Taking its inspiration from the Frome Compassion project, city councillors Sarah Sharp and Debbie Carter have set up Chi Chats to offer an opportunity for people to meet face to face and chat, at a safe distance, over a cuppa. Wagtail Coffee and Yoga, in Church Square, hosted the first meeting, and the aim is to have weekly morning, afternoon and early evening talking cafés. Debbie said: “Lockdown has had a huge impact on people, not least on people’s well being and happiness. “This project will offer a safe opportunity for people to get together in a physically distanced way in an outside space to chat and make new friends and connections.” Sarah said: “Meeting up and connecting is especially important as many people have not gone back to their normal activities since lockdown restrictions have been eased with still lots of clubs/choirs and other groups not meeting at all or only virtually. “We feel it is important to be offering residents the possibility of making new friends and talking through what’s happening in our world and in our lives.” Chi Chats will meet every week from 4pm to 5pm at Wagtail, and the first morning session will take place on August 27 at Crispins Café, in East Street. --- A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton: In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers. Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. Stay safe, and best wishes.