{"id":148949,"date":"2025-06-01T08:05:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T08:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/148949\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T08:05:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T08:05:27","slug":"the-statistics-are-bad-but-were-proud-to-be-from-here-life-in-greater-manchesters-most-deprived-neighbourhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/148949\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The statistics are bad but we\u2019re proud to be from here\u2019: Life in Greater Manchester\u2019s most deprived neighbourhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coldhurst is often cited as a regional and national hotspot for some unflattering statistics – most recently regarding child poverty. But peel back the layers and you\u2019ll find a community working to replace lost public services so desperately needed.“What?!” Coldhurst kids react to a card trick during a community day(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 11pm on Saturday night and Rohima Chowdhury and her neighbours are cooking up a storm.<\/p>\n

Rohima told her husband to \u2018go to work\u2019 and stay out while she took over the kitchen of their terraced house in Oldham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But seven hours later, they\u2019re still preparing the ingredients needed to feed hundreds of mouths at a huge Bank Holiday street party.<\/p>\n

The ladies of St Hilda\u2019s Drive, Ripon, Mitchell and Ward Streets will not stop cooking until 5pm the following day as they feed the folk of Coldhurst – one of Britain\u2019s most deprived neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

Local women plate up food for their neighbours(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

By 2.30pm on Sunday the volunteers of My Coldhurst have already started handing out burgers and wings – costing just \u00a31 a plate – to local kids and their families.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the ladies oversee huge pots of curry, biryani and plates of salad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started cooking again at 10am,\u201d Rohima says. \u201cIn the end we had to send a pan to my house and one to my brother\u2019s house too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was sheer hard work but it was well worth it to see the amount of happy faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

L-R: Runa Begum, Sufia Khatun, Rohima Chowdhury and Sadrul Alam(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The Oldham suburb Rohima calls home is often cited as a regional and national hotspot for some unflattering statistics – most recently regarding child poverty.<\/p>\n

Two out of every three children (66 per cent) were living in poverty in Coldhurst<\/a> in the year ending March 2024. That\u2019s a total of 2,676 children.<\/p>\n

Just 13 other areas in the entire UK had a higher proportion of children living in poverty, according to the latest figures from the Department of Work and Pensions.<\/p>\n

St Hilda’s Drive, in the heart of Coldhurst, is a close-knit community(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

These unenviable numbers have put Coldhurst at the forefront of some unfortunate press. The Sun once described the suburb as \u2018the child poverty capital of Britain\u2019 where children were \u2018mugged for their clothes\u2019 and \u2018begged for scraps\u2019.<\/p>\n

But lifelong resident Sadrul Alam says it\u2019s not a picture he recognises.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media can paint a picture but I don\u2019t recognise that interpretation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these local lads and girls, out of 100 at least 25 will go to university. Where you are living should not hold you back. Parents here have high aspirations for their children here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mohammad Razak, volunteer and secretary of My Coldhurst(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Sadrul has lived on St Hilda\u2019s Drive since 1981. He currently lives with his wife, children and mother in the same house he grew up in and across the street from his sister.<\/p>\n

And when he saw his neighbour Rohima enjoying a meal with her friends on the street five years ago, he had an idea.<\/p>\n

At that time, the ladies of St Hilda\u2019s Road had decided to organise, cook and enjoy a traditional Bengali meal – cooked and eaten outside in huge pots. It was just for them and no men were invited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really enjoyed it and there was so much food we could send some back for the men,\u201d Rohima says.<\/p>\n

Runa Begum, Rohima Chowdhury and Sufia Khatun are among the ladies who work all hours to provide traditional food for the event(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

But it was such a success that Sadrul asked if Rohima and her friends would help to organise a party on the street following a community clean up of their alleyway.<\/p>\n

More community parties followed to mark the Queen\u2019s Jubilee and then the King\u2019s Coronation. Last weekend\u2019s Bank Holiday party saw around 700 locals populate the hillside street.<\/p>\n

The group of around 20 ladies – some of whom have never left Oldham – worked long hours to prepare vast pots of food for the masses.<\/p>\n

Rohima admits it\u2019s a stressful, but ultimately rewarding experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really amazing day. The children loved it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran out of curry in the end. We were pleased because honestly the food was really delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youngsters enjoy a magic trick during the Bank Holiday community day(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s events like this that galvanize the Coldhurst community and prove that the efforts of a dedicated bunch of volunteers are working.<\/p>\n

My Coldhurst started life as a litter pick group but developed into something far bigger. The volunteer-led initiative runs free health and wellbeing sessions and MMA and football classes for the local kids.<\/p>\n

The sessions are consistently oversubscribed and end with a hot meal for each child. More often than not, the parents will take the leftovers home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a session for 30 kids we get about 120 and they all go away with a hot meal, which shows the level of need,\u201d My Coldhurst treasurer Sadrul says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it means they all get together, they make new friends. There\u2019s a cohort of kids who have been doing this with us since they were about ten and they\u2019re young men and women now. They\u2019re vibrant young people.<\/p>\n

Local lads laugh at the big reveal as they’re shown a magic trick(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have diverted people away from certain lifestyles. This stuff drives change and improves perceptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s for them to do something rather than be on the streets. The aim is to get them away from antisocial behaviour and distractions that exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

These free events fill a hole left by lacking public services, such as the youth clubs that existed during Sadrul\u2019s own formative years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were things we took for granted when we were growing up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember going to a <\/strong>youth centre. <\/strong>The government used to fund these things. But there is nothing there to replace them now so what do you expect all these kids to do?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to have all these activities and a hub we would go to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families from across Coldhurst queue for \u00a31 plates of food(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Rohima also grew up in Coldhurst and moved to St Hilda\u2019s Drive when she was a teenager. When she married, she bought the house down the street – a terrace which once belonged to comedian Eric Sykes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a neighbourhood we have been lucky. I\u2019ve always loved being in Oldham because of the community atmosphere,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs kids other children were always knocking on asking if we wanted to play. I feel like we were in a lovely bubble where we were good to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taslima Wasim paints the face of a child. All part of the fun during the community day(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The statistics that headline life in this largely Bangladeshi community are unavoidable.<\/p>\n

The suburb has the lowest median household income in Oldham, while 23 per cent live in fuel poverty and 25pc of households are overcrowded. It also has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the borough (48pc).<\/p>\n

But peel back the layers and you\u2019ll find a community of dedicated volunteers working to clean the streets of rubbish, provide youth activities and replace public services that are so desperately needed.<\/p>\n

Rohima worked for 13 years as a home school liaison officer at St Hilda\u2019s Primary School. There she helped families struggling with poverty and all the trials that come with deprivation.<\/p>\n

But she says she is delighted to see that many of the children she knew then have gone on to university educations and graduate jobs.<\/p>\n

My Coldhurst started as a litter picking group and developed into something much bigger(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course in the past there have been problems with drugs and alcohol in Oldham. But I must say I\u2019m so proud of how much our children have improved,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would read these reports saying we were bottom of the list for everything. But even those very deprived families have children who have got their degrees. Those kids have worked really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

And despite his success as an accountant, Sadrul says he wouldn\u2019t live anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deprivation you see now – I previously was part of that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Zahidul Islam prepares the sauces, wings and chicken tikka for the barbecue(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad worked in a mill and was on benefits. I went to university and got a good job but I haven\u2019t given up on the area. I still live here with my kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still live here and I\u2019m a professional now. My kids play with the other kids here. I can\u2019t say I\u2019m not part of the community just because I have done well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cWe\u2019re proud to be from Coldhurst. There\u2019s a sense of belonging here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up here. There are people in Coldhurst who have been living here for donkey’s years and they all know each other really well and we all like each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been living here since the 1980s so I\u2019ve seen it change. The core people are still here.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut austerity was not a good thing for Coldhurst. Then Covid has not helped people – so you end up in a spiral. The two child benefit cap I think exacerbates all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadrul says the party would not be possible without a core of around 40 volunteers who ‘work so hard each year'(Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The hundreds of people who turned up on Sunday and queued for a \u00a31 plate of food is a sign of the need in this deprived neighbourhood. But it\u2019s also testament to a community determined to lift itself out of extreme difficulties.<\/p>\n

\u201cOldham is high on deprivation factors. Where people should be and where they are is quite alarming. There is deprivation and we know the cost of living is clearly impacting people,\u201d Sadrul says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut just because the statistics are bad doesn\u2019t mean people don\u2019t want to live here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to support everyone to enjoy the area. I think they are naturally proud to be from Coldhurst.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coldhurst is often cited as a regional and national hotspot for some unflattering statistics – most recently regarding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,8829,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-148949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-m-e-n-explore","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114607079554804562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}