Welcome to The Little House of Hope 

One of the latest additions to the Communities of Hope family, The Little House of Hope has recently opened its doors at Youll House to the residents of Thornley and the surrounding areas of County Durham. The team are passionate about creating a strong level of social equality and prosperity within the former pit village and their upcoming projects truly reflects a community space that is inclusive, welcoming and empowering for all to prosper.

Welcome to our House

Prior to their grand opening, the team have already been active throughout their community by delivering holiday hunger packs, arranging meals-on-wheels services, as well as organising day trips out for locals to enjoy. United by faith, the team are determined to restore a sense of community once again to Thornley and provide the much-needed opportunities for residents to socialise, prosper and access the relevant help and support they need.

With the opening of Youll House, the team are now hard at work, realising those opportunities and putting plans into motion. The first port of call will be a new community café that serves up a safe and warm atmosphere for customers to enjoy a good range of treats and chat. Plans are also underway to host creative art and handicrafts workshops to improve wellbeing, promote creativity and stimulate an interest and appreciation for learning new things. As well as that, the team are also looking to host sensory experience sessions at Youll House to engage and promote positive health benefits too.

Building the Foundations

To combat the issues of unemployment, debt and anti-social behaviour that commonly blight former pit villages, the team have opened up Youll House as a Christians Against Poverty debt counselling centre to promote debt relief, money management and financial independence in Thornley. They are also working on plans to create and implement work opportunities to increase the employability and experience of clients, giving them strong CVs and reference to achieve mobility and prospects.

It may be called The Little House of Hope but the opportunities it has are huge for the residents of Thornley, the surrounding areas and for the Communities of Hope initiative. To find out more, you can follow them online on their Facebook and Instagram pages. Alternatively, if you’d like to learn more about this exciting new project, you can email Reverend Alison Williams (Community Lead) and the team at: thelittlehouseofhope@gmail.com.