She grew up in the post-war years and brought her children up in the tough economic climate of the 1970s. But pensioner Glennis Hill says life has never felt so hard.
Soaring fuel bills mean the 74-year-old dare not put her bungalow’s radiators on for more than an hour so she has come here – to Gannow Community Centre in Burnley, Lancs – to enjoy some food and company in a heated room.
The centre is one of the venues being supported by our Warm Hearts campaign which is helping fund places signed up to the Warm Welcomes platform, a register of safe spaces across the UK.
Clutching a mug of hot tea, Glennis says: “It’s lovely here, but it’s terrible we need places like this.
"I’ve been getting so cold at night. It’s going to get a lot worse.
“Coming here means you can relax, have a drink or some food and be warm, and you don’t have to rush off.
“I grew up in the days when you wore more clothes to bed than you did in the day.
"We used to put newspaper between the blankets to make the bed warmer. We’re going to be doing it all again.”
On the other side of the room, working mum Danielle Green, 37, is here with her eight-month-old son, Oakley.
They have been keeping cosy and catching up with friends and other mums.
Danielle says: “I had to go back to work when my baby was three months old.
"I’m a teacher but I couldn’t afford to go back – the childcare was more than £600 a month – so I’m doing something else for now. But if you’re working you don’t get any help so you’re stuck.”
Local councillor Charles Biggs, 67, spends his days helping residents and says hardship is everywhere.
He says: “When people come to me for help it’s hard to know what we can do.
“That’s why places like this are so important, we need places where people feel they’re safe and warm.”
Retired scientist Granville Nutter, 68, is another regular here. His wife Barbara, also 68, is in the kitchen, cooking up £2.50 English breakfasts for guests struggling in one of the UK’s most deprived areas.
Granville says: “People shouldn’t have to come out of their homes to stay warm but that’s the situation we’re faced with now.
"But there is a strong sense of community here, providing warm spaces is a part of that and something more and more people are going to need.”
