Whalley Range Community Forum Report: local news, group activities and updates. May 2020
A mini report in the absence of our face-to-face meeting!
We hope everyone is keeping safe and well.
Link to the Forum’s listing of Covid-19 support: https://www.whalleyrange.org/2020/03/coronavirus-covid-19/
Time to Change
As the group has not been able to meet for our weekly meals we have been keeping in touch with participants by taking it in turns to send the weekly email, which has included up lifting photos, videos of how to juggle from Kaz etc.
We have also called each other and helped where possible, eg. by linking in with free food deliveries, passing on funny videos, and generally reducing social isolation.
As soon as we can we might have a picnic!
Celebrate
The Celebrate festival day of June 13th has had to be cancelled and the pre-festival workshops. Our coordinator Lia Baron, and the Forum coordinator have continued to up load news and links to arts activities on the Forum website and Celebrate Facebook page. We have some funding which we can carry over for 6 months, so need to keep the situation under review.
Whalley Range Map 3rd Edition
WRCF are currently researching information for the 3rd edition of the Whalley Range map, which will include a focus on health and the environment, mental health, age-friendly and resident support and information – and will hopefully be launched in the new year after consultation with groups and residents about content.
The map will include links to health-related services such as local GP surgery online websites known as FootFall – which includes a useful tab on the site called Wellbeing Centre. (More at the end of this bulletin)
Look out for a consultation email and updates about the map on our Forum website and Facebook pages.
Big Bike Revival at JNR8
The Forum has supported this Cycling UK activity for the past three years. The annual grant has allowed bike repair and training activities at the Celebrate festival, and at weekly sessions at the WHIZ youth project and the mental wellbeing project Time to Change.
This year this fund is being focussed. on repair and provision of bikes for key workers. We do not have the facilities to support this project so will not be able
to support this work. However we do have funding for the Celebrate bike area, when the festival day takes place.
Our volunteers may still be available for bike repairs if you contact us via the Forum.
The Real Food Community Whalley Range – based at JNR8 Youth & Community Centre.
We are a community-led voluntary organisation which launched in March 2020. Our aim is to support local people who want to improve their health through nutrition, particularly by understanding foods which help and foods which hinder. Initially we will be working with the community on an NHS-approved low carbohydrate approach. This way of eating can help prevent the onset of diabetes or enable people who already have this condition to reverse it or put it into remission. For more information, and to keep up to date with our project, please sign up to our newsletter or follow-us on Facebook and Twitter.
For people who don’t use computers or Facebook, (and others too), we are considering offering one-to-one advice and support over the phone with expert members of the planning group. These are Tim, our GP neighbourhood lead, Carolyn, ex-practice nurse and an expert in the low-carb approach and diabetes, and Loren, a nutritional therapist and researcher who has 10 years’ experience of working with people with Type 2 diabetes on a low-carb approach.
OUR WEBSITE www.realfoodcommunitywhalleyrange.org
FOR A TON of useful information and support on low carb and diabetes visit https://www.diabetes.co.uk/
VIDEO of the event https://twitter.com/RFCWhalleyRange/status/1238827811462352896
PODCAST Interview with a local enthusiast, on her recent low carb journey, losing weight and putting her diabetes into remission https://www.podbean.com/ei/pb-549tr-d67ac5
Look out for our next newsletter in April, with sample menus, recipes and inspiring stories!
Friends of Alexandra Park Update
As you all know, during the Covid-19 crisis Alexandra Park has remained open for folks to take their allotted daily exercise and has been well used with the majority of people keeping to the Government rules. The children’s play areas and sports areas have been closed, but may be re-opening soon when the Council decide it is safe to do so.
Chorlton Lodge and the Information Point has been closed and will re-open once we get the go ahead from Parks, though we have still managed to sell some of our Anniversary merchandise and bring some well needed funds back into the Park. Our 150th celebration weekend is postponed until next year.
All our meetings have been cancelled until further notice.
John our Park warden has still been working in the Park throughout this time and we thank him for his commitment.
Paul Benson-Hannam
Chair Friends of Alexandra Park Manchester
Police Report, Ahmed Farooqi, PCSO
Just few quick updates with regards to Whalley Range
• There has been an increase in begging on Withington Road with officers on the late shift having given Tickets to regular beggars for Covid 19. This has deterred and discouraged other beggars to turn up for begging.
• We have increased patrol in Alexandra Park during the warm weather week, advising social distancing to the general public as there were calls coming in where youth were gathering.
• There is increase in Pedal cycle theft.
• Regular patrol and passing attention given to British Muslim Heritage Centre as there are 75 homeless people staying there.
• Most of the shops have opened and PCSO’s have gone round to explain to owners to display notice on the windows for social distancing – and to allow few customers so that it does not become crowded. Takeaways are allowing 2-3 customer at one time, keeping 2 metre distance and doing mostly home delivery. Ahmed Farooqi PCSO WHALLEY RANGE
Whalley Range Climate action group
The Whalley Range Climate Action Group would like to thank everyone for everything they are doing to keep people in our area safe and well and a special thank you to all the key workers who are doing so much for us all.
Although the Covid experience is terrible for so many people in so many ways we have seen some positive benefits for us and the climate, especially the reduction in carbon use, less pollution and more walking and cycling. We have been using our air quality monitors to measure the air quality in Whalley Range and are delighted to report that the pollution levels have been inside the World Health Organisation safe levels all through the lockdown. This is fantastic news for our health and our challenge is keeping the air safe as the lockdown ends.
A group of us have been studying the Amsterdam City Doughnut, a tool to make places ‘home to thriving people in a thriving place while respecting the wellbeing of all people and the health of the whole planet.’ We have been meeting every week to talk about how we could use the ideas in Whalley Range and the first step will be to make the Whalley Range Selfie. Watch this space for more details of how to get involved.
We are supporting the new Whalley Range Walk Ride group which will work to promote more walking and cycling in our area.
We printed a newsletter just before lockdown, see https://www.whalleyrange.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/WHALLEY-RANGE-CLIMATE-ACTION-GROUP-NEWSLETTER-final.pdf – please let the forum admin (Nathalie) know if you if you would like a copy/ copies posted through your door, on wrcommunityforum@gmail.com and I’ll arrange for that. We are really looking forward to meeting people again when it is safe.
Dave Saunders, Whalley Rangers
All of our regular activities including planned markets and Food Fest are on hold.
The community garden has been maintained and watered daily by volunteers as their exercise outing. Our Head Gardener, Helene Rudlin, set up the Whalley Rangers Gardeners group to promote and support home veg growing. It has 117 active members.
Helene has used our newly built heated propagation table to grow seedlings 100’s and 100’s of seedlings which are now growing in over 100 gardens on the Range – including mine. We also distributed our stockpile of nearly 2 tonnes of Revive compost.We are restarting Covid Secure community gardening on Saturday, with limited publicity.
We have pencilled in our Weeds are Flowers Too festival for Saturday 29th August with the theme of food.
I have been supporting Jack Hunter’s Covid 19 Mutual Aid group, which proved a great way for people to get involved in the early days of lockdown. Mainly by researching and sharing good practise. Whalley Rangers also subscribed to Zoom to enable local groups to hold meetings. It has been used by ourselves, Jack Hunter for Covid 19 Mutual Aid and the Carlton Club.
The Carlton Club is now closed. They received the £10,000 grant for small businesses and wages support for furloughing the Manager, Michaela. They are in a good position financially for now. They are currently planning holding some of their dance nights and regular entertainment on line. They are now planning to address disabled access by conducting a simple feasibility study.
What has been really great to see is how neighbours have come together to support each other during all this. and we should all take the opportunity, I think, to do our own road map of how we want to move to a better, greener and healthier community.
*The Wellbeing centre link on your GP website includes health information, links and advice – and details of local support services. Organisations providing support can contribute ideas to add to the Wellbeing Centre information by completing a form. The aim of these sites – which can be accessed online by searching for your own surgery – is to enable GPs, health workers and community members know what services are available – including details of community groups.
The websites – also known as FootFall are designed to help patients navigate their way to find help in exactly the way they would if they walked into reception. The home page of FootFall is clearly laid out to help patients manage their health more easily and request advice from a health professional.
Local Mutual Aid Groups are for residents that want to support each other and their neighbours with shopping, support and sharing information during the Covid-19/coronavirus pandemic.
We now have over 40 WhatsApp groups in Whalley Range – small, local and informal networks with the people living on their street, so that we can all support and help each other.
Follow the link below to join our local Covid-19 Mutual Aid group.
Whalley Range Covid-19 Mutual Support Group
Find another local group: https://covidmutualaid.org/local-groups/
