It fits in with the work we did with the Grassroots Channel – capturing the stories of active citizens. In many ways (inspired by another book called Hand Made) these are stories about militant optimism: about people doing things because they care, sometimes against the odds and often with little formal support.
People like the Friends of Cotteridge park, a group who saved their local park from decommissioning and went on to make it bigger, better and who tell us that “having fun is what makes it work”. “The feeling you get when you are part of a group who’ve achieved something you thought was impossible is a lovely feeling…the long term result is a better community and nicer place to live.”
People like, Birgit Kehler of Change Kitchen, Eleanor Hoad & Nigel Baker of Urban Harvest, Tom Baker of Loaf and more who all share their stories with us in this collaboration.
Most of the work pulling these stories together was done by our Steph Jennings and in the New Year we’ll be getting a few people together to launch it officially. It will also be available online as a series of chapters soon. If you fancy a good honest book to hold for yourself or your loved ones for Christmas it is already available to order from Blurb today. If you order before 13th December using the “SANTA2012” code you can get 20% off.
Also thank you to everyone who contributed towards the book. They were, in no particular order;
- Emma Woolf, Friends of Cotteridge Park
- Birgit Kehrer, ChangeKitchen CIC
- Eleanor Hoad & Nigel Baker, Urban Harvest
- Tom Baker, Loaf
- Jon Bounds, Big City Plan Talk
- Chris Unitt, Created in Birmingham
- James Yarker, Stan’s Cafe
- Karen Strunks, 4am Project
- Naseem Akhtar, Saheli Women’s Group