Hucknall church starts wellbeing café to support community following the pandemic

A church in Hucknall has started a weekly wellbeing café to support members of the local community in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

St Mary Magdalene Church opens its doors between 1pm and 3pm every Thursday and has done so for the last couple of months.

Phil Aldred, a member of the church, who helped initiate the wellbeing café said: "We began to be concerned that there might be a lot of people in our community who were isolating, have been locked away for a year or more, or were frightened, depressed, anxious, bereaved, upset, or even angry at what had happened.

"We began to wonder how the church should respond to these people and we began to meet and think and pray about it. And this came about in our minds that we would open up the church once a week for a couple of hours between one and three on a Thursday, and it would just be somewhere that people could come and have coffee and cake and a chat."

"We had some training because it turns out we're not the only ones who'd had these thoughts. There is an organisation, a charity called Renew Wellbeing based in West Bridgford and is now a nationwide thing. Churches all over the country have set up this sort of thing and they provided some online training for us."

The church offers a range of activities for people to do when they visit the wellbeing café such as jigsaw puzzles, board games and arts and crafts. This gives a more relaxed and informal feel which is what the organisers are aiming for.

There is very much a culture of it's ok not to be ok and whilst there are people to talk to, the church recognises that some people who visit may wish to seek further support. There is a table that has useful contact information of support services on it so that if they feel it necessary, people can take them away with them.

Mr Aldred added: "We don't pretend to have all the answers but we can signpost people; we feel it's meeting a need."

The Vicar of the church, The Reverend Helen Chantry said: "I'm really pleased that we've started Renew Wellbeing at St Mary Magdalene. It's been a really good thing. I think it's really important within our town which is a great place to live, great place to be but actually most of us have a time when we're feeling pretty rubbish.

"And 1-3 on a Thursday afternoon come down to St Mary Magdalene join us, have a cup of tea/coffee, sit and chat, play a game, do some colouring, whatever you like to do, or just come and sit with other people who are also feeling grumpy or fed up or sad or whatever, and you will be made really really welcome."