Having secured a Manchester City Council cash grant, the Irish Diaspora Foundation recently worked with Fiona Dunk from the Kindling Trust and St. Chad’s R.C. Primary School on a collaborative intergenerational project researching the impact of Irish migration on local food heritage.

The focus of the project was to look at the history of growing food, and land use in the Cheetham area from the 1600’s to the present day. One of our key aims was to encourage research amongst children, elders and our volunteers and this has included training in oral history interviews, research and presentation skills.

We discovered that school staff, parents, volunteers and IWHC members all have a wealth of information about the changes that have occurred in Cheetham Hill over the last 50 years. Many historic buildings were demolished as recently as the 1980’s but luckily the people involved in the project could still remember them.

Historic Research
While researching Irish heritage in the area, our volunteers and children have had the opportunity to delve into local Tithe and historical maps and Census records, exploring Irish migration to Cheetham Hill as a result of the industrialisation of Manchester, and its impact on local food. We also looked at wartime growing and the development of allotments in Cheetham.

Visiting local allotments
We had a wonderful visit to the Cheetham and Crumpsall Model Allotments where there are over 17 Irish allotment holders. They gave us a very warm welcome and showed us around the various allotment plots. The children and volunteers interviewed some of the allotment holders which helped them to gain an understanding of the development of growing in the area.

The interviews collected by both the children and volunteers will be transcribed and will be used later for our 2010 calendar. The children also planted salad leaves to take home. They also visited the Transport Museum, local shops and were taken to Wild Goose Farm to see the deer and traditional Irish farming implements.

Heaton Park Visit
The visit to Heaton Park enabled us to look at how the estate was farmed during the 18th and 19th centuries. We were all encouraged to think about sustainability and the lessons that can be learned from history.

Cheetham Festival
As a result of this hard and important work we have taken the project further for the Cheetham Festival event on Friday the 11th September at the Irish World Heritage Centre. St. Chad’s will be presenting their findings about the history of migration and the diversity of the Cheetham Area.

Although home to many refugees and economic migrants, the area was largely populated by Irish, Jewish and other Eastern European Catholics during the 1800's.

The coming together of the different communities in Cheetham is still in evidence today.