'I drank 100 coffees with French strangers - and I don't speak great French'

Catching up with friends over a coffee is an everday occurence for millions - but how would feel if you were chatting to a stranger and, rather than one brew, you did it 100 times? Richard Scholey did just that to show support for the charity which cared for his wife in her final days.

"I'm 78, so I'm too old to run. Walking involves hills, a Channel swim is out because I can only do five metres, so I tried to think of what else I could do," muses Richard.

The widower could be forgiven for being on a caffeine comedown after slurping his way through cups of the stuff while speaking to 100 strangers in a language he's not a master of.

The 78-year-old set himself the unusual fundraising task of chatting to people he didn't know in French over a cuppa for the hospice which cared for his wife.

As he lives in Sheffield, French people are relatively thin on the ground. Inspired by decades of happy holidays he and wife Margaret had enjoyed, he decided the best place to find fluent speakers was France itself.

"Margaret loved France, and she spoke French beautifully," he explains. "I never really learned properly, so I decided I'd give it a go."

The former teacher was cared for at St Luke's Hospice for nine days in 2025 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).

Following his wife's death aged 77 on 26 September that year, Richard learnt the charity needs to raise more than £11m each year to continue their services.

"Margaret's treatment at St Luke's Hospice was incredible," he says.

"I was able to stay with her the whole nine days she was a patient.

"Our family, friends and, in particular, Margaret, were cared for in the most wonderful fashion. She was allowed to die with her dignity intact."

Married for 55 years, the couple had two children and three grandchildren as well as many holidays across the Channel, which provided the inspiration for the germ of his fundraising idea.

The former deputy head teacher travelled to France in his mobile home in April this year and begin his challenge in the coastal city of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

He admits to needing some "Dutch courage" before initially trying to converse with the madames and monsieurs in their native tongue.

"I did need a beer before the first coffee" he laughs.

"There were two ladies and they looked all right. So I went and tried my French script on them that I had kind of rehearsed and they told me their life story and I was away."

He headed further inland and based himself on a campsite just south of the city of Tours, in the famed Loire Valley.

Over the next month, Richard approached strangers to share a un petit café (an espresso) several times a day.

Among the highlights were a hen do where bride to be Francesca had also been set a challenge of having drinks with le étranger – a foreigner.

A widow, Helene, proved an "emotional conversation" because her partner had also died from MND.

Despite his initial nerves the grandfather-of-three admits he was "heartened" by the experience.

"I had some wonderful conversations.

"One of the good things about Sheffield is that they are not afraid to talk to people.

"I mean, you sit on the tram, you sit on the bus, you can go with your book but some old guy like me or some old lady who sits next to you will chat away, you might as well forget the book."

"The French are quite happy when they're approached too particularly because it's a rural town," he says.

"I think it might have been different if it were in Paris".

As part of the trip Richard also scattered his wife's ashes at a "quiet spot" in a nearby garden where the pair used to walk.

The century of coffees was toasted "in glorious sunshine" with Eve, who was in charge of the campsite where he had based himself.

So far, his cross-channel coffee conversations idea has raised more than £6,500 for St Luke's Hospice.

Reflecting on what Margaret would think of his fundraising effort, Richard smiles: "She'd probably be annoyed that I've paid for Flexi Plus travel when we always used to get the tunnel.

"But she'd be amazed that I'm doing the French."

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