It is fabulous acknowledgement of the hard work and support by many people across Warrington, including community project leads, volunteers, funders, local businesses, public donors, trustees, the working committee (led by their dedicated and hard-working Chair, Richard Pearce) and the Hub Management including Kirsty James, featured collecting the award.
Kirsty James is a WBEx member who many know for other event and marketing work. She has played a pivotal role over the last four years helping to set up the charity and manage the site, key stakeholder relationships and many of the project’s events and marketing plans. She helped write the business plan in 2017 to "get the project going" and then pitched to LiveWire and Warrington Borough Council in 2018 to repurpose Lymm Library. Since then, she has coordinated several of the community projects, refitted the building, secured new tenants and recently helped drive the post-Covid rescue plans in 2022.
Kirsty commented,
“I was both shocked and delighted that we won. We’re a very small team and have been under the radar in Warrington for the last four years. However, we have been doing some amazing work. Some will know of the challenges we’ve faced, especially during the pandemic, and perhaps know that it has taken a fair bit of pushy and unrelenting project management, stress and sacrifice on my part too”.
“Thank you to the Warrington Business Awards organisers, committee and judges for recognising our work. Thanks also to so many stakeholders and personal supporters in the Warrington area who have been invaluable along the way”.
For those unaware of the work of LSHBC, please read on or click the link.
About Lymm Sanctuary Hub and Business Centre (LSHBC)
LSHBC was set up in 2018 with a dual remit:
- To serve disadvantaged groups in the South Warrington area; and
- To repurpose the unused space within Lymm Library into offices, meeting rooms and a home for community groups and projects and rescue the library from the threat of closure.
The business centre acts as the trading arm to sell space and business support services. Profits pass to its parent charity (The Sanctuary Hub) who then pays rent to the LiveWire CIC (the Library operator for WBC) and remaining profits are reinvested in community projects, topped up by fundraising and grants it secures.
Not long after winning the bid for the site in 2018 and setting up the community and business hub in 2019 to secure the building’s future, the site was forced into lockdown in March 2020. During lockdown, it became the HQ for the Lymm Covid emergency project. On re-opening in 2021, the site had lost all room hire and hotdesking clients and most of its groups and faced extreme challenges and risk of closure. Management worked tirelessly with multiple stakeholders on several rescue plans throughout 2021-2022. They adjusted the services, restructured the Council agreements, effected an organisational restructure and devised new income streams to prop up community projects and mitigate against increasing costs and energy increases. An agreement was signed July 2022 keeping the Hub, Centre and library open and enabling their community work to continue.
The charity established and/or partners with several core projects including:
- An Affordable Counselling service taking GP referrals;
- A debt and financial advice service;
- Memory Café (support for those affected by dementia);
- IT4All Digital Café (IT skills for the elderly);
- Lymm Meal Scheme;
- Lymm Befriending Service;
- Positive Parenting Classes;
- TasteLife Healthy Eating workshops;
- Ukraine Refugee Settlement Support (including English classes);
- Christmas Gift Scheme for the isolated and financially-challenged; and
- Lymm Environment Action Forum
LSHBC has been instrumental in re-introducing the 0-3 Early Years Health Visitor services at the site and provides a home to Cheshire Wellness and Mental Fitness CIC and various reading, craft, language, wellbeing and hobby groups.
Current projects in planning (directly or via partners):
- Lymm Community, Memorial & Sensory Gardens;
- Bereavement support;
- Support for parents and carers of children and young people with special needs;
- Advice and support about the cost of living, including ways in which to reduce household bills;
- Drop-in sessions run by Warrington support services, e.g. Citizens Advice Warrington;
- Menopause Support; and
- Domestic Abuse support.