The three Labour ward councillors for Ramsgate’s Eastcliff have put their remaining Ramsgate Town Council ward grant funding into a project at St Luke’s Church to help residents keep warm this winter.
The £1,600 will go to support a weekly Warm Space initiative at the church in St Luke’s Avenue, Ramsgate, where people can come together for up to five hours each Thursday, avoiding the need to heat their homes.
Reverend Paul Worledge said: “We at St. Luke’s are very grateful to our local Eastcliff ward councillors for their generous donation of £1,600 towards the heating of the church for our Warm Space initiative.
“Since last summer a dedicated group of volunteers have welcomed people from the community into the St Luke’s building from 10am-11:30am on Thursdays for tea and coffee, some cake and a chat.
“This initiative, called ‘Cafe4All’ has been a great success, with many people joining us for this community event and relaxing on the comfortable seating at the west end of the church building.
“As part of the Warm Space initiative, we have made the decision to extend Cafe4All and keep the church heated and open for longer on Thursdays, so that local residents can relax in a warm comfortable environment, while not worrying about the cost of heating their homes during the day.
“The church is now open until 3pm on Thursdays and anyone is welcome to come into the church and stay for as long as they like. We hope that this will help be a key part in the wider warmer spaces initiative in Ramsgate.”
Eastcliff councillors Steve Albon, Helen Crittenden and Corinna Huxley, each have a small amount of money from council funds to give as grants to help local groups or individuals in their wards.
Previously allocations have helped local gardening groups buy plants or small tools, and set up litter picking groups, However, with the cost of living crisis biting deeper as we head into winter, they agreed to pool their remaining funds to help towards the cost of providing a warm space for local residents.
Cllr Crittenden said: “When we heard that St Luke’s were extending their opening times on a Thursday to provide an open space for anyone who needed somewhere to go to keep warm during the day it was the obvious choice to support them.
“This is just one small piece of the jigsaw of helping our community face the cost of living crisis that is causing so much financial uncertainty this winter.”
The councillors have recently moved their monthly surgery to St Luke’s on the third Thursday morning of the month, since their previous venue closed.
They would welcome anyone to come along and have a chat, whether that is a particular problem they want help in resolving or just generally discuss issues in and around Eastcliff ward.
