The Coles Hub is Officially Open!

Written by Director of Communications, Francesca Coles:

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time today to come along to our ‘#DyingMatters Community Coffee Morning’ as we launched The Coles Hub from our funeral home in Birchgrove…

A special thanks to our award-winning neighbours, Organicafe, for the delicious cake and to all the local councillors who stopped by to support this new venture (before heading to present Dame Shirley Bassey with her Freedom Honour!)

We took the opportunity to ask everyone who joined us how they could see themselves, and their families, friends and colleagues using our community space – which we’ve called a ‘Room for Reflection’. (Please read on to find out what they said!)

As you can see from the photos, The Coles Hub already provides free access to:

• A library with lots of books on wellbeing, mindfulness, end of life, death, bereavement and grief.
• The information hub, including leaflets and bookmarked websites sharing details and guides on the support services available in the area.
• Comfy chairs for a cuppa and a chat, and someone always on hand to sit with should you like some company or conversation/advice.
• A dedicated ‘Kid’s Corner’ with play therapy toys and books, as well as resources for helping children (and adults!) share and explain their thoughts on death and dying.
• The beautifully furnished Counselling Room where our resident trained counsellor, Olivia McAuliffe, will be on hand to anyone who needs her 1 day every week*.

*Of course, we already offer all our customers free bereavement counselling and now, by having a dedicated room and counsellor onsite at The Coles Hub, we can open up bereavement support and other counselling services to everyone in our community…

And over the coming weeks and months we’ll also be publishing a calendar of events that will be held in this space by local support groups.  So do stay tuned to our social media for details!

But in the meantime we’d love to hear your ideas too… why not pop in and take a look around The Coles Hub and let us know what services you’d like to see here. Ideas from today included:

“This is a lovely, safe and inviting space that I could meet with my family to talk about my end of life and funeral preferences…”

“I can see our charity running support groups and coffee mornings here – what a fabulous and welcoming space!”

“The information about the wellbeing support available here in our local community is so useful… I’ll be popping in for a cuppa to peruse the books too.  And if you’re looking for volunteers I’d be only too happy to help.“

“I’ve been thinking about planning my funeral for a while but to be honest, I didn’t really know where to start. There’s some really helpful advice here so, I’ll be coming back to take advantage of that.”

“Not everyone needs counselling (although it’s a great service to be offering!) – some people just want a chat. And this place is so friendly and comforting, I’ll definitely be recommending that we hold community gatherings here at The Coles Hub.”

While we get up and running, The Coles Hub will be open weekdays during our office hours (9am – 5pm), but this is likely to expand to evenings and weekends as required.

So on behalf of Gareth, myself, and all the team here at Coles – we look forward to seeing you here soon…