Meet the In Our Nature Community Support projects
Say hello to the community-led projects helping to tackle climate change in Manchester!
We’re supporting community projects across Manchester to connect the climate crisis to practical actions which reduce carbon emissions, improve health and wellbeing, and save money!
Meet the current projects
Tree of Life Community Centre, Baguley
Key themes: Energy, Things we buy and throw away
The Tree of Life Community Centre’s Community Support project, in partnership with Greenbrow Sewing and Crafts, will be upcycling old materials into items that will help them save energy at home, creating things like draft excluders, hot water-bottle covers and adding thermal linings to curtains.
Mandem Meetup, Across Manchester
Key themes: Food, Nature and growing
Mandem Meetup’s Community Support project will be helping to plant trees and gathering apples which they will then send off for juicing. The apple juice will then be redistributed to the community, helping to cut down on food waste from unused apples. They will also be hosting a website with games, resources and stories to help promote urban foraging.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Withington Assist, Withington
Key themes: Energy, Things we buy and throw away
Withington Assist’s Community Support project will be focussed on helping people to get the most from their radiators; this will include coordinating home visits with local experts, Care and Repair Manchester, to install radiator foils, bleed radiators and show people how to use their radiators effectively.
As part of this project, pill packet recycling boxes will also be made available at Withington Assist, Withington Baths and Ladybarn Community Hub.
Friends of Openshaw Park, Clayton and Openshaw
Key themes: Things we buy and throw away
We’ve teamed up with Friends of Openshaw Park to help them set up a repair cafe in the local area.
Give them a follow: Facebook
Loveworld Volunteer Medical Corps, Cheetham Hill
Key theme: Energy
With our support, Loveworld Volunteer Medical Corps will be partnering up with Groundwork Greater Manchester’s Energyworks Team to run home energy visits to teach practical ways to save energy at home, such as switching to LED lights, unplugging devices, sealing air leaks, and other resource-saving methods.
Woolfe Football Community CIC, Fallowfield
Key themes: Transport, Food, Things we buy and throw away
We’re supporting Woolfe Football Community CIC to develop a new green ambassador’s programme for their players. The 12-week programme will encourage players to run to training (rather than using the car or public transport) and will educate the players about sustainable food choices by providing some low carbon cooking workshops. The project will also help to reduce single-use plastic by swapping to reusable water bottles.
Sustainable Threads, Hulme
Key theme: Things we buy and throw away
Sustainable Threads is a community-led project in Hulme, working with asylum seekers and refugees, to take climate action through clothing repair and upcycling workshops. As part of their Community Support project, the people involved will learn hands-on skills to repair, upcycle, and sustainably manage textiles, they will then use these skills to host community pop-up repair events around the city, repairing items of clothing from the community. Sustainable Threads have also partnered with the University of Manchester’s Game Changers group to help amplify their impact on textile waste reduction and sustainable fashion.
Easy Come, Easy Grow MCR, Miles Platting and Newton Heath
Key themes: Food, Nature and growing
Easy Come, Easy Grow MCR’s Community Support project will be supporting Heathfield Resource Centre, a daycare centre for the elderly and adults with learning disabilities, to create a growing garden for the day centre users and the wider community.
As well as growing fruit and veg, the garden will also create new habitats for wildlife, providing food and shelter for insects, hedgehogs and birds, whilst allowing people to connect with nature to improve their health and wellbeing. In addition, the volunteers involved in the creation of the garden will receive carbon literacy training too.
Give them a follow: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Flavours from Manchester, Across Manchester
Key theme: Transport
Building on the success of their previous work with us, this Community Support project will upskill a small group of women previously involved in past phases of Flavours from Manchester’s transport project to give them the skills and confidence to lead group public transport trips themselves with different communities across Manchester.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Hummus Society, Hulme
Key theme: Food
We’re supporting The University of Manchester’s Hummus Society to deliver a series of student-led workshops around food and sustainability, focusing on low cook, low waste and seasonal, budget-friendly ingredients. As part of their workshop series, they will be hosting a cooking workshop with Ngwafu from gwafuvegan to learn some delicious vegan west African recipes.
Our past projects
Flavours from Manchester, Crumpsall
Key theme: Getting around
Building on the success of their previous Community Support project, Flavours from Manchester supported even more women in north Manchester to use public transport; by taking group trips together.
One participant said: “It’s given us another vision, to not depend on just the car and my son or my husband to take us, drop us, pick us up. Let’s open a door for ladies who are just at home. And this work, we can spread it round now so we can become more and more independent and enjoy our life.”
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Walking Mum’s Club, Across Manchester
Key themes: Energy, food, getting around
We supported The Walking Mum’s Club to help them promote sustainability and climate actions into their sessions.
The group collaborated with local experts and nutritionists to discuss a wide range of climate topics including green initiatives, money saving tips, environmental stewardship, and even developed some low carbon weaning recipes, available here!
By swapping children's toys and clothes, Walking Mum’s Club saved a whopping 386.80kg CO2 – the equivalent of driving 2,787.7km!
Southway Housing Trust, Chorlton Park
Key themes: Food, Nature and growing
Southway Housing Trust’s Community Support project involved setting up a community fridge in Holland Court, a sheltered housing scheme and inviting tenants to learn about how to reduce food waste.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Website
Station South, Levenshulme
Key theme: Energy
Station South’s Community Support project focussed on helping local residents to improve their energy efficiency by giving out materials to help people draft-proof their homes, delivering a DIY draft excluder workshop and hosting a workshop with Carbon Coop. They also encouraged people to adopt other sustainable practices, like swapping clothes.
As well as this, Station South improved the energy efficiency of their café by installing roof insulation, helping to reduce carbon emissions from the building itself and demonstrate what can be done elsewhere. They even worked with us to develop a guide for insulating historic buildings – take a look!
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website
Myco Manchester, Fallowfield
Key theme: Food
We teamed up with Myco Manchester to reduce carbon emissions with the help of worms!
Their project included hands-on workshops to teach people how to repurpose damaged wheelie bins and transform them into wormeries. The wormeries help turn food waste into compost, helping to improve the soil. Check out their wormery animation.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Instagram | Website
NEPHRA Good Neighbours, Moston
Key theme: The things we buy and throw away
NEPHRA Good Neighbours engaged a group of older individuals to introduce a pill packet recycling scheme at the NEPHRA headquarters and learn more about waste and recycling. Over the lifetime of their project, around 40,000 pill packets were prevented from entering landfill saving 58kg CO2. Watch their case study video to find out more!
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website
Future Directions CIC, Wythenshawe, Blackley, Newton Heath, Harpurhey, Levenshulme, Northenden, Northern Moor and West Didsbury
Key theme: Energy
We teamed up with Future Direction CIC’s Green Superheroes to support people with learning disabilities to save energy at home through a series of workshops, competitions, and home visits from Groundworks Energyworks Programme. As part of this work, they also created this workbook and energy saving video to help you save energy too.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The University of Manchester, Deansgate
Key theme: The things we buy and throw away
We helped University of Manchester to pilot an app-based reusable cup scheme in cafés along Oxford Road to reduce the number of single-use plastic cups that are thrown away every day!
Benugo, Royal Northern College of Music, Corridor Coffee at the University of Manchester’s Students Union and Eighth Day all took part.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Manchester Bike Kitchen, Woodhouse Park
Key theme: Getting around
We teamed up with MCR Bike Kitchen to help them set up a bike library in Wythenshawe, loaning out refurbished bikes to local residents for free.
The loan scheme helped make cycling more accessible to people by giving them the opportunity to try a bike for two weeks without making the commitment to purchase one. Want to set up your own bike library, check out MCR Bike Kitchen’s guide.
Give them a follow: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
FungALL, Chorlton Park
Key theme: Food
FungALL’s Community Support project helped reduce food poverty and carbon emissions through a community-run mushroom farm!
FungALL engaged with local residents to show them how to convert local organic waste from Manchester-based cafes and breweries into delicious oyster mushrooms which were then given to the project participants.
Want to find out how you can turn your household waste into mushrooms? Check out their tutorial video!
Give them a follow: Instagram
Moss Side Social Stitching Group, Moss Side
Key theme: The things we buy and throw away
Moss Side Social Stitching Group worked with a diverse network of 16 women in Moss Side to give them the skills and confidence to breathe new life into old fabrics, which they then showcased as part of a fashion show!
By diverting 57.25kg of textile waste from landfill, the project delivered a carbon saving of 1,448 kgC02e. Seven members of the group also received carbon literacy training.
As part of their project the group have created a handy how-to pattern for beginner sewers, check it out!
Give them a follow: Twitter
St Margarets Centre, Chorlton Park
Key theme: Transport
St Margarets Centre now has a new cycling facility on site in the form of a bike shelter for their community groups to use! This facility will help to encourage cycling amongst the various groups they work with and, in turn, reduce local carbon emissions, whilst also improving people’s health and wellbeing and helping them to foster greater independence. As part of this project, they created a guide for setting up your own bike shelter.
Give them a follow: Facebook
The Carlton Social and Bowling Club CIC, Whalley Range
Key theme: Energy
The Carlton Club installed a network of ducting and filters to circulate cool air up from the basement, helping to improve the ventilation and air quality.
This sustainable ventilation system is saving carbon emissions by improving the Carlton Club’s energy efficiency. We helped them measure how much carbon they saved as a result and share their learnings to inspire others. Check out their video here.
The Carlton Club, Whalley Range
Flavours from Manchester, Longsight, Levenshulme, Burnage, and Gorton
Key theme: Transport
This project aimed to address several barriers towards using public transport amongst a diverse network of communities in south Manchester, helping reduce carbon emissions by enabling 35 women to choose low-carbon forms of travel more frequently and leave the car at home.
Over the project’s lifetime, 732.41kg of carbon was saved from entering the atmosphere by using public transport. Based on its success, this project won the Taking Neighbourhood Climate Action award at the 2024 Be Proud Awards! Read more about their project here.
Factory International, Deansgate
Key theme: The things we buy and throw away
In collaboration with four local repair cafés, Factory International created an open-access repair event focussed on e-waste, inspired by their opening show “Free Your Mind”.
In total, the event saved 77.85kg of carbon through repairing five broken items. Read more about their project here.
Sow the City, Moss Side
Key theme: Energy
Second-hand solar panels have now been installed at the Boiler House in Moss Side, supplying zero-carbon electricity to power their community sessions, workshops.
As part of this work, we teamed up with Sow the City to help them monitor their carbon savings and encourage other groups and individuals to consider making the switch to solar by hosting a solar panel workshop.
Give them a follow:
Sow the City: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website
Boiler House: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website
Manchester Secondary School Pupil Referral Unit, Chorlton Park, Ardwick, Hulme, Clayton & Openshaw, Miles Platting & Newton Heath
Key theme: The things we buy and throw away
Manchester Secondary School Pupil Referral Unit’s project helped foster a culture of sustainability and responsibility amongst its students and staff by providing them each with a reusable water bottle, saving 1,000 plastic water bottles a week!
Students were encouraged to decorate their new re-usable water bottles, and prizes were awarded for their long-term use whilst water conservation and environmental awareness was also integrated into their lesson plans. Find out how your school could do the same with their handy guide.
Give them a follow: Twitter
