Norfolk church opening 'Warm Bank' to help those struggling with energy bills
Wymondham Baptist Church is opening the doors of its free 'Home from Home' scheme from 2pm until 5pm, tomorrow afternoon
A church in Norfolk is opening up, a 'Warm Bank' tomorrow to help those who struggling to afford to heat their own homes.
Wymondham Baptist Church is opening the doors of its free 'Home from Home' scheme from 2pm until 5pm tomorrow, and plan to do the same every Wednesday and Thursday- for the foreseeable future.
"This is affecting working families to the elderly"
Paul Smith is their pastor.
He told us how this all came about:
"It was about by being aware about our community's needs and responding to this crisis, as best we could. The thing that we found surprising was this is every demographic, this is not one group of people- it's across the board. This is affecting working families to the elderly".
"We have approached the local council for support because we ourselves are facing the same issue. Our projected energy costs for next year are ÂŁ10 thousand more than they were this year- we have to find that, because we are self-funded but we are finding that a lot of places are very supportive. Morrisons have stepped forwards and offered refreshments, which is a great help. It's a crisis for us all I think".
"This could initially cost us in the region of ÂŁ1,000 to ÂŁ2,000"
Ray Finch is their secretary and was in charge of putting this all together.
He says the church may need some more support in the future, to keep this all going:
"This could initially cost us in the region of ÂŁ1,000 to ÂŁ2,000. It's difficult to predict what our energy costs will be, what we don't know is how long this is going to go on for. The demand and what we do will determine the finances of all this"