A DARLINGTON church has opened a volunteer run cafe in an effort to support lonely and isolated people in the north area of the town.

St Mark’s church on North Road opened the ‘friendship’ cafe last week after the Associate Priest at the church, Reverend Caroline Ferguson learned that there were possibly thousands of people in Darlington living alone and excluded from society.

The church is in an area that Reverend Ferguson claims does not have a community centre.

As a result, the project has been designed to offer lonely people in need of company, the opportunity to integrate with people in a similar position.

The cafe launched on Tuesday, July 18 where more than 30 people attended, Reverend Ferguson said: “We’ve had a tremendous response although I wondered whether or not people were going to turn up – I did not recognise around 65 percent of them, so I thought mission accomplished.”

A poll in March, 2017, found that three-quarters of older people in the UK described themselves as lonely.

The poll by Gransnet, also revealed that more than half of those had not spoken to anyone about how they felt.

“We opened the cafe to provide a service, where we as a church can offer hospitality. We don't have a hidden agenda, we just want to help,” she added.

The cafe does not charge a fee for anything from the menu but does rely on volunteers from both, the church and outside community to spare three hours a month, serving tea, coffee, cake and biscuits.

Reverend Ferguson said: “If you can make tea and coffee, we’ll take you.”

Attendees can be ‘sign-posted’ to the relevant support, if needed, through contacts the Reverend has built up through jobs, past and present. “I became a priest four years ago, but I’m also self employed in training consultancy, so I have a number of connections with help within the community,” she added.

Since opening, the cafe has received full backing from Father Paul Baker and the Parochial Church Council (PCC), who have worked closely with Reverend Ferguson to create similar community-led projects like this.

The cafe will remain open for the rest of the year with a Christmas meal planned too and the next time it is open is on Tuesday August 15 between 1pm and 3pm.