ManWeb was the place you used to pay your leccy bills, queuing for hours in a slow slalom around the white fridges and cookers. It was the nearest anyone got to a skiing experience. Now those memories can finally be shattered as the Langworthy Cornerstone has nicked the name for its new men's club...
"The Cornerstone is managed by local community and we're all about doing useful stuff with local people, but we did notice that only 30% of our participants were men so we wanted to do something about it" John Phillips, Cornerstone manager, explained at its launch this week
"We decided on a men's health project but found that a lot of projects that did exist were very clinical" he added "There's a men's obesity clinic in Hope Hospital for example not great fun on a Friday night. So we thought `Let's do something northern, non-clinical and a bit humorous', so we called it ManWeb."
Organisers are open to any ideas for activities but to kick it off there's going to be walking football, 5-a-side, pub type sessions with pool, darts and card games, and a local history group
"We've been talking to local men about some of things they really wanted and a lot of the older ones have been saying they would like something on local history" said ManWeb co-ordinator, Kellie Dwan "This project is great because it's not all about physical health, it's about social isolation as well.
"There's one man here whose wife passed away a few weeks ago and he just called into the centre, he didn't know anyone but after a few minutes he was talking to other men about local history" she added "Hopefully the project will bring men together as we all know that men don't talk like women do. Most of the activities will be here at the Cornerstone but we're open to using different venues, like for men's cookery and football. It's aimed at men from Langworthy, Seedley, around the Precinct and Ordsall but it's open to anyone from Salford."
To add to the club feel, there's going to be a `man passport', social get togethers and a man of the month award for those who take part in activities like salsa, outside their comfort zone... "We're just trying to make it as enjoyable as possible" said John Phillips.
Behind the project, however, is the fact that men's health and life expectancy in Salford, particularly in places like Langworthy, Seedley and Ordsall, lags behind the national average and way behind areas like Worsley. The reasons are partly historical, as Nigel Pivaro underlined as he helped to launch ManWeb...
"Salford was the first industrial city really, and people came from the countryside to live in very poor housing conditions" he explained "The shifts were long, they didn't have time to cook and, generally speaking, they threw everything into a frying pan and cooked with lard
"I remember my uncle used to tell me - not with any sense of self-regret I must say - about coming home from a shift of an evening and getting a dockers' wedge, a piece of bread fried in lard" Nigel recalled "He loved it but it was sheer heart attack. When I was a kid, these fellas would come home from the shifts then sit down in front of a coal fire and there'd be a blue haze of smoke from Capstan full strength cigarettes. I would run in and try and head the smoke.
"My first uncle died aged 67, my second uncle died aged 72" he added "That was a generation ago but it's not got that much better. So I encourage you all to really get stuck in and take advantage of everything that is on offer, so you can spend longer with your families and make your life better."
To find out more about ManWeb contact Kellie Dwan, Men's Health Development Workers at the Langworthy Cornerstone phone 212 4430 or email kellie.dwan@langworthycornerstone.co.uk
Also see the Langworthy Cornerstone website click here
Nigel Pivaro will be writing for the new print issue of Salford Star out soon!
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