Where one door closes another opens at Aviemore church hall
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Aviemore Community Café has closed its doors after nearly a decade of providing a weekly friendly community meeting point for a hot drink and blether.
However, all is not lost as the Church of Scotland plans to step in with its own coffee morning every Wednesday from 10am to noon.
It all gets under way next Wednesday (May 4) at the same venue – St Andrew’s Church on Grampian Road.
Community Café founder Jane Alexander, who was instrumental in running the drop-in, said: “Sadly we have had to take the decision to permanently close the café as we have been unable to find an adequate number of volunteers to run and manage the café.
“It has been a great experience to be part of and we are grateful to St Andrew’s Church who welcomed us and let us use the Church Hall once a week for the years up until the Covid-19 restrictions forced us to close.
“We would like to thank our many dedicated customers who popped in and supported us regularly, from the many locals to the once-a-year holiday makers.
“And many thanks to all the volunteers past and up to the present day, who helped in ways too numerous to mention, to make the café the successful venture it was.
“We are very pleased that the Church of Scotland in Aviemore is planning a weekly ‘Coffee and Chat’ get together where tea, coffee and biscuits will be served and a warm welcome awaits.”
Barbara Aarden, café manager and committee secretary. said: “It is a sad day for all of us. The locals do miss the café so I’m glad that the church has stepped in with a coffee morning.”
Aviemore’s community café had been run as an independent enterprise and opened in November 2011. It was held Wednesdays from 10am-4pm. Its last day turned out to be March 18, 2020 before the Covid pandemic restrictions took hold.
