Campaign Director David Barclay reflects on our first Warm Welcome Week

Warm Welcome at its core is all about building a movement for community and connection, and Warm Welcome Week felt like an exciting moment of really seeing this movement come to life.

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At the heart of everything is of course the local Warm Welcome Spaces, and so seeing them taking on the colour theme and being so creative with it was really wonderful and heart-warming to see.

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But it was also hugely energising to see so many of our regional and national partners getting involved with Warm Welcome Week. Whether it was Local Authorities and library networks using the opportunity to showcase what was happening in their area, our Founding Patron Gordon Brown visiting his local Spaces and writing about it in the Mirror, or businesses volunteering in Warm Welcome Spaces and running colourful activities for their staff, the way that the Week was able to mobilise so many different kinds of people and organisations was incredibly exciting, and bodes well for the future of the Week and the Campaign more broadly.

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And finally, for the Warm Welcome Team itself, the Week was a brilliant opportunity for us to get out into local Spaces and remind ourselves what it’s all about. From Barnstable to Kirkcaldy our small but mighty team got stuck into all kinds of activities, and so came out the Week both understandably tired but also hugely fired up for our long-term mission to make sure that everyone in the country has access to thriving community spaces.

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This work matters deeply to us, and Warm Welcome Week was a lovely reminder of that which has brought us even closer together as a team.

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