Bee Friends: Creative Ways to Make a Warm Welcome in North Cheshire

Frodsham Bee Friends have just celebrated their second birthday as a Warm Welcome Space. Bee Friends offer a Warm Welcome Space for people living in Frodsham, a small town in North Cheshire, which has a large population of older people. Their purpose can be summarised in the words of their motto, Bee Friends. It’s about bringing people together; making connections; creating networks. The intention is not to set up new organisations or structures but to serve as a bridge between other local groups and individuals.

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Frodsham Bee Friends was set up in the post-Covid era in response to the pandemic’s impact on local people. Iris Keating, Treasurer and Steering Group Member for Frodsham Bee Friends, says that they recognised a real problem with social isolation, with people feeling trapped in their own homes. It was especially tough for older people, who felt anxious about leaving their homes. In response, Frodsham Bee Friends was set up.

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“We only expected about a dozen people to come along to our weekly coffee mornings. That’s how it started. It grew very quickly,” says Iris.
"Many of the people that love Frodsham Bee Friends worry about the costs of heating their homes. “We know from conversations at the weekly Frodsham Bee Friends sessions that this is a genuine concern.”

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Bee Friends, a registered Warm Welcome Space, were determined to do something to address this. Iris explains that the cost-of-living crisis “has created fear—fear of not being able to pay their bills. Even if they have a reasonable income, they don’t want to turn the heating on because they are so frightened they won’t be able to pay the bills.”

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Bee Creative

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A group within Bee Friends, Bee Creative started in February 2024 with just two or three crafters to a regular twelve members. They are all enthusiastic knitters, sewists, and crocheters. They meet every Thursday within Bee Friends. Thursday is a special “free” day there. Everything is free: tea, coffee, biscuits, and warmth. And every fourth Thursday they offer all of this and a wholesome soup lunch with cheese and fruit. For some, this is the only hot meal people will have all day.

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Keeping Warm Day

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Bee Creative had a brilliant idea; they wanted to have a Keeping Warm Day. They decided that they would like to produce a gift for each person attending Bee Friends, a gift that would help them keep warm. So, they started to craft hats, gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, mug cosies, and socks They produced 80 of these!

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The first Keeping Warm day took place in November 2024.

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“On the Keeping Warm day, everyone who came through the door was given a raffle ticket. And attached to the raffle ticket was a special knitted gift for everyone—all of the 80 guests! It was unbelievable. I can’t tell you the huge impact that it had on people. It was humbling to witness. People kept saying, ‘is this for me to take home?’ It was beautiful, and each gift had a label on it saying, ‘this has been knitted for you with love; please enjoy it and keep warm.’ We spent our time together talking about keeping warm over hot chocolate, with cream and marshmallows of course!”

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Guest feedback has been humbling; one guest reported that being part of Frodsham Bee Friends has “saved my life.”

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Top Tips for Keeping Warm

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Bee Friends had been gifted with hard copies Winterwise, a book created by the excellent Independent Age, packed with top tips and a range of advice and support under the headings of staying warm, staying safe, and staying well. It is an invaluable resource and includes details, for example, of the relative energy use of appliances in the home, how you can make your home more energy efficient, and the importance of eating well. It even includes a section on keeping active, complete with simple exercises. It was very well received, and everyone took home a copy.

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Everyone had a wonderful morning and loved it.

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Warm Welcome Week

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The Keeping Warm session was so successful that they want to do it all again!

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“That’s why we are so excited for Warm Welcome Week! We haven’t got time to knit another 80 items, but we have had donated warming socks for everyone all wrapped up with sweeties inside. We are having a day of chair exercises, healthy snacks, and hand massage, and we are calling it Cheer Up Thursday. We are going to wear the cheery colours of red, pink, orange and purple”

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Cheer Up Thursday will take place on 23 January 2025, during Warm Welcome Week, which is also the Cheshire Libraries Well Being week. On that day there will be special displays in the Frodsham library, handily close to the Parish Hall where Bee Friends meet. So Bee Frienders will be signposted to the library and library users to Bee Friends. It’s going to be another fun day.

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