The local lads behind a newly-founded initiative to “make sure the homeless of Manchester don’t go hungry” have launched a fundraiser to help with their mission of becoming a registered charity.
Cold Hands Warm Heart – the brainchild of co-founders Jamie Lilley, 32, and Daniel Goodier, 30 – was set up as the harsh winter temperatures plummeted across the region around two months ago to make sure that no rough sleepers in Manchester are going hungry or without the basic essentials needed to make it through, and with the aim of offering a personal touch and meeting needs that other organisations in the area do not currently offer.
The pair started the organisation after hearing the tragic story of a 25-year-old man who sadly died earlier this year while sleeping rough in the doorway of an M&S in Manchester city centre.
“[Daniel] called me and said we need to do something to help.” Jamie told The Manc.
They decided to start with a simple, but impactful gesture, and so the very next night, Jamie, Daniel and their friend, Michael Donoghue, all chipped in £30 and went to a local Middleton takeaway to buy some pizzas to hand out to the homeless across the city centre.
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Jamie continued: “We ended up with 23 boxes of pizzas to go and hand out, and we split these in half and they went within 15 minutes of us being there”.
“There must have been around fifty to sixty people sleeping rough [on Market Street]”.
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After identifying that there was more the rough sleepers were in need of, the lads spoke to them and asked what exactly they required, with Jamie adding: “They asked us for pot noodles, coffee, boxers, sanitary towels, gloves, scarfs, sleeping bags, hand-warmers and trainers, and we just knew we couldn’t just walk away, so Daniel and I went back again two days later after collecting donations of [those items].
“Once again though, these items lasted no more that 15 minutes, so we vowed to do more”.
This is when the pair decided to call on the brilliant people of Greater Manchester for support.
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Jamie continued: “We made a page on Facebook, and we now have almost 1,500 people following us within a month [and we are] getting a reach of over 40,000 within the last 28 days too.
“We now have a team of 18 volunteers”.
And from original Middleton-based takeaway Ian Donatello’s – which has donated 15 pizzas each the lads go out and has even agreed to pay for a storage unit to store all the products bought – to a number of local small businesses and even “some big investors such as McVities, Howden’s and Chubb”, Jamie and Daniel have been blown away by the “amazing support” from the local community so far.
But there’s a significant hurdle they need to get over to be able to expand further.
Jamie said: “Nearly every company I’ve spoken to wants to help… but once I get five minutes into the call, they ask for my charity number, which at the moment we do not have, and that’s why we’re trying to raise the funds to become a charity”.
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To become a registered charity, the pair need to show that they can earn £5,000 in a year period to prove that they are a fundraising organisation, and so, they have since set up a JustGiving page in an attempt to hit that target.
Over 100 people have already donated to the fundraiser to clock up £2,400 and counting.
“I feel like we’ve got a treasure chest full of gold but no key to open it [and] now the only way we can open that treasure chest would be to get that charity number and once we do, we will then be able to use the funding to help bring so much more”.
Jamie Lilley
Jamie Lilley
Word of the vital work being carried out by Cold Hands Warm Heart has spread far beyond Manchester too, and it’s given Jamie and Daniel a clear vision for the future of the initiative.
“I feel the main goal that we are working towards is just to try and feed as many as we can,” Jamie added.
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“We’ve already had some interest from people in Dublin and in London who are wanting to do the same and use our organisation name, so not only would Cold Hands Warm Heart be feeding the homeless of Manchester, we would also be feeding the homeless of Dublin and London.
“Eventually, will be looking at getting more teams in place to cover the likes of Liverpool, Birmingham Nottingham and all over the UK”.
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If you would like to support Cold Hands Warm Heart for the future, and join in Jamie and Daniel’s fight to becoming a registered charity, all donations can be made via the JustGiving page here.
Every penny counts.
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Manchester’s Club de Padel claps back at ’embarrassing’ copycat ASOS product
Daisy Jackson
A local Manchester business has sarcastically pointed out the glaring similarities between a new t-shirt on ASOS and one of its own designs.
Club de Padel has a range of retro-inspired merch with UN:IK, a small independent streetwear brand also based here in Manchester.
Its collection of t-shirts, hoodies, tracksuits, hats and bags often feature a design of an illustrated padel ball (which to the untrained eye is basically a tennis ball) in motion.
But this week a t-shirt appeared on ASOS that also featured an illustrated padel ball in motion, just in a slightly different colour palette.
The ASOS version, which has now been removed from sale, also undercut Club de Padel’s price by £6.
Since Club de Padel took the ’embarrassing’ copycat product public on their Instagram page, ASOS has launched an investigation and taken it off their website.
The sports venture, based at Deansgate Square and the only padel club in Manchester, wrote: “Love the new designs ASOS, kinda reminds us of something though…
The ASOS t-shirt that Club de Padel has said copies their merch. Credit: ASOSClub de Padel’s t-shirt created by Manchester brand UN:IK. Credit: Club de Padel
“Ah. Well that’s embarrassing… We’ve got a new line coming soon with UN:IK Clothing you’re just gonna love ASOS.
“In the meantime we made this for you @asos, save your design team a job.”
An ASOS spokesperson said: “We take intellectual property issues very seriously and have removed this product from sale while we investigate further.”
Of the Club de Padel and UN:IK collaboration, aka the real deal, UN:IK says it has ‘served up a staple for us, retro inspired leisure pieces with Manchester’s first ever padel club’.
Club de Padel in Manchester has gone public to poke fun at ASOS
They wrote: “Inspired by owners after a trip to Spain, Club de Padel has hit the city with a wave and the lifestyle brand we have created with them reinforces the fastest growing sport across Europe.
“Our classic vintage washes and oversized fits, working with independent designs as always on this local independent partnership. Don’t be afraid to the sport, we’ll guarantee you love it as much as these clothes.”
Yorkshire Tea is Manchester’s ‘favourite’ brand of teabags, according to new data
Danny Jones
The Great British debate of which teabag is best is one that will rage on for millennia, that’s just the way it is, but according to new data, it sounds like we might at least have an answer to which brand makes for Manchester’s favourite brew.
It won’t be a surprise to many of you and we can certainly confirm it on our end but the one and only Yorkshire Tea looks to have taken the cuppa crown when it comes not only to Manchester’s preferred teabag but seemingly the best-loved in Britain as a whole.
This is according to numbers pulled by local firm, TonerGiant. The Atherton-based ink and toner suppliers decided a poll around the office wasn’t enough and instead chose to turn their knowledge of the market and consumer trends into a bit of online research.
At the end of the day, tea has got to be the most important of all office supplies, surely?
According to the stats, Yorkshire Tea is Manchester’s favourite brand of tea bags. (Credit: Yorkshire Tea)
Using data from trusted online source Statista, which nailed down the top 25 teabag brands in the UK, each make was then ranked in relation to its average monthly searches via Google Keyword Planner to reveal that Yorkshire Tea was clearly the top dog.
With roughly 390 searches per month in Manchester alone, compared to PG Tips as the next best (260), it seems us Mancs have to concede at least one thing to our fellow Northern county: Yorkshire makes a bloody good brew.
The Roses rivalry raged for centuries but if there’s one thing that brings us together, it’s a good cuppa.
In terms of other tea brands that came in high on the leaderboard, Pukka Tea (170), Twinings (140)and Teapigs (90) made up the rest of the top five most-searched tea brands in Greater Manchester. It’s also interesting to see how those figures looked when extrapolated nationwide. Here’s the full ranking:
Rank
Tea
Average UK monthly searches
1
Yorkshire Tea
27,100
2
PG Tips
18,100
3
Pukka Tea
14,800
4
Twinings
12,100
5
Teapigs
8,100
6
Whittards Tea
6,600
7
Tetley
4,400
8
Clipper Tea
4,400
9
Lipton Tea
3,600
10
Barrys Tea
3,600
11
Thompsons Tea
1,300
12
Typhoo
1,300
13
Taylors Tea
1,300
14
M&S Tea
1,300
15
Tesco Tea
1,000
16
Tick Tock Tea
880
17
Sainsbury’s Tea
720
18
Lyons Tea
720
19
Asda Tea
590
20
Aldi Tea
590
21
Waitrose Tea
590
22
Lidl Tea
480
23
Morrisons Tea
320
24
Bewleys Tea
90
25
Cafedirect Tea
40
Few of these on here we’ve never heard of. Taste test, anyone?
While Yorkshire Tea was found to be Manchester’s and the nation’s favourite, Belfast was the only UK city where Yorkshire Tea didn’t take the top spot. Instead, it was Irish-owned Barry’s Tea that came out as their favourite – we definitely need to hold a ‘brew-off’ between the two. The Hoot, you up for it?
As for supermarket’s own-brand offerings, out of the eight options on the list, Marks and Spencer’s teabags were found to be the most popular, closely followed by Tesco and then Sainsbury’s.
Commenting on the findings, TonerGiant’s Stuart Deavall said: “With so many office workers opting for tea to get through the day, it’s no surprise that the UK has a day dedicated to the drink.
“In light of National Tea Day on Sunday, 21 April, our new data shows that Yorkshire Tea is the nation’s favourite, with over 27,000 Brits searching every month… We can expect many Brits to be celebrating in style this Sunday, no doubt with a mug of Yorkshire tea in hand”. Speaking of, anyone fancy a brew?…