Two firsts as Stoke City FC and Lichfield Garrick Theatre join the national Places of Welcome network

Stoke City Football Club is the first professional football club in the country to join the Places of Welcome network, and The Lichfield Garrick the first theatre to do so, both opening up their famous premises every week for people to feel safe to connect, belong and contribute.

They become the latest venues to join a 600-strong network of Places of Welcome, venues that open their doors to provide a space where once a week anyone can drop in for a friendly face, refreshments and a conversation if and when they need it.  

Places of Welcome is a scheme pioneered by local organisers who know their communities’ needs best. The Diocese of Lichfield supports venues in its area, and the national network is supported by Church Urban Fund.

Yasmin attends Stoke Social, the Place of Welcome hosted by Stoke City FC, with her grandmother Sandra, who has dementia. She said: “My Nan has made friends and this place has helped her with talking and socialising more. Especially since COVID, she stopped socialising and was feeling lonely. I think this has really made a difference.”

Naomi Parton, Active Through Football Project Manager at Stoke City Football Club, said: “For us, Stoke Social is a fantastic way to reach out to our community and build a sense of belonging with Stoke City. Stoke Social is a safe and inclusive space where we welcome individuals from a range of backgrounds, ages and abilities to the stadium for activities and fun. Being the first football club to be granted ‘Place of Welcome’ status is incredibly important to us; encouraging individuals to connect, belong and contribute is exactly what Stoke Social is all about and we feel privileged to be part of the network.”

Sylvia and Jean attended the Place of Welcome Lichfield Garrick launch and regularly pop into the Green Room Cafe there to join in on Friday mornings. Sylvia said: “There are some people we know, some people we don't know. We find the people here very, very friendly.” Jean added: “You get to know people, don't you, coming here. It's lovely.”

Daniel Buckroyd, Chief Executive and Artistic Director at Lichfield Garrick Theatre said: “The thread that runs through everything we do is about creating together, and opportunities for people to come together. A lot of that happens through creative programmes but it can also happen through a cup of coffee, or board game. Places of Welcome seemed like a great initiative and us linking up with it seemed like a way of us helping signpost that we're open and welcoming. Our being part of the Places of Welcome initiative is part of a longer-term ambition to get this place open and active and inclusive and welcoming.” 

Julie Jones, Chief Executive of the Diocese of Lichfield, said: “We are delighted to be breaking new ground in welcoming a professional football club and a theatre to our network of Places of Welcome. The Places of Welcome initiative is an integral part of work to strengthen communities across the diocese. We wish to continue developing our Places of Welcome network as part of our wider missional focus.”

Elizabeth Carnelly, Director of Partnerships at CUF, said: “Places of Welcome provide places where, every week through the year, local people can connect, belong and contribute, alongside a cuppa and a chat. We all need to feel welcome and make connections to people where we live. We already have libraries, faith buildings and community centres, so a theatre and football club are a great addition.”

Funding for Places of Welcome in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is provided by NHS Charities Together and UHNM Charity. UHNM Charity is a registered charity which provides millions of pounds in additional funding for University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.

Funding for Places of Welcome in Lichfield is provided by Lichfield District Council.

A priest in Stoke-on-Trent, is opening up his church hall as a “cool space”, having used it as a so-called warm bank during the colder months.

Fr John Stather of Christ Church Tunstall told BBC Radio 5 Live that after serving soup and hot drinks to people during the winter at their Place of Welcome, volunteers were now switching to offering them ice creams.

“We’re going to be giving people cold drinks and ice creams and helping [people] cool down,” he said.

He said some initiatives set up to help bring people together and stay warm during the winter months had finished. But he added: “Just because it’s warm weather doesn’t mean that inflation’s suddenly dropped … lots of those people who were struggling in the winter are still struggling in the summer.” 

He joked that church buildings were often criticised for being cold, but at this time of year, a cool stone church is “a great place to chill out, physically and spiritually”.

In a separate interview he told the BBC that the warm space attracted around 12 people a week.

“It seems ridiculous to say, ‘Well it's got a bit warmer so we'll stop meeting,’” Fr Stather said.

Creating a warm, open space where people want to come because they feel included is at the heart of Places of Welcome.

The Wealdstone Methodist Place of Welcome is hosted as a coffee morning in its church hall every week and is attended by regulars and newcomers regularly.

The volunteers here know the attendees so well they set up tables with their favourite puzzles and boardgames waiting for them at their preferred spot, ready to welcome them with a hot drink and warm smile.

One of the guests suffered a bereavement recently, and the Place of Welcome provided them with something positive to focus on and a regular date to occupy their time.

People attend the Wealdstone Place of Welcome for a variety of reasons. Some don’t have home internet access and rely on it for community information like bus routes and support groups.

Its volunteers see its purpose as even simpler than that. Creating an accessible and inclusive environment, where people could chat over food, provided the motivation to open as a Place of Welcome. Now, the popularity of the drop-ins has provided volunteers with a reason to go further, regularly offering hot soups and a no-questions safe place for people needing a meal.

“I can socialise here. I suffer from anxiety and worry sometimes and coming here takes my mind off things.”

 Christ Church at Thornton le Fylde has been operating as a Place of Welcome for over a year, regularly inviting over 200 people through its doors. Well established with 16 volunteers, ‘Pilgrim’s Stop’ opens four days a week to offer soup, sandwiches, hot drinks and even ice cream to anyone dropping in!

The Place of Welcome prides itself on offering something for everyone in the community, from an essential foodbank to baby groups and hobby socials, a book shop and specialist sessions for people suffering from dementia.

A lot of work goes into operating something so valuable, but the feedback from those accessing the service makes the volunteers committed to their project.

The Place of Welcome felt particularly important during the winter of 2022-23. The cost of heating homes was suddenly much higher and left a lot of people in need of a warm space they could visit often without cost.

One visitor had suffered a stroke and had limited mobility. He was brought to the Place of Welcome where he was welcomed and enjoyed the food and drink on offer. He now regularly attends on his own with a brilliant improvement in his health, and really enjoys interacting with other guests. The community here have been a great asset to his recovery.

 Christ Church in Felling previously held a coffee morning but its priest, Tom Worsley, knew it could achieve more. After a chat with another Places of Welcome co-ordinator, he decided to revamp its offering by relaunching as a Place of Welcome.

It now opens its doors regularly as a warm, friendly community space with essential services for those in need.

“We offer weekly crafts and activities and food parcels to those requiring assistance.

People don’t feel ashamed about taking food parcels as some did queuing at a food bank. A number of the people have commented that not attending a food bank but a Place of Welcome which helps by giving food is making a difference to their confidence.

One man was very quiet and reluctant to talk when he first attended - now he is quite happy to talk to different people - he is now in his 50s and has suffered from the age of 18 with anxiety and depression. He tells people he credits his visits to us as being a great help as the volunteers are willing to listen and that helps him tremendously.  He still has anxiety issues but has improved so much.”

 The Community Café at St Aiden’s CIC shows what Places of Welcome can achieve if you think outside the box. They acknowledged that not everyone who could benefit from the service will be able to attend, and so created a home delivery meal service for those less able to get out.

It now runs as a Community Interest Company three days a week and employs two part-time posts to run sessions.

The Place of Welcome is a varied space that really understands its community. It runs children’s sessions in the school holidays, providing parents with a low or no-cost activity for families and an important place to meet up with friends.

Sessions include film afternoons with subtitles and audio descriptions to be as inclusive as possible, gardening sessions, a café, community recycling of useful items and a range of activities that promote physical and mental wellbeing.

“As a Place of Welcome, our attendees find a caring safe space where information can be shared in an accessible and accurate way, especially as we get to know people and can then tailor our activities and the relaying of information to suit each individual.  This is vitally important where so much of life as it used to be has changed, from booking GP appointments to local bus services.”

 Every Thursday, around 50 local people get together for hot drinks and toast and to chat with their neighbours at the St Martin’s Church Community Café Place of Welcome in Walsall. But people haven’t always known each other, and neither have the volunteers who run the cafe. 

The Community Cafe opened in 2007 but had to close when Covid struck, reopening as a Place of Welcome once restrictions were lifted. Numbers have gradually grown to around 45-50 people attending each week.  

Jane Quinn and Helen Murray organise a team of volunteers who serve hot drinks and toast (fruit toast is the favourite) and shop for the café each week. The Cafe serves an estate of bungalows and houses in a community where lots of mainly older people live alone, sometimes not speaking to anyone from one week to the next. Along with their team leaders, they helped reopen the café, joining the Places of Welcome network to help people get together regularly and benefit from being part of the community. 

They noticed that lots of people would walk past St Martin’s Church and the halls on their way to the local Co-Op, and that they were perfectly placed to gather these people together. “We make sure everyone is welcomed at the door with a warm, friendly smile” Jane said. “People can come somewhere warm, have something to eat, free of charge and make friends.”

Once people arrive they’re served tea, coffee or hot chocolate and toast , biscuits or sometimes cake,  giving volunteers the chance to chat and find out how people are by serving at the tables. Any of the volunteers who are available can sit down  at a table with community members and chat.

Word of mouth often brings people through the door, but carers also get in touch to find out what support is on offer. The team can provide a 1-1 buddy service if needed, where a single volunteer meets a community member outside the venue each week, and accompanies them into the café to sit with them & chat. This happens each week for up to six weeks, or until the client is confident enough to come in on their own. 

The team recently supported a customer to cross the street to the café . When he arrived for the first time and sat with a regular group, he discovered that the man to his left lived just on the corner, right by his bungalow, but they’d never met. They made plans to meet again the following week.

Many of the Cafe’s volunteers started off as customers.

“They know what it’s like to be on their own. And they get a lot of out of it as well. They look forward to coming and volunteering because they’re getting the chance to actually give back, and get to know everyone in their group.”

— Jane

The team often provides activities during the café, and people chat about the local area. They share local information eg where the hairdressers are or where the best place to get the bus is. “We sing happy birthday to people if we know it’s their birthday, as they might not hear it from anyone else.” They often welcome visitors: local Walsall councillors hold their surgery at the cafe on the first week of every month, Walsall White Watch fire crew offered free fire safety checks for people’s homes, and NHS reps attend to speak and listen to community members so that their needs and views are heard. The Cafe also welcomes members of the Community Garden who pop in for refreshments as well as the Bereavement Group members.

Jane has seen an increase in numbers in the colder months, and we sometimes wraps up toast for them to take home if its needed. 

The St Martin’s Church Community Café Place of Welcome is open between 10 and midday every Thursday. There are 612 other Places of Welcome spread out all around the country. Find one near you

Join the Places of Welcome network and provide a friendly face, a cup of tea and conversation.