Stepping into The Well Community Centre in London's Newham on a bleak, rainy morning, the immediate sense was that this place served as the vital pulse of the local area. This safe haven, operated by the Bonny Downs Community Association, provides crucial support for vulnerable residents through various initiatives.
A Community Lifeline in Challenging Times
With programmes including a Food Club on Tuesdays, a Food Bank on Wednesdays, and a Family Hub on Thursdays, The Well Community Centre offers essential assistance that many struggling individuals can only hope for. Stacey Cordery, Co-Director at Bonny Downs Community Association, explains the comprehensive support available.
"We provide a place where people can come and have a free hot meal," says Cordery. "We run food banks, food clubs, and family hubs. And dotted around that is really key advice — key advice such as energy efficiency, how to be registered onto the priority service register, and how to keep yourself safe from carbon monoxide poisoning."
The community centre also addresses wider issues including welfare support, debt management, domestic violence assistance, substance abuse services, and advocacy particularly aimed at the over-65 community.
Introducing Warm Wash Centres
Now, the community centre has expanded its services through a collaboration with Cadent Gas, the UK's largest gas distribution company, to introduce Warm Wash Centres. These facilities allow those dealing with mould and damp issues in their homes, along with individuals struggling with soaring energy bills during the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis, to do their laundry completely free of charge.
A Mother's Decades-Long Struggle
Amarjit Kaur, a mother of five who has lived in her Newham home for 35 years, recently began using the Warm Wash Centre and shared her profound challenges with maintaining a healthy living environment.
"I've lived all my life here, I was born here in this area and I live in a 3-bedroom house," explains Amarjit. "In the past, in my life, I've had very bad hardships and I've struggled financially. But I kept on top of everything after my divorce — my children and everything. I did what needed to be done, and I stood up for myself and my children."
Currently working two part-time jobs while managing health issues including a frozen shoulder and arthritis in her foot, Amarjit continues to face significant difficulties.
"Now, I'm in charge of all the bills, mortgage, everything," she says. "I struggle to put the heating on because I can't afford to put the heating on — because I know I'll get an extra 30, 40, 50 pounds on the bill, which I haven't got to give. I've struggled to pay my bills, I'm already in debt anyway, so I don't want to be in more debt."
The Persistent Problem of Damp and Mould
Amarjit describes the ongoing battle with damp and mould that has plagued her home for decades, affecting both her and her children's health and wellbeing.
"The struggles I've been having are in the home and I've had them all my life," she reveals. "It's damp, mould, condensation. We've had so much damp and mould coming every winter, it's mostly the winter. My kids struggled in their bedrooms, they were little then. Even now most of my kids have grown up and flown the nest, I still get the mould, I get damp and I have to wipe it down."
The constant maintenance required to manage the problem takes both physical and emotional tolls. "Every time I have to wipe it down. I put the heating on sometimes, but the black and dampness is still there in the morning. I feel that I'm just breathing it all in," Amarjit explains. "It's not nice. But I've lived with that all my life. My children have lived with it. I'm still living with it. I think it's just part of my life now, it's been there all my life and I think it always will be."
Practical Support Through Community Initiatives
Initiatives like the Warm Wash Centres provide crucial practical support for vulnerable households like Amarjit's, offering some relief from their daily burdens.
"For me personally, the Warm Wash Centre will help with the drying," says Amarjit. "I have a washing machine at home. It's the drying that's a concern for me because I have to put my clothes on the bannister, on the door, on the heaters if they're warm and in use. I feel that creates condensation as well because you're not drying your clothes properly. And I can't put them out cause it's raining or it's cold outside. So for me this Warm Wash Centre will personally help me to come and dry my clothes here. Some community people may not even have a washing machine at home, so for them, it will help them even more."
Expanding Support Across the UK
The rollout of these Warm Wash Centres, funded by Cadent Gas in partnership with relevant charities, has already begun across London, Birmingham, Leicester, and Liverpool, with several more locations due to open soon. The initiative aims to provide urgent support to vulnerable households by offering washing, drying, and warm facilities across ten of the UK's most deprived areas.
As part of the Centres for Warmth initiative, specialist engineers have received training to identify signs of damp in households. Through home visits, these engineers not only identify existing problems but also refer vulnerable households to available support from charity partners to improve their living conditions.
The Reality of Vulnerable Households
Earl Richards, a Technical Manager at Cadent who witnesses the reality of vulnerable households firsthand, shares concerning observations from home visits.
"During home visits, we often see serious damp and mould linked to broken or unsafe heating systems," says Richards. "In some cases, the damage has been that severe that ceilings and internal structures have been affected by long-term moisture. An instance that really impacted me was seeing one gentleman using his bathroom to do his washing and drying as it was the only place in his home that was warm because his boiler wasn't working and he had no proper heating."
Health Impacts and Community Response
The real-time impact of these Warm Wash Centres extends beyond practical assistance to addressing serious health concerns within the community.
"We've had some families whose children's asthma has been heightened because of mould and damp in the home," explains Stacey Cordery. "We've had parents telling us stories of continuously wiping down condensation and bleaching around the window frames because of mould. We've had parents tell us about landlords that just won't fix these issues in the property and it's really causing detriment to their health, their living environment and their children's health as well."
Newham, where The Well Community Centre operates, represents one of the UK's poorest boroughs, with many families living in particularly challenging circumstances.
"Our Centre for Warmth is in Newham which is one of the poorest boroughs in the UK and so we are faced daily with families that are living, almost what I would call, below the breadline," says Cordery. "They can't afford to put their heating on, they are using food banks or even that they are having to make that choice of not putting money on the electric key so that they can go to the shop and feed their family or themselves."
The free initiative provides meaningful relief for struggling households. "Having this free initiative through our community is just a real relief for people to know that they can come and use our washing machine and our dryer and save that bit of really precious money to be able to put back into their budget for the week," Cordery adds. "It's been great that people have a place where they can come, they can do their washing and they can dry it — knowing that it's not going to be any cost to them, nor is it going to cause any health issues in the home and in their properties."
The Well Community Centre and these Warm Wash Centres represent crucial support systems for vulnerable residents, offering practical assistance and community connection during particularly challenging times.
