Quidhampton woman aiming to keep coffee mornings going
QuidCoffee mornings have raised more than a thousand pounds for Salisbury Hospice Charity
A woman from Quidhampton, near Salisbury, is continuing her efforts to support the local hospice charity with community coffee mornings.
Stephanie Kershaw ran QuidCoffee Mornings at The White Horse pub in the village for almost two and a half years, raising more than a thousand pounds for Salisbury Hospice Charity.
She said choosing to support the hospice charity was an easy decision: "It's a charity that's close to everyone's heart, and without being biased, it's one of the best charities I think Salisbury has."
During the meet ups, people could leave a donation in a pot when attending, leading to £1,179 being raised.
Steph said it's something she's very proud of: "I'm really pleased the amount we've raised. And it's all by donations. We didn't charge for tea, coffee, everyone donated cake. So it was just a pot on the side and people would put a pound in if that's all they could afford or two or three."
As well as supporting the hospice charity, the coffee mornings served another purpose in boosting community spirit.
"Part of our business plan when we took the pub on was to bring the pub back to the community or bring the community back to the pub, which I feel we did," Steph said. "There's people in the village that don't go out. They can't attend things because there's nobody to take them.
"Having the chance to be able to get out gives them a new lease of life and it's something for them to look forward to."
Steph is continuing to host the coffee mornings at her home, with her husband helping to bring people to the event who would otherwise struggle to do so.
The hope is to return the event to the village hall, where it originally started but was ousted due growing demand, but that has reduced recently, meaning it could be back there soon.
But even if it doesn't Steph is adamant that the event will keep going.
"The coffee morning has got to continue. We will find somewhere permanent."