EVERY Friday during the winter the Pump Rooms in Tenbury is open to give people somewhere warm to go.

But the weekly event provides more than a refuge from the cold and tomorrow there will be a visit from the local policing team.

The Rural and Business Police Team will be visiting the Warm Space at The Pump Rooms on Friday, January 27 from 10.30am as part of the National Neighbourhood Week of Action.

The team will be providing crime prevention advice and awareness as well as offering to security mark property.

It is a further example of how the community has come together in adversity to try to help each other.

Age UK has provided blankets that people can use.

The idea of the ‘warm spaces’ initiative is to provide places for people worried about energy bills or unable to meet the rising prices.

For some people the soaring rate of inflation, the worst for 40 years, has resulted in them feeling that they have to make a choice between heating or eating.

This is despite the fact that there have been various Government initiatives to help people to cope with the soaring cost of living.

The Pump Rooms, that is also the home of Tenbury Town Council, was designated as a warm space before Christmas.

It is one of a number of buildings throughout the area that offer a warm welcome.

Fortunately, apart from a 10 day spell in early December, the winter so far has been relatively mild, although temperatures dropped again for a few days in the early part of last week.

But it would be premature to think that the worst of the winter is over.

February can be the coldest month of the year and there is plenty of time for freezing weather and snow. Snow has been known to fall well into March and even in April and early May.

Advice on the help that is available can be obtained from local authorities and groups like Age Concern and Citizens Advice.

Despite some stabilisation as a result of lower than expected demand in the early autumn and winter energy prices are expected to increase again from April.