‘Our second home’ : Finishing the data collection for our research into historic churches, Warm Welcome Spaces and wellbeing.

Over the last couple of months, our team have been travelling across the country- from Edinburgh to Devon, London to Leeds, to visit Warm Welcome Spaces that are located in historic buildings, predominately churches. 

We’ve met people from the diversity of communities that the UK has to offer and we’ve heard how much these spaces mean to the local community. We’ve found that not only do Warm Welcome Spaces make a difference because of the people who are there, a friendly welcome always makes an impact, but that the physical building often holds value because of how people have, and continue to interact with it. Whether the building reminds you of someone who’s passed, or has been consistently in the centre of your community, whether it’s been part of your childhood, or you’ve played a role in renovating it, we have heard stories of how historic church buildings hold memories and create moments of interaction and relationship. On our final visit, a lady at a church summed it up well: ‘It’s lovely here,’ she said, ‘coming into the church is comfort, it’s peace. I am not alone.’

Alongside our visits and conversations, we’re so thankful for the 153 people who responded to our survey asking about their experience of coming along to a Warm Welcome Space. Our analysis so far shows that those visitors who came to a Warm Welcome Space in a heritage building reported a greater difference, on average, between how they felt before they came to the space and since coming to the space. A higher proportion of those visiting heritage Warm Welcome Spaces as opposed to modern Warm Welcome Spaces said that the space made them happier and gave them a sense of belonging. In contrast, a higher proportion of those visiting modern Warm Welcome Spaces said the space gave them a sense of pride in their local community and made their community stronger. 

Over the summer, we look forward to delving further into our findings. Keep an eye out for our report, churches booklet and policy briefing in the autumn!

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