Minister hears how community radio bridges generation gapA young university student and a retired training and personnel consultant told Children and Young People´s Minister Beverley Hughes about their friendship across the generations when she visited a Manchester community radio station.
(left to right: Fez, Rosa, Peter and Beverley)
Muhammad R Zulfaqar (Fez to his friends), aged 25, and Peter Gidman, 65, met when they took part in a project run by ALL FM in Levenshulme aimed at bringing young people together with others old enough to be their grandparents.
They told the Minister that they had enjoyed working together to make a programme on Manchester Firsts, celebrating innovation in the city, and that they were now planning another first of their own - a Charity Guitar Trail featuring dozens of acoustic guitarists.
And the enthusiastic double act also interviewed the Minister about the Government´s promise of £5.5 million to pay for more projects to get the generations together to break down barriers and strengthen communities.
Ms Hughes announced on the day of the visit that the Government is inviting bids from partnerships of local authorities and voluntary organisations for a share of the new funding, which will be split between up to 12 schemes across the country. At least half the up to £400,000 that goes to each successful area will be spent on projects run by voluntary
organisations.
The idea is to have a lead authority in each region that can develop successful ways of working that can be shared with other areas.
Ms Hughes said: “ALL FM is a great example of some of the innovative practices already going on around the country that are bringing older and younger people together.
“The projects give older people the chance to see that young people are good, decent and law-abiding, and not the `hoodies´ and `yobs´ that many people see them as.
“Projects like these also show that young and older people often have the same concerns about the communities they live in, like the environment and anti-social behaviour.”
Councillor Rosa Battle, Manchester City Council´s Intergenerational Champion, said: “The Minister was obviously very impressed by the enthusiasm shown by Fez and Peter as well as by the pioneering work the council is doing with its partners to promote harmony between the generations.
“The ALL FM project is just one example of work in the city through our Valuing Older People team to bring generations together in a positive way and to break down barriers caused by lack of contact and understanding.
“We will be looking at the opportunities provided by the new funding along with our partners in the voluntary sector to see how they can help us make Manchester a city where people of all ages and background will choose to live and stay.”
ALL FM´s Station Manager Gina Hine, who also managed the intergenerational project, said: “This kind of national recognition is a great coup for ALLFM and Manchester as a whole.
“As a very small community organisation, ALL FM relies on this kind of funding not only to deliver innovative projects that engage the local community but in order to exist.
“This fund shows that central government recognises that the third sector is integral to deliver projects of this nature and hopefully organisations up and down the country will work with their local authorities to get intergenerational projects off the ground.”
The city council works closely with the Beth Johnson Foundation on intergenerational initiatives. The Foundation´s Chief Executive, Alan Hatton-Yeo, also attended the Minister´s visit to ALL FM.
The Beth Johnson Foundation is a national organisation that seeks to make a positive impact on the lives of older people, to gain recognition for the valuable role older people play and to challenge age discrimination through pioneering initiatives that bring together research, policy and best practice.
Fez Zulfaqar is working on an MSc in event management at Manchester Metropolitan University. Peter Gidman lives in Didsbury and is involved in many local organisations, including Didsbury Arts Network, Didsbury Civic Society and the Friends of Fletcher Moss.
Their interview with Beverley Hughes will be broadcast on ALL FM on 96.9FM in the Community News slot from 6pm on Thursday (23 April) and will be available to listen to online from the weekend on www.allfm.org .
For more information about the guitar event to be held at Fletcher Moss Gardens, Didsbury, on 14 June, visit www.charityguitartrail.com
For more Manchester City Council information visit www.manchester.gov.uk and for more on The Beth Johnson Foundation visit www.bjf.org.uk .