We’re staring into each other’s houses. It’s about Day 23 of lockdown. “I’ve got about half an hour and then I’m manning the Covid helpline,” says Lisa.
Lisa Brown is the community builder for the Ardwick area, employed by charity Forever Manchester to make connections between people and local organisations and, well, build the community.
Read moreIn 1957 my dad (Jasper) made his journey from sunny Jamaica to England. When he arrived he lived in shared accommodation on Freme Street, Nelson Street and Dover Street, all in the Brunswick area of Manchester. Little did I know that the area would become very important to me.
Read more[Before coronavirus] As part of my college course I started volunteering at Parent and Toddler Group at Brunswick Church around September last year. Already it’s just become part of my weekly routine.
I look forward to Wednesday mornings because I’ve already built bonds with the children. Every week is different with new parents and children turning up.
Read moreIt’s pre-Covid-19 and I’m at West Gorton Community Rooms for their February half term activity week.
Wardeh and her three younger children are first here, keen to carry on with the creative activities they started yesterday.
Soon the table is covered with coloured paper glue and glitter.
Read moreIt was surprising to read a flyer, way back in 2014, about growing vegetables in an inner-city area, produced by a housing association which had recently taken over the local housing stock. Good luck with that!
I say ‘way back’ as so much has happened since then. There’s now a resident-led group that looks after the day-to-day management of a newly built allotment site surrounded by new or refurbished homes.
Read moreThere is already a queue outside the door when I arrive. Chanelle, her mum Nita and friend Lauren are next up. “Would you like the little carrots or the big ones?” asks volunteer Linda as she accompanies Chanelle around the shelves.
“Oh, the big ones definitely,” says Chanelle.
Read moreMo’s role at Brunswick Church has changed a lot in the the last ten years. “Back then there wasn’t that much for me to do but now I’m really busy,” she says. “The services that people could access locally have all but disappeared – places like the Citizens Advice – and so people come to us now.”
Read moreLooking around it’s difficult to put a tag on this Ardwick store. It’s a health food shop, plant-based café, workspace with free wi-fi, art gallery and workshop venue.
Read moreOur website – Hand & Heart – is named after a story by Victorian writer, Elizabeth Gaskill, who lived in the area.
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