If you follow the goings-on here at Mustard Tree you’ll know that we recently opened a new branch in Little Hulton, Salford.
To celebrate the successful opening we held an official launch event on Wednesday 3 December. This was a great opportunity to introduce Mustard Tree to the local community and thank all the people who made the Little Hulton branch a reality.
It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people and a little bit longer than we expected. The property had been vacant for 4 years, so our landlord, City West, wanted to ensure that all the buildings basic services were in working order – particularly the water system, electrics, disabled lift and fire alarm – before they handed it over to us.
The day itself was a great success from the official ‘ribbon cutting’ and the attendance of the Mayor of Salford, Ian Stewart.
The launch is just the first step in a plan that we hope will benefit the residents of Little Hulton and the wider Salford area. Salford has consistently been one of the most deprived areas in Britain (Manchester isn’t doing any better, according to the last Indices of Deprivation report) so there is a real need for the services Mustard Tree offers in the area.
Initially we want to establish a good retail operation, so we can furniture at low affordable prices, and gift where possible to support sustainable tenancies and help people build a home. We will be operating a food bank and trialing a ‘Food Club’, which is a new model for tackling food poverty.
Once we have built a community, established what the local service users need most, and found a group of volunteers, we can begin to deliver our training programme, The Freedom Project, from this Little Hulton base.
Along with the Booth Centre and Business In The Community, Mustard Tree’s Freedom Project has been part of a scheme that resulted in 400 homeless people finding jobs in the last three years. This is a great example of the impact that a focus on volunteering, education and support can have.
Written by Jamie Faulkner, FireCask.