Zainab Aslam is Project Manager at The Hamwattan Centre; they have been hosting a popular warm space at their base in Harehills, off Spencer Place, for a few months now:

“We get really good attendance Zainab tells me, “around 30 people regularly come to our Warm Spaces; we run a Warm Space 3 mornings a week here at the centre”

It’s an essential provision for the elders that attend; we work with older people, a lot of our members live alone, so they are on their own a lot of time,”

 Zainab tells me, “we work mainly with people of Pakistani and Kashmiri heritage, we offer a luncheon club, but we offer much more than that, too; people can get access to services, take part in activities and also socialise with people who speak the same first language and with similar life experiences”

It’s vital that people feel safe and welcome in Warm Spaces, and for Hamwattan Centre’s members, this leads to broader work built up from trust.

“We work in partnership with lots of other charities in Leeds says Zainab; we offer chair exercises and space to socialise, but because we know our members well, people also trust us to make referrals to other services we have good relationships with, so, for example, Care and Repair attended a session last week, they were able to tell our members about services they could get for free that they didn’t know about, we also work Association Of Blind Asians and Touchstone to offer people an enhanced service.”

“We had Touchstone deliver a session last week to our male members as part of their Men’s Health Unlocked Project explains Zainab; they were signposted to further support as part of the Digital Inclusion Project”

To reduce isolation outside of the Centre’s opening hours, the digital age is critical:  “Many of our members will now be receiving help with regards to accessing and using IT services, and will be given free tablets as well as one-to-one support so they can be digitally connected thus reduce social isolation and improve mental wellbeing.

Men can access vital connections such as men’s clubs or services covering many areas, including mental health services, addiction services and financial inclusion.

The more we chat with people running Warm Space it becomes evident that their value of them lies not just in keeping people warm; it’s far more impactful than just that; as the Hamwattan Centre shows, it can help link people up to support and services that they didn’t even know existed. 

Leeds City Council has allocated funding from the West Yorkshire Mayor’s Cost Of Living Emergency Fund to support organisations that wish to operate Warm Spaces this winter. This fund is being administered by Voluntary Action Leeds (VAL) find out more here: 

#WarmwelcomeLeeds

By Claire Graham
(VAL Project Worker)

Voluntary Action Leeds