We are really excited to share that the National Lottery Community Fund will be supporting the Walworth Living Room, over the next three years.

At its heart, the Walworth Living Room is an open-access place for people to build new relationships through sharing food and conversation, as well as providing spaces for a wide range of community activities. The Living Room at All Saints Hall has been closed since the beginning of 2023 for refurbishments.

The funding from the National Lottery allows us to re-open the Walworth Living Room, a valuable community space, and put together the team to operate it. For example, we are currently recruiting new roles, such as our Event and Activities coordinator which is currently being advertised on our jobs page.

During the closure of the space at All Saints Hall, we have continued to provide a temporary Living Room, offering a vital warm space through the winter, as well as activities such as a community brunch, once a week at Pembroke House.

We are looking forward to reopening the Living Room at its original location at All Saints Hall once building works are complete. The refurbished location will include upgrades to the kitchen, a better and more welcoming entrance, and accessibility and security improvements.

Our team have been busy planning away for the new Living Room, learning from past versions as well as looking for new ways to work and operate.

This planning has involved the creation of the Living Room Working Group, which included 12 residents and regular users who came together for 7 weeks to discuss what they as community members hoped to see within the space. They have been involved in discussions around the design of the refurbished hall and how the space can best function for our community.

We can’t wait to share more in the coming weeks.