A FESTIVE dinner was laid on for homeless people in Dorchester as a valued service raised awareness of its new premises.

The Hub has relocated from Great Western Road to a new shared office space in High East Street.

Staff took time out from the office move to host a Christmas dinner for service users at the United Church in the county town.

Homeless people were able to enjoy a turkey dinner with all the trimmings as well as finding out about forthcoming changes to the service.

The Hub will continue to offer its long running support for homeless people in the county town, with appointments still available from 9am to 2pm from Monday to Fridays at its High East Street office. People will also be able to receive 24-hour support seven days a week over the intercom at the office or by calling a free phone number 0300 1234002 to connect to the support team in Bournemouth.

They will be able to offer crisis support and book an appointment with a member of The Hub’s team.

Project leader Claire Nutman said: “We have gone from being a Monday to Friday 9am to 2pm service to a 24-hour service so anyone in crisis who comes to our office in High East Street can access crisis support. So although our premises have changed our service has become broader.”

The new look service will focus on helping vulnerable people to sustain their tenancies and prevent repeat homelessness but will continue to have local responsive services for those who find themselves on the street.

The Hub will continue to run its popular twice weekly coffee mornings, although the location for the mornings has yet to be confirmed.

It also offers workshop programmes to help service users into volunteering and work opportunities and issues meal tickets for those in need that can be used at a specified local cafe for a warm meal and drink.

Shower, washing and tumble dryer facilities will continue to be available to users visiting the centre.

The redesign of the service stems from a general decline in the number of homeless people in the Dorchester area.

Claire said: “There has been a decrease.

“Last Christmas was the first year since The Hub was opened that we had no street sleepers over Christmas and this year there was a very low number so we are now working more efficiently.”