Guest Blog

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by Mel Parks

The Power of Human Connections – George Fielding’s Story

One of our new critical friends is George Fielding BEM, who spoke to us about his compelling motivations for community work and life in general. George has raised more than £15 million for charities since becoming an advocate for young wheelchair users at age 12.

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by Sophie Ewan-Roberts

Not Another Co-Production Project Launched in the West Midlands

Year 2 of Not Another Co-Production Project has begun in the West Midlands. This is a three-year lottery funded project run by the Ideas Alliance in partnership with People's Voice Media. The 12 organisations we are partnering with to embed collaboration and co-production into their work, had an introductory meeting, where Sophie Ewan-Roberts took visual notes.

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by Patrick Tierney

Road of Restoration

Last year, we were privileged to work with the Elephants Trail in Manchester as part of our lottery-funded Not Another Co-Production Project. Patrick Tierney, Elephants Trail member, shares his brilliant blog post, Road of Restoration, which considers the role of hope in our lives and recovery journeys.

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by Selva Mustafa

Stay Curious: Visually Recording Events

Selva Mustafa shares her process of visually recording events after her experience at the Not Another Co-Production Festival in Manchester.

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by Linda

Co-Production: What is it, exactly?

Linda Parsonage, Elephants Trail Rochdale Co-Worker, took to the stage at the Not Another Co-Production Festival on Tuesday 5 July in Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry to explain some of the background to co-production. If you are curious about co-production, read on for Linda's explanation.

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by Becky Seale

Trust First: Lessons From Running a Solidarity Fund

The SE15 Community Fund was established in May 2020, as a response to the financial difficulties people were experiencing during the pandemic and a requirement to fund the needs of local mutual aid efforts. The administrators share the principles they hold to, the dilemmas along the way and plans for the future. 

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by Helen Sturman

Rebuilding Community Connections with Not Another Co-Production Project

Helen Sturman, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire Area Development Manager for Parkinson’s UK, shares her experience of being new in the job when joining Not Another Co-Production Project. She outlines the importance of flexibility when rebuilding community connections with people with long-term health conditions, and how co-production values the range of life experiences, knowledge and skills that people can bring.

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by Immy Robinson

Understanding the 9 million active neighbours of lockdown

The coronavirus crisis saw a huge movement of community activity and support. Immy Robinson, co-lead of the Relationships Project, shares their research about what made people come together. How we can support the different types of active neighbour with an ecology that enables community activity to thrive?

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by Ben Andrews

Beyond Empower: supporting healthy, active lives for disabled people by transforming mainstream spaces and services

In this guest blog, Beyond Empower founder Ben Andrews tells us about their work to transform mainstream spaces, communities and leisure services so that they're accessible to people with disabilities. By thinking differently about the barriers, Beyond Empower help providers, councils and businesses create services that everyone in the community can access and enjoy.

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by Eleanor September

Unusual experiences?: Tackling the issue of closed cultures through storytelling

Mother and carer Eleanor September shares the experiences that led her to participate in Ideas Alliance's recent project on Closed Cultures. Read about the uphill struggle she has faced to access person-centred care since her daughter was born at 24 weeks almost 28 years ago.

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“The Hub acts as a glue bringing together people and organisations who are doing so much to positively disrupt their local systems.”

Burcu Borysik, Mayday Trust