Family Welfare is fit for the future
Six months on from moving to our new base in Leigh at Wigan & Leigh College, the future of Family Welfare is looking incredibly exciting and bright.
We are slowly opening up the spaces in our new building and colleagues are gradually returning to the office. Our new home brings with it lots of new resources and opportunities. It represents a real wave of change in our organisation.
Rethinking our remit
Another aspect of this change is the name of our charity organisation. Relocating prompted us to think differently about the services we offer and the people we serve. To reflect the geographical areas we work in, Wigan Churches Association for Family Welfare has officially changed its name to Wigan and Leigh Churches Association for Family Welfare.
Our new working name is Family Welfare.
Investors in People
The Family Welfare team was delighted to be awarded Investors in People status earlier this year. Assessors reported strongly positive feedback in meetings with our counsellors, advocates, administrators and volunteers.
Our ethos is to support the community by working as a community. This recognition shows that everyone in our organisation embraces our ethos. The way the whole team pulled together and mobilised at the start of the pandemic, to ensure seamless service delivery, is just one example of this.
Young people’s café opening soon
We operate from the first floor of the Adult Learning Centre in Leigh where our spaces are decorated with vibrant, thought provoking artwork created by young people at The Turnpike arts organisation in Leigh. During the school holidays, students attending The Turnpike produced more artworks for the new café area.
Young people told us they would like a safe place to meet and socialise with friends and we are proud to be able to deliver on their request. Our café will be open as soon as possible at the start of the autumn school term!
Students will be able to visit for breakfast before morning lessons, throughout the day between classes, and after school for Homework Club. Families will also be welcome to visit and while away an hour with friends. The café will be run by youth workers seconded to Family Welfare and a variety of meals and snacks will be on the menu.
Our new building allows us to work more collaboratively and offer valuable services to the community. Families and young people now have welcoming and comfortable areas where they can talk openly to counsellors and get easy access to parental support services.
Introducing Daniel Perks
On 2nd August our new Operations Manager, Daniel Perks, joined the Family Welfare family.
He will be responsible for the day-to-day running and maintenance of the building, including the café, as well as aspects of finance and administration. Daniel will also be your contact if you wish to discuss the booking of meeting or event space.
Look out for more from Daniel soon.
Meeting spaces available to hire for local charities and businesses
We have several meeting rooms and spaces for hire, which are completely free to use for registered local family and children’s charities. Businesses and organisations local to Wigan and Leigh are also welcome to use the spaces for a small fee.
Our large community room is suitable for group events, training and workshops. It will be fully air-conditioned and has a private pod for smaller private meetings or breakout activities. The room can be set up in a variety of formats, including theatre, classroom and boardroom style, and can accommodate up to 25 people.
We also have several private counselling rooms, each one a calm and welcoming space, suitable for one-to-one meetings and small group sessions.
Hot desks allow our team to work flexibly and colleagues from partner organisations to join us when they are in the area.
If you’d like to speak to us about meeting room hire, you can contact us at admin@wiganfamilywelfare.co.uk
There’s a lot going on and lots more still to come. Please keep an eye on this blog for future news and updates. In the meantime, we’ve got a café to kit out!