Northern Roots secures £191k from National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver 'Beautiful Oldham - Why Not?' project and jobs

Northern Roots, which is developing the UK’s largest urban farm and eco-park in Oldham, has received a grant of £191,630 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver a year-long heritage and communities project entitled ‘Beautiful Oldham - Why Not?’.

The Beautiful Oldham - Why Not? project is made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players.

The project is inspired by Oldham’s Mary Higgs, who wrote to the Oldham Chronicle in 1901 asking: ‘Beautiful Oldham – why not?’.

By the late 19th century, Oldham was the epicentre of the global cotton spinning industry, its skyline dominated by the mills and chimneys of the Industrial Revolution.

Mary, one of the first women to study Natural Sciences at Girton College, Cambridge, was a staunch advocate for women’s rights and social change, and a pioneering conservationist.

She founded the Beautiful Oldham Society in 1902 with a vision to create a greener, healthier Oldham, in which residents were empowered to make positive change.

Her mission was to “encourage the cultivation of shrubs, flowers etc in the spaces adjoining public buildings, schools, mills, houses, to cultivate the love of nature and gardening in school children, to utilise waste and open areas for tree planting, gardening etc, to encourage and provide facilities for the cultivation of plants and flowers in window pots and boxes, to provide groups of cottages with common gardens.”

The Junior Beautiful Oldham Society, which had 10,000 members drawn from local primary schools by 1912, regularly met on Snipe Clough, part of the Northern Roots site.

Using the story of Mary Higgs and the Beautiful Oldham Society as an inspiration, the “Beautiful Oldham - Why Not?” project is designed to empower communities living around the Northern Roots site, to actively shape - and benefit from - the Northern Roots project.

Anna da Silva, CEO, Northern Roots, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players for their support.

"Funding for the Beautiful Oldham - Why Not? project enables Northern Roots to build on several years of consultation and engagement, and to celebrate the legacy of Mary Higgs, one of Oldham’s great heritage stories.

"Funding will create jobs and opportunities, and put local residents in the driving seat, enabling them to help co-produce the vision, plans and activities for Northern Roots.”

Northern Roots has partnered with Hill Top Surgery in Fitton Hill to deliver an initial social prescribing pilot as part of the Beautiful Oldham - Why Not? project.

The pilot will trial referral, support and evaluation mechanisms for up to 30 participants, with a focus on adults with depression, anxiety and diabetes, and healthy nutrition and lifestyle in children.

Over the course of the project, Northern Roots will recruit 15 paid Community Champions, working with them to reach into their communities, to help shape the next phase of Northern Roots’ activity planning and site development.

Additional volunteering opportunities will also be available.

A range of full and part-time jobs at Northern Roots, including Project Manager, Finance and Admin Officer, Ranger, Social Prescribing Lead, and Communications and Engagement Officer, are now live here

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