Charity based near Diss combats rural isolation by making calls all over Suffolk including Bury St Edmunds, Sudbury, Haverhill and Newmarket areas

It started with one small caravan and a big idea … to make people in rural communities feel less lonely and isolated, and help them find the support they needed.

Twenty years later Suffolk’s Rural Coffee Caravan has grown into a charity so highly respected it has just been named best service deliverer in the whole of Europe by the European Social Network.

The idea was beautifully simple … take a mobile cafe and information point, park it on a village green, outside a community centre, or in any convenient space, and invite people to come along and mingle.

To say it took off is an understatement. Now its fleet of smartly painted vehicles - three motorhomes, one caravan - make regular stops at more than 50 villages across the county.

They bring much more than coffee, biscuits and useful information. The visits are eagerly anticipated as a social occasion.

The charity was born when farmers were going through the torment of the foot and mouth disease crisis which decimated livelihoods driving many to breaking point.

It was the brainchild of the Rev Canon Sally Fogden, one of the UK’s first woman priests who as an agricultural chaplain in the St Edmundsbury Diocese had inside knowledge of the catastrophe.

Ann Osborn, chief executive of Rural Coffee Caravan who joined the venture as a part time manager in 2004, said: “Sally, who is now our chair of trustees, founded it along with Muriel and Geroge Frost and others.

“She had come up with the idea because of her work with the Farm Crisis Network, a Christian organisation of farmers helping farmers, who at the time were dealing with foot and mouth.

“She was hearing from people she was talking to that everyone was lonely and isolated. There was support out there, but they didn't know about it.

“She hit on the idea of having a little caravan and taking round coffee and biscuits. Then it started to grow. People started to come along to these sessions so much so that it attracted some funding. That’s why she formalised it by making it a fully constituted voluntary group, and becoming a charity in 2008.”

Ann moved to Suffolk with her husband Michael - now Rural Coffee Caravan’s finance and sustainability officer - in 1987.

She was able to identify with people affected by rural isolation after being on her own for a time as a young mum while Michael worked his notice at his previous job.

“I have lived experience of loneliness. When I came here I was living opposite a field instead of a row of houses where we were before,” she recalled.

When their children grew up she began looking for a job. “I was a stay at home mum raising four children for 20 years, and had never had a career. But they all wanted to go to university, so then I was free.

“I was helping to run a Rainbow group and one of the granny helpers was my children’s reception teacher. I said to her, what should I do? I need a job.

“She rang me the next day and said she was part of a group called the Rural Coffee Caravan, and they were looking for a part time manager. I joined them on 20 hours a week, and went full time a long time ago.

“When I started we were doing 15 visits a year, now it’s 400. We cover the whole of Suffolk. After I joined I sent out surveys to parish councils to see where we could be, and worked out our first rota based on the replies.

“At that time we only had the caravan, which had to be towed, so it was just April to October. We upgraded the caravan within six months of me being there,” said Ann, who lives in Weybread, near Diss.

By 2009 they had their second vehicle and had taken on their first community engagement officer, Garry Simmonds. “Because we now had a vehicle that didn’t need towing, we could do winter visits as well,” she said.

“We now have eight employees, two doing office work with me, and the rest are out on the road. We have four community engagement officers, and a team assistant. They keep the vehicles with them.” Two of the team are based in Mildenhall and look after the west side of the county.

The Coffee Caravan may have spread from its agricultural roots into a wider community service but the aim of combating loneliness and isolation remains the same.

“One of the most important things is that we can be connected and support each other, and feel safe in very familiar surroundings with people that you know. Isolation and loneliness bring low mood and sedentary behaviour,” says Ann.

Everyone involved has a strong belief in, and commitment to, the charity’s goals. “I am never really off duty but I am passionate about it, and my team are passionate about it,” she says.

“My husband will tell you it’s a lifestyle not a job and I think it is for all of us. We are a very solid crew. We have volunteers in every village we go to, and also 15 volunteers who come out on visits.”

Their customers are a mix of ages. “There are older people and quite a few young parents. They can bring their children and their dogs. It’s also good for people who work from home, who can also feel quite isolated if they’re alone all day.”

Ann says poor public transport is one of the factors that leave people feeling cut off. “Lack of bus services is a contributory factor to poor mental health and isolation. There are valiant attempts by community transport but what they can do is limited. They can’t be everything to everybody, and are volunteer-driven … literally.

“Good neighbour schemes are brilliant, but it can take away people’s independence because they are having to ask someone for help.”

Coffee Caravans roll up stocked with a wide choice of drinks including Suffolk-roasted coffee from Ipswich-based Coffee Link who are long-time supporters.

“The Co-op often gives us tea bags. We also have hot chocolate, green tea, herbal teas, and squash. We take milk, including plant milk, biscuits and cake but quite a lot of people in the villages bring things to share. It’s so nice when that happens.”

They take tables and chairs to set up around the vehicle. In some villages they move inside, sometimes into churches or village halls, for winter visits. The service is free but there is a pot for donations.

Being an information hub is another important part of the service. “Over the years we have helped so many people in so many different situations.

“It could be empowering them by giving them the information they need to follow through themselves, or with people who need a bit of support we can make a referral because we are part of the Suffolk Information Partnership.

“Also groups can come out with us and say what they offer and let people ask questions.The police come out with us. Healthwatch come out. Covid vaccination teams come to offer vaccinations at our sessions, plus various county council initiatives and charities.”

The travelling cafe is now not the only way the charity connects people. It has expanded into other projects including the popular Meet up Mondays.

“We ask a publican if they will let people in at their quietest time. There is free tea and coffee and they invite people to come and spend time in their nice cosy venue once a week.

“That was an idea I picked up from a pub in Wimbledon. There are over 40 of them in Suffolk now and they are so much fun.”

Two other schemes are ‘more than a shop’ stores, and C-A-F-E, which stands for Coffee and Friends Events.

They also run a slow cooker appeal and have given away over 1.000 in the last two years, through referrals from organisations like Home-Start, to people in fuel poverty,

Ann has also set up 500 Suffolk Reasons, where members contribute £1 a week and awards of £500 are made to help families over a financial crisis.

This year has seen two major causes for celebration. In November the charity won the European Social Services Award for Service Delivery.

“The head of adult community services at Suffolk County Council said I should apply for the award,” said Ann. We have been marking our 20th anniversary so it was a really special way to end the year.

And earlier in the year Ann’s work was recognised with an honorary doctorate by the University of Suffolk.

In 2022 the charity received a grant of almost £400,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund but still needs local fundraising to keep its wheels turning.

To donate to the Rural Coffee Caravan, see all their services and initiatives, or to get involved, visit ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk