Bredon Warm Welcome is a community project offering residents a regular place to meet others, stay warm and enjoy nutritious food during the colder months. Running from October to May at Bredon Village Hall, the sessions provide practical support for people who may be experiencing isolation, limited mobility or rising living costs.
The group received a Public Health Community Wellbeing Grant in 2024, to ensure this vital service in rural Bredon could continue, since then the group has gone from strength to strength.
Bredon Parish Councillor Declan Shiels said: “The grant has been a lifesaver and means we can keep running and offering this great event to our parishioners.”
The project offers two regular sessions on the first Thursday of each month from 12pm to 2pm and the third Thursday from 10:30am to 12pm. Both sessions help address key local needs, including reducing isolation, supporting mental wellbeing, promoting healthy eating and providing warmth during colder weather.
For Cynthia, 77, attending Warm Welcome has helped her rebuild social connections close to home: “A friend who helps at Warm Welcome suggested I come along. It has been good to reconnect with people I knew from the school run many years ago. Also, it has been good to meet other people who live locally. I now often see several people to chat to when I walk through the village. I don’t drive much now, so it is useful to have events nearby that I can attend.”
Regular attendees Linda and Ken Whittaker value the combination of good food and community contact: “We enjoy meeting other people in the village, as well as those we already knew. It is good to have company over food or coffee, and the food is always good.”
Warm Welcome demonstrates how small, consistent community activities can support residents to live well for longer.
To find out more about how a Public Health community grant could help you improve wellbeing in your neighbourhood please visit: www.worcestershire.gov.uk/communitygrants