A COMMUNITY-led scheme called Real Food Wythenshawe has been awarded £1m by The Big Lottery Fund in order to create and deliver a sustainable food future for the people of Manchester’s original Garden City.
The legacy of this is hoped to include a greater local understanding of the health implications of a healthy home cooked diet.
The £1m figure is the largest amount ever awarded within Greater Manchester for a community project of this kind and includes the budget to create an innovative Urban Biosystem to be based at The Manchester College, Wythenshawe Campus.
The project is particularly relevant in the current climate as food prices continue to soar across the UK leaving many communities unable to afford a healthy nutritious diet. Real Food Wythenshawe will address this problem directly on a local level offering a blueprint for other cities across the UK to follow.
Real Food Wythenshawe was instigated by Manchester International Festival before being handed to the partners of the Real Lives Wythenshawe campaign. Campaign partners then devised the project which was presented to The Big Lottery Fund for funding consideration.
Real Food Wythenshawe is a grass roots project that will work within the abundant green spaces of the area to create both indoor and outdoor growing systems. As well as growing produce the project will encourage healthier diets and business enterprise based around sustainable food.
An ambitious five year project, Real Food Wythenshawe will work across the entire community and engage with new and already existing community networks in a way that will create discussion around sustainable urban food production resulting in the development of sustainable growing systems with real outputs.
By the end of the project in 2017 the people of Wythenshawe will enjoy reasonably priced, sustainably produced and locally grown food through a network of businesses, social enterprises and markets all created to meet the community’s needs. The legacy of this is hoped to include a greater local understanding of the health implications of a healthy home cooked diet.
The project is being led by Willow Park Housing Trust with core partners including Parkway Green Housing Trust, The Forum Trust, The Manchester College, Manchester City Council, Urbed, UHSM (Wythenshawe Hospital), Creative Concern, Fareshare North West, EMERGE and BITE (a partnership initiative of Manchester Mind/ Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust).
A programme of activity will be built around five community hubs, all existing places within Wythenshawe that offer opportunities to engage key groups – including those at risk of poor health and worklessness.
These are:
– The Manchester College (Wythenshawe Campus)
– University Hospital South Manchester (Wythenshawe Hospital) – Wythenshawe Park walled garden
– Wythenshawe Town Centre (represented by The Forum and St Modwens) – Willow Park & Parkway Green Housing Trusts and Community Centres
Activities and flagship projects will be based around 5 themes:
– Indoor Growing systems
– Outdoor Growing
– Buying, Cooking and Eating
– Behaviour Change, Diet and Health
– Food Education, Skills and Enterprise
In addition to the physical hubs, the network of Real Lives Ambassadors (new and existing) will act as sustainable food ambassadors reaching further into the community to engage people in sustainable lifestyles through growing, cooking and eating healthy, sustainable food.
The Big Lottery Fund is committed to bringing improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
http://www.realfoodwythenshawe.com
The plot thickens
