A Christmas reflection by Katie Hadley
If you’d told me ten years ago what Little Lounge would become, I’m not sure I would have believed you.
It started on a cold Friday morning in 2015. A few of us—mams with toddlers in tow—opened the doors of St Luke’s Basement with no idea whether anyone would actually turn up. We’d recently started a small church and wondered if a Baby & Toddler Group might be a simple way to serve our community.
Little Lounge was an instant hit. Word spread quickly, the hall filled, coffee was poured, songs were sung, and friendships blossomed. Looking back now, it feels like the start of something much bigger than any of us imagined.
Since then, over 300 babies have been registered with us. And since we introduced our online booking system in 2021, an incredible 2,447 bookings have been made for our sessions, events, and activities.
More Than a Toddler Group
The years have been full—full of life, laughter, mess, and moments that still make me smile. We’ve hosted:
- Santa’s Grottos
- Christmas Brunches
- Easter Egg Hunts
- Summer Celebrations
- Day trips to Folly Farm
- Facebook Lives during lockdown
- Outdoor Toddlers
- Pumpkin Patches
- Plant Swaps
- Cooking projects
- Youth Events
- Breakfast Clubs
- Equine Therapy
…and so much more. Every year brought new ideas, new people, and new opportunities to love our community.
A Growing Vision
In 2016 we relocated to the Community Centre and began partnering with FareShare, collecting yellow-sticker food from Tesco and giving it to families attending our groups. We ran Baby Group and Little Lunch twice a week, using the donations to cook healthy meals together. That’s where the idea of opening a café first began to stir.
In 2017, we approached Rhondda Cynon Taf Council about transforming the Centre’s disused basement. They told us we’d need to prove our vision was viable—so we rolled up our sleeves.
For twelve months, every Thursday we ran Baby Group, and every Friday we set up and packed down Play Café. Many Thursday nights ended around midnight as we prepared the space for the next morning. We were all volunteers, but we genuinely loved it.
Some of my closest friendships were forged in those late nights, early mornings, and endless cups of coffee. From the beginning, our hope was simple: no one should have to face hard times alone. Hearing people describe Little Lounge as an “extended family” still means the world to me.
Opening The Basement
In 2023, after years of dreaming and planning, The Basement finally opened. By then, The Community Pantry—launched as a small pilot in August 2020—had unexpectedly become one of the core parts of our work.
Since that pilot began, we’ve run 264 weeks of Pantry, completed 528 Tesco pickups, and given out over 5,280 Pantry bags to our local community. Those numbers represent far more than food; they represent conversations, connections, and care.
Today, The Basement is a warm, welcoming home for:
- Cilfynydd mini baby group
- Craft club
- Summer breakfast club
- ALN sessions
- Craft workshops
- Birthday parties
- Winter Warm Hub
…and plenty of chats over coffee, making sure each person feels listened to.
And Then There’s the Allotment
There were moments we genuinely wondered if the Allotment was too big a project to take on. But through God’s grace, generous funding, and a whole lot of manual labour, it has become another beautiful, safe space for people to rest, grow, and reconnect with nature.
The Heartbeat Behind It All
At the centre of everything we do is Jesus. His love is what compels us to love our community. Little Lounge isn’t a church building or a Sunday service—but it is a living expression of the Kingdom of God: a place where people can find hope, feel seen and valued, and know they belong, if they want to.
A Bible verse we’ve been sharing with people this Christmas comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verse 10. It’s the moment in the Christmas story when the angel appears to the shepherds on the hillside and says:
“Don’t be afraid; I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
I love that the angel didn’t go to the religious big bods of the day, or the government PR person. The heavenly messenger was sent to regular people, doing a mundane job on a hillside. I love that the good news of Jesus is for all of us—ordinary people, from every walk of life.
The other thing that resonates deeply with me this Christmas is the angel’s words: “Don’t be afraid.” If we’re honest, we’re living in pretty scary times. Shootings, wars, natural disasters, the cost of living—there are so many things that feel uncertain. But the good news of Christmas is that we can know one thing for certain: Jesus came down into the mess, into our broken and frightening world, to put things right.
The Christmas story is one of certain hope.
This message of hope is the heartbeat of Little Lounge. My prayer is that every kind word, every conversation, becomes a small seed of hope—a seed God will water in his time, bringing “great joy” to many lives.
Here’s to ten years of Little Lounge, and to many more years of love, community, and unexpected grace.
Happy Christmas xx
