The Fulforth Centre Warm Space

Aim

To provide access to a warm, safe space for local residents over the winter, reducing energy costs and protecting physical and mental health

Who are we?

• Open 7 days per week, we offer nearly 20 low cost sessions every week including a Ladies Club, Camera Club, Arts & Craft Clubs, fitness and dance classes. These are accessed by people from a range of demographics who live and work in Sacriston and the surrounding villages. We provide a hub for village life - a place for people to gather together to build community and access support. We have an average footfall of over 400 per week.
• We run a community café and twice weekly Lunch Club, offering a low cost warm meal. This is predominantly accessed by elderly people, but also families on a low income, who come for warm, healthy food and company, reducing their isolation.
• We host large scale community events such as the Christmas Extravaganza and Party in the Park, providing a space for the community to gather together to celebrate and build community with one another.
• We host NHS Health & Wellbeing and Home Group Drop-in sessions, helping people in the local community to access help and support more easily.
• We work with other organisations in our community such as Sacriston Parish Council, schools, voluntary organisations, churches and Sacriston Medical Centre, to provide a holistic approach to community development.

Our Warm Space and Lunch Club Project

1. We are running a Warm Space at the Fulforth Centre, run by our Project Development Worker and volunteers from the community association and partner organisations -Monday to Friday, 9am-12pm, from November 2022 to March 2023. Offering:

• Free tea, coffee and biscuits
• Free WiFi
• Free food to take away from supermarket Food Waste schemes
• A warm, friendly welcome and a chance to chat
• Activities: Games, newspapers, toys and books for toddlers

We are working with local partners in Sacriston to develop a joint offering of Warm Spaces, avoiding duplication and producing joint publicity highlighting all Warm Spaces in Sacriston.

We are working to arrange for partner agencies to come and provide advice and support around benefits, energy, employment etc. We also hope to apply for funding to refurbish our IT suite so people can have computer access if needed.

2. We want to build on the successful reopening of our twice-weekly Lunch Club at the Fulforth Centre (Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes), developing this further to offer more social activities e.g. bingo, to provide opportunities to further build supportive relationships and reduce social isolation. Also linking this with Live Well NE's Community Coaching programme, so people can access more joined up support.

3. We want to explore what further support we could offer to older people in the area, building on the results of our community mapping exercise and consultation, which we are in the process of undertaking over the next few months.

This project successfully funded on 26th December 2022