Cambridgeshire ACRE is delighted to be able to support town and parish councils, village hall committees, church communities, local charities and other community groups to establish a network of Community Living Rooms in Fenland this autumn. These must run from publicly accessible community buildings, such as community centres, village halls, churches and their halls, older peoples’ day centres, youth centres and community libraries.
They are very similar to Warm Hubs, but the name ‘Warm Hubs’ has been changed to reflect community feedback and to ensure that the diverse needs of all visitors are considered. We believe visitors will largely attend their local Community Living Room for companionship and to make social connections. However, loneliness is a complex issue and attendees elsewhere have also been found to be experiencing poor health, with many having specific vulnerabilities, frailty, disability or poor mental health.
We expect Community Living Rooms to reflect the needs of each community; so some might evolve out of groups that already meet, for example, you may already be holding a community café or coffee morning or breakfast club; some might be arranged around other activities such as a play group or older people’s / friendship club and others might be completely new in their set-up as a Community Living Room.
To become established, we need your community to identify a team of minimum 3 volunteers and a publicly accessible community venue that can offer a warm and safe place where local people can expect a friendly and inclusive welcome.
Find out more about Community Living Rooms.
The Fenland Community Living Rooms project is being delivered by Cambridgeshire ACRE, using funding from UK Government via Cambridgeshire Community Foundation.
