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Today at the Swan Kitchens, Back on Track’s café, you could have eaten their British Food Week meal of the day: a tasty chicken tikka masala made by Shafiq and served in the picture below by Danny, a service user and Swan Kitchens volunteer.

Danny said: “Volunteering in the café has given me a purpose in life. I’ve got all kinds of new skills, including how to make vegan and gluten free cakes. We sell them in the café and from the tea trolley that goes around Swan Buildings. In the future I’m planning to start my own business with a food stall at markets and festivals.”

Sow the City is a social enterprise on a mission. It wants to take vacant and derelict bits of Manchester and turn each one into a green oasis, where members of the community are supported to design a garden to grow their own fruit and vegetables. They have already worked with over 80 community groups in Manchester to do this, and today was a step closer to starting work on a new site.

When Irene was told by her consultant that she’d have to take things easy after an operation, the first thing she told him was there was no way she was giving up her role as a volunteer at the Food Bank at the Pankhurst Centre. “The volunteers have become my family, the Food Bank is more than making sure people have food to put into their mouths, it’s about putting a smile on their faces”, said Irene.

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) runs a drop-in advice clinic every Tuesday morning. This starts at 8am but there is often a queue of people waiting for them to open. On Tuesday 20th September, there were 3 caseworkers and between them, they held 15 consultation sessions plus one emergency. They were assisted by a volunteer who is training to become a paid caseworker. There is always at least one emergency case, sometimes more.