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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Damon Wilkinson

The Manchester overspill estate where trains won't go and the 'miracle' hidden inside it

It's a town of almost 8,000 people. But there's no train station, it's a 35 minute bus ride to the nearest theatre or cinema and even the pubs have closed down.

The Trafford suburb of Partington, a one-time overspill estate on the far western edge of Greater Manchester, has long suffered from a lack of facilities many other places take for granted.

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But a charity on the outskirts of town is trying to change that by overseeing the rebirth of a building once dubbed 'Britain's biggest youth club'. Built using a £5m government grant, when it first opened in 2011 the Fuse centre was a huge deal for Partington.

The state-of-the-art building came with a 250 capacity theatre, dance and recording studios, sports hall, café and computer suite. But the Fuse's first incarnation was short-lived. After just 18 months funding problems meant the youth club closed down.

Into the gap stepped Debra Green OBE, director and founder of Redeeming Our Communities, a charity that works with grassroots groups to improve local communities. She was offered the building rent-free on a 22-year lease on the understanding ROC would provide some of the facilities and activities Partington badly needed.

Debra Green and Sarah Mhlanga (Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

And, ever since then, ROC's been working to put the centre back on the map. "It was a bit of miracle story really," said Debra. "As soon as I walked in I knew it was meant to be.

"But it was really daunting at first. We suddenly inherited a building of this size and we didn't necessarily know what to do with it straight away.

"The government didn't transfer ownership of this building to the charity out of the kindness of their heart. In return we have to offer services the government is perhaps struggling to provide at the moment. It's down the voluntary sector like us to fill that gap."

The Fuse opened in 2011 at a cost of £5m, but closed down about 18 months later (Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

The Fuse now hosts a food bank, football club, arts projects and summer clubs, while the theatre has been used for boxing, a weekly cinema club, fashion shows and auctions. Youth teams at Salford City, the League Two football club owned by Gary Neville and his fellow 'Class of 92' team-mates, now train there.

The centre is also building up a reputation in TV circles, with CBeebies and fashion expert Gok Wan recently using the theatre for filming.

"Partington is a bit out on a limb," said Debra. "It's OK if you've got a car, but a lot of people here don't and the public transport can be quite challenging.

"There's no train station, it's takes about a hour on the bus to get to Manchester city centre. If you want to go to the theatre or the cinema the nearest places are in Altrincham, but people tell us they can't get back on the bus late at night.

The Fuse is home to a 250 seat state-of-the-art theatre (Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

"But that's all changing. They are building so many houses here, but what's the infrastructure like? There's a library, a small Tesco, but there's not even any pubs any more.

"We haven't got the facilities to support people living here. That's why a centre like this is really important.

"Partington needs more facilities, more activities that people can be part of."

Fuse already does a lot. But Sarah Mhlanga, Debra's daughter and ROC's creative director, says the potential is there to do so much more.

"We have the facilities here, we have the space to to do a lot of things, but it comes down to funding," she said. I'd love to do a summer club and get 90 kids in here, but we can't fund that on our own.

"We want to to put this building to use for the community, but we can't do everything we'd like to do without funding."

Next week, however, marks a big step in ROC's efforts. Sarah is putting on the first theatre productions since the charity took over the building.

Short plays Banter and The List will be showing back-to-back on Thursday and Friday March 16 and 17. And Sarah hopes they'll be the first of many.

"People might not consider themselves theatre-goers, but if it's just down the road it might be something they try and really like," she said. "It's about having that access.

"And it's about raising aspirations for people in the community. If they see the BBC filming here, they might think that's something I can do."

Tickets for Banter and The List are available here.

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