Reverend Canon Dr Jennifer Smith with her husband Keith Riglin, the Bishop of Oban
A CHURCH in the south of the borough has flung open its doors for those unable to get warm this winter.
Open most days, Wesley’s Chapel in Bunhill is now operating as a dedicated “warm space” two days a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.
“It’s for anybody – you don’t have to be someone who has crossed the threshold of a church before. You don’t have to talk to people, you know you can relax and no one will hassle you,” said Reverend Canon Dr Jennifer Smith, superintendent at the chapel.
According to Revd Smith, increasing numbers of people in Bunhill are living in precarious situations.
“I think what’s different for us is that we’re seeing many more people at risk who are employed, who are stable renters or [have] mortgages and have not thought of themselves before as being in need,” she said. “We are seeing parents who thought they were doing OK suddenly not able to meet their bills.”
The church is also running a warm coat swap outside the chapel, Revd Smith said.
“They’re going as fast as they’re coming in – it shows people really do want to help each other,” she said.
The church congregation are also “pooling their £400 government energy bill supplements to help each other to pay utility bills.
“They’re not interested in what you believe, they just don’t want anyone to be cold,” Revd Smith said. “In Bunhill, it’s interesting because we have some estates where people have low incomes and lots of challenges, and right by that we have a lot of very high income and expensive housing
“Even people living in high rent or private housing – that can hide poverty.”
Revd Smith added that many people living on estates with communal heating systems were about to have their heating slashed by several hours during the day.
“We’re really concerned for those with care needs who are at home during those hours without heat,” she said.
“We would say: involve your community to find other ways of addressing the shortfall that you have. We don’t want to balance the budgets on the backs of the weakest among us.
“We’re not looking for a fight – we just want people to be warm, that’s all. We just want warmth.”
Revd Smith said the church was also looking for volunteers to help run the warm space. Opened in 1778, Wesley’s has long been rooted in the community.
“Sadly you think the poverty of this neighbourhood would ebb, but it’s remained remarkably durable,” she said.
Wesley’s Chapel is one of many warm spaces operating across Islington, including St Luke’s Community Centre and Elizabeth House Community Centre in Highbury.
The “warm space” initiative comes against a backdrop of spiralling energy and food costs, as families become the worst-hit by the cost of living crunch of any wealthy G7 countries.
Meanwhile, oil and gas giants continue to announce record-breaking profits, with BP revealing last week it had made £7.1billion between July and September, more than doubling its profits for the same period last year.
In a bid to fill a huge £50billion hole in the UK budget, chancellor Jeremy Hunt is likely to increase the levy on energy profits from 25 per cent to 30 per cent.
