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Five Year Report 1989 - 1994Year 1 Report by Simon Loveitt
PREFACE
The Report tells its own unique story:
Let us thank
God for Simon Loveitt and the CRCW Project at Hulme URC and enfold everyone
concerned in our prayers over the next five years. David Peel Chair, Management Committee
INTRODUCTION I Began work in Hulme as a CRCW on 18th July 1989. In some ways it feels as though I have always lived in Manchester and my time in Birmingham seems but a distant memory. This report outlines my work year by year and highlights the important issues that I have come across during this time.
THE FIRST YEAR JULY 1989 – JULY 1990
BEGINNINGS
It was a very
difficult period in my life, with the transition from being a student to
actually working as a CRCW for the first time, coming to a new city I knew
nothing about, moving house into temporary accommodation as well as getting
married in the November of 1989. These were all major areas of stress, which
occurred within the first three months of being in post. Working daily in
Hulme, one becomes quite used to the acute housing problems, which are
associated with the area and accustomed to the appearances of the
deck-access housing and the Crescents. When I first began work these areas
were a real shock to the system and together with all the other stresses
outlined above, I found it very difficult to cope with the area, even though
I was used to what being in the inner city means from time spent in Aston,
Birmingham. I had to take the odd afternoon off to recover!
I felt that this information had
not been effectively passed on to members of the congregation with whom I
was to work. Some people even thought I was an evangelist!
The week I
began work in Hulme a playscheme for the children of the area was already
underway. I was invited to become involved with this. It was an ideal way of
meeting many of the local children and parents. I also enjoy youth work and
although this isn't community development work, it is an important area in
the life of any community. This is light relief from being constantly
involved in meetings, which becomes very tiring. For the next month I set about clearing out my office in the Church, which had not been touched for many years. Over this period, I removed about 25 black dustbin bags of rubbish out of just the one room. This proved to be a frustrating and depressing start to the job, as I never thought I would get started.
THE AREA
OF WORK
One of my
first tasks was to prioritise my main areas of work. Although I could work
throughout Hulme, this is an area of more than a mile square. There is also
so much going on in Hulme that if I had done this the time spent with each
group would have been spread so thinly that I would have been totally
ineffective. It was decided that I should concentrate my efforts on St. George's, otherwise known as Hulme 1. It is here that the Church is situated and where logically I would have most contact with the local community the Church serves. It is an area of mainly low rise housing, comprising of some Victorian housing which survived the 1960's slum clearance programme, together with some multi-stories, maisonettes and terraced housing. It is also quite a stable community with many people having lived there all their lives, with several generations living close to each other.
One of my first tasks was to 'network', to get myself known in the area to the various community groups and council workers and to become known in the area of St. George's by the local people. It was also important to find out what was going on in the area and discover the history and the plans for the future of Hulme. This had already begun to some extent with the playscheme, a ready-made opportunity to meet some of the tenants. There were some local groups which were already operating in the area when I arrived, such as the Tenants groups, the Community Association and the Friendly Club (an over 55's entertainment club). I am still involved with the Tenants and Community Association groups, which are both tackling local issues and put my head around the door at the Friendly Club most weeks.
ASSIMILATION The congregation of Tatton Street made me welcome as soon as I arrived, but it took well over a year for me to feel part of the congregation and not just the CRCW. The transition from a Church about four times the size, with a fair mix of ages with which I had grown up, to a small mainly elderly congregation was very difficult. Many hours were spent getting to known the members of the congregation, in both a work and social context. I felt this was important if a successful working relationship was to be built up.
The first 6-12
months in post were quite quiet in terms of seeing any developments of new
work or initiatives in the area. When I began the job I suggested that an
understanding of the area and becoming known in Hulme would be essential
prerequisites for my work.
LUNCH CLUB
The Church
used to run a lunch club for the elderly of the area and a need for this
facility was quickly identified, with only one other lunch club serving the
whole of Hulme. A lot of effort went into trying to ensuring that it
wouldn't be run by me, but by local people and members of the Church. With
this assurance, I proceeded to apply for funding. The kitchen was very
poorly equipped and needed completely re-stocking. With the grant bodies
requiring three separate quotes for each item, this created a lot of work.
We obtained all of the funding and had a visit from the Environmental Health
Department. The last requirement of the City Council, which was one of the
potential funders, was to check if the kitchens were in a reasonable
condition. It was discovered that the legislation regarding kitchens of
non-profit making organisations had been tightened up. The Church kitchens
didn't come up to the new environmental health standards. The costs for
bringing them up to standard was about £7,000, so this project ground to a
halt just when it was thought the area was going to have a lunch club.
YOUTH WORK
In this first
year, I became involved in two youth groups. Within the S.W. Manchester
Group of Churches, the young people used to meet on a Sunday evening and
have discussions and Bible studies. This had recently folded and as it was
an area in which I felt I could offer some time and skills to the group of
churches, I proceeded to re-group the young people and plan a programme with
their help. This went well with up to 18 young people from the different
churches attending and included 2 residential weekends. Since then this
group has ceased to operate. Numbers had dwindled over a period of two
years, due to many of the young people starting work or university. I also
no longer had the adequate spare time to offer to the group. It was
increasingly a burden, so it was a relief to close the group.
The other
area of youth work was with children from the local community and based
mainly in the Church Hall. The age group we worked with was 5 - 11 years.
There were also occasional minibus trips for those over 11. During the year,
Pierre West (a community and youth worker with Hulme Sports Programme) and
the work developed this area, increasing the frequency of the club for the
older group. The first year was quite a difficult one with the young people. They continually disrupted anything I was involved in, pushing me to the limit, as I was an 'outsider'. This included Church services and Junior Church. For example the candlelit carol service was wrecked, as they sprayed was from the candles everywhere, much to the disgust of the congregation. Basically, any meeting held in the building where I attended were disrupted, such as Tenants' meetings, my Management Committee meetings. I even had eggs thrown at the car and me. This was the low point of my work with the young people. It has improved - with the odd relapse.
COMMUNITY GROUPS
I attended the
Tenants' and Community Association meetings during the year. The Community
Association had been working on various projects before I came and one, the
Five-a-side pitch and tennis courts, was opened about six months after I
arrived. The group had managed to raise £80,000 for this project. The
floodlit area has been, and still is, heavily used, even though it has since
been quite badly vandalised. As a result the tennis courts are no longer
operational. It was a tragedy to see this happen and understandably, upset
many of those involved with this project.
The Tenants'
Association deals mainly with housing problems, although other issues arise,
such as traffic calming, bus routes and policing. These meetings are
sometimes well attended and can be very rowdy.
STUDENT PLACEMENT
I was
persuaded three months after starting work to have a student minister from
Northern College on placement with me. This really was a great mistake. I
really had very little for him to become involved in. His placement days
were a Monday and a Friday, both days, which were lighter workloads than the
others were. This compounded the problem. The student would turn up for
placement, there would be no work for him and he would go back to college. I
learnt my lesson and would strongly advise that student placements should
not be attempted until the second year of a CRCW appointment. Part of the requirements for my appointment was for me to be given adequate support. Although the Management Committee gives support to the worker, it was felt that external support and supervision also ought to be sought. Tony Addy from the William Temple Foundation was approached. He accepted the task but, after a year, it became apparent that this arrangement was not ideal, as he was out of the country so often with his work. Brian O'Neill, a minister in the East Manchester Group of Churches, was therefore approached and he agreed to help. We meet every six weeks for a couple of hours. I find this time very valuable. Brian asks probing questions as well as listening to what I have to say. We also share our work experience. During the year I also attended District Council, Provincial Synod, Group Officers' and Group Elders' and Deacon's meetings.
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