Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Alan Bleasdale , Stan Boardman, Sir Rex Harrison, Baroness Sally Morgan, Peter Noone, Wes Paul, Phil Redmond , Freddie Starr, Stuart Ferguson Victor Sutcliffe (5th Beatle ) Football Players - Steven Gerard, Peter Reid, Joey Barton, Lee Trundle, Tony Hibbert, David Nugent and Leon Osman. No doubt Huyton will continue to raise more sons and daughters of future fame.
Anyway, I'm not here to go on about the book, although there is some reference to Community Spirit of the men and women of Huyton of what I want to talk about now. Mr Cameron from the present Coalition Government chose Merseyside as one of the four areas selected to promote his new Big Society agenda...and Merseyside said "No Thanks". It was felt that this concept of promotion of volunteerism for the ' Greater Good' had come at the 'wrong time'. Huyton's Phil Redmond was disappointed that it didn't develop and said "In pulling out of the Big Society we lost our direct access". It was perhaps to some Community and Voluntary Sectors and by Liverpools Labour Leader Joe Anderson as unfair to volunteerr groups who had had their funding cut due to reduction in Council funding , he told the BBC, "I have therefore come to the conclusion that Liverpool City Council can no longer support the big society initiative, as a direct consequence of your funding decisions".
But, many here in Huyton have always been from the view point that The Big Society was perhaps a cover job for getting the good spirited to work for no pay, especially when every city in the country would be made to to choose which voluntary sector projects would loose its core funding and and for having to make thousands of Public sector redundancies because of financial cuts to Local Government.
So, Mr Camerons 'Big Society' is not going ahead as suggested in Merseyside....but in reality, all over the country including Huyton, there are principled projects based on making communities a better place to live already going on and always has been going on...especially here in Huyton. There are so many networks run on Good Will already in operation serving members of Huyton and the Old School House is one of them..
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| Local Huyton Residents on Allotment Fun Day |
This was the Open Day Last Summer all the allotment Group Invited all their families to the fun day th show off their work.... We had a fab day and all the kids got seed to grow and ours are still going .
Having visited, this brilliant example of hands on community engagement I can see why so manyuse it. One of the peoples projects is the Community Allottment (see below)
The harvest from the allottment is always shared and the feelings of achievment generated is really magical.
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| The Top Garden Rose ...wow ! |
Another group that uses the School House is Veggie Van that supplies local people with cheap vegatables. This service to many especially the poor is a lifesaver and used by alot of the local community. Of course the centre and all the organisations that make use of the cheap affordable rents and resources are part of a much wider network can have many benefits, such as health and well being, improved mental health, friendships, better heart health and good on your purse.
I spoke to a local service user and Huyton resident and asked how has this Community people led initiative a great example of Big Society?
Because my mum and her pals involvement at the Old School House Allotment my kids in Toxteth and local Huyton kids get to be involved in something much bigger than growing vegetables ....they see a good example of people being together in ways that are almost post-war days 'everyone pulling together. They see and experience older people as vibrant and funny especially when we sit and have a cuppa and talk about the old days when there was no money and they made their own toys, or their first kiss or what it was like to wait for you Dad to come home from the war and you had never even met him. Stories of dancing in the Grafton and drinking only lemonade at 18years old and families torn apart because of marrying a Catholic or a Protestant. So yes, its so much more than growing veg, its The Big Huyton Society.
There are loads of communites doing it for themselves heres some Links below and if you want this blog to mention what you do then please leave a comment and I will be glad to put you on.
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