Where to find a warm welcome this winter
Did you find a warm welcome somewhere during ‘Warm Welcome Week’? I hope so because January can be a challenging time with its short days, gloomy weather and high heating bills. So when is ‘warm welcome week’?
You may not feel the need for a mathematical formula to help you with this question but - believe it or not – there is such a thing. It identifies ‘Blue Monday’ - supposedly the most depressing day of the year - as 19th January, 2026. And this marks the beginning of Warm Welcome Week.
Now, you may say (with some justification) that this news comes too late to be useful, but bear with me. What I really want to bring to your attention is that there are places where you can find a warm welcome – and not only during the week of 19-25 January. These ‘warm hubs’ or ‘warm spaces’ are warm, welcoming, free and safe community centres that aim to combat social isolation. Lots of them can also signpost you to local services that provide support in other ways.
It’s not possible to list them here; there are around 150 in Northumberland, but you can find them at www.ca-north.org.uk/supporting-individuals/warm-hubs/list-of-warmhubs or at www.warmwelcome.uk/find-a-space. Examples include the drop-in café at Ponteland Methodist Church, Pegswood Community Hub and Wideopen Library.
In an ideal world a warm welcome would be waiting for everyone, just around the corner, every day of the year. In reality, many serve small rural communities and most rely on volunteers, so this means that opening times are limited (often only one day per week). Check on the above websites for details of individual cases.
Community Action Northumberland has been actively supporting and promoting warm hubs since 2014. I spoke to Marc Johnson from CAN and he told me that they believe that village halls and other community buildings provide a natural access point through which to reach local communities. Much of their focus on warm hubs has been on supporting and improving these vital rural facilities. The sparse population of rural Northumberland presents a significant barrier to reaching many of those most in need. With reportedly ever-increasing problems of fuel poverty and social isolation, it seems to me that Marc and his colleagues deserve a warming pat on the back.
John Gowing