Church offers sanctuary from the winter chill
ACHURCH is set to open its doors every Wednesday this winter to offer a ‘warm welcome’ to the local community.
To help people through the cost of living crisis St Andrew’s Church in Dearnley will be open for most of the day for anyone to keep warm or spend a few hours.
It is part of the national ‘warm welcome’ campaign and starting on November 30, the church will be open every Wednesday throughout winter from 9am to 4.30pm.
Church warden and organiser Janice Perkins said the Manchester diocese was promoting the warm welcome campaign, with the aim of making their churches safe, warm and inclusive to all.
“We thought we could make a difference,” said
Janice.
“We’re acutely conscious of the challenges everybody is going to be facing, some people are already facing them now. I think the worst is yet to come as the worst weather tends to come after Christmas.
“There’s a real lull in January and February, its colder and darker. We’re anticipating that will be the peak when people feel the pressure.”
St Andrew’s will offer refreshments such as toast and crumpets as well as books and board games as well as being equipped with Wi-fi.
Janice added that people can spend as much or as little time at the church as they like and stressed there was a warm welcome for people of all faiths.
She said: “A church is just a building that’s going to house this.
“This is for everybody, nothing to do with if you come to church, faith or non-faith. welcome.
“This is to support the community. It’s not about trying to change anybody’s thinking about anything, it is purely the use of a building.
Everybody is
“We want to be inclusive to everybody. We will welcome everybody with open arms and we just want to give back to the local community as a way of helping in what is a very difficult time.”