Lincoln warm room welcomes people in need

A Lincoln church is opening its doors to anyone struggling with heating bills.

The St Giles Methodist Church is offering warm rooms where people can come for a chat, and also get free bacon butties, food parcels and cheap clothing.

Increasing numbers are expected to take advantage over the winter as fuel bills rise.

Cay Sherlock, the co-ordinator for the church, says their doors are always open to the community.

“We heard about the call for community warm rooms and thought that is something that we can offer,” she said.

“We had 40 people come to our sessions last week, and we expect more and more people to come over the winter.

“People shouldn’t be embarrassed – if they need help, we are here.

“We can offer people a cup of coffee, a conversation and a hug – and those can go a long way.

“Besides the warm room, we run the community larder.

“On Fridays, we have our ‘free for all’ – people pay £1 for a Bag For Life and can have whatever they want out of the clothes, crockery and anything else.

“It is a church, but we welcome anyone, whoever they are for a cup of tea whenever they want.”

The church on Addison Drive holds warm room sessions between 10am and 12am Wednesday and Friday.

It also offers a community larder, where people can pick up parcels of enough food to last for three days.

Councillor Nicola Clarke recently told a Lincolnshire County Council meeting: “There’s a lot out there that we’ve put together in preparation for what could be a very difficult time, and we will continue to do that as a group of communities working together.

“It’s been a really good project and so thank you very much to all those volunteers right across that area, who go above and beyond to make sure their communities are safe and looked after.”

Here are other warm rooms available in the area:

Monday

• 10am-2pm – Our Lady of Lincoln Church, Laughton Way
• 2pm-4pm – St Giles Jubilee Halls, Lamb Gardens

Tuesday

• 9am-4pm – Ermine Library and Community Hub, Ravendale Drive
• 12noon-4pm – St Peter in Eastgate Church

Wednesday

• 9am-1pm – Ermine Library and Community Hub
• 10am-11.45am – St Giles Methodist Church, Addison Drive
• 9.30am-12.30pm – St Peter in Eastgate Church
• 2pm-3.30pm – Ermine URC Church, Sudbrooke Drive (1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month)

Thursday

• 9.30am-12noon – Bailgate Methodist Church

Friday

• 10am-11.45am – St Giles Methodist Church
• 10am-1pm – Bailgate Methodist Church (2nd and 4th Friday of the month)

Saturday

• 9am-3.30pm – Burton Road Methodist Church (1st Saturday of the month) including knit and natter, council surgeries and a craft and thrift fayre.

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