"Tell people something they know already and they will thank you for it. Tell them something new and they will hate you for it" - George Monbiot
MY STREET FIGHTERS PROJECT
I have consolidated all my regeneration work - including four years worth of written pieces and more recent multimedia pieces - on a dedicated website, STREET FIGHTERS. Please check it out.
ok this criticism thing is doubtless mostly paranoia, it has to be said, but if i get a sniff of it I get all chippy. #needmorebeautysleep6 hours ago
....using words and photography on my own personal projects that is. It really gets my back up actually. 7 hours ago
i can't help but get defensive when I feel snappers are suggesting I'm stealing work by using words and photography. why can't I love both? 7 hours ago
I had a heartbreaking encounter yesterday that is still weighing heavily on my mind a day and a half later. Widower and war veteran Elijah Debnam will be 90 years old in June and has lived in his home in Derker, Oldham, for the best part of six decades. There is now a Compulsory Purchase Order on his terraced property under the town’s Housing Market Renewal regeneration scheme and he is being pressured to move out. Not one brick has been laid under the scheme so far in Derker. The one thing Eli – as his friends call him – dreads more than anything is ending up in an old people’s home. I am sure there are many other very elderly people around the region who share his sentiments, but many are afraid to speak out.
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ciaramleeming: New blog post: Home/Castle 4 – Elijah. This has really upset me actually :-( http://bit.ly/aeOKHu...
[...] a profound effect on myself along with looking at photographs. I came across Ciara Leeming’s post who interviewed Elijah Debnam about himself living in Derker. The picture struck me quickly and the [...]
That’s heartbreaking stuff, not surprised it affected you, and it comes over in the piece. Congratulations seem inappropriate so I’ll just say well done on finding and sharing an important story.
It is an absolute disgrace that people such as Mr Debnam are being forced from their homes against their will… Pathfinder is a draconian measure and is going from bad to worse with thousands of well built, solid, sustainable, and much needed homes being demolished on a Councils whim only so they can obtain the funding, there are very few replacement homes being built in these trying times, yet here is the Government saying they are trying to build England out of a Credit Crunch crisis – yeah, right… and put people like Mr Debnam into poverty, and displace him from his home against his will!
The Government say that there is a need for more housing in the North and Midlands, yet very few have been built, the money handed out via Pathfinder to the Councils is to buy out property for Land Acquisition at the cheapest possible price, they cannot pay out for Greenfield sites, nor can they afford empty Brownfield sites as the cost per acreage is exorbitant…!
The Derker Community have fought long and hard to keep their homes as has many other Community Groups in other Pathfinder areas… Money Talks, I’ll say it does… The Community being displaced, is not the Community that will benefit from all this upheaval and demolition, only the Councils and building companies!
My heart goes out to Mr Debnam and all in this situation… keep fighting guys!
thanks everyone for the support. It’s a horrible feeling, listening to a story like this and being asked what you can do – and having to say “well, I can write a story, but….”.
Elijah is a lovely man and I would love to do something to help him. I’m going to try to get a national interested…we shall see.
There are too many people who are being put into this situation in the poorer areas of the UK. I went to primary school in Derker, my grandparents had a shop there. What a lovely, charming man. Thanks Ciara.
[...] I popped by to visit Elijah this morning, the WWII veteran who is being forced out of his home of 56 years to make way for cherry trees and gr…. [...]
[...] a profound effect on myself along with looking at photographs. I came across Ciara Leeming’s post who interviewed Elijah Debnam about himself living in Derker. The picture struck me quickly and the [...]
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ciaramleeming: New blog post: Home/Castle 4 – Elijah. This has really upset me actually :-( http://bit.ly/aeOKHu...
Powerful stuff, thanks for sharing Ciara
[...] a profound effect on myself along with looking at photographs. I came across Ciara Leeming’s post who interviewed Elijah Debnam about himself living in Derker. The picture struck me quickly and the [...]
That’s heartbreaking stuff, not surprised it affected you, and it comes over in the piece. Congratulations seem inappropriate so I’ll just say well done on finding and sharing an important story.
that.is.heartbreaking.
great portrait, great audio.
[...] You can see what Tom’s talking about here. [...]
Good work Ciara, keep it up.
Smashing work and bloody sad.
It is an absolute disgrace that people such as Mr Debnam are being forced from their homes against their will… Pathfinder is a draconian measure and is going from bad to worse with thousands of well built, solid, sustainable, and much needed homes being demolished on a Councils whim only so they can obtain the funding, there are very few replacement homes being built in these trying times, yet here is the Government saying they are trying to build England out of a Credit Crunch crisis – yeah, right… and put people like Mr Debnam into poverty, and displace him from his home against his will!
The Government say that there is a need for more housing in the North and Midlands, yet very few have been built, the money handed out via Pathfinder to the Councils is to buy out property for Land Acquisition at the cheapest possible price, they cannot pay out for Greenfield sites, nor can they afford empty Brownfield sites as the cost per acreage is exorbitant…!
The Derker Community have fought long and hard to keep their homes as has many other Community Groups in other Pathfinder areas… Money Talks, I’ll say it does… The Community being displaced, is not the Community that will benefit from all this upheaval and demolition, only the Councils and building companies!
My heart goes out to Mr Debnam and all in this situation… keep fighting guys!
Hang in there Ciara, you are doing a grand job!
Best… S
thanks everyone for the support. It’s a horrible feeling, listening to a story like this and being asked what you can do – and having to say “well, I can write a story, but….”.
Elijah is a lovely man and I would love to do something to help him. I’m going to try to get a national interested…we shall see.
There are too many people who are being put into this situation in the poorer areas of the UK. I went to primary school in Derker, my grandparents had a shop there. What a lovely, charming man. Thanks Ciara.
cheers for the comment Becs. I wonder if you’d recognise Derker today
[...] I popped by to visit Elijah this morning, the WWII veteran who is being forced out of his home of 56 years to make way for cherry trees and gr…. [...]
[...] a profound effect on myself along with looking at photographs. I came across Ciara Leeming’s post who interviewed Elijah Debnam about himself living in Derker. The picture struck me quickly and the [...]