Safe and Warm Spaces – Good News

Thanks to the Warm Space grant, we were able to experiment with opening the café for one extra day per week, with our centre manager running the café on Tuesdays. During this time we attracted a volunteer for the café on a Tuesday so we’re now exploring how we might continue to keep the warm space open on Tuesdays after the funding period ends, in addition to the Wednesdays & Thursdays that it is already open.”

A total of 242 individuals attended the warm hub.  This included regular attendees and people who engaged the in the planned activities. The knitting class had 15 participants, providing an opportunity for skills building but also a space for people to connect and build friendships. 15 attended the cooking class, which focused on creating affordable and nutritious meals. The art class attracted 15 participants, exploring artistic expression, and allowing them to express themselves creatively."

The project successfully recruited 3 new volunteers who have significantly contributed to the day-to-day operations of the Warm Hub. They were involved in organising classes, assisting participants and ensuring a friendly and supportive environment.”

We have collaborated with a variety of outside agencies to provide sessions and enable, and increase access to services, these include:

• CCC Community Advice Service
• Actif Carmarthenshire
• Carmarthenshire Working
• Social Prescriber
• NHS Community Development Outreach Team

As a consequence of the Warm Hub activities, it is proposed that we will host a new social sewing club with a focus on machine sewing and acquiring the skills necessary for upcycling clothing whilst providing an opportunity to meet and socialise with others.” 

Between 35-45 attend Croeso Cynnes on Tuesday mornings for two hours each week - 49 is the largest number. Cups of tea and coffee, toast and biscuits are provided. 2 trainings were held: January 31st 2025: Life saving and defibrillator and February 12th 2025: Food hygiene. A Story and Song session for parents and young children was organized to start on March 19th and to be held every fortnight on Wednesday mornings with the help of Menter Iaith Sir Gȃr."

The project has exceeded expectations, with over 100 individuals accessing our services, many of whom are experiencing food insecurity, loneliness, or financial hardship.  Community feedback has been overall positive, highlighting the impact of shared meals and a welcoming space on wellbeing. Our approach—combining nutritious food, social inclusion, and opportunities for skill-building—has made a real and measurable difference during the colder months.”

Mark is one of our service users. He has serious lung condition which affects him physically, is an addict in recovery, and lives alone with his two dogs in his van. When he is feeling well enough, he litter picks in the area. He visits the Cwtsh Gymunedol several times a week. It gives him the opportunity to get warm, have some hot food and drinks and socialise with other service users. He intends on volunteering in our community garden when his health allows and has donated seeds for the gardening group to plant."

The funding received has enabled us to refer people to a number of help/support/advice organisations including Citizens Advice, and the monthly NACRO event which enables community members to access a number of beneficial services.”

With this funding we have been able to accommodate two warm hubs under one roof. This has helped immensely for all ages and abilities to have a choice of spaces to take advantage of for both social and food poverty aspects.” 

1,320 people have accessed services, exceeding our goal of 1,200. With activities such as craft making, board games, advice sessions, dancing and sports sessions, film screenings, the hubs have become a vital community resource.  We are proud of these achievements and look forward to building on the success.”

The most successful sessions were Crochet and the Saturday Chess club; both these are planning to continue into the summer months. The latter brought in young children, aged 8 upwards, keen to play chess against adults and one of them became confident enough to enter an online international competition last week!”

During this period, we succeeded in creating a welcoming and comfortable space, with enough resources to entertain visitors and to nurture windy seasons."

Our programme of activities included advice and signposting services, creative craft sessions, and practical cooking workshops. As a result, 60 people gained new skills and received training, improving their confidence and ability to manage everyday challenges. Additionally, 10 individuals were supported into volunteering opportunities, contributing to personal development, and strengthening community capacity.”

The biggest highlight was collaborating with Cegin Y Bobl, they brought their community cook sessions along to us, this was so well received, everybody making, cooking and eating together. Our community garden has come to fruition too, so we were able to use fresh ingredients from the garden. The lasting legacy is PSU continuing to work with Cegin Y Bobl, they will be with us every Monday, so the partnership has strengthened, and our community is growing with both participants and volunteers."

We linked up with Age Cymru to provide advice sessions at the club on 26th February 2025 for participants of the warm hub. The Age Cymru event was well attended with people learning new skills including fire safety, welfare advice, care advice, scam awareness and maintaining independence.”

Y Ty Celf have utilised the Warm Spaces grant to enable diverse individuals to attend creative workshops. This included Monday afternoons, between 2:00 – 4:00, people who are living with Dementia and their carers could attend the creative sessions, forging friendships and social connections, reducing isolation for this group of people.”