What are Warm Hubs?

WRCC Warm Hubs are warm, safe, inclusive places where residents can expect a friendly welcome and refreshments all year round – they’re not just for winter!

People can come along on their own, or with a friend, and enjoy talking to others over a hot drink and biscuits/cake or maybe a hot meal. They can get practical tips and advice on saving energy costs and keeping safe and warm at home, and be signposted to other support organisations as may be needed. WRCC officially endorses and certifies these community-led events and activities in Warwickshire and Solihull.

Some hubs run weekly events, some run twice weekly and others also run monthly events. We’re also starting to work with existing hubs with a range of events and activities, to help them provide more support to their communities as accredited Warm Hubs.

Young girl with a black apron standing in front of tables and chairs with people eating and drinking in a hall

Warm Hubs can focus on running lunch or breakfast clubs, community cafes or cooking sessions, craft or community shed activities, board games or bingo event, seated pilates or indoor curling sessions, after school clubs or meetups for carers – or a combination of many other activities aimed at many different attendees. The events are community led and therefore the hub organiser and their team can free to concentrate on what best suits their local community’s needs. It’s a very flexible model, but its essence can be summed up in this quote from Salford Priors Warm Hub:

“The Warm Hub is a community asset, somewhere residents of all ages can go to enjoy the company of others. It’s an ideal meeting place for those that are feeling lonely or who are suffering with the cost of living crisis. Whilst the hub provides a warm, friendly and welcoming space, it also benefits mental wellbeing. It has forged new friendships and offers energy, fire safety and other advice to the community”. 

Benefits of beoming a permanent accredited WRCC Warm Hub include: set up advice; connecting hubs with community partners and support groups, as well as with each other; access to energy saving, home safety and cost of living support; village hall advice (via Halls Together), directory listing on WRCC website; support with funding applications and more. Membership is of course free. During Winter 2022-23 and again in 2023-24 we’ve also provided additional Winter Warmth materials, such as heated throws, wearable blankets, slow cookers and thermos flasks to our 14 permanent accredited Warm Hubs, to distribute to vulnerable residents.

Following the success of our first Warm Hubs Workshop in September 2023, we’re delighted that even more many organisations and community groups are coming together to help our  Warm Hubs initiative. WRCC is working closely with organisations like Citizens Advice, Act on Energy, Better Housing Better Health, Fire and Rescue, the NHS and the British Red Cross and many others to get advisers and support out to even more of our hubs to help people.

During Winter 2023-24, WRCC again expanded its network to include seasonal Winter Warm Hubs, with 84 hubs in our network. Hubs could apply for a Winter Warm Hub grant of up to £500 to target social isolation and the cost of living crisis, and we also provided each hub with free energy and resource advice packs and carbon monoxide alarms. To support organisers and volunteers, we also offered a range of free online training, ranging from Community Energy Champion sessions. run by National Energy Action, to Promoting your Hub, run by WRCC Warm Hubs.

WRCC has received considerable interest from hubs looking to become members of our network, and we’re currently looking to more than double our permanent all year round Warm Hubs up to a maximum of 30. As well as continuing to build more outreach support at hubs this year, we’ll be running more sustainable food and cooking projects, plus looking at ways to tackle digital exclusion and provide more community transport support to our rural communities.

Digital inclusion courses

As part of our Winter Warm Hubs initiative in 2023-24, thanks to funding from WCC, we organised digital skills courses run by CWCDA at the following locations:

  • Henley Community Library
  • Hill Street Community Centre, Rugby
  • Ken Kennett Centre/Lavender Gardens, Stratford upon Avon
  • Lillington Community Pantry
  • Luddington Village Hall
  • Shipston Warm Hub (Stour Health and Wellbeing Partnership)
  • Warwick Methodist Church

Courses ran for six sessions, except for at Shipston and Warwick where there was additional interest to support running two further sessions.  Flyers were created by CWCDA and WRCC  and were used to promote sessions at venues by local community organisers, in local newsletters (Henley and Luddington) and also on Facebook.

CWCDA brought laptops for attendees to use in sessions and people were encouraged to bring their own digital devices as well.  Attendees were also offered resource folders with a range of energy and home safety advice, materials and support information from WCC and other community partners, and carbon monoxide alarms supplied by Cadent.

Findings included:

  • Building people’s confidence was essential – some of those needing reassurance and support were surprised to find they knew more than they thought
  • Lack of confidence was also felt to be a barrier preventing more people from coming to sessions, as some may be overwhelmed by digital technology (“it’s not for me”)
  • Advice on smartphones was the most common request, followed by tablets and laptops (except for Warwick, where more of a mix of devices was used by the group)
  • Courses helped people recognise similarities between using different digital devices, rather than focusing on the differences
  • Popular topics included: downloading apps (particularly the NHS app); booking doctor’s appointments; using devices to keep in touch with family; doing online shopping; searching for jobs, writing and uploading CVs; avoiding scams and staying safe online; connecting to wifi; setting up, using and deleting emails; using Word; backing up information; calling and messaging via WhatsApp; and using Facebook and Marketplace
  • “Learn my Way” worked well for those wanting to progress with their digital knowledge
  • Due to the range of needs, tutors felt courses were more suited to smaller sized groups so that more support could be given as required
  • Feedback from attendees and local organisers was very positive. Several would have liked to continue and felt that many more people could have benefited from attending these courses
  • Courses helped to support social interaction (face to face and online) and to enable those affected by the cost of living to access relevant websites, advice and materials
  • Supportive environments such as Warm Hubs could potentially be “safe spaces” to continue to encourage people to learn more about digital skills

The following comment from an attendee summed up the feedback received from participants:

“This was a very enjoyable and informative course.  It has enabled me to start filling in gaps in my knowledge of computing … hopefully this could be repeated in due course.”

And local organisers, as at Warwick Methodist Church, appreciated the courses too:

“It has been an absolute pleasure in hosting these sessions.  The mix of phones, tablets and laptops alongside a mix of user knowledge and technology confidence made the sessions quite challenging, however Danielle led the sessions well and everyone felt part of the group, with each having their own aims supported.  It has been a job well done!”

For further information about digital skills courses, or any other Warm Hubs activities and support, please email warmhubs@wrccrural.org.uk.