Initiative to help islanders with cost of living and loneliness returns to Jersey church

Jersey's Town Church has restarted its Warm Welcome Spaces scheme following last year's success.

The initiative was set up originally at the end of 2022 to respond to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Each day, the church offers islanders a "warm, free, welcoming and safe" area to rest, work and play.

Katie Proctor is a member of the church's team and says it's a popular idea with people from all walks of life: "I think it's really important to have a space where anybody can come and anybody would feel welcome.

"We have some of the States members who have dropped in to do a bit of email checking, and we've had lots of people who maybe had more significant social needs who've dropped down to grab a coffee and things like that."

The church is open between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, and during the afternoons at the weekend.

When the scheme is running, the church is split into zones depending on a visitor's needs - there is a "work" zone with WIFI available, a "rest & recharge" zone where you can get hot drinks, and a "play" zone for pre-school aged children.

Katie adds: "We have lots of young families who come down during the day, some with additional needs who find it difficult to be somewhere which is busy.

"They've valued greatly being able to come down during the day and enable their children to play."

Although the project was originally set up to help people with the cost of living crisis, it has also acted as a way of battling loneliness.

"Many people weren't necessary coming down because they didn't have somewhere that was warm to go, they were coming because they needed a connection and they were feeling lonely.

"That's one of the reasons that we've put in the more structured type activities which we have between 3pm and 5pm on certain days."