Warm Welcome Campaign
With thanks to the National Grid’s Community Matters Fund we are able to open our doors to the local community this winter, offering everyone a free, warm, welcoming and friendly space.
We want everyone to be able to access a warm and welcoming space, to connect with others, make new friends, and feel part of our community of like-minded people. It’s an open invitation to come in, keep warm, connect with others, and make new friends.
This will ensure everyone has somewhere warm and friendly to go, so no one is ever left to get through winter alone.
The dark evenings and cold winter months are challenging for everyone, especially people who feel lonely and isolated, and anyone who can’t afford to heat their home or feed themselves.
Poverty
The rising cost-of-living means that too many vulnerable people are falling into debt and struggling to keep warm or buy the food or essentials they need. Over 14.4 million people live in poverty in the UK.
Loneliness
Over 7 million people experience chronic loneliness. We all lived through the pandemic and experienced the impact of social isolation. Feeling isolated and alone can affect your physical and mental health.
Safety
The top reasons visitors have for coming to a Warm Welcome space are that it is warm, it is safe, to meet new and old friends, and because it is free.
Cold
Over half of visitors would be at home with the heating off if they could not be at a Warm Welcome Space.
Energy price cap rise means warm spaces are more needed than ever . . . . .
The Warm Welcome Campaign, backed by Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, say that more Warm Spaces are urgently needed to support communities facing fuel poverty because of today’s Energy Price Cap announcement. Ofgem say the new Price Cap will rise 5% from January 2024, the coldest quarter of the year. It means that the UK faces a tough winter ahead, and the lack of a government energy bill support scheme this year means communities will be hit even harder.
The unwelcome news means that millions of Britons already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, will have to make tough choices between eating or heating. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is leading the call for new warm spaces to come forward in a ‘chain of hope’ in every part of the country.
Gordon Brown said:
“Warm Welcome is one of Britain's newest and most innovative charity initiatives responding to need across the country. We want more Warm Welcome Spaces to step up this winter, providing more spaces, helping more people, offering more sustained support, in more areas of the country. Warm Welcome wants to create a chain of hope that links our country together.”
“In every area of the country there are people who can help, and in every area, there are also people who need help. I’m asking you to support Warm Welcome in any way you can, so we can bring people together as we face a tough winter ahead.”