The ‘Stronger Communities Fund’ is one of the charity’s most successful programmes to date and one it’s “immensely proud” of after having supported over 100 local groups and charities to deliver great work in Manchester’s unbeatable communities throughout the last 10 years, and today’s re-launch and new injection of funds means 2021 is going to be another massive year for the scheme.
But in order for the charity to continue to best help Manchester in its post-COVID recovery work, We Love MCR wants local communities to tell them what they need.
This is why the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’ is callingon community groups and charities to apply for funding for initiatives which celebrate and invest in Manchester’s “vibrant multicultural neighbourhoods and youthful energy”.
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Now that the COVID-19 vaccination programme is well underway right across the UK and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has last week unveiled the government’s roadmap to reopen society and take England out of its current national lockdown in a series of four stages, many community groups are preparing to emerge from a period of hibernation and isolation, and are assessing the holes left in their operations and finances.
We Love MCR Charity is therefore asking Mancunians directly if they know of any groups in their communities that could benefit from a cash grant from the newly re-launched fund.
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Our Stronger Communities Fund has been operating for over 10 years in Mcr!
We're reinforcing the success it has already achieved by: ⬆️ increasing the maximum grant from £2k to £5k ⏰ scrapping the 2 year time limit for re-applications ? pledging an extra £215,000 to the fund
So, what does the re-launch of the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’ mean then?
Well, as well as focusing on assisting the city in its recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the fund’s relaunch includes two other new developments – the maximum grant value is increasing from £2,000 to £5,000, and also the two-year time limit after a successful grant application is being scrapped.
As We Love MCR Charity believes in “funding great ideas whenever a community is ready to get started on their project”, these two new developments mean that groups are now able to re-apply to the Stronger Communities Fund just 12 months after a successful award from We Love MCR Charity, as opposed to previously being required to wait two years.
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And if that wasn’t brilliant enough as it is, We Love MCR Charity is also pledging a healthy £215,000 to the fund from 1st April 2021 to reinforce its “commitment to Manchester’s people and communities”.
Speaking on the re-launch of the fund, Councillor Tommy Judge – Lord Mayor of Manchester and Chair of Trustees at We Love MCR Charity – says: “The Stronger Communities Fund re-launch simply could not come at a better time for Manchester [as] the people of this city have lost loved ones, livelihoods and opportunities during this pandemic, and therefore it is the people who are best placed to steer their communities out of the pandemic.
“Often what they need most is support and funding, and We Love MCR Charity will support our city brilliantly now, as it has done for many years.”
Marie O’Neill-Steinegger – Grants Manager at We Love MCR Charity – added: “We’ve supported many amazing groups over the last 10 years, and this year we want to support many more.
“Today we’re underlining our commitment to Manchester’s local groups and charities by offering them our financial support.
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“Our communities know what they need to do to improve things for their neighbours”.
And who could be better positioned to talk about the benefits of the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’ than some of the fund’s recent grant recipients?
A spokesperson for the Greater Manchester branch of youth homelessness charity Depaul UK and Nightstop said: “Having all these extra library resources funded by the Stronger Communities Fund is very positive for our residents [as] they can now access the right support and skills before they move on to their own accommodation.
“It also makes our accommodation feel more like a home and less like an institution, which has a huge impact on our residents’ wellbeing”.
A spokesperson for Hoshindo Karate Manchester added: “We Love MCR Charity made the whole process of applying to the Stronger Communities Fund really simple [and] their grant is helping us to empower our young people, at a time when funding for activities for young people is hard to find”.
Do you know an amazing community group or charity that does fantastic work for your area in Manchester and could benefit from the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’?
Then now is your chance to tell We Love MCR Charity all about them.
The fund welcomes applications across four broad themes:
Helping in the Early Years
Combating Loneliness and Social Exclusion
Protecting and Improving our Open Spaces
Offering Positive Youth Activities
To nominate a community group or charity in your area, all you need to do is head on over to We Love MCR Charity’s social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – to give them a shout out, and then visit We Love MCR Charity’s website here to make an application and find out more information.
Or you can email the charity today at [email protected] with your ideas and questions.
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We Love MCR Charity’s Trustees meet monthly to consider applications and to award grants, and the next two deadlines to submit applications for funding are 5th March and 2nd April.
Keen to donate to We Love MCR Charity? You can also do that here.
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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 is has got to be the most important of all the office supplies, surely?
According to the stats, Yokrshire 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 Spencers 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?…
Featured Images — Yorkshire Tea/Rumman Amin (via Unsplash)
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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”.
Morrisons has introduced new quiet hours to make stores less ‘overwhelming’ for shoppers / Credit: Morrisons
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.”
Emily Sergeant -
3rd March 2021 
