A Tavistock charity supporting isolated and vulnerable people is staging a volunteer recruitment event on Monday (February 24).

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for the TASS (Tavistock Area Support Services) community cafe is invited to pop in between 10.30am-12noon and 1pm- 2.30pm at the cafe in the outer pannier market.

Debbie Morris, TASS manager, said: “Anyone who has enthusiasm for helping others is invited to come along for a complimentary cuppa and a cake, to meet and chat to some of the TASS staff and volunteers.”

Volunteer Tracey Solman organises the cafe volunteer rota. She said: “It’s really rewarding helping at the cafe. I love chatting to the people who come in and listening to their stories. They have interesting eventful stories because many are older people.

“We have one regular, Peter, who is 90, and he plays the harmonica. he was given one when he was 14 and has played it ever since. One day he brought it and played it to me and a colleague. Then when other people came in he kept playing and people sang along to his tunes. It was lovely and cheered everyone up.

“I like being hospitable, it makes me happy to see other people getting on and chatting to each other. We get strangers and locals who like the atmosphere. We have a bus of young people with learning difficulties who come regularly with their key workers and like the cafe because it’s welcoming and friendly. They’re very polite and it’s such a pleasure to have them.”

Tracey, a former researcher for the police safeguarding team, said she got involved with TASS after experience caring for her mother who had dementia.

TASS supports groups helping people with experience of dementia, such as Tavistock Memory Cafe and a monthly friendship group and a movement group which looks after people who have had strokes or have Parkinson’s.

For more information email Debbie on [email protected]