THE first of what is planned to be a network of winter warm refuges opened its doors in Wellington yesterday, (Thursday).

Wellington Baptist Church will be open every Thursday through to next April from 9.30 am to 7 pm for anybody to stay and keep warm and to have a free cooked lunch and supper.

The town council hopes to fund more refuges in centres across Wellington which would be open on different days of the week.

It has already agreed to give more than £3,000 to the Baptist Church to cover the cost of purchasing food for its patrons.

Yesterday’s opening saw a slow start, which Baptist Minister the Rev Sam Griffiths said was ‘entirely expected’.

Mr Griffiths said: “With anything new there is some uncertainty about everything, but it has gone exactly as we had hoped in terms of planning.

“The kitchen is in a good place with meals planned and the food purchased, we have activity areas set up, volunteers to greet people, and somewhere for children to do homework.

“We are quite excited about it really.”

Mr Griffiths said more community help would still be appreciated, however, as five or six volunteers had withdrawn at the last moment for different reasons.

“We still need people for our catering teams in particular,” he said.

The church has set up a website for the refuge at www.wellyrefuge.co.uk and anybody who would like to help can email them on [email protected]