November marked the opening for applications to Didsbury’s local Neighbourhood Investment Fund, and South Manchester Swifts applied with a proposal to install more swift boxes in the area to support the local swift colony.
The Neighbourhood Investment Fund (NIF) is available from Manchester City Council to help communities make their neighbourhoods better places to live. £20,000 of NIF is available to every area (ward) in Manchester each year - to help groups carry out events and initiatives that benefit local people and are environmentally sustainable.
Making the Case for Swifts
SMS was invited to make a live presentation about the proposal – SMS Chair, Pam Siddons, shares an account of how we got on…
Fourteen keen and eager environmental groups met at Didsbury Baptist Church Hall on November 7th to compete for council grants.
Six Neighbourhood Investment Grants were available for a thousand pounds each so it was going to be a tough battle. Each group had compelling reasons as to how they could help Didsbury become a better place, through planting vegetables, helping nature, recycling, clearing litter and road safety.
Our councillors were there, both East and West, and the council officers who had been so helpful to would be applicants – all of them willing everyone on.
Of course, South Manchester Swifts were one of the fourteen groups. Our trusty secretary Andy gave a magnificent presentation, greatly impressing the audience with swift facts and bringing out a swift caller to demonstrate the, frankly piercing, sound made by the joyful birds swooping through the clouds in what’s called a ‘screaming party’.
He was competing against cute schoolchildren and earnest teenagers as well as some incredibly community minded adults so we were not sure of our outcome…
Well done Andy! We’ve now secured £500 to spend on nestboxes and £500 for swift callers which are highly effective in luring these endangered birds to their brand new homes.
It was sad that so many worthy causes missed out as they had all worked so hard. However, there’s always next year when those of us who have won grants (twice in our case) will have to take a step back.
Want to support your own local nature project? You can find out more about Neighbourhood Investment Funds on the Manchester City Council website here.
Learn more about Nest Boxes on our page How We Can Help Swifts.
