On Friday 30th August The Rural Coffee Caravan held a friendly and informal event celebrating the official opening of its very first office!
Our guest of honour and landlord Richard Martineau kindly ‘cut the ribbon’ during the event, and offered an enthusiastic welcome to Walsham le Willows to the Coffee Caravan. The welcome had also been kindly extended to us, in the weeks running up to Friday’s event, by our new neighbours, local businesses, parish representatives and local committee members, some of which joined us for the event, and with whom we were delighted to share cuppas and cake on the day – in true ‘Coffee Caravan’ style.
After 20 years of working from their homes, our Rural Coffee Caravan team are now ‘making themselves at home’ in the beautifully converted farm office at Church Farm Yard. Our new daily backing track to the usual admin clicks of keyboards, printer whirrs and phone ring-tones is a symphony of church bells, songbirds, rustling oak leaves and the hum of bees. A perfect rural setting for our rural charity! Based across the county, the team love calling into the office for admin tasks, resource exchanges and meetings, and in a job where we spend all our time connecting other people, now, having this office, helps to connect us.
It has been a joy to meet local residents who’ve popped by as we’ve been gradually moving in, and to expand awareness of the charity to newcomers to the work we do. We’ve already had interest from some new, potential volunteers! It was also a joy to welcome other guests who joined us for the opening event – to share this evolution of the charity with our friends, Rural Coffee Caravan volunteers and partnership colleagues.
Additionally, Rural Coffee Caravan Chair of Trustees, Richard Brown, and President, Canon Sally Fogden, took the opportunity to highlight and mark C.E.O. Ann Osborn’s 20th Anniversary of working for The Rural Coffee Caravan and presented her, and husband Mike Osborn (RCC’s Finance and Sustainability Officer) with thank you gifts for the hard work and dedication they have shown the charity over the last 20 years.
Our new address is: The Rural Coffee Caravan, Office 1, Church Farm Yard, The Causeway, Walsham le Willows IP31 3AB and the new office telephone number is: 01284 663 472
