Life provides welcoming, accessible support for people experiencing financial pressure, loneliness, health and wellbeing challenges, or difficulty taking part in community life.
The needs we address
Financial pressure
24.3%
of people are estimated to experience income deprivation in the neighbourhood where Life Lunches and ReFuel meet. The estimate around Life's Church Street base is 17.6%.
Free meals, practical family help and advocacy make support easier to access without stigma.
Health and wellbeing
Most deprived 30%
The neighbourhoods around Holy Spirit Church and Life's Church Street base are both in England's most deprived 30% for health deprivation and disability.
Life offers welcoming places, peer support, advocacy and connections to other local services.
Loneliness and connection
26%–31%
of people are aged 65 or over across the wider Dronfield East and Dronfield West and Walton electoral divisions. In both, 17% of households are lone-pensioner households.
Lunches, friendship groups and regular activities give people places to meet and build relationships.
Taking part in community life
Most deprived 20%
The neighbourhood around Life's Holmesfield group is in England's most deprived 20% for barriers to housing and services.
The group is free and local transport can be arranged for people who need it.
The age figures cover electoral divisions that extend beyond Dronfield and are included as wider local context.
What local people told us
Life's 2022 community consultation received 477 responses. People highlighted the need for warm places to meet, affordable meals, safe spaces for young people, welcoming family activities, advice and help with transport.
Feedback continues to shape the way activities run. Monday Munch moved to weekly sessions in response to demand, while ReFuel remained monthly because that worked better for the families attending.
The consultation gathered community views and was not designed as a representative survey.
Welcoming support across the community
Life's activities are open and welcoming, with practical support available for people facing particular pressures or finding it difficult to take part.
How Life helps
- Free meals and friendship groups
- Safe activities for children and young people
- Postnatal, family and advocacy support
- Local provision and transport where access is difficult
- Services adjusted in response to participant feedback
About the figures
Each figure above can be traced to the following source.
- Income, health and access: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, English Indices of Deprivation 2025, File 7: all ranks, scores, deciles and population denominators, published 30 October 2025 and updated 17 November 2025. North East Derbyshire 004C (E01019782), containing Holy Spirit Church, has an Income Score of 0.243 (24.3%) and Health Deprivation and Disability Decile 3. North East Derbyshire 004D (E01019786), containing 21 Church Street, has an Income Score of 0.176 (17.6%) and Health Decile 3. North East Derbyshire 005A (E01019770), containing St Swithin's in Holmesfield, has Barriers to Housing and Services Decile 2. The official guidance defines Decile 2 as the most deprived 20% and Decile 3 as the most deprived 30% of English neighbourhoods; it also confirms that income scores are population rates.
- Age and households: Derbyshire County Council, 2023 Area Summary Profile: Dronfield East Electoral Division, page 1 (aged 65+: 26%; lone-pensioner households: 17%), and 2023 Area Summary Profile: Dronfield West and Walton Electoral Division, page 1 (aged 65+: 31%; lone-pensioner households: 17%). Both were published 25 October 2023. The age data uses ONS 2021 mid-year estimates and the household data uses the 2021 Census. These electoral divisions extend beyond Dronfield.
- Community consultation: Life Dronfield, Community Needs Questionnaire Analysis, November 2022: 477 responses collected in autumn 2022. This is an internal charity record. It was a community consultation, not a representative survey.
Venue postcodes were matched to their 2021 statistical neighbourhoods before the File 7 figures were checked. The government's Local Deprivation Explorer provides the official postcode lookup. Neighbourhood statistics describe the areas containing Life's venues; they do not identify individual participants or show where every participant lives. Sources checked August 2026.