The Branch - Dec 2015

Winter 2015

This is the Christmas edition of The Branch 2015. Manchester Student Homes’ Good Neighbours Team has had a busy and eventful autumn with lots of projects and news to tell you about!

Hidden Gems Tours 2015 As part of our Hidden Gems initiative, MSH organised tours of Fallowfield and Withington on 11th November. These tours were a great success and we received excellent feedback from everyone who attended! We all discovered something new about the area and our tour guides had some great stories!

The tours would not have been possible without our student volunteers from the Manchester Leadership Programme and our MSH accredited landlord volunteers both of whom were excellent tour guides!

We would also like to thank Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council for their support on the tours. Future tours will be taking place early next year and if you would like to take part or have any tales that you would like to share about the Hidden Gems sites please email our Community Cohesion Intern Josh at Joshua.Payne@manchester.ac.uk.

To learn more about Hidden Gems visit our website http://www.manchesterstudenthomes.com/Pages/ Community_NewsAndProjects

BMBB Welcome Event MSH in collaboration with the Brailsford, Moseley, Braemar and Balmoral (BMBB) Residents Association organised and hosted a Welcome to the Community event on Sunday 11th October 2015. The event was a chance for long term residents and student residents, new to the area, to meet each other. There was face painting, a bouncy castle, safety stalls from Greater Manchester Police, trees and plants from Treebay, music, food and much more!

The day was a great success and enjoyed by all who attended. We would like to thank Greater Manchester Police, KalliKids, Happy Faces, Peter from Treebay and the musicians Emily Driscoll, Michael Flowers, and Heidi Dewhurst.

MSH and University of Manchester Pastoral Care Team are organising a community event on 3rd February 2016.

There will be music, afternoon tea, bingo, a raffle and much more! Look out for more information in the new year!

Manchester Student Homes is a free, university-run housing service for students. Based in Fallowfield, MSH runs a landlord accreditation scheme and can offer support to students in relation to property searches, providing housing advice and contract checking. MSH also works with students, the community and partner agencies to identify issues in off campus areas.

International Student Safety Poppy, Jess and Josh from the GNT successfully secured funding for MSH’s International Student Safety Campaign from the United Kingdom Council of International Student Affairs. The campaign was created to provide additional support for international students studying in Manchester through educating them about personal safety and household security.

“We received at least three times as many applications as we were able to support, many of them of extremely good quality, and yours was selected against stiff competition.”

- Julie Allen, UKCISA Director of Policy & Services The campaign will be run by a joint partnership between The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and The International Society.

We will also be working with many partners, such as GMP and students to develop an informative induction pack, educational video and a series of events. If you are an international student, or have an interest in the project and would like to get involved email Josh at Joshua.Payne@manchester.ac.uk.

Macmillan Coffee Morning MSH held its annual Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday 25th September to bring together community members to have a catch up over coffee and cake. It was wonderful to see many of our MSH accredited landlords, local residents and students at the event.

Thanks to all who donated and baked cakes for the event. MSH raised £380! This could pay for 14 hours of support for people diagnosed with cancer. The event was also supported by the local MP. ‘‘A fantastic event by Manchester Student Homes which brought the community together in support of a wonderful charity’’ - Jeff Smith, MP for Manchester Withington

Community Audits with local residents and PCSO’s take place on the last Friday of every month. For more information get in touch with Josh at Joshua.Payne@manchester.ac.uk to suggest an area or to sign up to accompany the team on their audit.