And eat it as the school invites all the locals in
Having since moved up to secondar y school, Angus is thrilled to see the cafe still making a difference.
He added: “It was a bit chaotic at first but the more times we did it, the more we got used to it.
“I enjoyed helping others and we learned a lot about how we can help people even just by asking them how their day had been.”
The new class of P7s at Drakies has taken over the reins of the busy cafe, which is held on the first Friday of every month.
It is run entirely by pupils with only supervision from teachers. The whole school gets involved as younger classes regularly turn up to perform songs, poems or dances.
Parents are usually recruited as volunteers too, pitching in with home-baked goods or serving tea to the burgeoning crowds.
The cafe was originally started to raise cash for a day out.
Since reaching its modest fundraising goal, money now collected goes to good causes including the Archie Foundation and Diabetes Scotland.
NHS Highland launched its
Above – Primary 7’s Tyler Davies has a laugha with Caroline Poe. Left – Keira Duggie shares a chocolate cake with her granny Rhoda. Reach Out campaign to tackle loneliness last year, asking people to pledge to help make a difference in people’s lives.
So impressed with the work of Drakies’ community cafe, they decided to launch the campaign there.
A number of politicians have also paid them a visit to sing their praises.
For the school’s head- teacher Michelle Taylor, there’s a lot to be proud of.
“It was a great idea to start with and it just grew arms and legs from there,” she said.
“Every month we think it won’t be as busy but everyone keeps coming back.
“We want to keep it going and I hope we will.
“It feels special to give something back but it has been terrific for the pupils’ confidence as well.” LAST year, a special investigation by The Sunday Post revealed the deadly epidemic of loneliness blighting Scots old and young.
Our Forget Me Not campaign looked at how we could combat the problem and the terrible toll it is having on our society.
Our probe discovered the pressures faced by charities as they struggled to cope with the huge demand placed upon them.
Astonishingly, 100,000 Scots admit to feeling lonely some or all of the time. Given half of those aged 75 and over live on their own, it’s likely many will be elderly.
Studies have also shown the number of lonely older people is soaring as families and friends have less time to spare.
However, the elderly aren’t the only ones being cut off, with younger people often suffering the same isolation.
Overall, one in five people now live on their own – many of them struggling with loneliness.
Tragically, the effects of this social isolation can have a hugely detrimental effect on their health.
Along with raising a person’s chance of dying by 10%, chronic loneliness has been found to cause conditions including heart disease, cancer and depression – as well as malnutrition.
Today, social isolation is often unavoidable. Busy lifestyles are taking their toll on the isolated.
But there are moves afoot to turn this worrying situation around.
Charities, government and other organisations are working hard to identify and tackle the problems at the root of the loneliness epidemic.
If more organisations make a commitment to doing what they can to help, like Drakies Primary, then we can beat this thing.