A CHARD café will reach its landmark 25th birthday next week and is celebrating with a free drink.

On Monday, April 10, The Welcome Bap Café in Holyrood Street reaches a significant landmark as it celebrates it’s 25th Anniversary.

Chris Rigby, from The Welcome Bap Café, said: "To mark this achievement we will be offering customers a free drink of tea or coffee along with a piece of a special celebratory cake between 10am and 12pm on the day.

"The Welcome Bap is Chard Baptist Church’s coffee shop. It was started by members of the church as a service to the local community.

"It is staffed by a willing and committed band of approximately forty volunteers who are mostly from Chard Baptist Church, but also from other churches in the town and some with no church connection.

"A small planning team meets regularly to discuss the day to day running of the coffee shop.

"We offer homemade cakes and scones and where possible we use Fairtraded goods. We also offer work placements to young people from Holyrood Academy and other community establishments within the town.

"We are hugely grateful and give thanks for all our volunteers and also for the vision of the original founders 25 years ago in opening the coffee shop to serve Chard and the wider community."