Cherry Tree Project
Youth-led community group
The Cherry Tree Project is a youth-led community group based in Romiley that supports young people throughout the year with regular weekly sessions and holiday activities. These include furniture upcycling projects that help fund the group, and the popular Fit and Fed sessions that they run in partnership with Life Leisure.
When the coronavirus pandemic happened, they had to look for new ways to continue to support their community. Their Letters of Love campaign encouraged the young people that they work with to write letters, poems, drawings and puzzles to be collected and then distributed out to cheer up and connect with self-isolating people in their local area, and they regularly go on rainbow walks to showcase all the amazing rainbows displayed in windows in their neighbourhood.
Rachel and Nigel Stephens
Thanks to Stockport Council and everyone who’s donated; without you, this wouldn’t be possible.
They also decided to re-create their Fit and Fed sessions online which have been a massive success. Every Friday at 2pm, Sasha from Life Leisure does a fitness session which is streamed live from The Cherry Tree Project Facebook page to get families moving and to work up an appetite. Then at 4pm Rachel and Nigel Stephens livestream a video teaching people how to make easy, tasty and nutritious meals for families to cook along with in their own homes – over 50 families tuned in to make spaghetti bolognese one week!
They secured funding through the Stockport Local Fund coronavirus Community Support fund, which goes towards making these fun Fit and Fed sessions every week. They also provide a delivery service for residents who want to take part but are not able to access the ingredients needed. These deliveries also include sports kit for Sasha’s exercise sessions, such as a football, and were once delivered by none other than Stockport’s own Spiderman! Many local shops have also contributed towards these deliveries which shows how much support there is for this scheme. “Thanks to Stockport Council and everyone who’s donated,” Rachel and Nigel say on their Facebook page. “Without you, this wouldn’t be possible.”