Manchester charity Forever Manchester has this week launched a new poem designed to harness Mancunian pride, and get local people involved in putting something back into their communities.
Aiming to capitalise on the outpouring of pride associated with Manchester Day and the parade by local community groups through the city, Forever Manchester has today made available for the first time it’s poem ‘This is the Place’ , with its accompanying video, created by local agency Studio North.
The poem was crafted by the charity’s poet in residence, Tony Walsh aka Longfella, who is well known across Manchester and beyond for his emotive words. It will be used by the charity, which supports local communities across Greater Manchester, to highlight the values, and passions that are at its core.
Forever Manchester chief executive Nick Massey comments:
“We wanted to find a new way to reach out to people that share our passion for this great place, to find a way to encourage them to engage with what we do. We wanted to capture something that tugged on the heartstrings but made us laugh.
We wanted something that displayed a sense of self-deprecation that people round here are famous for, but also reflected the pride about what goes on here – whether it’s the high-brow stuff, the academia or whether it’s just people doing stuff for themselves, this is exactly what Tony has achieved with this poem.
‘This is The Place’ makes references to some fabulous places and brilliant things that have happened around the Manchester area.
It talks about the history and refers to the future. It talks about us pulling together as a group of people and that’s exactly what Forever Manchester is about.”
Forever Manchester is the Community Foundation for Greater Manchester and raises money to support grass-root community groups and initiatives across the region.
See below for the video