When you walk into a Place of Welcome, you are met with a warmth that comes from more than just steam from the kettle and the wall heaters! There is a genuineness that greets you from the people inside that I have encountered in every Place of Welcome group I have had the pleasure of visiting.
This feeling of camaraderie emanates from within the space; whether this be a church building, a library, a theatre, a community centre or even a football club! These spaces are filled with individuals who really do want to make a difference to the community and all who live within it.
Including Steve; a volunteer at Holy Trinity Church Place of Welcome who was happy to tell me about why he not only comes to the group every week but also why he volunteers there too. Regularly helping to make and serve drinks since he started attending regularly in the summer, Steve tells me he likes to go every week so he can sit with people and talk to them.
“I like to meet new people. One week, I was talking to someone who was homeless, he was sitting on his own, so I went over and spent time with him. It’s blessed me coming here, its nice that people have made me feel so welcome too”.
He’s an ambassador for Places of Welcome also!
“I tell people I know about here and I’ve invited them to come, and they have! I’ve made friends here and I am a regular at the church and part of the Welcome team, which I really like. I think its important that people can come into a church and get a friendly welcome”.
The feeling of a friendly welcome really does make a difference to people’s lives.
Michelle, another Place of Welcome regular, travels from the opposite side of the city, every week, to attend a group on a Saturday morning, and has done so for about four or five years. Michelle tells me this means a great deal to her. After coming out of hospital, she felt that people were looking at her differently and the first time she walked into this group, she thought it would be the same, but it wasn’t.
“I come every week, if I have the energy, and it’s a place where I can really enjoy myself. I can talk to others about my week and it makes me feel so much better; I benefit from it. It’s absolutely amazing! It’s a laugh and I enjoy it – if you enjoy it, then you should carry on doing it!”
The difference to people’s lives comes in many different forms.
As well as being one of the ministers at Wesleyan Holiness Church, Floretta also runs a Place of Welcome from there on a Wednesday evening that is also part of the Food Cycle initiative.
Food Cycle works in partnership with local food businesses and supermarkets to source perfectly edible food that volunteer chefs turn into three courses of nutritious, vegetarian and tasty meals that anyone in the community can come and eat, completely free. This produce would otherwise end up as waste, the individuals sitting round the tables enjoying the food would possibly be sat alone and, in some cases, not eating a meal at all.
All Food Cycle outlets are registered Places of Welcome and you can find out more about them here
On the day she spoke with me, Floretta’s Place of Welcome was celebrating its 9th Birthday; attracting up to 30 guests plus volunteers each week and being one of the first groups to open! She told me how having a church open once a week as a Place of Welcome is important.
“It’s an excellent idea, being the social arm, reaching out to the community to connect with people, and for them to have the opportunity to connect and engage with us. It’s one way of discovering people and their skills and talents and just to chat. There are people who come to us to overcome loneliness and isolation and just to have a chit-chat with others. In connecting Places of Welcome, we are reaching out to communities and touching lives”
But so many Places of Welcome are far much more than just a coffee morning! Forget all misconceptions and any preconceived ideas you might have of quiet groups, consisting of people sitting around and drinking tea! Over the buzz of laughter and conversations, I asked Peter at the Stoke Social Place of Welcome what attending a group like this meant to him and, as we were at a football club, if he was a fan of a particular club!
“I come every week and have done for about two to three years. There’s three of us; me, John and Jeff and we sit {points} over there with that man and his wife. I go to Port Vale as they have a Place of Welcome on a Thursday, but I tell them I’ve always been a Stoke supporter and they go “BOO!”
“This Place of Welcome is very popular, and it always tends to be full! I come here every week to meet people and get companionship; that’s the main thing. Otherwise, I would be stuck in the house on my own.”
Walking through the doors for the first time, as an alternative to being at home, is also the reason Anne started attending this Place of Welcome, coming along on the first day it opened!
“I first started coming when the energy bills went up. I was still doing a few hours at work then and I thought to myself, I’ll go there as it’ll be two hours less of my heating. I found out about it from the Stoke website. I came on my own as my friends couldn’t make it, but I’ve made friends here. And now I just love it!”
Our 200 celebrations might have included celebration cakes and special guests, but they wouldn’t exist at all without the efforts of everyone who walks through those doors, week in and week out and, in turn, offers a welcome to everyone who walks through the same doors.
Whether it be a simple cuppa and a biscuit, endless brews and slices of delicious toast with (my newfound favourite thing ever) lemon and lime marmalade, or a three-course meal served to you at a fully laid table at the Food Cycle groups, Places of Welcome truly are, to quote a host, Floretta, “reaching out to communities and touching lives”.
A huge thank you to every single person who spoke with me at our Places of Welcome celebration events and all those we have visited along the way. I could write a novel with all the wonderful comments you willing gave me, but to capture the feeling of what these groups give to people who attend, you will have to go along to a Place of Welcome and find out for yourself!