Whilst the Covid crisis has caused uncertainty and hardship, we’ve tried hard at HEART to keep upbeat and found we have lots to be positive about.
Enforced closure at the start of lockdown meant that there was time for some much needed maintenance and the original wooden floors in our café and hall are now sanded, sealed and looking good as new. Knowing indoor spaces carried extra risk, we opted to close the car park and use the outdoor space as seating for the Assembly Bar & Kitchen. The move has proved so popular that we’ve now erected a permanent gazebo in the Courtyard for year-round open air dining and are planning more outdoor events. The first of these has been the return of Tuesday Night Live music nights as well as a Kokodama Workshop, hosted by our resident plant experts, Silver Grey Foliage, who now run The Green Yard. Future ideas include markets, film events and dance classes. We’re also making renewed efforts to walk and cycle more so there is less demand for car parking.
Inside the building staff, volunteers, Pulse members and regular users are slowly returning and it’s wonderful to see people safe and well and to catch-up with them again. We’re also welcoming many new faces who have discovered a favourite place to meet friends and family in safe and informal environment (we’ve been called ‘the most welcoming socially distanced queue in Headingley’!).
Many of us have had time to reflect on how we spend our time and learnt new skills or taken up old or new hobbies. There’s a real appetite for sharing knowledge and skills right now and we can’t wait to fling open our doors, when we can, for language lessons, art clubs, craft workshops, choirs, yoga, games nights, lectures and all the many things that have always made HEART such a vibrant place to be.
Looking forward with renewed enthusiasm, 2021 will mark the 10th year of HEART as a community hub for Headingley. We’re planning a series of events to celebrate what we already do but, more importantly, to discover what we can do in the future so that we’re still here, serving the community for our 20th birthday!
To stay updated with all our news and activities go to our website <www.heartcentre.org.uk> or follow us on social media - Facebook at @HeadingleyHEART, Twitter at @HeadingleyHEART.
Leann Sykes-Hooban, Deputy Manager, HEART
Bennett Road, Leeds LS6 3HN
0113 275 4548
www.heartcentre.org.uk/
