Culture And Memory

Gorton Together - from community action to community power

The project will capture the unusual social and democratic heritage of Gorton Community Centre which is based in an area with high levels of deprivation and diversity. It is about capturing the history of a working-class social movement led by several resident committees since 1960s. The residents committee and volunteers self-defined the issues facing their community and co-designed the solutions. This project will help save local heritage, by ensuring the oral stories, photographs and artefacts of Gorton Community Centre and the people connected to it are captured, publicly shared and celebrated. Its story is about a social movement for change that will be lost forever once those involved are unable to participate or have passed away. Today, with entrenched poverty and toxicity experienced in increasingly diverse communities, community cohesion is being eroded. An important legacy will be supporting improved community relations through an understanding of a shared heritage and future.