New home for Sale Moor charity that helps those in poverty - after the organisation itself was left homeless

A charity helping Sale Moor residents in poverty has settled into a new home after being made homeless itself, and not a moment too soon. 

Jamie Rennie, charity manager at the Sale Moor Community Partnership, told The Altrincham and Sale Lead that more people in crisis are approaching the charity for help as Trafford Council is able to offer less support. 

After providing vital support to the community throughout the Covid crisis, SMCP was forced to leave its long-term home on the Sale Moor shop parade due to impending demolition in April 2022. It was temporarily based at St Francis’ church until it closed in August 2023, with the charity then forced to operate remotely. In February it finally opened the doors in its new permanent home at Sale Moor Community Centre on Norris Road. 

From its new base the charity runs a foodbank on Mondays from 12-2pm, a food waste project on Wednesdays from 11.30am-1.30pm at St Anne’s church, and works in conjunction with Sale Community Support Hub two days a week. 

“This morning we’ve been running around collecting white goods and delivering them to members of the community who are in crisis,” says Rennie. “The government has drastically reduced the Household Support Fund, leaving the council in a poor position and people in absolute abject poverty rather than absolute poverty. 

“Trafford Council has had to make some difficult decisions and one of them is that it will no longer provide white goods or furniture. 

“In the last 4 weeks it’s really started to hit us. People come to us earlier in the crisis stage now because there is less support from the council due to less funding from the government.” 

A Moor in two halves

Rennie says that many people see Sale Moor as a well off area and that affluent residents “don’t understand poverty”. 

“There are 10,000 people in the Sale Moor ward and half of them lead affluent lives. But there’s another half of the community who live around or below the poverty line. Those below the poverty line are split between pensioner poverty and family poverty. 

“We tend to look at that quarter of the community who are in some level of poverty, whether that’s because they have large families, are out of work or due to infirmity. Within that cohort of 2,500 we focus on about 50 individuals or families.”

The cost of living crisis has exacerbated the situation, Rennie adds. When SMCP opened its foodbank in 2012 it helped two or three people a week. Some weeks it now helps up to 30 families or individuals.

“People haven’t recovered from a loss of work during the pandemic. There’s less government support such as the removal of the £20 universal credit uplift, and the reduction of child benefit for large families has had a huge impact on people’s ability to feed their children.” 

SMCP’s food waste project, run in conjunction with The Bread & Butter Thing, allows Sale Moor residents to sign up as members and have the option each week of buying food that would otherwise have been destined for landfill. On average 70 families a week purchase three bags of shopping at a hugely reduced cost of £8.50.

“People drive down Northenden Road and see million pound houses but a few streets behind people are struggling,” says Rennie. “But anyone can hit a crisis, anyone can need support and anyone living in Sale Moor can access our services.”

For more information or to access support visit salemoorcp.org, call 0161 962 3636, or find SMCP on Facebook or X.

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