For as long as I have lived in the Cayman Islands the Pink Ladies Coffee Shop at the George Town Hospital has been in existence.

Sadly it will be there no more. On December 16th the Coffee Shop will close its doors.

The Pink Ladies issued a statement that said the “decision to close has been extremely difficult and has not been made lightly, but has come about as we have seen a steady downturn in the number of volunteers available to assist in the running of the Coffee Shop and our associated trolley service, along with the increasing costs of running a business.”

And unfortunately the Coffee Shop has become a business because of the lack of volunteers.

Talking to the Cayman Compass Pink Ladies Director Jane Moon said 20 volunteers were wanted – two per shift for the five days the shop is open.

“Now, we’re down to about half a dozen volunteers,” she said.

Therefore to make up for the volunteer shortage they have had to employ paid staff.

The Coffee Shop is there to provide a service at costs as low as possible and the only way to realise this is to have volunteers.

I hope the MLA’s who just voted for the control of the islands charities are taking note of this.

In case they don’t know charities are mainly run by volunteers and it is unfortunately the way of life today with the population increasing, able volunteers are de-creasing. And now with a shackle wrapping itself around our volunteers the situation is going to get worse.

I wonder what Olive Miller is thinking about all this?

Now government have to run the shop itself and that will most likely be at a loss unless they can find Burger King/KFC/etc to take it over and get them to pay them a rent.

Even if that happens it will not be the same. I won’t be able to just go in there and get my coffee from a china cup and saucer.

Nor will I see those delightful Pink Ladies.