Rochdale charity using the power of poetry to keep BAME community connected thanks to National Lottery cash

Poetry Behind the Mask is a creative project run by the Multicultural Resource Centre (pictured: an online session)

A community organisation in Rochdale is using the power of poetry to connect local people and give them the opportunity to reflect on lockdown in an innovative way thanks to recent National Lottery funding.

Poetry Behind the Mask is a creative project run by the Multicultural Resource Centre. The group recently received almost £6,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, to support the local BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) communities by providing resources to help improve health and wellbeing.

The group’s commitment to help people with their physical and mental wellbeing is what inspired the creation of ‘Poetry Behind the Mask’, an online workshop enabling people that use the service to share their thoughts on what has been a difficult year for so many.

The brainchild of the group’s treasurer, the poetry sessions have become a great way for people to creatively share how they’ve been impacted by Covid-19.

Abdul Shakoor, Treasurer for Multicultural Resource Centre, said: “For centuries, poetry has been the literary form that has told the stories of our times. This artform always has a common interest within Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi communities. The collection of the poetry will reflect how their individual lives have been impacted by lockdown and the pandemic.

“Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund it has given us an opportunity to provide swift, responsive, reassuring help to people in the communities we serve. We will organise a small event of poetry reading and publish the collection in a booklet which will be distributed to libraries and community centres in the area.”

With the whole of Greater Manchester now potentially set to spend the remainder of the year under Tier 3 lockdown restrictions, projects such as Poetry Behind the Mask have become more important, especially to the BAME community which has been disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

One service user said: “This project is proving a great way for people at home to deal with fear, anxiety, depression and boredom during the pandemic.”

Gillian Halliwell, Head of Funding for the North West at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “I am incredibly proud that we have distributed more than £21 million across Greater Manchester in what has been an extremely difficult year, helping to boost community spirit when it has been needed most. Our communities are more important than ever, and we’re delighted that so many groups, volunteers and community workers have stepped up to provide vital support. We should all feel inspired and reassured by the strength we have seen in communities throughout this turbulent year.”

Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for the UK’s good causes, and £41 billion has been distributed to 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994.

Last year, over over half a billion pounds (£588.2 million) of life-changing funding was awarded to communities across the UK. Over eight in ten (83%) of the National Lottery's grants are for under £10,000 - going to grassroots groups and charities across the UK that are doing great things to support their communities through these challenging times.

To find out more visit: www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk