Adele Rae and her team at Kirkstall Valley Development Trust had foreseen that they had to be ready to help out with Warm Spaces this winter

“It’s something we had been talking about as far back as last May when the Cost-of-Living crisis was looming, Adele tells us; we planned ahead and were able to set up quickly”.

The charity has recently moved to new premises at St Stephen’s Church Hall just off Abby Road.

“It’s a great community space; we have a well-equipped kitchen, thanks to support from HAP funding,” says Adele; once again, our communities are coming together to help”.

 Adele gives an example of hyper-local support:

“Our local One-Stop is even helping out; they have got a raffle going to raise money for our food pantry”.

She explains, “We have received a good amount of donations, but the other side is that we also have a sign up that says get in touch if you need help, and we have new people contacting us daily.”

Their Warm Space is a big part of the offer at KVDT, but similar to some other Warm Spaces we have spoken to, uptake was slow initially.

 “A lot comes down to pride, Adele tells me, especially with older people, many people are too proud to ask for help or be seen as not being able to afford food or to heat their home.”

But fate has a way of bringing people together. It just so happened that local knitting group Hookers and Clickers were looking for a new venue,

“it suited us perfectly says Adele, “Hookers and Clickers group now takes place at the same time as our lunch club, so people can attend and join in or just have a meal and a chat.  The support they have given us has been lovely, too; they knitted us lots of hand warmers we could give out over Christmas”

The groups don’t stop there; there is now a Parkinson’s support group that meets to play table tennis weekly, “I didn’t realise it, admits Adele, “but table tennis is very good for people who have Parkinson’s disease, and their carers can come along and join in too.”

“We have definitely learnt that a Warm Space is easier to access for many people when it’s connected to another activity says Adele; I hope that these groups and all the connections that people make by attending them will continue into the spring and summer months, I worry that even come the summer there will still be a huge hangover from the bills this winter, and even come June, people will still be struggling to make ends meet”.

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