Maghull’s Cosy Club Warm Space Initiative celebrated Christmas in heart-warming style last Monday afternoon in the Venue Suite at Maghull town Hall, with over 70 residents and over ten staff and volunteers. It involved a Christmas meal, amazing musical entertainment and much more, but the most important ingredient was warm social contact and friendship.
The Friends of Maghull & District (FOMD) successfully applied for a £3110 grant from Sefton CVS to establish a warm space that we call the Cosy Club. It Comprises of 14 Monday afternoons sessions between 13:00 hours and 16:00 hours. The afternoon offers an opportunity to not only be in a warm space but an opportunity to socialise, have a warm meal (courtesy of Kelly in The Venue), play games, and to be entertained whether it be music from Maghull Community Radio and bingo (courtesy of Ian), amazing singing from Amy, or saxophonist music (courtesy of Kevin at MTC).
Phil Dillon (MTC Community Service Manager and FOMD member) has been instrumental in leading on this project and has done an incredible job to pull this altogether, with the support of other staff and between five and nine motivational volunteers.
A measure of the success has been the number of people who have attended often ranging between 40 and 50, making it one of the more successful Sefton warm spaces in the borough according to a recent meeting with Sefton CVS. In recent weeks, the session has amalgamated with the very successful morning session entitled Cooking on a Budget, organised by the inspiring Sheryl from The Roy Evans Foundation.
It is a complete joy to witness the relaxed, friendly and social atmosphere of those attending, which we suspect is a godsend for those who may have limited social contact.
The Christmas Cosy Club was the 6 of 14 sessions. However, the sessions are not undertaken in isolation, as Sefton CVS have published many of their organised events across the borough and there is a list of other voluntary agencies in Maghull and beyond that offer a similar service at other times of the week.
In addition, Phil has organised (1) the annual MTC delivery of Christmas hampers to local residents and has organised (2) the Christmas shop window competition, which will be announced on Thursday by the Mayor of Maghull.
If you would like to be involved or need more information please contact:
Pictured: Phil (1L), Kellie (3L. Venue Manager and Chef extraordinaire despite not feeling hundred percent) and the amazing volunteers. Not pictured are Jane and Sheryl (who had literally gone the extra mile to drive some local residents’ home).
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from:
Maghull Town Council
The Friends of Maghull & District
The Roy Evans Foundation
The Venue
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