The Branch - Spring 2015

Spring 2015

This is the first edition of The Branch for 2015. Manchester Student Homes’ Good Neighbours Team has had a busy and eventful autumn with lots of projects and news to tell you about!

Community Fun Fest The Good Neighbours Team was delighted at the success of the first Community Fun Fest. Held in February in partnership with The University of Manchester Students’ Union and The Union MMU, this event took place on Derby Road, Withington, and provided a chance for long-term residents to meet in a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere. There were lots of students and families from the area who came for information on their local community, as well as to enjoy the free food and fantastic music from students from the Royal Northern College of Music. We also received great support from Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service who enjoyed the opportunity to give residents information on personal and household safety.

For more information about the event and to see photos of the day, please visit www. manchesterstudenthomes.com or follow us on twitter @Man_student_hme.

Community High Tea The Good Neighbours Team held a Community High Tea event at Withington Baths in December last year.

The High Tea was held in the run up to Christmas as a chance for residents to meet students, Students’ Union representatives, councillors as well as staff from the Universities and Manchester Student Homes over mulled wine and mince pies.

At the event, the Good Neighbours Team showed four ‘Know your Neighbour Videos’ which were made by The University of Manchester as a way of promoting awareness of the local community.

There was a great turn out for the event with many familiar faces as well as many new faces too! Thank you to all those who helped make the event a success, with special thanks going to Love Withington Baths and local traders who donated festive treats!

Manchester Student Homes is a free, university-run housing service for students. Based in Fallowfield, MSH runs a landlord accreditation scheme and can offer support to students in relation to property searches, providing housing advice and contract checking. MSH also works with students, the community and partner agencies to identify issues in off campus areas.

Manchester Student Gnomes The Manchester Student Gnomes have finally arrived in Fallowfield!

After a long journey, the gnomes are now ready to help the Manchester Student Homes team deliver key housing and community messages to students and residents!

Follow on twitter @man_stu_gnomes to find out more about the gnomes and Manchester Student Homes’ work and projects, or visit www.manchesterstudenthomes. com/Pages/Community_MSG. Council. Professor Rod Coombs, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, then discussed the role of the University of Manchester in promoting the growth of the city through innovation, high quality teaching and research, brand recognition and by attracting overseas students.

National Community Conference

In November 2014, Manchester Student Homes held the National Community Conference, a conference which looked at off-campus issues within higher education institutions.

There was a great turn out over the two days with 100 delegates and 20 speakers representing 41 universities, 14 Students’ Unions, 5 housing providers, 3 local authorities and 2 police forces.

The first day started with presentations from Will Spinks, The University of Manchester’s Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer, and Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, who spoke jointly about the University of Manchester’s position in the city as well as the University’s close partnership with Manchester City

If you’re interested in finding out more about any of the stories featured, or would like to join our mailing list e-mail Email poppy.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk

The second day kicked off with a joint presentation by Professor Jean-Noel Ezingeard, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at MMU, and MMU’s former Director of Services, Mary Heaney. They discussed the Universitys investment in the regeneration of Hulme and Moss Side, areas that suffer from high unemployment, including adding £29m to the local economy as well as creating over 180 jobs for local residents.

For many attendees, the highlight of the conference was the presentation by the International Town and Gown Association’s Beth Bagwell and Susan Stafford.

They discussed student community engagement activities in America, including restorative justice, party registration and move-in orientation for students.

A big ‘thank you’ goes to the Chair, Carolyn Uphill and to all the student volunteers from The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University who gave up their own time to help ensure that the conference was a success!

Visit www.manchesterstudenthomes.com/Pages/ Community_NewsAndProjects for more information.

Community Feedback Forum Following the National Community Conference, Manchester Student Homes made a commitment to residents and community members to feedback discussions and themes from the event. We were extremely happy to see over 20 attendees from various residents’ groups at the forum. If you were unable to attend, please contact andrew.cross-2@manchester. ac.uk for more information.

Manchester Student Homes works with residents groups from the City Centre to Old Moat?

Shush Campaign The start of the 2014-15 academic year saw the relaunch of ‘Shush’, a campaign that aims to lessen the impact of excessive noise on residents and students.

As part of the ‘Shush’ campaign, the Good Neighbours visited over 500 properties with Greater Manchester Police in Fallowfield and Withington to remind students of those living in the local community. They also handed out ‘shush’ lollies to students to raise their awareness of the negative effect that noise has on the community.

For your free shush lolly, pop into the Manchester Student Homes office.

Incredible Edible Incredible Edible Manchester launched in September 2014 as a partnership between The University of Manchester and Manchester City Council, with huge support for the project by members of the community. The aim of the Incredible Edible is to give local communities the opportunity to grow their own sustainable fruit and vegetables, whilst also improving biodiversity in the area.

Five plots across Manchester have been identified as Incredible Edible sites where fruit, vegetables and herbs will be planted. Some of these plots were vacant overgrown plots by the side of the road, while others are in local parks. With the help of student volunteers from the University of Manchester, and students living in Halls of Residence, we have been able to transform these once disused plots into edible sites,. This means everyone living in the local community will have free access to use the plants to eat and use for cooking.

Thank you to all the community members who have helped us preparing the sites for planting this year!

For more information on the project or how to join Incredible Edible, contact Alexander Clark at alexander. clark@manchester.ac.uk.

If you’re interested in finding out more about any of the stories featured, or would like to join our mailing list e-mail Email poppy.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk

Envirolution Dawn from Envirolution came to Manchester Student Homes to talk to the Good Neighbours Team Who are Envirolution?

Envirolution started in 2010 and is a volunteer-run group based full time in Platt Fields Park. Our main aim it to teach people to live more sustainable, environmentally-friendly lives.

Can you tell us about some events or projects that you are currently working on?

We run different schemes and projects at different times of the year. One that we are currently working on is a new bee-friendly plant growing project that is being launched in the park’s bowling green. As well as this project, we also run monthly volunteer days which help us grow plants, maintain the great space and ensure that the park meets the local community’s needs.

One of the highlights of our year is the annual festival we hold in Platt Fields Park which we use as a platform to showcase different organisations, community groups and environmental themes. It also gives Envirolution an opportunity to educate people about sustainability in a fun and informal way!

Here are a couple of dates to put in your diary:

14th March: Spring Egg Hunt 11am - 3pm, Sheavyn Hall

19th March: Older Person’s Coffee Morning 12pm - 3pm, Owen’s Park Campus For more information please contact andrew.cross-2@manchester.ac.uk

Why are students so important to Envirolution?

Firstly, students are our main volunteer body, and whether they are botany students, events planning students or simply students with an interest in sustainability, they bring amazing skill sets and great ideas to Envirolution. They also bring unrivalled enthusiasm to the park and many really do love giving their time to organise events and lead volunteer sessions as well as really taking a lot out of the work they do with us!

If you like the sound of Envirolution and would like to find out more, please contact Dawn at volunteer. envirolution@gmail.com.

For more information, to report any issues, make suggestions or if you would like to add a community event to our newsletter please contact: Email: poppy.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk Stop by and see us: Unit 1-3 Ladybarn House, Moseley Road, Fallowfield M14 6ND Give us a call: 0161 275 7680 Follow us on Twitter: @Man_Student_Hme Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/ManchesterStudentHomes Visit: www.manchesterstudenthomes.com

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