The project
The Nello James Centre was a vital gathering place for Manchester’s Black community, providing space to learn, socialise and organise.
Founded in the early 1970s, the building was purchased for the community by actor Vanessa Redgrave and named after Trinidadian writer and activist CLR “Nello” James. The centre offered a wide range of services, from events and training courses to childcare and welfare support, until its closure in 2012.
Rekindling Nello James aimed to commemorate this lost cornerstone of local heritage and revive the spirit of the much-loved community hub.
The intergenerational project recorded oral histories of the centre, collected photographs and documents and produced films and other creative responses.
Ruth Ibegbuna, founder and CEO of Rekindle, the organisation behind the project, says it’s “about reconnection and visibility. It allowed a lot of elders to come together and reminisce but also share quite powerful stories of struggle. Meetings went to quite painful places in terms of the loss of Black cultural heritage spaces. But there was a lot of hope and joy as well.”
The organisation
Rekindle is a youth-led supplementary school, empowering young people under-served by traditional education to learn, build confidence and develop critical thinking skills.
The project helped it to introduce a new generation to the history of the Nello James Centre and build on the its legacy.
Ruth says: “We were very keen that our young people understand what that building was. This whole project was about how do we tell those stories, share those memories and encourage the people who were part of the Nello James Centre to become part of our community now as well.”
The funding
Alongside documenting the history of the centre and people it served, our £104,983 grant supported Rekindle to:
- hire Project Manager, Bianca Danielle, to run the project and engage the community
- work with Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, at Manchester Central Library, to create a living archive that will be accessible to participants and the public for generations
- run a programme of events, ranging from self-defence classes to hairstyling sessions, to recapture the spirit of the Nello James Centre and encourage people to get involved
The project closed with an exhibition and final event hosted with Contact Theatre. Bringing together local residents, former Nello James Centre users, young people and artists, it showcased the wealth of archive material and creative responses produced over the year.
The results
More than 650 people took part in Rekindling Nello James. It’s strengthened relationships between generations and created new opportunities for young people to engage with their heritage.
For Ruth, uniting the community in this way is just as important as the physical outputs: “We have a living archive and I'm proud of that. But it did also open a little door, and I think people are like: we want more of this. We want to explore more. We want to connect more.
“Our young people got a lot from seeing the community come together with pride. There's not enough of those moments. And that's what all these sessions were.”
The future
Now the lessons learned from the centre's history are helping Rekindle build a stronger, more resilient organisation.
Ruth says: “It’s been both a helpful story and a cautionary tale. It's really galvanised my trustees, our young people and our staff members. The Nello James Centre was a star in the community and now it's no more. We can’t let that happen again.”
Top tips
Ruth shares her advice for running an intergenerational project:
Use social media strategically: “Really think about how you can use social media to target and engage people. We had 80-year-olds who spotted us on Facebook and then a completely different crowd coming in through Instagram.”
Budget with people in mind: “There were things we hadn’t thought about. Like when you have elders coming in you need a really warm building and heating costs money. Having a decent budget to spend on food is very important too.”
Make your space accessible: “Think about how accessible your set-up is. You need to really look at the space and make sure everyone feels welcome and included.”
Watch Rekindle’s film reflecting on the project and read more tips from our grantees.
