Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, recently spent a Friday morning popping into the highly popular Carers Café, which is based at Rayleigh Baptist Church, just off Rayleigh High Road.
The Carers Café, which has been running for a number of years, provides a forum for carers to get together on a regular basis, exchange best practice and share experiences about caring for their loved ones – which can sometimes be a challenging thing to do. Mark, who for many years acted as a carer to his widowed mother, Anna, shared briefly with the group, some of his own experiences of helping to look after a loved one, whilst leading a very busy life.
There were around 50 or so people present at the café, whose work was recognised with a highly prestigious Queens Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) several years ago. Mark, as part of his visit, offered the Carers Café the opportunity to visit the Palace of Westminster sometime in 2020, in advance of MPs having to move out of the premises, to allow a major refurbishment of the Victorian buildings to take place.
Commenting on his visit to the Carers Café, Mark Francois MP said:
“As someone who acted as a carer for many years myself, it was good to go back to the Carers Café again, after a previous visit several years ago. One thing that struck me immediately was how quickly the group had almost doubled in size since I last saw them in action. Caring can often be very challenging and it was good to have a chance to have a chat to some of my constituents about some of the difficulties they face in caring for a loved one. The Carers Café do fantastic work in this regard, which was rightfully acknowledged by a highly prestigious Queens Award. I am really proud to have such an excellent voluntary organisation at work in my constituency. I very much hope that we will be able to welcome the Carers Café to Westminster at some point next year.”
