‘More than we could ever have hoped’

Jackie Macadam learns more about churches offering a regular ‘warm space’ during the depths of winter – and beyond.

“WE mostly focus our energies on St Paul’s, Kinlochleven and St Mary’s, Glencoe as these have space to welcome people to join us.”

Laura Henshall is Youth and Communities worker for a collection of churches in the Highlands of Scotland. She explained the background to the participation of the churches locally in an extraordinary and life-changing charity initiative called Warm Welcome.

As with many of the most important initiatives, Warm Welcome is a simple concept. Have a local ‘space’ available, easily accessible to everyone, and staffed by volunteers, where people from the local community can go to socialise, to get a hot bite to eat, to chat, to read quietly – but most of all to stay warm in the depths of winter. Hundreds of places are available across the country, ranging from libraries, to volunteer cafés, and many church halls. Warm Welcome began as a seasonal campaign supporting people through the winter but has grown into a year-round campaign to support communities and help people feel less isolated and lonely and improves well-being. A number of Church of Scotland churches have joined the campaign.

Laura says: “I saw a Facebook post about the Warm Welcome Spaces initiative, so was keen to find out more. I registered both the Open Church and a similar initiative we host in Kinlochleven called ‘Café Kinloch’. They both operate on a Pay What You Can Afford basis serving hot drinks, soup and snacks to all. We have a great relationship with the school (Kinlochleven 3-18 Campus), and as a result, many high school pupils attend Café Kinloch every week. Open Church Glencoe caters for not just Glencoe residents but those who can travel from Fort William, Onich, and Duror.

“Registering as a Warm Welcome Space reinforced our aims and focused our efforts to continue to be a consistent presence in our communities. We improved our signage by installing a large banner on the outside of St Mary’s Church and bought a sandwich board to put out when our space is open.

“Food and drink is at the centre of what we do at Open Church. We are open every Thursday between 11am and 2pm. We welcome visitors and locals to share some time talking and relaxing. Homemade soup is either made by me or donated by our kind volunteers who support our work. Home baking too is a common feature and we try to cater for gluten free and nut allergies while using local produce like eggs from Granny Joan’s chickens or locally picked fruit where possible. We have offered board games and conversational prompts, but most often the regulars bring their knitting and juggle creating socks with conversations. We have a toy box for children and colouring in on request. Everybody likes to help with the washing up and we find it gives the regulars a sense of ownership of the space.

“We have a core group whose ages range from 40-80 but have had newborn babies and toddlers some weeks too. Open Church Glencoe is a regular meeting spot for people involved with the church and for locals and visitors who simply come to enjoy the company, stay cosy and have a chat. It is important to serve the community and be there and be available to everybody, regardless of their church experience. Yes, we sometimes have discussions around faith or church procedure, or comparing the similarities and differences between the different Christian organisations, but nothing structured or planned. We are seen as a good place for a cuppa, to unwind and share stories about what has happened during the week, or the best place for homemade soup locally. Through sharing hospitality generously, we can break down the barriers that people might have and be a trusted presence so they can confide in us or share their worries.”

Paula Roots is the Session Clerk at Kirkliston Parish Church, near Edinburgh.

“I think we heard about Warm Welcome Hubs through your advertising,” she laughs. “I’ve been a member for 44 years and I’ve always felt my heart is with mission and outreach. This initiative offers the Church of Scotland a huge benefit – enabling us to be seen as part of a project that offers practical support to people but also, because we are serving our local community from the church building, it enables us to make connections with each other on other levels. We now run a Christians Against Poverty drop-in service that offers free debt advice.

“We have tea and coffee and we always offer hot soup in the winter, between October to the end of March. I provided Scrabble, Jenga, jigsaws and other games to begin as well as a variety of newspapers and magazines, but there really wasn’t much uptake. Instead, this being a rural village, I feel that most people seem to prefer to come here to meet up and chat. In some ways it reflects what happens at church – people like to come early and have a chat with people they don’t see all week. As our space is open on a weekday morning, we tend to get single people, old folk and sometimes parents. It really is a welcome, warm space where people can come and relax.”

Aberfeldy Parish Church hosts a café that opens every Tuesday morning. It’s run by Kate Scott and Isobel MacDonald who are both elders and Angus MacDonald, the Session Clerk.

“After the decision was taken at Session to open a café,” she says, “ Kate and I volunteered to lead the initiative. Angus immediately came on board as an ever -present helper /leader. Our Warm Welcome Café opened in late September 2022 and has grown from a handful of guests to regularly serving sixty to seventy people counting children, youth workers and all who are present. Recently we hosted eighty-six people during one Tuesday morning.

“Tom Sibbald, another elder, and one of the driving forces behind the venture, and his wife Anna, run a small charity called ‘Warm Connections’ which helps give people advice about their energy usage and how best to keep warm when it’s cold. Life and Work has featured the charity in the past.

“The initiative was certainly very welcome at the time. We already had a small rota of people who provide tea, coffee etc for our ‘Stay and Play’ for parents and young children on a Tuesday so it was relatively easy to upscale,” she said.

“We have a group of volunteers who work on a rota in the café and another smaller group of people willing to drive the less mobile to and from the café. Some church members and elders come deliberately to spend time with our guests which we consider to be the most important part of our morning. We serve mainly local residents from the town but will occasionally meet holidaymakers and those from around Highland Perthshire. The Abbeyfield residents are encouraged to come along and we also have regulars from the local care home. Pre-pandemic the Church ran a ‘Prayer Café’. Although it hasn’t reopened after lockdown, the experience helped us in the vision and planning for our present café.

“We offer a Warm Welcome, free tea, coffee, cakes, scones and sausage rolls. Tables are arranged to encourage social interaction and folk are obviously happy to meet with friends old and new, have conversation, enjoy some company and a lot of laughs. One of our team members regularly collects prescriptions or helps with shopping while our visitors are spending time with us and this service has been much appreciated. Warm packs are also available, and these are very welcome in the winter months. Our regulars are creatures of habit in that we now informally have a men’s table, a table with ladies over eighty years and table of mixed ages and sexes. Very occasionally we have a local ukulele band who entertain us. We have deliberately not pushed faith but in recent weeks I have been given God ordained opportunities to pray for individuals and situations.

“Our Warm Welcome Café or warm space has been a big success and it is hugely popular amongst our regular users who are mostly, but not all, neither church attenders nor believers. I believe the café raises the awareness and goodwill of the church in the town and it brings people into the building as well as breaking down barriers as they get to know us.

“Our minister, Neil Glover very often pops in for a coffee and is able to make contact with various people both young and old .

Linda smiles. “I stand back amazed at how God has used the Warm Welcome Café .It has become so much more than we could ever have hoped or imagined.” ¤

Learn more about the Warm Welcome Campaign or find a Warm Space at https:// www.warmwelcome.uk /find-a-space