LEICESTER’S Warm Welcome initiative is returning for the winter months – with an extended programme including a new city centre venue.
Warm Welcome runs from Monday 3 November until the end of March 2026, giving people the chance to use their local library as a ‘warm hub’ where they can enjoy a hot drink, meet new people, and try something new.
This year, from Monday 10 November, people will also be able to join a weekly Warm Welcome session at the Haymarket Community Hub, in the city centre. Every Monday from the 10th November, from 2-4pm, the hub on the first floor of the Haymarket shopping centre will offer free hot drinks and social activities, a variety of sustainable craft sessions for adults, and a pop-up library with children’s activities.
Warm Welcome is brought together by a collaboration of council services, including Leicester Libraries, Leicester Adult Education and the council’s public health team.
For the first six weeks, there will be an activity at the same time and day at your local library or Warm Welcome location. All sessions are free of charge, and once signed up, people are welcome to attend as many sessions as they would like.
Activities include an introduction to art at Pork Pie Library, where you can get creative and learn a variety of techniques, including watercolours, decoupage and mono printing.
At New Parks Library, a series of creative textiles sessions will help people to develop both their hand and machine sewing skills, transforming recycled textiles into something new using a range of different techniques.
Beaumont Leys library will run sustainable craft sessions, while Leicester’s Central Library will focus on creative writing, poetry and writing for mindfulness.
The Brite Centre will also focus on mindfulness with a series of sessions, while sustainable craft activities will be on offer at St Barnabas Library.
There will also be a series of one-off social history sessions exploring themes such as Christmas in Leicester, looking at how the people of Leicester have celebrated, endured, and reinvented Christmas through the centuries; and Textiles in Roman Leicester which will give participants the chance to have a go at weaving and create a woven textile to take home.
For the full list of what’s going on where, ask at your local library or see leicester.gov.uk/warmwelcome
Assistant city mayor for health, culture, libraries and community centres, Cllr Vi Dempster, said: “Our popular Warm Welcome programme uses the libraries and community centres that are already at the heart of our neighbourhoods to offer people the chance to learn something new – and now we have the addition of sessions at the Haymarket hub.
"We can also offer expert advice and help to anyone who might be struggling this winter. Please don't struggle alone. Come and join us because I know you will receive a warm welcome."
Leicester Libraries all offer free wifi and use of computers, plus many have free weekly Toddler Time sessions for young children, and homework clubs for school-age children. There’s access to a vast range of books, plus online e-books and e-magazines through the Bookfinder website, where you can also reserve, renew, search for and review books, as well as find out about events coming up in your local library.
To find out more, visit leicester.gov.uk/libraries
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