Participatory Budgeting
Between December 2021 to April 2023 Northern Heart and Soul CiC convened an experiment in the Wigan Borough, bringing communities together, who were interested in participatory budgeting. The report i
Origin Story
Gill and I, the founders of Northern Heart & Soul CiC met on the ‘LIFE experiment’. In Wigan, it was loosely based on Hilary Cottams ideas, as described in Radical Help. We found
Infrastructure Organisations
In Wigan we don’t have a CVS. Apparently, fingers were burned so badly last time we had an infrastructure organisation that the baby has been thrown out of the bath water. Although, the CVS in W
Playful Healing
Yesterday, Diane who works for Wigan Athletic Football Club, came to visit the little organising circle that we host after Thursday coffee mornings. We had such a good time chatting all things play (w
Liberated from Pet Projects
Over the last three months I’ve been involved in a participatory grant making experiment with Greater Manchester (GM) System Changers with aims to distribute more funds to GM communities facing marg
Gap in My Diary
I’ve been irked the last day or two by an email from a well intentioned professional who may be interested in visiting a social space we host, and might like to come this week, because something has
Six Themes
Between September – December 2022, supported by an evaluation circle, and, a critical friend we decided to collect some stories and interviews so that we could begin noticing and understanding h
Small Fish, Big Pond
On Wednesday I accompanied some women from the community to Sheffield ready for Its Our Community on Thursday, a gathering organised by the Citizen Network. It’s the first time they’d been t
It Gives you a Bit of Worth, Doesn’t It?
This week is mental health awareness week and the theme is anxiety. We’re not doing anything out of the ordinary in the neighbourhood to mark the week, you wont see a hashtag from us. We are j