Community website for people living in and around Whalley Range Manchester
Category: Whalley Range Community Forum
The Whalley Range Community Forum (WRCF) is a voluntary representative residents group formed in 1995 to facilitate and improve communication between members of the community and those who serve/represent Whalley Range.
The Forum act as an umbrella organisation, bringing residents and local services together to address local issues, to promote consultation and community cohesion – and to encourage participation.
The Forum produces a bimonthly newsletter and residents meetings to address local concerns with Police, Councillors, local council and planning officials, sends out a regular email bulletins featuring opportunities, events and news to around 400 residents from Whalley Range – and co-facilitates an annual local community festival.
The Forum worker supports new and emerging groups to access funding to set up their own community groups, holds funds for unconstituted groups and addresses resident priorities by facilitating relevant classes at the JNR8 centre during school term times.
Classes and initiatives for the diverse local community include mixed and women-only ESOL classes, women fitness, Tai Chi, confidence building sessions, basic computer and work club support and art and wellbeing classes and afternoon tea for older residents. JNR8 is also registered as a Third Party Hate Crime Reporting Centre.
The community website features local news and events, consultation links, age-friendly news and current vacancies and opportunities.
If anyone finds themselves struggling over the festive period for various reasons – eg extra bills, heating, kids off school, benefit delays, debt etc – we can offer confidential support by issuing foodbank vouchers for the Manchester South Central foodbank via our referral service here at JNR8.
We can issue vouchers on Wednesdays from 12-1pm.
The St Edmund’s Church foodbank is open on Wednesday’s from 1-3pm.
You can also use the vouchers at the Wesley Centre on Royce Rd in Hulme on Saturdays from 11-1pm.
You can call/ leave a message for me (Chris) on 0161881344 if you need more information.
News from the Foodbank:
CHRISTMAS OPENING: ST EDMUNDS WILL BE CLOSED ON 26TH DEC & 2ND JANUARY, VOUCHERS CAN BE USED AT OUR WESLEY CENTRE SESSIONS OPEN AS USUAL SATURDAY 11 TILL 1PM THROUGHOUT THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD
The Greater Together Manchester Winter Night Shelter is a rolling shelter, based at ten different churches close to the city centre between October and April. It provides 12 homeless men, referred from other organisations, with a bed and a hot meal each night in a relaxed and homely atmosphere.
The Night Shelter will be coming to St John, and St Edmund in Whalley Range, in January 2019.
Volunteers are needed for the shelter on shifts of your choosing, including evenings, overnights and mornings. Outside shelter hours, help to cook or to do laundry is also needed. No previous experience is needed as full training is provided. The next volunteer training session is on Monday 17th December.
They are looking for volunteers from all walks of life who can get involved with a variety of shelter tasks. Shifts are flexible to fit around many people’s own commitments. Many of their guests have English as an additional language and can sometimes be limited. Knowledge of other languages and ability to communicate without English is very useful at times. Applications are particularly encouraged from those with experience of cooking.
The role is suitable for those over the age of 18.
The shelters run every night from January to April.
Shift times are Morning – 6am – 9:30am;
Evening – 5:30pm – 10pm;
Overnight – 9:30pm – 6:30am.
There is an application process to volunteer with GTMNS and it must be completed before attending a shelter. You will need to complete an online application form which will ask for 2 references. When they have received satisfactory references, volunteers will be invited to introductory training either as part of a large group or a small one. Once training is completed, volunteers are then added to a calendar and will be able to select their own shifts.
For more information, or to register as a volunteer, please go to https://greatertogethermanchester.org/homelessness or email nightshelter@greatertogethermanchester.org
If you, or someone you know, are homeless and need help, please visit Street Support.
The Manchester to Chorlton cycling and walking route is being proposed by Manchester City Council, the One Trafford Partnership, Transport for Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Cycling and Walking Commissioner, Chris Boardman.
Running along Barlow Moor Road, Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and Chorlton Road, the new five kilometre route will benefit local residents and anyone wishing to cycle between the city centre and the thriving Chorlton area.
Local residents, businesses, community groups and other interested parties are now invited to review the proposals and have their say at www.manchester.gov.uk/consultations.
Public Meeting: Wednesday 6 February, 6.30pm
Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley St, Manchester M2 3JL
Our buses in Greater Manchester are not working currently. It’s a wild west where companies do what they like.
Come to the campaign’s first public meeting to find out more about how we can win, and join the campaign to take action for better buses.
Speakers
Fatima Abid (University of Manchester Students’ Union)
Cllr John Hughes (Bus Driver and Unite rep)
Neil McInroy (CLES)
Luke Raikes (IPPR North)
Helen Rimmer (Friends of the Earth)
Chair – Jennifer Williams (Manchester Evening News)
There will be snacks, time to meet others from your local area and feel free to bring the kids.
We have a huge opportunity to make our buses better over the next year. Come along to join the fight against the fat cats!
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fight-the-fat-cats-lets-win-better-buses-for-greater-manchester-tickets-54601492534
Sign the campaign petition here: https://betterbusesgm.org.uk/
If you’d like to get more involved in the Better Buses for Greater Manchester campaign, please contact Pascale Robinson: Pascale@betterbusesgm.org.uk
Well it’s been a great year – those of you who voted for us have enabled us to start a new course around nutrition – and to ensure our community classes and activities/events for adults can continue at least until December!
The money raised will also fund a revised edition of the popular Whalley Range Community Directory:
Many thanks to Mick for organising the work from theISG construction company who have been supporting our project.
The team have knocked down the redundant chimney above the kitchen so that the work can commence…wet rot caused a few problems – but moving forward we are working with local building teams to get on with the work!
Many thanks to the team from Hyde Demolition who removed the chimney
Crescent Roofing who have patched up the roof ready for the next stage
Timberwise – roofing experts who came along to check out the roof for any issues
We are well on our way to realising our dream for our community kitchen!
We have now secured grants for a new energy efficient boiler from the Manchester City Council’s Neighbourhood Investment Fund…
and a new commercial cooker thanks to a grant from the Manchester Airport Community Trust Fund!
We have received a fantastic donation of ‘pre-loved’ stainless steel kitchen equipment and an offer to carry out some of our building work – from ISG – a dynamic construction company currently working in schools across Greater Manchester…
The Whiz project young people who are working towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award have recorded interviews with building users to find out their thoughts about the current facilities and the benefits of a new kitchen.
Listen to some of the interviews here:
Please Help!
We are struggling to feed and support our hungry community.
Our kitchen is a shambles and weve had to suspend lots of our vital cooking activities!
Food has always been a very important aspect of our work in terms of bringing people together, cook and eat: we have produced cookery guides and recipe books: our under 12 cookery class appeared on Ready Steady Cook!
We love Whalley Range and talked to residents about what they want – and this is what they said:
With a fully accessible professional kitchen we know we could meet these priorities – and more!
Since 1998 we have been based at the JNR8 Youth & Community Centre – the leased community rooms of
Manley Park Church – providing a range of inclusive projects for our richly diverse community.
There are 2 main charitable organisations based here.
Whalley Range Community Forum (WRCF) sources funding and facilitates daytime activities for the community and a weekly social and cooking group for people experiencing mental ill health.
Whalley Range Youth Opportunities Association (WRYOA) runs an evening Youth Club and holiday play schemes.
The Church has made major improvements over the past years: a new hall floor, energy efficient boiler and new double glazed windows and doors. WRCF has sourced funding for furniture, laptops and storage for the many groups who provide activities/classes.
We have decided to all come together to fundraise for a new professional, accessible kitchen to improve health & wellbeing. We named our project: Generate our Kitchen – as our building – JNR8 – is pronounced Generate!
With one part-time member of staff and a voluntary committee for WRCF and WRYOA – along with fantastic teams of volunteers and sessional youth workers – we are the only local centre serving the community with activities for all ages and cultures, providing crisis support and celebrating the area by bringing people together to improve mental and physical health and wellbeing and raising aspirations.
Based on consultations at our events we aim to:
Help reduce isolation by providing social groups,
Encourage people to engage with others: Coffee mornings, Afternoon Tea, Support groups
Improve employability and confidence/self-esteem building
Provide ESOL support with English speaking and writing
Provide basic and improvers computer skills with internet access
Run Work clubs and Computer classes
Provide Youth provision and Play schemes including Duke of Edinburgh Award, Girls Night
Promote Healthy eating Health & Wellbeing and Fitness classes
Reduce the stigma around mental ill health
Provide crisis support including Hate Crime reporting centre and Foodbank voucher distribution
Thai Boxing
Tai Chi
Women Health
Age-friendly
Child Friendly
Hate Crime Awareness and International Women Day events
Debates
Book and film launches
Babies & toddlers groups
Meetings
Advice sessions
Something for the youngest to the oldest, the Celebrate festival at our community centre – along with a wide range of other activities for everyone of all ages in our richly diverse community!
We love living in Whalley Range and as a Community Forum we have talked to residents about what they want!
Cookery lessons
Meal budgeting advice
Catering courses
Cook & Taste sessions
Community Meals
Healthy meal ideas
Cheap nutritious meal plans
Heritage food courses
Intergenerational cooking
Learning about vitamins & food sources
Healthy nutritious meals for one
Family cooking sessions
A fully accessible professional kitchen
Practical ESOL cookery sessions
Production of a tried & tested cook book And much more!
The JNR8 Youth & Community Centre is the base for the Whalley Range Community Forum, Whalley Range Youth Opportunities Association Whiz Youth Project, Celebrate, Age-friendly Whalley Range & Chorlton and Whalley Range Mental Health & Wellbeing.
We lease the building from Manley Park Methodist Church from Monday to Friday providing a range of classes, events and activities including an evening week-day youth club and holiday play for children.
On Friday evenings the volunteer-led wellbeing group Time to Change meet up offering support and removing the stigma around mental ill health by running a social group with pool, music, Tai Chi, bike repairs and to prepare, cook and eat a meal together.
The Church provides regular fundraising coffee mornings and soup lunches for the community and they let the building out on Saturday evenings to Youth on Solid Ground for their weekly youth club.
Our groups love to cook and want to promote and share cooking and eating together to reduce isolation, improve skills and employability and to improve their health. We could provide so much more if our currently inadequate and practically unusable kitchen was updated and fit for purpose!
Representatives of the groups who share the building are applying for funding under the banner
Generate our Kitchen
Please could you help us by completing our survey to support our request for funding?
The survey is anonymous but you can add your details if you are interested in getting involved. Visit the Age-friendly and well-being marquee to read more and to collect a hard copy of the survey.
The JNR8 (pronounced ‘Generate) Youth & Community Centre is the weekly base for the Whalley Range Community Forum, Whalley Range Youth Opportunities Association (WRYOA) Whiz Youth Project, Celebrate, Age-friendly Whalley Range & Chorlton and Whalley Range Mental Health & Wellbeing.
The JNR8 centre is a fantastic community resource – and we run a wide range of activities during the week for all ages, including ESOL, fitness, confidence building and social and self-help groups for people to come together to reduce isolation/encourage participation and friendships.
Cookery has always been a big part of our community engagement at JNR8 (our under 12 group even featured on Ready Steady Cook!) and we have a long history of providing community meals and food projects including the Food 4 Us cookery toolkit, Heritage cookery projects and intergenerational recipe sharing.
We are currently fundraising to improve our kitchen – as many of our cookery and nutrition classes have had to be put on hold as the kitchen is not fit for purpose.
Our exciting plan is to access funding to turn our current inadequate facilities into a professional kitchen so we can resume all the regular classes – and provide so much more!
We run a work club under the banner Generating Opportunities: a professional kitchen will enable us to provide catering, cooking and nutrition classes to improve skills and employability and projects that use cookery to improve English
In addition we want to resume our shared community meals – such as the successful Come 4 Tea, Festive Feasts and share recipes from around the world.
The Building is lovely – fantastic multi-use hall, storage for our projects, a chill out room, an IT room for computer beginners and improvers, a classroom for learning, teaching, presenting, planning and meeting.
Now look at our existing kitchen…
And look at some of the fantastic projects that go on here:
Local resident Chris Williams is the Creator of the Anne Frank Project…
‘a chronicled storyboard in words and music called: ‘six million voices – one girl – and a diary’
“Having 2 minutes to talk about the Anne Frank project, made me think about the concept of ‘time’. 25 years ago, the Diary of Anne Frank was planted into my mind and gave me the idea to compose a short piece of music which I called a ‘Trilogy’.
It saved the day by supplying the impetus for the 1st music assignment required on a 4-year Degree program.
25 years later I picked the ‘Trilogy’ back off the shelf and began working on it as a project.
It took 2 years to compose enough music, create Synopsis’ wordage, gather extracts from the Diary, and gain permission from the Anne Frank Family Trust in Switzerland, to complete the writing of one C.D.
One year ago I launched the Music Disc and one month ago produced a companion audio ‘Talking Book’.
Anne spent 2 years writing her detailed Diary. She died 2 months before the Concentration Camps were liberated.
Anne’s story pierced my heart, because of the inhumane atrocities to which she was subjected; Anne’s story also strengthened my heart, because of the courage and tenacity with which she endured the horrors of her persecution.
Through this journey of the Diary of Anne Frank, I have been liberated from my own struggles as a victim of abuse and have found my own voice. The result is a chronicled storyboard in words and music called: ‘six million voices – one girl – and a diary’. The story will not end there as I continue to write and compose the Anne Frank Project, because Anne’s life is unsinkable. Thank you for listening.
Anne Frank was a 13 year old girl, living an ordinary life in Amsterdam, Holland.
Caught up in World War Two, Anne lost her life, but left behind an enduring legacy in the writing of her Diary.
During those turbulent times, Anne examined through words and in her thinking, to rationalise everything – the behaviours of other people, and in the party of hideaways with whom she was trapped inside a secret annexe for two years; and the actions of Hitler and his army of followers, of their attempt to wipe out the Jewish population.
Anne own personal feelings towards others, her adolescent mood swings, the daily grinding routines within the secret annexe, her love of nature, God and music, her fears of the unknown, the joy of love as she became aware of her fluctuating emotions for boys, her own self-recognition of developing from a child into a young woman; all of these aspects were recorded into the detailed expressions of Anne two years of Diary writing.
Although Anne was physically trapped and immobilised within the square footage of the secret annexe, she was always moving forward in her mind, through her rigorous and continued education; reading and learning were keenly structured into her two years of enforced hiding from the world. Through contemplation and reflection, dreaming and forward thinking, Anne was constantly maturing.
This ethos I have hoped to incorporate into the music, to make it a travelling music, a travelling experience for the listener, a progressive journey for and in the mind of the audience, encapsulating two predominant years of Anne life.
I advocate that the content and impact of Anne illuminating Diary gives cause to the expression of many manners of musical composition to be explored and displayed.
As for the profound significance of this abominable subject on victimisation, I have intended to produce a sincere and honest music biography of The Diary of Anne Frank.
And through my music, to remind the cause for peace, tolerance, and non-violence amongst all peoples, past, present and future.
Thanks for reading
Chris Williams – Creator of the Anne Frank Project
A Synopsis for each track is available. Be sure to click on the track or its photo.
