy.

Everyone is welcome, just drop in.

Popular local community cafe reopens

LifeCare Edinburgh relaunches Stockbridge café with new menu, revamped interiors and guest appearance from celebrated local author Val McDermid

CafeLife, the popular community cafe on Cheyne Street, is set to officially reopen on Monday 9th May with a brand-new menu and revamped interiors following its forced closure through the pandemic.

Run by renowned local charity LifeCare Edinburgh, all proceeds from the cafe go towards supporting the delivery of the organisation’s vital care services for older people living across Edinburgh. 

The charity, which turned 80 last year, helps over 1,000 local older people a year.  Essential services such as registered outreach care and day centres, help at home, meals on wheels and support for carers enable local older people to remain living full and independent lives.   

The pandemic forced the café to close its doors to their loyal sit-in customers in March 2020.  The closure has been a real loss to the area as CafeLife is the only full-accessible community café around, offering good value food and drink appealing to all generations and with lots of space for buggies and wheelchairs.  

Opened nearly ten years ago, the team took the opportunity to upgrade the café through the covid-closure. The charity secured emergency funding to revamp CafeLife’s interiors and the kitchen team have spent time creating a new and improved menu to appeal to all tastes and dietary needs.  

The charity is today announcing that they will be joined by celebrated and best-selling Scottish crime writer Val McDermid for the official ribbon cutting event on Wednesday 11th May.  

Val will sign copies of any of her books brought along on the day.   

Jemima Hankins, Community Hub Co-ordinator at LifeCare said “We are absolutely delighted that we are reopening CafeLife at long last. There’s nothing else like us in the area and we know how much our regular customers have missed us.

“We’ve a huge bright space that appeals to all ages and stages; people pop in on their own or come with friends to enjoy good honest food and drink – with all proceeds going towards our vital care services for local people. We really are a cafe with a difference!


“Our loyal customers love to pop in to meet or make new friends, enjoy good value food and we’re relaunching with an exciting new menu designed by Chef Tony keeping our cafe staples such as soups, bacon rolls and paninis but we’ve added pancakes, smoothies and milkshakes. The blueberry pancakes are a must!   

“We are thrilled to be marking our reopening with a guest appearance from Val McDermid on Wednesday 11th May and we will be running lots of promotions across the week – check our socials for full details or pop-in for more info.”


LifeCare Edinburgh is a registered charity and with no service fully-funded the organisation relies on the generosity of its funders.

Recent funding from the Scottish Government’s Adapt and Thrive fund covered the cost of the café upgrades and an award from The National Lottery Community Fund supports the new Community Hub Coordinator position created to help safely bring people back to the space after the pandemic.   

For more information visit https://www.lifecare-edinburgh.org.uk/ 

Barratt East Scotland raises £5,000 for LifeCare Edinburgh

Barratt Developments East Scotland, which includes both Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, has donated £5,000 to local elderly care charity, LifeCare.

Following its success in Barratt Developments’ company-wide virtual 500k challenge for the Prince’s Trust, the Barratt East Scotland team, which walked a combined total of 1,721km, was awarded £5,000 to donate to a charity of its choice.

It selected LifeCare, a renowned local charity which offers registered care, outreach activities and help at home services for older people living across the North of the city.

Established in 1941, the organisation supports hundreds of elderly clients a year, including those suffering with dementia, mobility issues, those experiencing isolation and loneliness, food poverty and mental health problems, and offers dedicated support for carers. 

The charity also runs the successful community café, CafeLife on Cheyne Street.

The donation from Barratt East Scotland will help LifeCare’s ongoing efforts to support those who have shielded during the duration of the pandemic to return to life beyond their own four walls and back to the communities they hold dear.

Alison Condie, managing director at Barratt East Scotland, said: “LifeCare carry out incredible work supporting those vulnerable and in need of care.

“We’re pleased that our employees nominated the charity and we hope that our donation will help them to continue to provide these crucial and important services.”

Claire Montgomery, LifeCare’s Trusts Fundraising and Communications Manager added: “A huge thanks to everyone at Barratt East Scotland for this terrific award – it’s truly appreciated.  As a registered charity, LifeCare is reliant on the generosity of our funders to enable us to deliver quality care that our older population deserve. 

“We have supported over 770 local older people through the pandemic, many of whom had no other available support.  We have offered safely delivered care in the home, remote support by phone and doorstep visit, shopping and prescription deliveries, and we have set up our brand new meals on wheels service which has already served up over 9,000 hot meals to doorsteps. 

“Our continued care has supported isolation issues and enabled people to remain living independently in their own homes.  We look forward to fully opening all services again as soon as we are safely able.”

As part of its community benefits programme, the five-star housebuilder works with a wide range of local causes, and has continued to step up its efforts through the Barratt and David Wilson Community Fund.

Now in its third year, the Community Fund pledges to donate £1,000 each month to a charity or organisation in the east of Scotland. Charities are nominated by and voted for by employees of Barratt Homes and the focus for the fund continues to be on organisations that improve the quality of life for those living in the area.

The team is also committed to providing assistance to groups that contribute to the communities it serves in many other ways. A recent benefactor was Rosslyn Bowling Club, which Barratt East Scotland supported with the donation of a new notice board.

Jim Hiddleston, Club President of Rosslyn Bowling Club said: “We’ve been working towards a new noticeboard for quite some time as our location is quite hidden, so we are delighted with our new signage kindly donated by our new neighbours, David Wilson Homes.”

Interested charities can enquire about donation opportunities at charity.eastscotland@barratthomes.co.uk

Visit the Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes websites for more information.