A Moss Side Story Charlie Fyfe-Williams

Melvyn McDonald is one of Hideaway's longest-serving Youth Workers. He started working at the project at just 17. In the fallout of austerity in the UK, Melvyn has had a frontline view of the effects the cuts have had on Hideaway and other Manchester youth programmes.

Produced, directed and edited by Charlie Fyfe-Williams
Mixed and Mastered by Seth Taylor
Soundtrack by LONA

Irvine Williams is the Youth Work Manager at Hideaway. Like a lot of the staff, he came to Hideaway as a young man, started volunteering at the project before becoming a full-time youth worker. From Hideaway, he’s seen Moss Side change over the years, from the riots in 1981 to the so-called ‘Gunchester’ era of the nineties to the strong community that exists today. This is Irvine’s story.

Produced, directed and edited by Charlie Fyfe-Williams
Mixed and mastered by Seth Taylor
Soundtrack by LONA

The Hideaway Youth Project is Manchester’s oldest youth centre. It turned 54 this year and has supported generations of families in the Moss Side community. Most of the youth workers attended Hideaway as young people and the cycle continues as their leadership programme nurtures and invests in future leaders of the community. Hideaway relies on lottery funding to keep itself running and the team work tirelessly to make bids so that the centre can stay open. It currently has 2 years of lotto funding remaining, after which, the future of the project is uncertain. Hideaway is a hub creative arts, with a focus on dance, music and boxing. This episode takes you inside the project to meet some of the young people that go there.

Produced, directed and edited by Charlie Fyfe-Williams
Mixed and mastered by Seth Taylor
Soundtrack by LONA

Moss Side is a diverse neighbourhood, two miles south of Manchester's city centre. Akemia has been a youth worker in Moss Side for nearly twenty years. Demi and Jayvon are in their twenties and austerity kicked in right in the middle of their time spent attending youth centres in Moss Side. Of the five centres that were open in the South Manchester area, only two remain - the Powerhouse and Hideaway - and are struggling to find funding. Following the closures, in 2016, some of their friends were convicted with the murder of Abdul Wuhab Hafidah on a joint enterprise charge. Two years ago, their close friend Sait Mboob was murdered in Moss Side by a group of boys from another area. The same boys they used to attend youth centres with every Friday night before they were shut down. They feel there is a direct link with the youth centres closing and the spike in youth violence in their area.

Produced, directed and edited by Charlie Fyfe-Williams
Mixed and mastered by Seth Taylor
Soundtrack by LONA