Becoming a Place of Welcome - free on-line workshop
Join us for an inspiring workshop to find out about how Places of Welcome help tackle loneliness in our communities, with insights from the cafe at Christ Church Norris Green.
Faith and community groups are invited to join our free Network of Kindness session to learn what's involved in setting up and running a Place of Welcome, as a way to help tackle loneliness and isolation in our communities.
We'll be joined on-line by guest speaker Amanda Fawcett, lead volunteer at the Place of Welcome café at Christ Church in Norris Green, which has become a hub for the local community, from 2pm to 3pm on Thursday November 7th.
Amanda will share insights into what managing the project involves, and the difference it makes to local people. Run by local charity Triple C (Liverpool) and supported by Together Liverpool’s Network of Kindness project, the café runs every Tuesday. Each week a trained team volunteers provide a warm space, friendly welcome and free refreshments for local people.
The café serves an average of around 24 guests per week, with visitors ranging in age from 2 weeks old – 83 years. The team of around ten volunteers hosted 403 individual visits by adults to the project, from April to September 2024.
Amanda says: “Once a week we open up the space as a welcoming place where people can come along and meet. We have guests coming in of all different ages, mums and daughters, couples, groups of friends, people who come alone, it’s really varied and in the school holidays we get more families coming in.”
Amanda says for those experiencing loneliness or isolation the café is a chance to get out of the house for a couple of hours. She adds: “Some people have become friends, they come week in week out, and they look forwards to coming. People say it’s a nice warm space, some people might not put the heating on at home, and for others when they come in, that’s two hours they don’t have to put the heating on at home.
"We’ve had some lovely feedback from our guests, some of the comments are really lovely about how it provides company and helps them get out of the house. Two hours a week means a lot, it gets people out of the house and making that first step can be scary, but it gives people something to look forwards to.”
