A Penwortham man who visited one of the warm hubs established across Lancashire last winter to help people struggling to heat their homes says that the experience has given him a new lease of life.
Leslie Eastham told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the decision to drop in to the townâs Kingsfold library, one of the venues offering the service, led to a chance encounter with like-minded locals who have since become firm friends.
His story has emerged as Lancashire County Council launched its warm and welcome spaces programme for a second year, amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. All of the authorityâs libraries will once again take part and a range of community and voluntary sector groups have also signed up to provide a place of sanctuary.
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Leslie, 63, says that by using the hub he escaped not just the cold â but a lifestyle in retirement with which he had become âboredâ.
âIâve got to know about a dozen people here, but there are a couple of chaps who have the same interests as me in old films and cult TV.  Now we go to each otherâs houses a couple of times a week to watch films and old programmes.
âWe all think the same and can really relax with each other, even though there is a bit of an age difference between us.
âI always used to come to the library, but hadnât been for a while â and then I came along one particular afternoon when they had a games group on. I really enjoyed it and soon got into the swing of things, making friends with everybody, including the library staff.
âNow itâs the highlight of my week,â the former Inland Revenue worker said.
Lancashire County Councilâs cabinet member for health and wellbeing, Michael Green, said that Leslieâs experience was not uncommon and showed the broader âpositive benefitsâ of the warm spaces initiative â as well as the worth of the authorityâs libraries.
â[The impact] has been far wider than what we originally set the scheme up for. Friends networks are building up and people are then meeting [separately], going out for a meal or spending Christmas together, things like that.
âAnd our libraries are somewhere thatâs part of the community. People are able to just pop in, have a chat and a cup of tea or coffee and they also have access to courses and groups,â County Cllr Green said.
He added that it âgoes without sayingâ that people are still struggling this year and stressed that the warm hubs were âjust a partâ of the help on offer to Lancashire residents.
âWeâve got things like food support, fuel advice and support, the essential household goods scheme that weâre running and affordable warmth initiatives.
âWeâre also working with district [councils] and Citizens Advice to get greater uptake of benefits, particularly for pensioners. People make contributions their entire life, but sometimes donât claim the benefits that theyâre entitled to.
âWeâve got a dedicated cost-of-living hub, which is something I think is really important, so that people have got a one-stop-shop that they can go to on our website or pop into the local library and get all sorts of advice.â
Applications are now open for community and voluntary groups, as well as parish and town councils, to pitch for grants of up to £500 to establish their own warm space this winter. A total of £72,000 has been made available for the project.
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