A community cafe that has been set up in a Midland’s Catholic church has become a beacon of hope and support for its local community.

When coordinator Hayley, Father Paul Johnson and the parish finance team at St. Ambrose Barlow Catholic Church in Birmingham’s Hall Green suburb looked at the impact that the cost of living crisis was having on the local area, they decided to talk to Birmingham City Council about setting up a community cafe in the parish.

That was in October 2022 and the team put an advert out for volunteers and opened the small room in the church hall with tea, coffee and biscuits.

For the first eight weeks not a single person came in despite the local needs. The team considered how to best connect with people and headed outside the church with a thermos, some posh biscuits and fruit shoots chatting to passersby and also linking with local schools.

By January 2023 the Community Cafe had 15 regulars and the space has continued to grow, joining the Places of Welcome network early 2024, and now has 25-60 participants each week.

Hayley-Charlotte Haughton is the Community Cafe Co-Ordinator, and says that the cafe has made an enormous difference to the local community.

“Ultimately, inclusivity is what we want at our Community Cafe and we’ve always said there should be no barriers to accessing our venue,” says Hayley.

“We have a nice, safe, airy space and you have the choice of chatting or sitting at a quiet table. This has been positive for some of our regulars who have additional needs and we make sure they feel included. Something as simple as having certain foods available for people can make a real difference. We have a community library which people can take books from, as there shouldn’t be a barrier to literacy. We have fresh fruit on each table because the cost of that can be too high for people and they can snack on that here, particularly the children.”

The cafe has also been able to establish valuable local partnerships, which have been great for seasonal activities and crafts.

“Pom Poms Party came in the first February half term to do some fantastic balloon modelling and Howden Insurance donated the Easter eggs for our activities,” said Hayley.

“These partnerships have mainly come about through Facebook and signing up to events and newsletters. The parish and the Parish’s SVP group have been fantastic with funding and Birmingham City Council, Thrive and Near Neighbours who linked us with Places of Welcome also. We are now looking at becoming our own charitable incorporated organisation and hope to set up a second day at another site in the next 18 months.”

The Place of Welcome Community Cafe is open every Thursday, whatever the weather, apart from one week over Christmas when the hall is shut and the volunteers always make sure they have warm packs to give out which include hot water bottles, travel cups, hat, gloves, scarfs, power banks and draft excluders which have made a considerable difference.

“We can now refer for Food Bank vouchers and to Children’s Storehouse for clothes, we also have our own donations of fresh clothes here so people can pick something out,” says Hayley.

“We have beans on toast each week which goes down really well and we try and have a different main meal each week but make sure we have something plain also.

“Very early on, I said, we’re not a soup kitchen, we are a cafe, we will operate like a cafe but everything is complimentary. It will be just like a cafe experience with no expectations and we’ve seen this space grow and grow. It’s very diverse here and you could get an absolute tapestry of different people at the cafe sitting and chatting and it just shows that people do want to interact and learn more. We see people participating by bringing their own donations, of Easter eggs most recently, or bringing gifts and talents with craft.

Hayley says that a highlight for her is earning someone’s trust after six or seven weeks when you know they are struggling a little bit.

“Them opening up is amazing and being able to signpost people to the help they need is brilliant. We’ve been so lucky with the support we have received and I couldn’t be happier with how the cafe is running and the difference it is making,” said Hayley.

As well as St Ambrose Barlow, Place of Welcome community projects have also been established at:

St Joseph’s RC Church, Darleston
St Mary’s RC Church, Willenhall
Holy Trinity RC Church, Bilston
St Joseph’s RC Church, Wolverhampton
St Joseph’s, Southwell
Sacred Heart, Southwell
Our Lady & St Edward’s, St Ann’s Nottingham

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THE PLACES OF WELCOME NETWORK

Every neighbourhood has safe places where people can connect, belong and contribute. There are lots of good things happening in communities, but if you are new to a community, or have had a life circumstance change, how can you feel like you actually belong in a community, contribute the gifts and skills that you have if you want to? This is what Places of Welcome is all about! People in a community get together and create safe places into which others can be welcomed.

The Places of Welcome project is an initiative of Church Urban Fund (CUF), a national charity working with local leaders, churches and other faith groups all over England, committed to serving and strengthening the community where they live.

CUF was established by the Church of England as a practical response to unmet need and has been active in local communities for over 30 years. Working through networks of local partners to deliver its objectives CUF is working to build just and flourishing communities so that everyone across England can access support when they need it most.

CUF’s vision is a future where every person in need has access to a community of support. In practical terms CUF works with and invests in people, churches and community groups to tackle urgent issues, provide life-changing support and raise money.

“At the heart of everything we do is Asset Based Community Development,” says CUF.

“It’s a way of working that makes the most of the skills and capacities of local people, groups and businesses to build stronger, happier and thriving communities.

“We aim to tackle complex challenges like poverty and exclusion across England by mobilising people, churches, and whole communities to make a positive difference. We understand that local people know their communities best, so we make sure local skills and knowledge are amplified and valued in everything we do.

“As a Christian organisation, we are motivated by a vision of the world as God intends it to be. We are passionate about building communities where material needs are met and everyone feels connected, valued, and loved”.

Church Urban Fund achieves these aims in three main ways:

SERVE
Working together to make a positive difference. CUF supports local responses by helping to recruit and train volunteers, provide safe spaces of welcome, and access funding for community projects.

LEAD
Sharing knowledge and tools for the benefit of all. CUF convenes networks of support, bringing together local knowledge and national expertise to share best practice and connect people.

SPEAK
CUF supports safe and welcoming spaces where people can build meaningful relationships, share concerns and hopes, and overcome differences.

Places of Welcome emerged from Birmingham’s Social Inclusion Inquiry. Giving Hope Changing Lives began in 2012, and explored issues of exclusion and poverty in Birmingham. A key line of enquiry explored the questions “Is Birmingham a welcoming city?” and “What happens to someone newly arrived to the city?” The response was that Birmingham, like many places, can be welcoming but, if someone is new to the area and is not well resourced, not well connected, and if English isn’t their first language, then often it isn’t welcoming at all. It can be a very difficult place to navigate.

The inquiry began to explore the possibility of developing a network of the community and faith groups who were already offering welcome and support at regular times of the week to anyone who wanted it – a network of ‘Places of Welcome’.

A number of organisations joined the network and became an identified ‘Place of Welcome’. The network developed a logo and some resources for those new to the network and to setting up something new. Largely because of the simplicity of it, the network has grown, and more and more community and faith groups have decided to join the network and set up a Place of Welcome.

The Places of Welcome network has now grown beyond Birmingham, into the Black Country, across the West Midlands and throughout the country. There are over 750 groups who have joined the network and identify as Places of Welcome, and this continues to grow.

THE 5Ps
Throughout the process of establishing and running Places of Welcome it became evident that there are five commonalities between the groups running activities. These commonalities are now referred to as the 5Ps and are essentially the DNA of a Place of Welcome …

PLACE: An accessible and hospitable building, open at the same time every week
PEOPLE: Open to everyone regardless of their circumstances or situation, and staffed by volunteers
PRESENCE: A place where people actively listen to one another
PROVISION: Offering free refreshments (at least a cup of tea and a biscuit) and basic local information
PARTICIPATION: Every person will bring talents, experiences and skills that they may be willing to share locally

The most common response from those who attend Places of Welcome is that they are welcoming spaces where everyone is included, they offer the opportunity for friendship and companionship and for attendees to be listened to.

On a practical level, some coordinators mention the location – like the proximity to a town centre – and the practical provision of a physical space to meet as well as the food, drink and refreshments on offer, and the consistency of Places of Welcome – the fact that it is on the same day every week without fail. A number of Places of Welcome host other services such as foodbanks, and these are a means of reaching people who in turn become regular participants at Places of Welcome.

If you would like to establish a Place of Welcome in your local community, Church Urban Fund can provide you with all the advice, resources and support you will need. There is a well-established process for both new and existing community groups to become Places of Welcome, and you can find out more by visiting the Places of Welcome website:
https://cuf.org.uk/places-of-welcome

If you would like to visit an existing Place of Welcome, either to see how they are run, or simply to visit and make new friends, there is a very helpful interactive website that shows where Places of Welcome are located:
https://www.placesofwelcome.org.uk/locations

If you would like to discuss getting involved with the Places of Welcome project, please contact:

Places of Welcome:
Email: info@placesofwelcome.org.uk
Telephone: 03300 752 5655

Partnerships Manager:
Nadine Wilkinson
Email: nadine.wilkinson@cuf.org.uk
Telephone: 07561 852 141

Director of Partnerships:
Liz Carnelley
Email: elizabeth.carnelley@nearneighbours.org.uk
Telephone: 07812 984 818