Community groups encouraged to join the Warm and Welcoming Spaces list to support Salisbury residents this winter

The City Council’s Communities Team have recently come together with community partners, including Safer and Supportive Salisbury, Silver Salisbury and Harnham Community Network, to discuss what the community can and is already doing, that will support residents this winter. They now plan to work together to build a list of all the Warm and Welcoming spaces open to residents in the city at low or no cost. This initiative has been prompted by the worry that this winter people will be sitting home, alone in unheated houses, but it is also about celebrating the fantastic community-led spaces already available in Salisbury.

Chair of Safer and Supportive Salisbury, Anne Trevett said, “I just love this initiative by the City Council. It’s really important as a way of helping with the heating crisis but it is also about drawing people together over a cup of coffee, not being alone worrying. And it’s also across the city – each of us finding a place to meet in our own little community. Building on our strengths.”

Any community group, church, space or business who already opens their doors to welcome anyone in the community can download the Warm and Welcoming Spaces form on the City Council website here https://salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk/our-community/community-development/ to put their space on the listing. The list will be collated by the City Council’s Communities Team and published and shared by all the partners.

Also supporting this work are Wiltshire Council Housing’s Resident Engagement team. The team work with organisations and individuals who would benefit from a warm, safe and social space on a regular basis and will support the Communities Team in building this list for our City’s residents. Once Salisbury’s local list is created it will be shared by our County partners to make sure it reaches as many people as possible.

There are already great examples of places to share a cup of tea and some conversation across the city such as the Cross Barr Café, at the Barrington Centre in Bishopdown, open from 11am on Thursdays for tea and cake for a donation only and run by volunteers from St Mark’s Church. The City Council itself runs a community café at the Baptist Church on Brown Street from 10 – 12 on Tuesday mornings, where any resident can get a free cup of tea. And, of course, our City’s Library is open through the week. The organisations involved in collating this list hope to show that the there is a warm and welcoming space somewhere in the city almost all the time.

This initiative has been discussed with the Council leadership who are in full support of this work across the city. Cllr Victoria Charleston commented, “Salisbury City Council are delighted to coordinate this scheme with our city partners as we approach the colder months of the year, and our Communities Team are always ready to give local people a warm welcome.”

If you run a warm and welcoming space, download the form and/or get in touch with the Communities Team at bhc@salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk