The vital volunteers protecting and feeding Oldham during the pandemic
Oldham Helping Hands deliver food parcels and essential items - for free - to anyone who needs them. They've been a shining light during a very dark time.
And right now, its residents are under a relentless siege from coronavirus.
The region’s alarming infection rate has seen Oldham receive more national press coverage than it has since 2001 riots – with talk of the town being cut off from the rest of the UK as part of a local lockdown.
Still as troubled as it may be, but Oldham isn’t a lost cause. People like Nadeem Iqbal have proven that.
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For the past four years, this guy has been delivering food parcels and essential items – for free – to anyone who needs them via his charity group Oldham Helping Hands.
Every week, Nadeem – who runs a 24/7 breakdown recovery company – and his volunteers surrender their precious spare time to support those in need.
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Their actions aren’t just keeping spirits up; they’re saving lives.
The organisation has been a crucial ray of light during a dark time – with their assistance proving invaluable throughout the pandemic.
“A while back, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to a charity event in Bradford,” Nadeem tells The Manc.
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“I started doing it every Sunday, and then I decided to set my own up back here in Greater Manchester.
“We began by going out to Piccadilly Gardens to feed the homeless, and it gradually built up from there.”
During the winter seasons, Nadeem has even been known to use his ‘big monster truck’ to take people to work when they couldn’t drive themselves in heavy snow; offering his assistance wherever he could to those who needed it most.
As coronavirus crept into the town, Helping Hands swiftly evolved into a delivery service – dropping parcels on the doorsteps of vulnerable residents.
Ultimately it’s meant that, despite suffering a particularly nasty dose of the virus, Oldham has remained well-fed.
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“At the beginning of lockdown, I was going home to home between the elderly and vulnerable people,” Nadeem explains.
“I put messages on my pages, too, so people could contact me.
“It got to a point where I was loading a whole van up and knocking on doors in the town and just asking people if they needed anything. Not a problem.”
Nadeem himself has seen real defiance in the town – which has been teetering on the brink of quarantine for several weeks.
“Everyone’s stuck together – which is a good thing,” he says.
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“At times like this we all need to stick together.”
Of course, Helping Hands are indebted to the kindness of the community.
They’re always on the lookout for food and toiletries, and Nadeem wants people to know that they can get in touch with him at any time.
“Anybody that’s suffering in silence – speak up and message me through Oldham Helping Hands,” he says calmly.
“It doesn’t have to be public, you can just send me a private message – I’ll be glad to help.
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“I know there’s people out there struggling who don’t want to be named; and I know where they’re coming from.
“But there’s no shame – everyone is going through a bad patch right now. Anyone can contact me for help; no one else has to know.”
With groups like Helping Hands in the town, Oldham just might get through this after all.
You can donate by visiting the Oldham Helping Hands page here.
Morrisons introduces new quiet hours to make stores less ‘overwhelming’ for shoppers
Emily Sergeant
Morrisons has decided to extend its popular ‘Quieter Hour’ across the UK to help make its stores less “overwhelming” for shoppers.
Introduced earlier this month to mark World Autism Acceptance Week, and in a bid to turn what can be a daunting task for many people into “a calmer and more enjoyable experience”, the supermarket chain has announced an extension to its already popular initiative by adding new ‘Quieter Hours’ during weekday afternoons.
In case you weren’t aware, Morrisons first introduced its Quieter Hour all the way back in July 2018, and has been welcoming people who may struggle supermarket shopping environments through its doors ever since.
The initiative – which initially took place between 9am and 10am on a Saturday, and for the first hour of trade on a Sunday – originally began as part of the National Autistic Society’s ‘Autism Hour campaign’, after it was found that some neurodiverse people, including those with autism, can find shopping in a supermarket “overwhelming”.
Supermarkets can lead many people to experience increased sensitivity to light and sound, such as loud music, bright lights, and busy environments, and in turn, this can cause anxiety or, in some of the worst cases, even physical pain.
But now, after the trial has proved to be so successful and well-received, Morrisons has made the decision to extended the initiative to weekdays too, as well as weekends – with ‘Quieter Hours’ now also running every week from Monday to Thursday between 2-3pm.
The company says the extension is all with the aim of “helping even more customers”.
During ‘Quieter Hours’, Morrisons stores operate lower levels of lighting, turn music and radios off, avoid making tannoy announcements, reduce movement of trolleys and baskets, and turn checkout beeps and other electrical noises down.
“The weekly shop can be a daunting task for those who may struggle with noises associated with it,” commented Charlotte Exell, who is the Business Sponsor of Ability at Morrisons.
“At Morrisons, we are always looking for more ways to support customers, and as the Quieter Hour is incredibly popular in our stores across the nation, we have listened to customers and will now help more shoppers in our extended times.”
Featured Image – Morrisons
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Freddos are on sale for 10p at UK supermarkets for the first time in nearly 20 years
Emily Sergeant
It’s happening… it’s finally happening.
We never thought we’d see this again, but for the first time in nearly two whole decades, you can now walk into supermarkets across the UK and pick yourself up a Cadbury Freddo for the price of just 10p.
While it may sound a little too good to be true, due to the fact that the beloved chocolate treat has been creeping up in price for the past 19 years, and has very much gone onto become a classic British reference point for the state of inflation and the rising cost of living crisis, we couldn’t be happier to confirm it is.
But, of course, there is a bit of catch (because isn’t there always).
For anyone looking to get their hands on a slashed-price Freddo – which we imagine will be the vast majority of people reading this – you unfortunately won’t be able to pop into any supermarket, as the 10p offer is exclusive to Sainsbury’s and you’ll need a Nectar card to be eligible for it too.
The caption of the now-viral post reads: “Some things from the mid 2000s should NEVER come back, but this is not one of them.
“Head to any Sainsbury’s superstore to pick up a Freddo for just 10p with your nectar card.”
Sadly, not only is this unmissable Freddo offer exclusive to Sainsbury’s for Nectar card-holders, it’s also only available in Sainsbury’s superstores too, meaning you won’t be able to find the cheap frog-shaped chocolate bars in little Sainsbury’s Local outlets.
The offer is also only for a very limited time too, as it’s available to make the most of from today (17 April) up until next Tuesday 23 April.
Freddos are on sale for 10p at Sainsbury’s for the first time in nearly 20 years / Credit: Sainsbury’s | The Manc Group
Thankfully, Freddos are the only chocolate treats that Sainsbury’s has slashed the price of currently.
As a way of celebrating the iconic confectionary company‘s 200th birthday this year, the supermarket has also put offers on a wide range of other products.
Dairy Milk bars, multipacks of Fudge, Curly Wurlys, and Flakes, Dairy Milk Trays, Chocolate Finger biscuits, and Mini Roll cake bars are the other much-loved Cadbury products currently on sale with up to 30% off their marked price.
Rachel Clark, who is the Director of Grocery for Sainsbury’s, said on the supermarket’s current Cadbury offers: “We’re delighted to be celebrating such an iconic moment for Cadbury, and its milestone of 200 years as a loved chocolate brand. We know that our customers love Cadbury so we’re very excited to be offering market-leading prices across selected Cadbury products, with savings of up to 60% off with Nectar Prices.”