Ockbrook, Derbyshire - Dec 2025

For the past few years, I have been volunteering at the local Repair Café, where there is also a ‘Crochet Café’. People (so far, all ladies) can sit at a table with other crocheters and enjoy a hot drink and a biscuit together, while chatting and doing crochet.

When we had the results of the NCD survey at our church, the one that jumped out at me was our shortage of small groups.

The beginning of an idea came into my head: why not start a ‘Crochet Café’ at our church? I talked to some of the ladies at the Repair Café and found there was plenty of demand for another one.

Not wanting to exclude non-crocheters, I decided to call it ‘Crochet Café / Knit ‘n’ Natter’. One weekday afternoon per month seemed the right frequency, at least to start with.

So, cakes baked, spare yarn, crochet hooks and knitting needles to hand, we held our first on last Friday. I had expected maybe six people at best, but was amazed when 14 ladies turned up, plus one baby! Only five were from our church, the rest had seen it advertised on social media.

It was lovely! One of our members, Sr Margaret Barker, taught two ladies how to crochet, and by the end of the afternoon, both had produced their first ever pieces of crochet.

The tea, coffee and cakes went down well and several of the ladies remarked on how warmly welcoming they had found the group.

We will be running them on the first Friday afternoon of each month, in our meeting room, so if you are passing, do pop in and give it a try!

Sr Julie Hague