We’ve been supporting charity Forever Manchester this year and recently had the opportunity to visit and offer our support to one of their community-led initiatives.
Last Wednesday we had the absolute pleasure of spending the morning with one of the community-led groups that receives funding from Forever Manchester, Greenspace Volunteers.
The morning started with us meeting Lisa Kershaw, one of Forever Manchester’s Community Builders, at Reddish Vale Country Park where we met up with the Greenspace Volunteers who turned up in their “merched-up” motorhome (we even got a look inside!).
After introductions, it was straight to business where we drove from there to one of the communities in Brinnington, a suburb of Stockport, where we got kitted up in high-vis’ and gloves to start moving equipment to build flower beds in the greenspace outside Lenham Towers.
There we were met by Mary from BLOGS (Brinnington Local Organised Group Society) who organised this project and told us she had a lovely time at the Range purchasing the flowers that were about to be planted.
We spoke to Lisa to get a deeper insight into what the Greenspace Volunteers do on their day-to-day “The Greenspace Volunteers collectively come together using their skills and assets to improve their own environmental surroundings.”
Chris Lightfoot, representing the Greenspace Volunteers, is heavily involved in the organising of the group
“We rely on funding from people like Forever Manchester who provide the funds so that we can do what we do.”
Lisa went on to say “What’s crucial is we can’t do any of this without support from businesses such as Knight Knox so every single penny that you give to Forever Manchester and raise goes into supporting these grassroots community groups directly.”
Once all the heavy lifting was done and the bases and soil were in place, the flowerbeds started forming and it was clear to see how something that can seem so small to some people can make such a big impact on the everyday life of others, and the likes of Forever Manchester and Greenspace Volunteers are the ones making this happen.
It was touching to see residents of the towers come out and have a look at what was going on, and we even met Judy who lives in the block and told us how she is planning on managing the flowerbeds to make sure they stay looking pretty for the residents there.
Once Judy and Mary had positioned the final plant in the first completed flowerbed, a tear was shed between the two as they shared an emotional moment. You could tell how much it meant that these people came together to improve the environment they live in.
Year to date, we’ve raised almost £2,500 for this fantastic charity and it was wonderful to see how contributions support these important projects.
You can see how the morning went here
