Meet the Mancunian-8.15- Tanny Rowland - transcript

Intro

Welcome to Season 8 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. A warm Mancunian welcome from your host, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe. Thank you for joining me today.

Every Tuesday, I bring you the stories of Manchester's unsung heroes, the individuals who helped to create positive change in our community. My aim is to inspire you, dear listener, to follow your own passions, whether through volunteering or working in the social impact sector. I'm also keen to spotlight good causes and create more awareness and support for them.

Whether you're tuning in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or on my website www.meetthemancunian.co.uk, get ready for a season filled with inspiring tales of social impact within our beloved city.

Episode 15

Welcome to the 15th episode of Season 8 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester.

Passionate about safety in the community, we hear from Tanny Rowland, Secretary, Wythenshawe Safety Patrol in this episode.

In Tanny's own words,

[00:01:14] Tanny Rowland: We have many things to do, we don't just have the free community cafe, obviously we have that, we have the garden project, we have patrolling of streets, parks, main areas, things like that. We have a safe place to be, which is if you see one of our logos in maybe the shop, or the takeaway, it means that if you're feeling vulnerable at any time, then you can just go in there. You can tell them the situation and then they can either phone us, they can phone the police, they can phone whoever they need basically to support you. It's a safe place to go.

Introduction and Welcome

[00:01:48] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much, Tanny, for joining me today.

[00:01:51] Tanny Rowland: Thank you for having me.

[00:01:53] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us first about how you found your passion for community. Where did that start?

Fanny's Journey: From Homelessness to Helping Others

[00:01:57] Tanny Rowland: Basically, when I was 17, I was homeless myself, so I did struggle a lot. There was one woman who helped me. Instead of living on the street, she helped me get a hostel because I was young. And I then moved from a hostel into my own place. I had one bedroom flat. And it was hard, physically and mentally, for myself. But then as years go on, obviously people came in and out of my life supporting me, then not supporting me.

But it was my partner and my mother-in-law, who helped run the safety patrol. They told me to use my knowledge from my past, as a positive, and help others. So that's what I decided to do.

[00:02:40] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That must have been a very difficult time, to be homeless, and then to be finding your own way. More power to you that you've used that experience to help other people.

Joining Wythenshawe Safety Patrol

[00:02:50] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us how about how you got involved with Wythenshawe Safety Patrol specifically and what does it do? Personally, as a Wythenshawe resident, I love the idea of our streets being safe at night.

[00:03:04] Tanny Rowland: It actually started off with another group first. There was a severe incident. A young woman was sexually attacked in one of the parks in Wythenshawe so the whole of Wythenshawe came together to patrol the streets, to keep bad people away and make people feel safe and that they could walk around the streets.

Then it stopped happening. So my partner came along and turned around and said me and my partner and my mother in law would like to take over basically. So we took over and bit by bit, we've built it up. We're a non-profitable organisation so we run off the donations from the public and support from the public.

Social media is a big, powerful thing. It helps us get everything across a lot easier and quicker to people.

Community Patrol Activities and Impact

[00:03:56] Tanny Rowland: Basically, what we are is, we're patrollers. So that's the community team side. We will go round the parks, the streets, up to Manchester Airport, things like that. We help the homeless, vulnerable people.

Just to say that you can walk around the streets, no matter day or night. If you're old, young, whoever you are, basically you can walk around the streets, feel safe. You can feel safe in your own home. It doesn't matter. Then the safety patrol side of things is more of a referral side. So if people are struggling to get hold of counselling advice.

We can put 'them on the right tracks of the places to go, people to see. If you're homeless, we have multiple connections to homeless groups around Manchester itself, not just Wythenshawe. We help a lot of people and the amount of feedback we get is unbelievable as well.

We run a free community cafe. We do three days a week, half eight till four, where we hand out free food. You can eat and take away. Obviously, we drop off food as well to people who can't leave the houses. At the moment, that's on pause though because we haven't got enough funding. So it's all going off funding and donations and we're struggling for that at the moment.

We started a garden project at the back of the St Michael's community hall where we are based. And that's just basically to bring the community together, show each other different life skills. Chit chat if you want to just come and have a chit chat, have a brew, and just get together as a community to show Wythenshawe that we can be one big family. And we do a lot more than we actually give ourselves credit for as well, to be honest.

[00:05:43] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Lots of things to support the community from supporting the homeless to the allotments. I do see the social media posts about that. And of course, that whole safety net for the community as well.

Challenges Faced by the Organisation

[00:05:54] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What are the challenges you've faced? You talked about funding being a challenge. Are there other challenges you've had to face and overcome?

[00:06:01] Tanny Rowland: Funding is a main issue because it's hard to get as we're not an actual charity, we're a non-profitable organisation. So that affects us quite a lot. But every day is a challenge, but you just have to overcome that challenge. So we could be getting on with something, and it could be coming well and good, and then something hits us where we hit rock bottom again, but we just get back up and do it again, basically.

It mentally drains you as well, because we've seen things that no person should have to go through, no person should ever have to see, to be honest. We've seen homeless on the streets, where we've had one man living in a bus stop for a few months, he was refusing to leave. It got to a point his own mental health was breaking down.

And got to the point he wasn't showering and stuff like that and a few attacks actually happened to him from the youth basically because they just thought he may be a weirdo, or something sat there. But he was generally homeless and didn't have a clue what he was doing.

We finally got him into the hospital, got him on the right paths to the support and now he's actually doing brilliant to be honest. He's still in the hospital seven months down the line but he's about to get his own place and more support so he's on the right tracks to getting where he wants to be in life.

Success Stories and Positive Outcomes

[00:07:26] Tanny Rowland: We've had a homeless man. He lost everything basically. He lived in a tent in the middle of the fields. One of my patrollers came across him one day. We had a chat with him, see what he needed. And all he wanted was a roof over his head and to get back in touch with his family and get on with his life basically. I can say six months down the line after helping him, he was living in a hostel.

He got the right support he needed and now he's finally got his own flat. To the point of he's inviting his own family round to his house for Christmas dinners and things like that. He's taking his grandkids out; he's getting on with his life and being happy and that's all we want to see is like people going from nothing to having everything they need.

And he actually works with us now as a volunteer. He volunteers in the kitchen, he helps other homeless and shows them like he's been through this so that he can help others as well, like myself and other people as well. So it's just good to see all that, to be honest.

[00:08:29] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks for sharing the challenges that you overcome as well as the people whose lives you're helping.

Can you tell us a little more about the impact that you've made?

[00:08:39] Tanny Rowland: Like I said, we don't give ourselves enough credit for the things we actually do and if it wasn't for the love and support of the people. We get messages daily telling us how much they love us basically and thank you for everything we do and keep safe that.

And it's just amazing to see. We have people from Australia and the other sides of the world following us and telling us we're doing amazing and just wow. What can we do more? Wow, it's just amazing.

The Power of Social Media and Community Support

[00:09:06] Tanny Rowland: There's been times where there's been missing children, and obviously there's only so much you can do with that situation, as we had to follow rules ourselves. But, like I say, the power of social media is unbelievable.

We put out a status, we say can everyone share this please. If you see this person or this child, please contact the police with this reference number. And within minutes, there's thousands of people sharing it. And by the end of the day, or the next day, the child's home with the parents being safe again, or that person has been found and maybe gone to the hospital for a check-up and then off they go again. It's just amazing to see the power and the love of people, to be honest.

[00:09:49] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I do see some of those posts, and it's really great that, people are being found after being lost.

 Is there a common myth about your area of expertise you'd like to bust? Anything you'd like to clarify to people listening?

[00:10:05] Tanny Rowland: I'd just like to say thank you for all the love and support everyone does give us because even just having messages to say thank you and stuff that actually makes our day to know that we've made someone else's day. To have messages a few months later or maybe a year later saying hi you helped me once. We just had a quick chat and stuff, and you gave me some referrals numbers.

Now I'm working again, I'm feeding my kids, I've got a roof over my head. Just things like that makes my day as well as other people's day, but I'd like to say to the people of Wythenshawe thank you for everything they do. The donations, the love, the support. Just being them is just amazing and knowing that no matter what we say or do, Wythenshawe always comes together as one big family. And that's the main thing that every area should have, is just to be together and do what we have to do.

Advice for Starting Community Movements

[00:10:57] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What advice would you have for people looking to start a similar movement in their local community? You just talked about every area should have that feeling of family, of community. How do they start if they're in another part of the UK or another part of the world?

[00:11:11] Tanny Rowland: My advice is, if you've been through these situations yourself and you know the knowledge of it, or even if you're just passionate about helping people in these situations, then don't think twice about doing it, just go ahead and do it. Because you doing the right thing for yourself but you're doing the right thing for other people and no matter what, the love is there.

People need to stand up basically and start realising that there's a lot more love in the area than people realise. So just go for it and just go with the flow basically and just you've got to do what you've got to do.

[00:11:48] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: An opportunity for you to talk about anything I haven't asked you about.

[00:11:52] Tanny Rowland: Like I said with the funding with the community cafe we're struggling with that but we're trying to get that back on track as soon as we can. We're asking for more volunteers if anyone would like to come and help us. It's a lot of hard work and mentally draining, but if you're up for it and if you know what you're doing, then come and join us.

We have many things to do, we don't just have the free community cafe, obviously we have that, we have the garden project, we have patrolling of streets, parks, main areas, things like that. We have a safe place to be, which is if you see one of our logos in maybe the shop, or the takeaway, it means that if you're feeling vulnerable at any time, then you can just go in there. You can tell them the situation and then they can either phone us, they can phone the police, they can phone whoever they need basically to support you. It's a safe place to go.

We have a cycling group, so once every two weeks on a Saturday. There's a few people who get together on bikes and they have a little route they do. They go round checking if there's any homeless or any vulnerable but as well as they get to go out on a ride as well as helping their mental health, helping themselves as well as others and it's just amazing, it really is.

And hopefully, we can get more people involved, so we can get more projects going basically. That's the whole aim of it, to get more people in, to get more going. And hopefully, the community cafe will be open again very soon.

[00:13:24] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That safe place to go sounds like such a good idea because people can be vulnerable in any situation and just the fact that they can go to their local, corner shop or take away and just ask for some support and reach out to yourselves. Because not everybody has access to social media. So it's a really great idea. Thank you for everything that you do.

Signature Questions: Manchester and Personal Insights

[00:13:45] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm going to move to the signature questions I ask all my guests. The first one for you is, if Manchester was a colour, what colour would it be and why?

[00:13:54] Tanny Rowland: I'd say Manchester blue because I'm a full on Manchester City fan. Not many people agree with me, but I do love the colour blue. I'm sorry, people.

[00:14:04] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I know that football is such a big part of the culture here.

If you could choose a famous landmark in Manchester to represent you, which one would it be and why?

[00:14:15] Tanny Rowland: I'd say Manchester city centre itself as I love the history of Manchester. I love learning about history everywhere, so the museums are the best for me. Just seeing all the old buildings, it reminds me of wow, what we've come from to come here now in this generation. The statues as well, just to say what we've been through, and we can overcome that to where we are now and that's what we can still do now. We're just creating history and memories and it's just absolutely amazing.

[00:14:49] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Manchester indeed has a very proud history and I've also been enjoying learning about Manchester's history, doing walking tours, going to museums, and just talking to people like yourself, so it's really lovely to hear that.

If you could trade lives with someone in Manchester for a day, who would it be with and why?

[00:15:10] Tanny Rowland: It's a hard one, but I'd say, oh, a politician. Now, I'll be honest, I'm not all up for the politicians. I don't 100 percent like, understand everything. But I'd go there and change a place with one of them, just to try and make a difference in Manchester itself. Just to try and help and support people that really need it.

They don't understand where I can bring that knowledge to the table and show them this is what Manchester people have to go through, whether we're rich, we're poor, living on a street, living in a house, we're all different, we're all the same at the same time and we need help and support no matter what.

[00:15:49] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is a really interesting idea. I love that you'll take your insights and share it with other politicians for that day, that would be very valuable. Lived experience is always a good thing.

What's the most important life lesson you've learned so far?

[00:16:04] Tanny Rowland: My most important life lesson is to always be positive. No matter what happens in life, you can go through the roughest things in life. I've been through a lot more than I actually let out to people and tell people, but to use that knowledge and to know that you can make a positive out of it.

And you can make an impact on many people's lives, so whether it's just a chat or you can show them how to do that. Also to raise my children differently than I was raised and to make sure they have a better life, a hundred percent better life than I ever did, is the most important thing in my life.

[00:16:41] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing those life lessons. There is a lot to be positive about, and that positivity can actually be contagious. It's something I try to do as well. Try to keep an optimistic lens, even though resilience and many things you have to go through but it's really important.

What's the most important personality trait someone needs to be successful in your role?

[00:17:07] Tanny Rowland: Again, I'd say positivity. Everything has to be a positive. You can't be negative about anything, and you cannot be judgmental because someone for their actions or someone else's actions can actually make a difference in their life to the point of suicidal and things like that.

So at all times, whether you agree or not agree with them, you have to sit there and you have to listen to them. And you have to work away around that of being more positive and outgoing of things and to teach them how to do that as well. And it's quite hard, but it's a thing you have to deal with and do basically.

[00:17:48] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Really important that deep listening and giving people the gift of your attention, isn't it? Really powerful.

How can interested people reach out to you and learn more? Where can they find Wythenshawe Community Patrol?

[00:18:01] Tanny Rowland: We have Facebook. So if you go on to the Real Wythenshawe Safety Patrol page and the Wythenshawe Community Team page, you can follow everything on there. Our admins is obviously Tanni Wright, Dec Roe and Maria McCoy. You can message any one of us at any time. We do have an email as well which is Wythenshawec at gmail dot com and you can email them.

We've just made an Instagram as well, which is quite mad Wythenshawe Safety Patrol. So we're just updating that with things at the moment, but that's another way of contacting us if they need to. But at any point, they can email us or message us at all and we will get straight back to them as soon as possible.

We also have a Wythenshawe Safety Patrol donation page where you can keep up to date with things on there and you can donate things on there. Or even if you just need a chat but you don't want to chat to one of our admins then if you go on there then everything's private and confidential. Nothing is ever spoken to outside of that content, unless there's a reason to. For example, we need to phone the police or things that need to be shared to referrals, but there's always 100 percent communication, always 100 percent asking for permission.

[00:19:19] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'll make sure I include them in my show notes.

Heartwarming Stories and Conclusion

[00:19:22] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Is there a funny or a heartwarming story you'd like to end the podcast with?

[00:19:28] Tanny Rowland: I'd say, oh there's loads and loads. The funniest times is when we all get together, we can all have a laugh with the community and it's not like where we say we work together. Oh, you're the staff members and you're just the community. No, we're all just like one big family. So we just all sit there and we chat about random things.

We have a laugh about random things. The amount of people that say that you're so down to earth, it's unbelievable. Because we don't need all that professional when we're talking to people face to face. They need someone like a friend, someone who's, can talk to them on the same level as they're talking.

The most heartwarming situation I've been in is I've had a single parent come to me. She had four children and obviously a few of them had disabilities. She was struggling as she didn't have family, friends, things like that. She'd just moved to an area through a bad situation. So she needed support, so I was there to give her the support, the advice.

Things like food banks, referrals to counselling, got her kids into school and things like that, everything she needed. And she actually came up to me and she tried donating me some money. But I wouldn't take it off her and she was like, but you need to take it because it's towards the community.

Things like that is more heartwarming to see and to know that now she's on her feet from a bad situation, but she can be that single mother and still just get on with her life, help her kids out and still have the support she needs even without family and friends.

She's still got that support and she messages me from time to time, see how everyone is and she always asks about the family so I ask about her family and becoming more friends than anything and that's what it's about, helping others and getting to know people, becoming friends.

[00:21:24] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's a lovely heartwarming note to end the podcast on because like you said, it's just about developing friendships.It's really good.

Thank you so much for your time.

[00:21:35] Tanny Rowland: Thank you for having me.

Outro

I really enjoyed learning about encouraging community safety today.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the 15th episode of the Meet the Mancunian Podcast, Season 8.

Tune in every Tuesday for a new episode or log on to www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to listen to all the episodes and learn more about my podcasting story.

Next week, on Tuesday, 17 September 2024, I speak to Matt Carroll about supporting community radio.

Thank you for joining me on the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I hope today's conversation has sparked new ideas and inspired you to act in your community.

A big thank you to my wonderful community for your continuous support and valuable feedback. Your stories shape the very essence of my podcast, driving me forward with purpose. I'm eager to hear your thoughts. Visit my website at www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to share your insights. Remember, this podcast is your platform too.

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Together, we are more than just listeners. We're a vibrant community dedicated to making a difference in Manchester. Spread the love by sharing, commenting and engaging with my guests and me. Keep fostering connections and always remember the power to change the world lies with each one of us.

Until next time.