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Real Conversations - St Helens & Wigan project update

Together Liverpool’s Real Conversations listening project is progressing in St Helens and Wigan, as part of a £1.3m UK-wide pilot project to raise the voices of local people with decision makers.

Network of Kindness Social Action Development Lead Officer Joe Cottrell has been co-hosting this series of forums with local people, in collaboration with churches and community centres.

The groups have now met to talk about their communities, and what changes they would like to see, before two ‘big conversations’ when they will be joined by selected local decision makers.


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Joe said: “It has been immensely encouraging to facilitate such a deep level of engagement with local communities. We are looking forward to the big conversations when the groups will share their views with decision makers, and then we will be able to move on to the next phase to look at what changes can or can’t happen.”

With thanks to the churches and community centres that are sharing their buildings to host the sessions including in St Helens: St Peter’s church Parr (Parr Team Ministry), The Mount church, Derbyshire Hill Family Centre and The Parr Sports and Community Centre; and in Wigan: Marsh Green library (Marsh Green chaplaincy team), and St James centre.

Together Liverpool are among a cohort of nine Together Network projects including Transforming Plymouth Together to receive a share of the government’s New Deal funding to support engagement between communities and Westminster, post-pandemic.