‘Energy bills tripled to £54k A YEAR’: fears for vital Wigan community centres helping those on shoestring budgets

One of the borough’s biggest centres is Fur Clemt, a local term for “very hungry”, which now has a massive annual energy bill of around £54,000, driven up by the cost of living crisis. In a sector that relies heavily on donations, volunteers and grant funding – it means a lot of their time is taken up organising their finances to stay afloat.

Katie Brittain, director of the Montrose Avenue site in the heart of one of the most deprived areas of Wigan, claims that she started the venture with mum Shirley with the intention of not being needed in a few years time. More than 10 years later and they have expanded into what is much more than just a food pantry – Fur Clemt also offers health check ups and spaces for multiple community and mental health groups.

Katie believes they are taking pressure off frontline services, as without them people in need would be at the mercy of hospital trusts and the council. The idea behind the community centres is to help resolve problems at their root cause rather than just “paper over the cracks”.

“We’re in the middle of three of the most deprived areas of Wigan with high rates of diabetes and suicide,” Katie said. “We’re in the perfect place to offer support.

“We feel it is our duty to make sure this community is looked after. The increase in bills is having a massive impact on us.

“We would have liked to have done multiple other things but now we have rooms that aren’t being used as we don’t want that added cost (of heating them).

“We have to be careful about what we offer now. We have to design it with the community in mind and what they are asking for.

“We have a few staff members but run mainly on volunteers. Rising costs mean we are having to sit in the dark for some of our meetings, we don’t put lights on in the morning, unplugging freezers in the shop as we don’t want running costs. Then we are getting more frozen foods we want to give out to the community.

“We are lucky to get council support and from local businesses but it is really tough. Costs have tripled and for this building are about £54,000 a year.

“The only way we can survive is by putting in grants. But the problem with grants is that they take us away from our day jobs.

“Every grant I do I am not supporting someone coming in with a crisis. We are doing everything, we are the HR, we are doing the Facebook page as well as managers.”

Once funding bids are in, there is no guarantee of success or immediate decisions. This money helps to maintain what has become an anchor in this community.

Everything Fur Clemt does works to be eco-friendly and reduce food waste, with 800 tonnes of food being saved annually, the 35-year-old explained. The wrap-around service provides everything the community is in need of from a trusted organisation.

“We have the NHS and other services on site and they come to that because there is no barrier of a hospital or the GP surgery,” Katie added. “We are also saving over 800 tonnes of food waste that comes through the door each year.

“Our values were always about saving food from landfill, it underpins everything else. We didn’t want people coming in thinking it was just a food bank because we think the stigma puts people off.

“So everyone uses us, we have doctors, nurses coming through the doors. That means that when you walk through the door no one knows what you’re coming for, you could be coming to see your children or a health test or a free food parcel.”

The service is both give and take, with many in the area giving back to the centre as volunteers – which they are always happy to take on. Clive Gregory has been involved in Fur Clemt for five months after his daughter Rachael, who is deaf and autistic, found purpose there.

“She has settled in very well and now we come in every Thursday as volunteers. She is very keen to come here, which is not always the case for her.

“It gives her a sense of purpose. We have struggled to find anywhere that was willing to take her as a volunteer.

“She is settled, enjoys herself and has a purpose.”

Rita Skett, another volunteer, has been at Fur Clemt since the beginning and believes this role gives her duty and responsibility in retirement.

“I enjoy being with the people here and we stop food going to land full,” the 76-year-old said. “I couldn’t believe what gets thrown away, people behind the scenes (working on this) are brilliant. We did something in the parish church for a month to deal with this, Shirley did the cooking.

“It gives me pride to be part of this. It is better than doing nothing at home if you can help someone.”

Keeping community centres like this is vital for many in the local area, which has been recognised by Wigan Council with Coun Chris Ready calling on the government to give more support. Just like Fur Clemt, other hubs in the borough are struggling to keep up with their bills meaning they reduce the usage of heating and lights.

This is a real concern in the run up to winter where demand is expected to rise, especially as the council gave out more than 3,400 food parcels in August, Coun Ready told the last town hall meeting.

Coun Ready, portfolio holder for Communities and Neighbourhoods at Wigan Council, said: “Our community hubs are at the centre if all we do is our wards. We support our communities financially and advice and funding streams.

“Our volunteers are the beating heart of our estates and we value them 110 per cent.”

As many as 80 warm hubs were set up last winter, welcoming on average 200 people a week to have a place to go for warmth and socialisation. But with soaring energy bills, that number is in danger of becoming smaller this winter, Coun Ready warned.

One of those is St James’s Church in Poolstock, which provides a food pantry service as well as a cafe and community groups. Just like many other churches in the borough, they have opened their doors to those in need and continue to do so through the help of council and local businesses such as Heinz, Hovis, M&S, Coop, Bents Garden centre, Windy Harbour (farm shop), Food Warehouse and Sainsburys.

Officially called St James with St Thomas, the latter provides the namesake of Tom’s Pantry – which offers basic necessities for locals. However, they are always on the lookout for donations as demand increases – meaning sometimes they can run out of stock.

Tracy, the pantry lead, was living in Cambridge before moving to WIgan after finding herself homeless and on the breadline. She now gives back to the community that saved her and her daughter – it gives locals comfort in knowing that she has been in their shoes.

“There were only 100 members previously, but now, in the last few months we have 250 because things have got much worse,” Tracy said. “I used to be able to shop when I was broke for £30 a week, now you can’t get the basics for that.

“It’s not living, it is surviving, it’s a crying shame in this country. There is too much blame and not enough action currently.

“We’re recycling the food and the money all the time. I don’t want people to think we’re making money from this. We use anything extra for petrol and food – sometimes we even get food from the shop if we’re desperate.

“I really believe that being in a church gives people more sense of a community. It gives people a little more hope just in humanity.

“That’s what we are all about, not getting people into church on Sundays but that everyday is a good day to praise the Lord and the people who give their time and talents to show their love of their neighbourhood. That we offer not just food, but community and knowledge that they are not alone.”

Geoff Birch, a volunteer at the church, added: “There are days when people have nowhere to go because these places can’t be open every day. Because of the bills, we don’t put anything on, we will have to soon.

“We can’t afford to pay for heating and lighting. We don’t normally put it on.

“It will get colder so we will have to start putting on the heating more, and nobody is paid really, it is basically all volunteers.”

St James’s is part of LIFTED, a scheme run by the Deanery Trust, where a number of churches act as community centres and food pantries across Wigan. Members pay a small fee monthly in order to get access to weekly food parcels.

The teams at both Fur Clemt and St James’s are two of many community centres in Wigan that face tough decisions in their organisations this winter. In order to keep lights and heating on, they may have to sacrifice other areas in which they support the community.

If these places were to close, there is nowhere for those in need left to go – currently they provide the last line of defence for locals.