Warm Welcome Week at Stretford Hub

Stretford Public Hall are challenging Blue Monday as we start Warm Welcome Week.

This January Stretford Community Support Hub are celebrating Warm Welcome Week, starting on ‘Blue Monday’, and running from 20 to 26 January 2025. Warm Welcome Week is all about raising awareness of Warm Welcome Spaces like ours so more people can find a place of warmth and connection close to home.

January can be the coldest and loneliest month of the year. It’s the time of year when Warm Welcome Spaces such as our Weekly Warmer on Tuesdays are needed most. Our Warm Welcome Space is a lifeline to people in Stretford who are struggling to keep warm and those feeling lonely or isolated.
In Warm Welcome Week, our community hub coordinator Emma and generous volunteers will be meeting with some hub visitors for a wellbeing chat.

Our Weekly Warmer is a warm, welcoming, safe, and free space that is open to everyone in Stretford we are ready to welcome you every Tuesday throughout the year.
New polling research and data analysis conducted by the Warm Welcome Campaign shows that although the number of Warm Welcome Spaces is growing, more work is needed to ensure everyone can find a place of warmth and belonging. Between October 2024 and January 2025, the number of Warm Welcome Spaces has grown from 4,000 to 5,000. Although 62% of the population live within a 30-minute walk of a Warm Welcome Space, only 20% of people are aware of how to find their local Warm Welcome Space.

This is what our visitors have said…
“I don’t have to get past security to talk to someone. I go into the cafe and get a free biscuit and coffee and have a chat. Usually nobody usually looks after me or serves me but when I come in to the free cafe I feel looked after and warm. I’ve even got help printing and emails and letters computers and help finding addresses.”

“I’m dyslexic, depressed and have fibromyalgia, I come here for help with foodbank and keeping warm and having some company, I am going to bring my sister to get supported as we are both within walking distance, everyone has been really kind”