No One Alone: Stories

Chatter Café

Kilburn Corps has created a welcoming environment for individuals to socialise over a hot drink. Similarly at Bangor Corps, a lady came along to a coffee morning and now feels included and her feelings of loneliness have lifted.

Memory Café

Alongside creating an official role of Community Engagement Lead, Regent Hall has opened a Memory Café. This is aimed at individuals living with dementia to come to a creative space and socialise. It also gives an opportunity for carers to meet and support each other. These people have all been recognised as the most vulnerable to the impacts of loneliness and isolation. The work at Regent Hall is vital both to individuals living with dementia and to their carers, to help alleviate the impacts of the condition.

Wellbeing Lounge

Renew Wellbeing is a Christian organisation managing a network of wellbeing lounges all around the UK. In Harwich, The Salvation Army works in partnership with other churches running the Harwich Wellbeing Lounge. It offers a space once a week for people to reflect and pray. Recently they made model clay hearts to hang in the local area to spread positivity and hope.

‘One of our ladies is in her 80s,’ says Lieutenant Victoria Moye. ‘The first week she came, she just observed. The next week she sat next to someone and taught them how to play Mahjong. This past week she had nearly the whole table playing it.’ 

Friends on Friday 

Wrexham Corps leads weekly Bible-based activities and discussions as well as organising social gatherings. Some of the attendees now attend Sunday worship and feel included in the corps through their Warm Welcome initiative and Friends on Friday group.

Singing by Heart 

Bangor Corps signposts people to a local nursing home where Singing by Heart is run every month. The group aims to provide space for people experiencing dementia and their carers to come and connect with each other through music. The people who attend have been identified as most at risk of suffering from loneliness and isolation, and therefore the programme is important to facilitate connections. 

Starfish 

Starfish is run by Salvation Army representatives across the UK and Ireland in primary and secondary schools. The programme focuses on reaching out to young people who need additional wellbeing support. Starfish mentors give young people the opportunity to have open conversations with the ultimate aim of building their confidence and enabling them to reach their full potential. 

enabled provides spiritual and social fellowship for anyone with a disability and their carers. A key message of the group is that it is open for anyone from any age or background. The group has multiple events throughout the year including its Summer School of Arts and the Music Man project.

Volunteers and enabled members are linked and are regularly in contact with each other either by phone call or messaging. Social media is also used for enabled members and carers to share prayer requests and to offer each other support through the challenges they are facing.

Family Days

Shotts Corps Family Days have brought local families together. In 2022, Shotts Corps organised a family trip to Edinburgh Zoo, with funding obtained from the local council so that families attended free of charge. In the past, the corps arranged a pantomime trip for which the corps officer undertook a sponsored cycle ride to raise funds. The initiative allows parents and children to connect and support one another.