The Mayor of Glastonbury and member of the Villages Together Group, Jon Cousins, was at the launch of a new warm space in Somerset last week.

The initiative, organised by Homes in Sedgemoor and SHAL Housing, is designed to supply a warm and comfortable venue at Bitham Walk Hall in Woolavington where local people to meet up - as well as bringing the community hall back into proper use.

HiS has arranged with SHAL to promote 'Warm Woolly Wednesdays' to all their customers in Woolavington who are aged over fifty-five and live alone or as a couple.

This first session saw more than thirty people get together for a fish and chip dinner, many of whom have experienced isolation in recent years.

Jon Cousins, from the Villages Together group was also in attendance. Villages Together is looking into the idea of creating a Community Hub for the Polden Hills and is looking at the feasibility of using the Bitham Walk Hall as a base, if it has the support of local people.

Jon said: "Bitham Walk Hall is a brilliant place for us all to come together. It has been lovely to listen to people and gather more information about what we can do in the future."

Peter Beer, HiS Community Champion, and Katie and Nick Alvis, from Bitham Community Coordinators, were on hand, as were representatives from the HiS team. The community group works hard to bring the community together, running popular family bingo sessions, Easter egg hunts and coffee mornings, and opened a Santa's Grotto for local children.

Peter said: "The important thing is to get residents to let us know what they would like us to do for them. It must start somewhere. A lot of what we do is directing people in the right direction to get the help they need."

Linda Hull, from HiS, who ran the initiative said: "This has been a great launch of the Bitham Walk Warm Space and we had a fantastic turnout for the first session! We will be doing these Warm Space sessions every week, supplying a social setting and free activities every Wednesday from 11am-3pm. People seem to have really enjoyed getting together, and it was great to have housing staff on hand. We have plans to invite local agencies and PCSOs to future sessions.

"We would like to thank local takeaway Thinkfish for their support of this first Warm Woolly Wednesday by providing us with some lovely food at a substantial discount."