A scaffolder who was inspired by Marcus Rashford’s campaign for free school meal vouchers during holidays has achieved his own amazing feat.
Jordan Mattinson – 27, from Whitehaven in Cumbria – has managed to secure a whopping £11,000 worth of food to feed children over the Christmas holidays, and has even taken in a delivery of 20 tons, which will feed around 2,000 families in his community.
The amazing haul of 4,000 carrier bags full of food was so big it needed its own articulated lorry to be delivered to a social club, where it was stored ahead of being distributed.
Jordan and a group of pals launched the Copeland Christmas Food Project after the government rejected pleas to extend free meals for kids over the festive break, and even though the government eventually made a U-turn on the decision, the group decided to continue with the project.
They’ll now be able to help feed thousands of children from more than 50 different schools in the region.
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Speaking on the incredible achievement, Jordan said: “When Marcus Rashford asked the government to extend free school meals into the Christmas holidays and they said no, I set up the fundraising campaign. We were just going to donate food to a couple of schools whose children needed it, but it grew arms and legs.
“I put a crowdfunder online and set a target of £500, but we’ve had more than £11,000.
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“It’s absolutely amazing,
“I was blown away by the support and generosity of people [and] we’ll be able to feed 2,000 families. We got in touch with so many schools who were so grateful for it and said they had children who needed the help.
“We don’t get involved with the families directly as it’s a very sensitive thing for them and some of them find it embarrassing, but we ask the schools how many children they have on free school meals and donate it to the schools who distribute it to the families who need it.”
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Jordan Mattinson / SWNS
Jordan and his fellow organisers of the Copeland Christmas Food Project – Danny Dougherty, Josh and Rikki Tweedie and Beth McGregor – bought 26,000 individual items from Aldi’s Whitehaven store, which made up 4,000 carrier bags.
This means that each family is set to receive two bags of food.
On advice from the local food bank, the group prioritised long-lasting foods such as pasta, rice and soup, which would last for the entire two-week holiday period.
Jordan added: “It came on 32 pallets, it took a lot of effort to pack, there was around 50 volunteers. It’s been really nice to see people coming together and helping each other out.
“I have never been more proud or happy with anything I’ve ever been involved in.”
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He continued: “The response was overwhelming. It was just an unbelievable response from the community, all the volunteers and businesses who have helped us.
“It’s been eye-opening, the more we did this, the more we saw how many people actually need help [and] you don’t realise it’s so rife, people are really struggling and it is hard for them. People are finding this year harder than other years with the pandemic and people losing their jobs, so even more children are on free school meals than ever before.
Jordan Mattinson / SWNS
“The response from people in need has been overwhelming [too],
“[And] schools were so grateful for the help, and we’ve had messages from people who have needed help.
“As our food will be none perishable items, they will keep and hopefully help families at a later date if needed and make for a more comfortable Christmas.”
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A spokesman for The Whitehaven Academy – one of the local secondary schools set to receive donations of the food – said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the Copeland Christmas Food Project who have provided us with food parcels for our families.
“[It’s a] fantastic effort by the team and wider community, [and] together, no child will go hungry in Copeland this Christmas.”
Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd December 2020 
