Eat Well: The restaurant-backed charity feeding hidden homeless families in Manchester
What began as a drive to feed the NHS has become so much more - with restaurant-backed charity Eat Well MCR now dedicated to supporting the Manchester families most affected by the pandemic.
Across Greater Manchester, there are thousands of families living in emergency and temporary accommodation.
Whilst standards vary, the majority offer very little cooking equipment – and generally, ‘mod cons’ on offer come down to little more than a shared kettle and maybe a microwave.
Much of this housing is often located in ‘food deserts’ – areas with limited access to affordable, fresh ingredients. This, combined with families’ financial struggles, means some parents across the region are choosing to go hungry so that they can feed their kids.
Although there is a good amount of visibility for street homelessness services in Manchester today, the plight of families experiencing homelessness remains much more obscured.
Currently, only a few organisations recognise the issue – and Manchester charity Eat Well MCR is the one preparing fresh, nutritious meals for people in need (as opposed to dried packets of noodles, for example).
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Meals prepared by Ancoats restaurant Elnecot being delivered to MRI ITU in May 2020 / Image: Eat Well MCR
The charitable collective was set up by Creameries chef Mary-Ellen McTague alongside friends Kathleen O’Connor and Gemma Saunders in April of last year, a week before the first lockdown hit.
Initially, its focus was on providing food to hard-hit NHS staff. At that time, panic buying had emptied supermarket shelves and many were coming off gruelling shifts to find they couldn’t even get any food in for their tea.
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Simultaneously, restaurants and bars were still open but had no customers – thanks to early government guidance that advised people to keep away but didn’t tell businesses to close.
This meant there were a host of Manchester chefs standing in empty restaurants with fully-stocked pantries, watching food deteriorate whilst others struggled to get any at all.
McTague had a brainwave. Facing her own empty restaurant kitchen, with a load of donations of fresh food that had no other place to go, she felt that “the obvious thing to do was to cook the food and take it to those who needed it.”
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Partnering with a network of top Manchester restaurants like Hawksmoor and Elnecot, the trio quickly mobilised to take unwanted food that would otherwise have gone in the bin and redistribute it into healthy meals for local NHS staff.
Restaurant-grade meals prepared by staff at Ancoats restaurant Elnecot, Little Window in Altrincham and Honest Crust Sourdough Pizza for those in need / Image: Eat Well MCR
In the weeks that followed, they went from delivering 50 meals on their first day to more than 1,800 a week – and soon realised there were a lot more people in Manchester who needed their help.
Eat Well expanded their operation to begin working with homeless and other vulnerable residents, reaching out to women’s refuges and hotels housing rough sleepers to offer their support.
They also set up an online marketplace, a win-win that has helped to fund more meals for those in need whilst also bringing in much-needed money for partner restaurants that were intermittently closed or operating as takeaway only during the lockdowns.
Here, people can purchase top quality restaurant produce like sourdough pizzas from Honest Crust, pre-mixed cocktails from local producers like Into The Gathering Dust, and fresh fruit and veg from projects like the Cinderwood market garden – a 1-acre organic market garden in Cheshire set up by a local farmer and chef to help make biologically intensive food more accessible.
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To date, the charitable collective has delivered nearly 45,000 meals to people in need and is aiming to hit its next milestone of 100,000 with a little help from the people of Manchester.
Deliveries arriving at ABC Brewery for the Eat Well MCR Marketplace – set up to help partner restaurants sell their produce and to fund more meals for those in need / Image: Eat Well MCR
Managing everything themselves, the charity sources food for their partner restaurants to cook up into nutritious, hearty portions then delivers it out to partner charities such as Emmeline’s Pantry, a Manchester food bank that works exclusively with women in need.
It’s made a huge difference to families who use the service, according to team member Karen Wilson.
“These meals mean so much to our families for different reasons – some are in temporary accommodation with just a microwave, so having a balanced tasty meal is a real treat,” she said.
“It’s a blessing to have a lovely meal made with care, it means more than just the food itself.”
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She adds that the partnership has also meant that some families have had the chance to try new foods from restaurants in central Manchester – like KRUM doughnuts from Freight Island and Nell’s pizza.
“The feedback we have had from some of the people we support was that it brought back lovely family memories from childhood, enjoying a meal all together,” adds Karen.
“We also have the supper club part of our making memories scheme, where we get wonderful takeaway meals delivered to the children – they love the variety.
“It’s such a treat to our families! None of that would be possible without Eat Well MCR and we are incredibly thankful to them for everything they do for us.”
Emmeline’s Pantry is a family-focused food bank. Each week, service users can take home a delicious meal, ready prepared – something that many of us take for granted. / Image: Eat Well MCR
Speaking on the project, co-founder and chef Mary-Ellen McTague said: “Food poverty is a real issue in Greater Manchester and there is still so much more work to be done to help people in challenging circumstances who rely on the work we carry out.
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“Food shouldn’t just be about survival; it should feed the soul and be an occasion to look forward to. We provide a delicious, restaurant-grade meal once a week to vulnerable people across Manchester because we believe it’s something everyone deserves and has a right to.
“We’re so thankful to everyone who has supported and donated to Eat Well MCR after what has been such an uncertain year for so many people. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last year and we couldn’t have done it without the help from the wonderful people who have continued to buy, donate, and shout about us.
“We’re so keen to keep this momentum for donations going and would love to celebrate the delivery of 100,000 meals.”
To support Eat Well MCR and help reach the 100,000 meal milestone, you can provide a monthly or one-off donation by visiting their JustGiving page or eatwellmcr.org.
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Full list of road closures set to be in place for Manchester Day 2024
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2024 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.
Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Saturday 27 July, and as always, it’s set to be “the day summer officially starts” in the city centre – with a massive celebration of “all things Mancunian” on the cards.
The theme of this year’s annual event is ‘Let The Games Begin’, and it’s inspired by the international summer of sport, just 2024 Olympics kicks off over in Paris.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
Some city centre roads will be closed on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July for Manchester Day.
These will include:
🛣️Deansgate 🛣️St Ann Street 🛣️St Mary’s Gate 🛣️Market Street 🛣️King Street
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 21, 2024
But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.
The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Manchester Day is back for 2024 to celebrate the international summer of sport / Credit: Manchester City Council
Manchester Day 2024 – Road Closures
Saturday 27 July
From 6am to 11:59pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street) – access will be maintained to Marks and Spencer’s car park and Number One Deansgate.
St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street (Cross Street to Deansgate) – no access for deliveries.
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 6pm on Friday 26 July to 11:59pm on Saturday 27 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street)
St Ann Street – including the bays outside St Ann’s Church (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Southgate (St Mary’s Street to King Street West)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Victoria Street (Cathedral Approach to Deansgate)
Todd Street (Corporation Street to Station Approach)
King Street (Spring Gardens to Southgate)
South King Street (Ridgefield to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street West (Deansgate to St Mary’s Parsonage)
St James’s Square (John Dalton Street to South King Street)
Cross Street (King Street to Corporation Street)
Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
Marsden Street (Cheapside to Brown Street)
Manchester Day 2024: Let The Games Begin! will take over the city centre on Saturday 27 July from 12pm-6pm.
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete
Emily Sergeant
Work currently underway on the Rochdale via Oldham line is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed that land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has now “slowed”, and this means that detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works have been able to get underway.
In order for trams to run again on the crucial line from the city centre to the two major Greater Manchester towns, TfGM says that a small section of track has to be moved back – also known as ‘slewed’ – into its original position.
The overhead line poles also need to be repaired too, the transport operator revealed.
Rochdale line update
Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.
To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position… pic.twitter.com/byERjitdi1
Unfortunately though, due to the “complex” nature of these works, and despite the fact that TfGM says it’s actively looking to “accelerate” the repairs, the project is expected to take up to five weeks to complete in full.
On top of this, the detailed ground investigations will also establish whether any further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date.
TfGM has apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete / Credit: TfGM
Speaking on the scale of works currently underway, and how long he expects them to continue for, Pete Sommers, who is TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, said: “I’m sorry for the impact this is having, and will continue to have, on people’s journeys.
“We are working to get trams running through the area again, but this remains a complex and challenging issue and it could still be a few weeks before this happens.
“We will of course keep passengers updated, and I’d encourage people to check our social media channels and website for the latest information and advice.”