Manchester Parents Centre in the 1980s

[MichaelHerbert]

Bernadette Hyland has written an article, "You are your child's first teacher" about the Manchester Parents Centre and Education Shop which operated in the 1980s in the Moss Side Distict Centre. It is based on an inteview with one of the workers, Hilary Jones. She said, " I feel I was born to do the job of Education Social Worker at Manchester Parents Centre. It was an extension of everything I believed in my life. It was about addressing justice, giving back to people some control over what happened in their lives and to empower them to change things for themselves. It was not about me being their saviour – because they were capable of making those changes themselves – it was that they needed someone to show them how to and give them the opportunity to do so.” lipsticksocialist.wordpress.com/2021/07/14/you-are-your-childs-first-teacher-the-story-of-manchester-parents-centre-and-education-shop/

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Great article! Thank you for posting!

[MichaelHerbert]

thanks that's great I knew Kath Locke and Steve Randall who worked at TUBE. What is your mother's name?

[CharlotteFlax]

Great article! My mum worked for 8411 at that time and I went to the crèche at parents shop on a few occasions. Lots of memories of Moss Side centre!

[MrsOvertonsWindow]

That's such an interesting article OP. Back in the 70s / 80s there were so many great women working in community groups / women's centres / additional education centres. Rooted in communities, initially self funded and working with communities - not doing things to them.