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We Stand Together

We Stand Together

To celebrate our difference,
Against hatred and intolerance,
To build a safer and stronger United Kingdom
We Stand Together encourages people to come together as one and celebrate their differences in order to build a safer and stronger United Kingdom.

The initiative has been launched following recent global events which have caused concern within communities across Greater Manchester.

Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: “Greater Manchester has a long and proud tradition of celebrating differences and sets a positive example to the rest of the world, which we should be immensely proud of.

“Recent attacks in Paris and Denmark have inevitably caused tension and fear within our communities and it is more important than ever that we come together as one and send a strong unified message that any attempt to create disharmony or fear is futile.

“We all have a responsibility to encourage community cohesion and I am calling on people to stand together against hatred and intolerance and show their support for each other during this difficult time”.

Councillor Bernard Priest, Manchester City Council’s deputy leader, said: “Mancunians are rightly proud to live in a diverse and thriving city where people respect and tolerate each other, but there is no escaping the fact that incidents in other parts of the world can have an impact on community tensions here.

“Now, it is more important than ever for our communities to show the world that we are continuing to stand together, despite the troubling times we are living through, and demonstrate that hatred and intolerance have no place in our city.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: “Here in Greater Manchester, as across the land, we have strong, cohesive communities where we celebrate our diversity. But we should never take for granted the fact we live in a safe, tolerant part of the world as there are always those who would seek to drive us apart. By standing together we send out a clear and strong message that we celebrate and cherish our inclusive society, as well as recognising that we have a shared responsibility to work to safeguard it.”

Community leaders will be urging members of the public to use social media to spread the message of standing together using the hashtag #WeStandTogether

To report an incident of hate crime, please contact Greater Manchester Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency. Alternatively, please report online to True Vision (www.report-it.org.uk) or use the True Vision app.

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23 March 2015
The Great Hall 
Manchester Town Hall
Event 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
 (Doors open 1:30 pm)
This year Manchester Communities Together 2015 will showcase the diversity of local opportunities and inspire you with new ways to get involved in your local neighbourhood.

Whether you  are an active resident looking for information to help your group,  some one who wants to start a group and doesn’t know where to  start or a local person looking for ways to get involved locally, you  will find it here at the Manchester Communities Together Event 2015.

The event is supported by Clean City and there will be plenty of information on how you can get involved, apply for small grants, and find out what residents, neighbours and community groups across the City are doing with Clean City.

You can choose attend workshops to help get your project off the ground

  • Starting a new group – do you want set up a residents group but don’t know where to start, find out want to consider.
  • Different ways to get people involved  – learn from the experiences of established groups
  • Greening your Alley – turn an unloved space into an urban wonderland, with funding.   See what other groups have created and how they did it.

Come along, bring a friend and join in.

Attendance is limited so please reserve your place for this interesting event by

Thursday 19 March.
To register email community.engagement@manchester.gov.uk  with your name, telephone number, the details of friends coming with you, accessibility considerations and express your interest in one or more of our workshops.  Alternatively please contact us by telephone.

0161 274 6431

Celebrate Your Alleygates Booklet

A potted history of our project:
Celebrate Your Alleygates is a Big Lottery Fund project in Whalley Range, Manchester. It was one of the winners of the Big Family Idea: a competition held by National Family Week and the Big Lottery Fund as part of the launch of National Family Week in 2009.

Please use and share our resource!

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Broken planters link from booklet: Planters

More men face lonely old age, says study

Increasing numbers of men are facing loneliness and isolation in old age, suggests research.

Men are often reluctant to join clubs for older people, says the study by the International Longevity Centre (ILC-UK) and the charity, Independent Age.

It predicts the number of older men living alone in England will increase by 65% by 2030.

“When their partner dies, often a man’s social life shrinks,” said Independent Age chief executive Janet Morrison.

The report: The Emerging Crisis for Older Men, says older women will still be more likely to outlive their husbands but, by 2030, growing numbers of men will outlive their wives.

The analysis of recent data from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing suggests 1.5 million older men will be living alone by 2030 – up from 911,000 today.

‘No visitors’

Older men often also have less contact with family and friends than women of a similar age, meaning they are often more socially isolated once their spouse dies, says the study.

“The house was always full of kids,” 73-year-old John, whose wife died five years ago, told researchers.

“When women die, people drift away from the man left behind”John, 73, Widower

“Women keep the family together and people rally around them.

“When women die, people drift away from the man left behind.”

Evidence suggests men and women experience social isolation in different ways, says the report, with men less likely to ask for support.

Widower Dick O’Brien, 77, from Reading, told BBC News he has 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren but they are “busy with their own lives” and he sometimes has no visitors for days.

He has tried going to clubs but says: “For some unknown reason I just don’t fit in. It makes me feel older than I am.

“I socialise best when I am on my scooter, when I’m having a chat to anyone on the road.

“When I’m out people think, ‘He’s a happy old soul.’

“I am, but you are coming back to an empty house.

“It’s very, very lonely. And you think why do I bother? You know it’s worth bothering. Of course it’s worth bothering but it’s depressing. It’s very depressing. It gets to you.”

A short guide to social media from Friends of the Elderly

Why use social media?

Social media is a fantastic way to stay connected; to friends  and family, to people and organisations –  and to the wider social media community.  Currently, over 900 million people use Facebook, and over  500 million people use Twitter, and that growing!
So why not get involved?  Read this fantastic guide here:

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Age-friendly Whalley Range Newsletters

Welcome to our  newsletter links!
Since the first issue of our newsletter was circulated door to door across the Whalley Range ward, we have held lots of events and made lots of new friends and contacts.

Issue 1: AFWRNewsletter2014_Draft

Read issue 2 here: AFWR_Newsletter_2

And here’s issue 3! AFWRNewsletter3_2014_Final