User:Community News

Hattersley & Mottram Community News
The Hattersley & Mottram Community News in a community led monthly community newspaper produced in Hattersley, Tameside. Although Citizen Journalism is a relatively new buzz word, allowing the audience to have a voice on what is the news and being able to read an unspun report on that news has is central to the work of the Community News. The Hattersley & Mottram Community News has a wider role of helping highlight and promote the strong sense of community spirit within the area and further afield.

Hattersley is in the top 5% on the latest Index of Multiple Deprivation produced by Central Government and is an area of social housing, constructed by Manchester City Council in the 1960s as an ‘overspill’ estate. The area has suffered through underinvestment for many years and as a result was recently (2006) transfered to a registered social landlord following a very long and drawn out Large Scale Voluntary Transfer which began in 1999.

Although economic investment has always been lacking social investment by the people living in the area has always been high. The area has many community groups that have been inexistance for many, many years. The Community News allows all the positive community activity in the area to reported on as opposed to the sensationalism jourmalism which focuses on the negative aspects of society.

The majority of the articles and photographs featured in the Hattersley & Mottram Community News are produced by local people. Local ommunity groups and organisations are encouraged to use the paper to recruit new members and volunteers as well as to celebrate their successes and acheivements. Individuals also regularly use the paper to report on local human interest stories.

The Hattersley & Mottram Community News has been funded through the governments Neighbourhood Renwal Funding but it has recently registered as a not for profit social enterprise. The organisation is developing a range of other media related and training activities to ensure the continued production of the newspaper. Many of the new developments will be around online multi-media content. One of the first peices of work volunteers have been involved in was the creation of a flickr.com space where picutres taken by Community Photographers can be uploaded for the community and the World to see.

For many years Hattersley Forum Community Association has been organising a Christmas party for the areas Senior Citizens. Hattersley & Mottram Community Photographers attend last years party and have uploaded the the fantastic shots they took to flickr. The is just the first step in what's hoped will be an online archive of all the fantastic community activity in the area. Why not have a look for your self at www.flickr.com/photos/communitynews