{"id":334196,"date":"2025-08-10T22:15:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/334196\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T22:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:15:22","slug":"the-wythenshawe-lifeline-fighting-poverty-and-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/334196\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wythenshawe lifeline fighting poverty and crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Generations of families rely on the playground – but its future is uncertain(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

You hear The Addy before you see it.<\/p>\n

Music\u2019s blasting, but it\u2019s drowned out by the squeals and laughter of scores of children here for the youth centre\u2019s open day.<\/p>\n

Most came for its star attraction: A sprawling, imperious wooden adventure playground.<\/p>\n

To see planning applications; traffic and road diversions and layout changes; and more, visit the Public Notices Portal HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A structure an eight-year-old can only dream of, it\u2019s equipped with a zip line, monkey bars, spiders\u2019 web netting, and rope bridges.<\/p>\n

As children leap down, scale up, and swing along, parents enjoy picnics. Some teenagers are playing a spirited game of football. There\u2019s a dance class going on in the middle of all this, too.<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

This joyous chaos is normal for Elaine Young and Elaine Vickers, bosses of 54-year-old charity Manchester Young Lives (MYL) which run The Addy. They\u2019ve seen generations of children come through its doors, which opened in 2003.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the much-loved adventure playground is showing its age. Beams have been replaced, some sections are out-of-order, and there\u2019s moss aplenty.<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s still safe to use, still within its expected lifespan of 25 years, the 22-year-old structure\u2019s time is nearly up. That\u2019s why MYL is fundraising \u00a3650,000<\/a> for a new model.<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

While a state-of-the-art playground might seem like a nice-to-have, the two Elaines are confident it\u2019s an essential tool to stopping Wythenshawe<\/a>\u2019s youngsters from a life dominated by knife crime, poverty, or low aspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWythenshawe is one of the largest council housing estates in Europe,\u201d explains chief exec Elaine Young.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all of the social issues in Wythenshawe, places like this are needed. A lot of young people in Wythenshawe have low aspirations compared to more affluent areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to make them aware it\u2019s not the area you come from, it\u2019s about ambition and taking opportunities available to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

MYL\u2019s 38 staff and near-100 volunteers focus on instilling \u2018skills to put you on other pathways in life\u2019 when working with the 900 six-to-24-year-olds who regularly come five days-a-week over the course of a year.<\/p>\n

Ms Young explains staff focus on how teens can remove themselves from \u2018risky situations\u2019 in an area where \u2018the crime rate has increased\u2019, improve job prospects in an area where \u2018there\u2019s low employment\u2019, and entertain children at the area\u2019s \u2018only free adventure playground\u2019.<\/p>\n

Elaine Vickers, play and youth manager, whose own daughter and granddaughter came along, explains what regular attendees get from it: \u201cThe kids are confident they can have conversations, they can tell you if there are any issues, they are so independent<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think they learned so many other things. Education is a massive part of our lives, but when face-to-face socialising is not the way for a lot of kids I do not think you can beat it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

One child who saw the benefit is Tammin Yorke-Davenport, who grew up on Woodhouse Lane, where The Addy is. Along with her eight brothers and sisters, Tammin \u2018played religiously after school\u2019 here.<\/p>\n

She remembers what it was like when she first arrived, at five years old: \u201cI just felt really happy. It\u2019s my comfort zone. We are in an area with challenges, so you\u2019re grateful for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now 23, The Addy has been central to Tammin\u2019s life ever since: She started volunteering in her early teens, then became an MYL staff member after she started at Salford<\/a> university studying English.<\/p>\n

She kept her job while studying for a PGCE at the University of Manchester<\/a>, and is now working part-time in the summer holidays having just finished her first year as a secondary school English teacher in Gorton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Not content with all that, Tammin starts a Master\u2019s degree at Edge Hill University soon.<\/p>\n

When it\u2019s put to her she\u2019s \u2018a machine\u2019, she smiles: \u201cIt\u2019s all come from here. I found my friends here, and some of the skills I learned here come into teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents of current children are also quick to praise The Addy for developing friendships outside of school, improving their loved ones\u2019 confidence, and providing \u2018exceptional\u2019 care.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s testimonies like that which underscore the importance of keeping The Addy\u2019s adventure playground, Elaine Young believes.<\/p>\n

\u201c15 years ago there were 650 adventure playgrounds across the country,\u201d she says. \u201cIn 2022 there were only 126, and there are probably less than that now. There are only three in Manchester \u2014 here, and our other two centres in Moss Side<\/a> and Ardwick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was to go, it would be a massive loss to Wythenshawe.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can donate to The Addy\u2019s fundraiser here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Generations of families rely on the playground – but its future is uncertain(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,487,393,4884,2465,8828,285,16,15,2313],"class_list":{"0":"post-334196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cost-of-living","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wythenshawe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115006782536280059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334196","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=334196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}