Community Power Podcast Series 2 Episode 2: Leading climate conversations in Greater Manchester

Episode 2: Leading climate conversations in Greater Manchester 

Chris Allen

Hello and welcome to another Community Power Podcast, a weekly series brought to you in partnership with Local Trust. My name’s Chris Allen, and in this series, we’re showcasing some incredible projects, focusing in particular on what happens when you give local people the resources, the power and the assets to make a difference to their neighbourhoods. With me as ever is Beth Lazenby, our series producer, Beth, who we’re going to be hearing from this week? 

Beth Lazenby

So this week, we’re going to be talking to Ralph and Freda from our Sale West up near Manchester, and they’re going to be sharing with us the kinds of things they’ve been doing to respond to both the cost of living crisis and also the climate crisis. 

Chris Allen

And the first person I spoke to was, in fact, Freda, and asked her to tell us a little bit about the area and about herself and her role. 

Freda Eyden

Okay, I’m Freda Eyden, and I’m co chair of Our Sale West. And Sale West is in Greater Manchester, southwest of the city, and it’s a rather strange setup in the sense that it was originally a Manchester City Council overspill area. And so a lot of people were kind of transplanted from the city centre in the 70s and found themselves in this rather leafy, nice green area, which was all very beautiful to look at. But when it came right down to it was difficult to find work in the area. You had to travel a long way to get employment. So it’s had its drawbacks as well as its advantages, really. So now it’s, I mean, most people who come are very impressed with it. It’s nice to look at. It’s still got green spaces, although the Housing Association, who now own it, are doing a huge regeneration at the moment. So it’s changing before our very eyes, and quite a lot of the green spaces are being swallowed up now with new housing. 

Chris Allen

And both of you over your 10 years or plus, your kind of reflections? Because you know where you started from, where you are, to where you are now, what sort of, what sort of most comes into your mind, Ralph, in terms of how it started, drawing a line on the map and actually to now where you you’re caring for people way beyond the borders of where you first started? 

Ralph

I think, like most people, I was blinded by the possibility of bringing a million pound into my community. We’re all sort of looking and thinking how much work would be entailed, and certainly how much work on my part and setting up the partnership and Freda as a co-chair. But I think for every hour I put into the process, I’ve received 15 hours, and my community has received 15 hours of benefit from it. It’s that social impact that we’ve made. And I think the biggest factor with the Local Trust and the Big Local sort of structure is the enhanced reputation that we built up in the community as a can-do organisation. And as I say, people come to us now and say, ​“we’ve got this issue. Can you do it for us?” And first question is, ​“yeah, boys, you’re not going to get it for free”. 

Chris Allen

And quite rightly too, Freda you’re nodding along with that kind of change in the community, how the community is seen, how local people are seen. 

Freda Eyden

I think it’s made a huge difference to it. And the reputation now is positive. It used to at times be a little bit negative in the past. But now it’s really been a fabulous opportunity to give people the chance to come forward and show what they’re made of and we’ve discovered some real gems in the community. I mean, they’ve always been there, but now they’ve been able to, you know, really develop and get confidence. And the support that we’ve been given through Local Trust, the training and everything, it’s made a huge difference, I think. 

Chris Allen

To confidence you say, that comes from being listened to, being taken seriously? 

Freda Eyden

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, the ideas that people have got, they’ve always had, but they’ve not had a platform to actually share those ideas, and now they have. And with being able to have a plan and do different projects, have different aims and areas that we’re interested in, they’ve found they’re not all interested in everything, but they’ve all all found somewhere they can sort of shine and help. So yeah, they feel they’re making a difference, and they know they’re making a difference. So it’s really good. 

Chris Allen

And Ralph, you say, you know you’re not going to get it for free. You’re not going to get owt for nowt. That’s confidence that sort of is recognising the role you can play in the community, how important that is. 

Ralph

I think and Freda has done herself a slight disservice up with her introduction, because she’s been involved with the partnership since 2013 but she’s been a local school teacher for many years before that. So Freda has seen second and third generation family members of people she’s taught. And I think I like paraphrasing as much as I can. One of my favourite ones is there used to be an old adage that says ​“the customer is always right”. Now, I put a slightly different slant on that, and say ​“the community is not always right, but they should always be listened to”. Because we’re not perfect. We don’t have the solution to every problem, but we do have that local knowledge, and we have that local sort of connection. So if you want to solve a problem, you may be the best person to solve it, but come and speak to us, because we could most probably make your life easier. 

Chris Allen

And have you found you’ve become that go to place for consultation, that’s happened? Because that’s a massive culture change. 

Ralph

Yeah, I mean, and the prime example is, and this is where I took a step back, because Freda was the lead on our school climate crisis conference, and people have said to us, ​“I have difficulty getting one school involved. How did you get six schools involved?” 

Chris Allen

Well, go on Freda how did you do it? 

Freda Eyden

Well, of course, it helped that I’ve worked at one of the neighbourhood schools for about 25 years so, and I’ve always been involved in environmental issues and taught about that and all the rest of it. So it’s something very dear to my heart. So when I joined the partnership, first I was, I’m not a resident. I’m very nearly a resident of these 

Ralph

20 yards away. 

Chris Allen

If you if you put the line thick enough on that, then you would be. 

Freda Eyden

So at first, I was thinking about, ​“I’m really interested in this, and it’s great to be part of it, but what can I contribute here?” You know, it was a little bit unclear at first. Then I realised that my years with the school and also knowing some staff in nearby schools as well would be useful, and that we could build up our contacts with the schools, and thereby we could reach young people, especially the young residents on the estate. So in 2018 we had had the idea of having a school council conference, because I knew that we had had a school council. Not all the schools, local schools, had one. So we thought, why not bring them together and make it like a real adult type conference, so that they’re the keynote speakers, they help with workshops and all that kind of thing. So that was a big success. 

So we were hoping to repeat it in 2020 and then, of course, COVID came along, so that was the end of that idea. So we waited and waited, and finally we thought, ​“right we got the all clear. Now we can do it this year.” So we did it this year. We changed it from school council to the school climate crisis conference, because that’s a huge, very, very current worry, and something that, you know, really concerns people. We had about 60 pupils who came, and they all did presentations on projects close to their hearts. And fortunately, that worked out as a fantastic variety of different topics. 

Chris Allen

And you know, the experience of locally and worldwide is actually young people, younger people are taking the lead and we are following, aren’t we? Because actually, such issues are at the very heart of young people, so you’re enabling them to express themselves, but also take a lead in the area. 

Freda Eyden

Yes. Well, what we wanted to do was to make their voices the main voices there. We weren’t wanting them just to come and sit and have a load of adults just talking at them, you know? And think ​“this is very boring”. And we as adults really got to listen to them and try and help them. So we invited a lot of we had some erm once we knew what interested them, we made it our business to invite organisations that could support and mentor them. Each school at the end chose a project that they would carry forward so we can follow this up, maybe. 

Chris Allen

Well, my next question was, what happens next? What kind of projects are coming out the schools. 

Freda Eyden

Okay. Well, we had, for example, one area that are terribly concerned about, two schools in particular, about air pollution, because they have very busy roads near them. There’s a lot of worry about asthma and general health, and safety concerns around children coming to school and leaving school. A couple of the schools have now set up with organisations we invited along. One is a project for walking, encouraging people to walk to school. Another school, who are having a huge extension, have had it now. It’s now complete, but it’s swallowed up about half of the field that they used to have, the area outside school. So they were looking for ways of making the most of what they have left. So they’re looking to get advice about growing things, making, you know, areas for growing vegetables, for just a quiet place for people to sit, that kind of thing. 

Chris Allen

And it’s a very you know, I think we’re beginning to learn, aren’t we, because climate change sort of seems to be out there, and it’s big, and we’ve got to do something about it, and it’s coming down right into communities. Very practical things that can be done are now being driven by children, young people, in the wider context as well. And it’s good to see those coming out, coming out. It must excite you. 

Freda Eyden

Yes, absolutely. Well, when I was working at the school, before I became part of this, we used to talk a lot about pester power, you know, saying that if you got the kids who went home, start telling off their parents, ​“you know, why are you doing this? Why you doing that?” And so you spread the word in that way. So it’s very much that now. We also had one high school, which is a big school nearby, and so they came, and they really are keen. We had a big parade. We organised this before the conference started. We it was actually the high school who suggested it, and they said, let’s meet at a nearby field, and then we’ll walk to the conference, well, you know, to the community centre. So they did, and it was really quite a sight. Well, it sort of brought a lump to my throat, I must say, watching them, because they were all coming with the pupils, the staff, all holding big placards, you know. And we had the mayor and mayoress ready to receive them. But we mustn’t rest on our laurels. That was just the start. We need to follow it up, give them other opportunities. So that’s what we’re wanting to do. 

Chris Allen

Brilliant, brilliant.

Ralph

I think, on that point, though, because once again, Freda is an expert at underselling herself. Because to get this conference from the original idea to completion, it took most probably, over a year with sort of issues and I was one step behind Freda carrying her laptop and stuff. But the amount of sort of conversations we had to have going into schools and coordinating the school year so it didn’t affect their sort of normal curriculum, and bringing the head teachers together as a collective body, it took a lot of sort of determination and willpower. And I every time I went in the school, I always did the same statement, ​“I don’t have to sell climate change and climate crisis to your pupils. They get it. It’s people of my age group that we have to sell it to.” And that’s why we wanted it to be the young people’s conference, because we’ve all been talking about legacy for last at least three, four years in Local Trust. The legacy is what you pass on to the next generation. 

Chris Allen

A lot of people have been running ahead of this and saying, ​“Come on, guys, keep up with us.” It’s been it’s been different. Now, obviously the climate crisis is there, and it’s going to continue. And you know, you’re doing stuff locally, internationally. There’s a crisis cost of living, Ralph, and knowing your heart for your community, that must both worry you, but also it will drive you, I think, to doing practical stuff. 

Ralph

Oh, without doubt, I consider the cost of living crisis to be the next tsunami that’s heading our way. ​“How do you deal with the cost of living crisis?” And I say ​“I don’t know, because it’s a changing landscape”. Now, we’re quite fortunate, because from day one of the COVID crisis, we changed from being a Big Local area to being a COVID response for Sale. So as we’re saying, we moved from being responsible for 4,500 residents to 45,000. And we had to sort of wear two hats. So we was juggling the Our Sale West because we couldn’t put that into hibernation, because that’s our main focus with the picking up the pieces to run this hub. And one of the first conversations that I had and Claire, my our project manager, was, ​“what do we get from it financially?” Because at the time and for the last sort of, or since the end of 2018 to the present day, because the council came back to us, sort of three weeks ago, they came back to us and said, ​“can we extend that contract?” 

We’ve now got full cost recovery for two of our staff members salary wise. We’ve now, then we moved on to the sort of fuel energy crisis, and now we’ve got the cost of living crisis. We had to postpone an AGM in 2019 so we had our AGM two three months ago, Freda? Yeah, one of the figures that I looked at, and then had to look at again as I thought we’d added an extra zero or something. Well, since September 2019 to the present day, for example, we just broken – and I don’t know if this is something to be proud of – the delivery of over 300,000 meals to our community. 

Chris Allen

Well, I think it’s something to say, well done. 

Ralph

Yeah, but it’s one of those things that you don’t want to have to do, and think, ​“when can we get rid of it?” But I don’t think in my lifetime that will ever happen. There’ll always be a need. 

Chris Allen

I was going to say, community needs go in cycles over a long period of time. Strikes me, though, here that you were there, you know, and that was you were there because you recognise the opportunity Big Local was offering, and it came along. You were there for what was a million pound programme. And now, then we had, you had the COVID response, and now there’s other responses, but there’s always going to be needs perhaps in communities such as Sale West, that you’re going to be there for, and that community infrastructure for, want of a better word, people coming together to support each other is the is the key bit. 

Ralph

Yeah and there are a lot of Big Local areas doing similar, if not better, things. We’re part of that collective culture about because we was able to go from day one, because we had that Big Local structure behind us whereas local councils had to have 26 meetings and write 14 different policies, and six weeks later, they’ll say, 

Chris Allen

“Oh, can you do it for us?” 

Ralph

Yeah, or ​“we’ll employ someone” And we’ve been doing but, but it’s also about, I think, the changing needs of the community, because it’s got, there’s still need for sort of emergency food and so, but now we’re going towards the cost of living and that sort of people are unable to pay their fuel bills. We’ve just gone through the crisis of a new school year and families not being able to buy school uniforms, for example. And it’s that sort of thing that you think, ​“what can we do about it?” And we’re very fortunate in Sale West, because, as I say, we’ve got co chairs, and Freda takes a lot of the burden of what was on my shoulder, but I think we make a perfect team, because Freda has got that sort of determined, sort of Scottish grit with that lovely lilt to her voice, and I like talking to people. 

Chris Allen

Go on Freda, what does Ralph bring to the party? 

Freda Eyden

Where do I begin? Well, he’s kind of the father of the estate. I think everybody knows Ralph in in the estate, and we think such a lot of him, because he’s really driven this forward, and he’s passionate about the estate and so, you know, I don’t know where we’d be without him really. 

Chris Allen

Let’s leave aside family references and say you’re both great champions for your community. And thank you to you both and through you thank you to everybody who works with you, because it is a team effort, I know that. 

Ralph

Can I just make a final point on that, because… 

Chris Allen

I will let you. 

Ralph

Well, you picked on the key point. It’s a team effort because we’ve got four part time members of staff as part of our team. And I speak to chairs of other Big Locals, and they’ll say to me, ​“why have you got paid staff?” My response to that is, ​“why haven’t you got paid staff?” Well, I don’t know what we could do without the staff support, and they’ve become an integral part of that team. 

Chris Allen

That was Ralph Rudin as ever having the final word. He always seems to get that. Before that we heard from Freda Eyden, incredible couple up there in Sale West working so hard, Beth. 

Beth Lazenby

Yeah, absolutely. I think they make a real dynamic duo, and it was great to hear from both of them of all the amazing work that they’re doing. 

Chris Allen

So tell us about what’s coming up in the rest of the series, and where people can find out more information about this particular episode. 

Beth Lazenby

So for this episode, we’ll be sharing more information around Our Sale West in the show notes. So in the next few weeks, we’re going to be hearing some other amazing projects happening from both Big Local partnerships and Creative Civic Change partnerships as well. So everything from local bike clubs to creative street art projects to training for local families to sort of transform their relationships. 

Chris Allen

Got a lot to look forward to. Thanks, Beth. Indeed, Beth and I look forward to you joining us next time on the community power podcast, brought to you by Local Trust, discovering what happens when you give local people the resources, the power and the assets to make a difference to their neighbourhoods.