GRANTS have been awarded to churches in Reading, Woodley and Earley to help them offer warm spaces for the community this winter.
With cold weather set to return next week, the funding is timely.
In Reading, St Matthews in Southcote, and St Luke’s in Redlands, have received support from the Diocese of Oxford. The Church is also supporting Trinity in Lower Earley and St John’s in Woodley.
In all, the Diocese is providing £500,000 of funding to help a number of churches across the region to open their doors to the community, helping cover their heating costs.
An extra £20,000 has been made available to churches opening their doors as Warm Hubs offering a space for local residents struggling with the cost of heating their homes.
The Revd Pads Dolphin, vicar of St Matthews, said his church is in one of the poorest parts of Reading, so the need was acute.
“Many people are struggling to survive on benefits or low-income jobs,” he said.
“Back in the autumn we decided to start a warm hub which provides a free lunch of hot, nourishing soup and bread in a warm space (the church hall), once a week on Fridays from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.”
The hub launched in November and ran across Christmas and New Year. Mr Dolphin said that many had welcomed the space, food and friendship.
“Right now we are in the middle of plans to expand the warm hub to include from after school into the early evening with a meal so that families with young children can also benefit from warmth and food,” he continued.
“The funding from the Diocese is extremely helpful toward the cost of heating the church hall, but we will need to raise the majority of the funds ourselves to support the hub which is run by a team of church volunteers who give of their time and money to make the soup, buy the bread and run the hub.
“And they love doing it.”
He said the church was opening its doors because it, along with fellow churches in Southcote, were there for the community. Other initiatives include Holiday clubs, and an after-school cafe at Grange URC, and community street pastors.
“The beautiful thing about these initiatives is that in addition to meeting particular needs of particular people, they all contribute to building community in the area as people meet others and get to know them and often start helping one another,” he explained.
Also receiving support is St Mary’s in Henley, which has received a grant helping to establish a Warm Hub two days a week during the cold winter months. The church is open to anyone from 8am to 5pm on Thursday and Sunday each week until the end of February.
Father Jeremy Tayler, Rector of the Church, said: “We’re very grateful to the diocese for the donation and we’re delighted to be able to welcome everyone into the church to keep warm this winter, particularly those in need.”
Additional funds have been granted to clergy and other paid minsters experiencing hardship during the cost-of-living crisis. A total of over £650,000 was allocated to the Diocese of Oxford by the Archbishop’s Council for ministers experiencing financial hardship and to support churches with energy costs during 2022.
