Letter: Don’t Hesitate to Use Our Warm Hub

Published on: 13 Nov, 2022
Updated on: 13 Nov, 2022

From: Lloyd Davis

In response to: If You Are Cold – And Feeling The Pinch – Use A Warm Hub

As the community worker at Guildford URC (United Reformed Church, on the Portsmouth Road – thanks for the shout out!), I’d like to strongly support what Ben McCallan says about the risk of people staying away because they don’t think they’re needy enough.

We have no restrictions on who can access our space, which is currently open on weekday mornings (soup for lunch on Fridays) and nobody is going to be asked to justify their decision to come along. We also understand that people have differing experiences of churches and want to be clear that we are a radically open and inclusive community here – everyone really is welcome.

This is just our initial response – if it turns out that there is more need, we’re ready to expand accordingly. We can always find jobs for volunteers to do and people can get in touch with me directly if they’d like to be part of what we’re doing.

I’d also like to emphasise that these are not just going to be spaces for the most desperate people to come and be miserable together, looked after by better-off people with no real understanding of hardship – we’re offering a warm welcome and solidarity with our local community in making life easier for all of us through mutual support.

communityworker@guildfordurc.org.uk