Centres across the region are helping people - and wildlife -who are coming in from the cold

One of the Shropshire venues opening up as warm spaces throughout the winter has seen more than a dozen people a day enjoying what it has to offer in its first week.

Strickland House, Wellington, where people are going for a warm up along with food and hot drinks. Arthur Shepherd, Sue Porter, Alex Graham and Gemma Aston, are on hand to give out the soup and drinks.

And organisers at TACT in Telford say they hope many more will call in for a free lunch and chance to keep warm and socialise with others.

The TACT centre, off King's Street in Wellington, is offering soup and a roll as well as hot drinks to everyone who calls in between 11am and 2pm every day.

Funding has come from a Warm Spaces grant from Telford & Wrekin Council, and manager, T Roberts said volunteers hoped to ring the changes with the type of lunches on offer.

"We have welcomed people of all ages, men and women, although up to now they have mostly been I would guess over the age of 40," she said.

Arthur Shepherd hands over a bowl of soup to visitors Kevin Mitchell and Jonathan Wootton

The centre said there was much more on offer for those coming in out of the cold.

"Our visitors can access wifi here and there are also plenty of activities from board games and books to jigsaw puzzles," she said.

"They are also very welcome to join in the social groups that we have, whether they are training courses or our art and craft group.

"We can also help signpost people to help and support that they made need in their lives."

Staff at Cuan Wildlife Centre keep hats and coats on to keep heating costs down

Meanwhile, staff at an animal shelter in Shropshire caring for animals and birds coming in from the cold say they are trying to keep warm themselves.

Cuan Wildlife Rescue staff are wearing hats and gloves inside as they try to keep a lid on escalating heating costs during the bitterly cold winter.

The rescue centre in Much Wenlock, is expecting its heating bills to balloon up to £11,000-£12,000 this year, from £5,000 in previous years.

Fran Hill, Cuan's manager, said: "Heating is crucial for animal recovery as it is for humans.

"We can't skimp on heating for the animals so our hospital staff and volunteers have been wearing hats and gloves and only turning their heating on when it gets bad."

The charity has seen an influx of very sick hedgehogs recently, as many struggled to put on the critical weight during the drought.

"We have about 70 hedgehogs here at the moment, mainly from Shropshire where we had a long, dry summer and many of them are underweight," said Fran.

"This makes them susceptible to things like mange."

Fran says some hedgehogs have not been hibernating this year as they search for food. She added that many charities are struggling but the team is "so very grateful to our supporters".