Nearly 2,000 of its residents visited in the first 12 months and this winter can return and be provided with two-course hot meals and energy saving appliances including air fryers, slow cookers and heated blankets.
“After the isolation of the Covid lockdowns, which ripped the heart out of the community, the amazing success of these hubs is that the communities are coming back together more on a social basis,” says resilience team leader Stefan Fish. “A number of community groups have since accessed Blackpool Council’s Rideability community transport scheme to go on organised day trips. Some of the community groups have started their own groups out of normal working hours and some have arranged meals out together.”
But with no indication that the Household Support Fund will be renewed in the spring, the future of the provision is uncertain.
A stones throw from Kilmory community centre is the office of Paul Maynard, Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions.
“As the minister responsible for pensions and pensioner poverty, I am acutely aware that many pensioners still live in material poverty, which is not related to financial circumstances but rather social capital,” he says.
“I have already commenced work on looking at how loneliness and social isolation interacts with financial capability, meeting with smaller community-based charities to harvest ideas. This may involve looking at how the many billions government is spending on supporting individuals through numerous pots, as well as council spending, can be spent effectively”.
"They are still facing incredibly difficult decisions about whether they can afford to heat their homes and eat a decent meal… I worry about how families – and many others who are just about managing – will cope next year."
Maynard says the Government recognises the impact higher energy prices have had on the most vulnerable and points to extra cost-of-living payments made this year, including increased winter fuel payments and cold weather payments, and one off payments to those on Pension Credit and PIP.
But Kate Aldridge says residents in Blackpool are still struggling to stay on top of their bills.