m.tavares@newarkadvertiser.co.uk
Published: 05:00, 05 June 2026
Members of a group aiming to combat loneliness have knitted over 600 squares to create 10 blankets, which are to be donated to a women’s charity.
Three years ago, Mary Barlow, alongside her friend Elaine, decided to bring The Chatty Cafe Scheme into their village, aiming to get people out of their homes and make friends.
The organisation has hundreds of Chatter & Natter tables across the country, running in cafés, community venues and public spaces — and is hoping to open more.
The chatty cafe in Long Bennington sees members coming together at Baker’s at sixtytwo on 62 Main Road, Long Bennington, every Thursday from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.
When Mrs Barlow brought the initiative to the village’s bakery, they didn’t advertise it as a place to combat loneliness, as they didn’t want to put people off or make them feel like they would be labelled as lonely, but in a few weeks, the group grew popular.
Aiming to raise funds for the national organisation, the village group decided to knit in exchange for funds, and for every square a member knitted, they would receive £1 — they raised a total of £700, which will be used to open more chatty cafes nationally.
After sewing a total of 10 blankets, volunteer Mary Barlow, who brought the initiative to the village alongside a friend, has decided to donate the blankets to Newark Women’s Aid.
“It has been amazing, I mean, it’s been buzzing in the village,” said the volunteer.
“We do quite a lot on Facebook, and people who don’t come to the charity cafe are joining and dropping squares off, but we said for every square unit we need a pound, hence the 700 pounds because we’ve knitted over 700 squares.”
One of the cafe members, who is 89 years old, hasn’t knitted for 20 years, but now she told Mrs Barlow that is the reason she gets up in the morning.
Another member who suffers from arthritis in her hands saw the benefits of knitting due to the hand exercise, as well as Brian, an artist and registered blind member of the group, who offered to do the sponsored knit posters.
When the members first started the knitting project, they never expected to end up with 10 full blankets, which Mrs Barlow described as “a little seed that was sown, and it grew”.
The blankets are to be donated on July 9, as the group also celebrates its third anniversary.
