This newsletter was first published by email in Autumn 2023. If you'd like our next newsletter hot off the press to your inbox, please join our mailing list.

Hello everyone,

It always sets me grinning when I get the latest patch of emails about everything great going on in West Yorkshire. While political promises are made by parties across the spectrum with an eye on an upcoming General Election, in West Yorkshire, the commitment to the long-term fostering of democratic decision making in all aspects of our lives is second to none. As always, we’ve got a wide-spanning roster, ranging in everything from cultural festivals in Bradford to community pop-ups in Sowerby Bridge, and we’re even celebrating the awarding of an MBE to one of our long-time organisers. I sincerely hope that the whack of optimism and energy that today’s letter provides is enough to lull everyone out of the dawning realisation that summer’s over, and the nights are crawling in. It can be sad to see the back of summer, but the opportunities to come together during those crisp, fresh Autumnal days is, for me at least, an equally exciting prospect.

What we've been up to

West Yorkshire Walks

You'll be happily unsurprised to hear that we're kicking off our Autumn newsletter with some more great news about our ever popular West Yorkshire walks! Back in late May and early July, we teamed up with the University of Sheffield and their Department of Landscape Architecture for two Bradford walks, inviting the good people of Manningham to get together and discuss their community and the use of greenspaces. Interestingly enough, a quick Google of Manningham and you'll find a great little booklet put together by English Heritage, laying out the area's unique industrial history and its key role as Bradford's premier industrial hub, an underlooked but important area of our region that we'll keep coming back to. As if that wasn't enough, we also organised two walks in Harehills in East Leeds, working with the Harehills Neighbourhood Forum to invite residents there to talk again about their community and the utilisation of green spaces in an inner-city area. Judging from some feedback on Facebook, it was another great couple of days, with Same Skies bringing people together to walk, eat and chat about the future of this great area.

Community Housing workshop

On October 16, we hosted a community housing workshop with People Powered Homes, discussing how we maintain and build on our region's depth of expertise in this sector.

What our friends have been up to

MBE for Claude Henrickson

I'm happy to be writing that our long-time friend, fellow Same Skies organiser and community housing expert, Claude Hendrickson, was awarded an MBE for services to community self-build housing, back in the King's birthday awards in June. Claude's work goes back to the mid 90s, when he helped pioneer a community-led approach to self-build housing with his project, Frontline. This initiative saw Claude working alongside twelve unemployed Afro-Carribbean men back in Chapeltown in Leeds, giving them the tools, confidence and expertise to build their own semi-detached houses, with many of the original builders still living in them and working in constuction, getting their NVQ qualifications with Frontline.

A short film we produced on another WY walk with Claude takes the viewer back to where it all began, detailing the social history of Frontline, and he also contributed a crucial section to our AMPlify Manifesto back in 2021. More recently, an interview with Claude in Co-op news puts his career into perspective, detailing his new ventures both as part of the Right to Build task force, and as a trainer promoting equality, diversity and inclusion within community housing with the CCH's Four Million Homes initiative. I think everyone reading this today will join me in saying how proud and happy we are that the great work of a Leeds lad and good friend is getting the recognition it deserves.

Intercultured festival

Starting on October 18, this year's Intercultured festival has officially begun in Bradford, with a roster of ten days of events celebrating the culture and communities that make the city so great. Highlights include; Dance with Words, a dance and movement workshop provided by SAA UK at Keighley Library, and Harmony After The War, an evening of Kurdish music and Syrian poetry at Kala Sangam on October 21. The full programme is now live here, so Bradfordians (and the rest) be sure to support!

What we've got coming up

Report launch on graduate retention in West Yorkshire

Some more really exciting news as Martha Storey and Alex Doyle's much anticipated report, discussing the problems with West Yorkshire's disproportionate failure to retain graduates, is set to be launched on November 15, 6pm, at the Climate Emergency Hub in Leeds. While our initial discussion session highlighted problems with the advertising of jobs and inadequate public transport, this new report includes input from over a hundred graduates, and is set to add some research meat to the bones of this underlooked problem.

On the report, Martha told me:

"I recently graduated from uni, and it struck me that, despite how great West Yorkshire is, only a very few of my friends chose to live there after graduating. Our report looks at why this might be, and how West Yorkshire can become a more attractive place for graduates - and young people more widely - to move to."

You can get your free tickets for the launch online here.

Sowerby Bridge pop-up research hub

Another new project hot off the heels of the success of West Yorkshire walks, is our two weekends of pop-up research hubs in Sowerby Bridge, alongside the local community arts space Fire & Water. Starting on October 25, our hub will be inviting those who live and work in the town to ask: How could Sowerby Bridge be even better? As part of the project, there will be the opportunity for locals to draw on the work and expertise of professionals like business owners, librarians and district nurses from outside of the town, working together to understand the power in drawing on their collective strengths and knowledge. The second pop-up will be on December 2, and you can reserve your free spot for October on the link here.

West Yorkshire Walks film screening

It feels apt to bookend this Autumn's newsletter with another (yes, another) great development in our West Yorkshire walks series, as we worked alongside the University of Sheffield again to turn the footage and results of our walks in Harehills and Manningham into a film. The film focuses on the response by the community to the Walk-Talk-Eat research method used on our walks, and how it can be used to explore the role of greenspaces and environmental activism in our region's built-up areas short of parks, gardens and the like. A screening will be taking place at the Climate Emergency Hub on November 7, kicking off at 5:30 and finishing with a Q&A from the research team, discussing the film and its findings. You can reserve your free ticket online here.

As it's been a bit of a long one this time, I think I'll leave it there for now! Hopefully, you've got enough projects, ideas and events to keep you excited and energised in the coming months. Here's to keeping up this great momentum, and I'll speak to you again in the New Year.

Cheers!

George