All the way back in February 2021, one of the city’s most iconic charities launched a dedicated fund to help determined young Mancunians take the next step in education, entrepreneurship, employment, or training.
It then provides them with the resources needed to achieve these ambitions.
The charity has so far awarded over £70,000 to 45 successful applicants, with an average individual grant of around £1,500, but while the maximum MRSF grant value is publicly stated as £2,000, the charity’s Trustees have on occasions awarded more than this in certain cases, when they see a young person with ambition and a clear need for greater support – and now, that maximum grant award is raising to a life-changing £5,000.
We Love MCR Charity says the ‘Rising Stars Fund’ provides the opportunity for young people to achieve, when the one thing holding them back is their circumstance, and the charity is keen to “remove barriers to success”.
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The charity says the raising of the funding limit is so that it doesn’t deter young people whose needs were not covered by the previously-published ceiling of £2,000
In February 2021, we publicly launched the Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund, with the aim of removing financial barriers to success faced by young Mancunians 🌟
£75,000+ and 45 talented Mancs later… We're making a BIG change to the Fund, read below 👇https://t.co/E9NAe3cZIU
As mentioned, in previous instances, higher grants have been awarded by the charity, and one of these cases was Eden – an accomplished singer, pianist, composer and producer who earned himself a place at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire in Scotland to do a BMUs in Vocal Studies, but his chances of taking up that place were slim due to great misfortune in the family, which left him living in a homeless shelter and unable to afford necessary equipment for his course.
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The charity’s Trustees awarded Eden £3,900 to not only to purchase the equipment he needed to excel, but also to cover a portion of his accommodation costs to reduce the burden on his shoulders.
More recently, Boshra was awarded £3,600 to embark on an ambitious videography project that she believes will allow her to stand out in the spoken word and performance industry that she has so much passion for.
Despite her long-standing commitment to her artistic craft, and being an active ambassador for the Rio Ferdinand Foundation, she hasn’t had the financial backing to have been able to develop her talent fully, but her infectious energy and enthusiasm gave the Trustees the faith to award a grant above the stated maximum of £2,000.
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The higher grant award ultimately gave Boshra the opportunity to fulfil her ambitions.
Eden and Boshra are two of the ambitious young people awarded prior limit-exceeding grants from the MRSF / Credit: We Love MCR Charity
These are just two examples of We Love MCR Charity’s recent successful applicants that demonstrate how vital the raising of the funding limit to £5,000 can be – but the fund’s success stories are never-ending.
As mentioned, We Love MCR Charity has already awarded over £70,000 to dozens of industrious young people throughout the city – but the charity says it is keen to reach £200,000 by March 2022 by finding even more rising stars who need a helping hand.
Did any of the above inspiring success stories remind you of someone who’s a perfect fit for the Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund?
Keen to apply yourself?
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People aged 16-24 can apply for funding to pay for what they need to take their next steps to success in work, qualifications or entrepreneurship, as the charity ultimately believes “circumstances should not determine futures”.
You can find more information, and stick an application in here.
Featured Image – WLMC
News
Andy Burnham invites opposition party leaders to help tackle ‘broken’ social care system
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has announced that he is making the choice to fix the ‘broken’ social care system by finding ‘common ground’ across party lines.
Attempting to draw a line under what the Government has described as ‘decades of decline’ and a refusal to tackle these problems head on, Andy Burnham has now called on all political parties to focus on solving problems and finding solutions together, rather than pointing fingers at the opposition and getting nowhere.
The Prime Minister has reiterated the need for ‘a new kind of politics’ that puts differences aside in order to come together and face up to the challenges that he says Westminster has left unaddressed for ‘too long’.
Burnham invited the leaders of the two main opposition parties, Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey, to meet with him today (29 July) to ‘kickstart’ this work and discuss an urgent reform on social care.
The three leaders were jointed by Health Secretary Yvette Cooper and Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care which will draw up recommendations to deliver a National Care Service.
Baroness Casey has also launched the new Big Conversation on Care today.
The Big Conversation on Care is giving the public a chance to share their views and help shape the future of adult social care in England so that it is designed for the people it is there to serve.
The consultation will be open to everyone through a new online platform, and will start off the conversation by asking people about what the ‘values and principles’ we should all expect from a care system are.
“Last week I said we needed a different kind of politics [and] nowhere is that more urgent than social care,” Andy Burnham said in his speech.
“For decades, Governments have kicked this issue down the road because they’ve seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too complicated. Politicians might have different views but I’m serious about fixing this issue, and to do that, we have to find common ground and listen to others to find a way forward.
“That’s why I’m making this choice and I’m prepared to put everything I’ve got behind it.”
The Prime Minister says it’s time to ‘draw a line under people playing politics’ when the human cost of that means carers are struggling, families are paying the price, and the NHS is ‘buckling’ under the strain.
“This comes down to a choice,” his statement continued.
“We can carry on passing the problem to the next generation, or we can face it head on and work together to build a care system that gives people dignity, security and the support they deserve.”
Featured Image – Age Cymru
News
Brits start petition to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from closure amid budget cuts
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester, the North West and Brits at large are urging people across the country to pen a petition to save the Jodrell Bank Observatory from closing down for good.
In fact, this is just one petition among numerous protests over its impending closure.
For anyone who somehow hadn’t come across the sad news, the national institution that is Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) in Cheshire, which includes the award-winning and world-famous James Lovell Telescope, is scheduled to shut down permanently by March 2028.
Despite having served a crucial part in alleviating Cold War tensions back in the 1960s, operating as an important scientific hub under the University of Manchester umbrella, and remaining a major tourist pull for the region, it’s unfortunately lost its funding and is on course to be decommissioned.
While the massive Northern landmark near Macclesfield is home not only to the largest telescope in the UK, important physics research and even an annual music, arts and science festival in the form of Bluedot, its cultural significance doesn’t appear enough to keep it solvent.
Described as a “huge blow to astronomy” not just here in Britain but for the global industry as a whole, the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) have even described it as a form of “scientific vandalism.”
Having been open since around the end of WWII, before going on to possess the largest steerable radio telescope of its kind in the entire world by 1957, it’s been used to identify distant planets, stars, galaxies and more up in the far reaches of space.
Dr Megan Argo, reader in astrophysics at the University of Lancashire – which also shares a fruitful partnership with the centre alongside UoM, Cambridge, York and many more – said in a statement: “Jodrell Bank is still a very active facility and remains at the forefront of research.
“Recent upgrades have facilitated new discoveries about planet, star and galaxy formation which tell us about our own history, helping to answer one of humanity’s biggest questions: are we alone in the universe?” Put simply, the steps currently being taken have been called “short-sighted” to say the least.
With that in mind, people across the sector and online are now rallying behind the initiative to try and rescue the important and historic UNESCO site before it’s too late.
Cheshire and Warrington mayoral candidate Ben Fletcher is one of several notable names that have publicly backed the push to save the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre as a whole, along with its highly valuable facilities.
Meanwhile, one user on X added: “I’ve got an opinion on the Jodrell Bank stupidity – and I’m sorry, but that’s a polite understatement. But it is frankly unrepeatable in impolite company, let alone polite.
“I hope the nitwits who have made the decision feel proud about themselves though. Because pride comes before the fall.”
You can see the numerous posts from supporter voices on the Change.org page, including everyone from impassioned scientists and researchers who first discovered their love for these subjects by visiting the attraction, as well as Northerners who simply enjoyed some of their most precious memories there.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) needs to cut an estimated £700 million by 2029/30, and JBO needs to find enough funds to cover its £2.8m budget to avoid closing in the next couple of years. So, if you’ve been stirred by the passionate appeals, you can sign the petition HERE.
Much wider than greater Manchester. Remember going as a child from Merseyside, and have taken my children, too.
Emily Sergeant -
10th November 2021 
