Impressive group has withstood test of time
LIVING as I do in Boulevard Avenue, I was naturally interested to read your recent article about Grimsby’s West Marsh (Life on West Marsh ‘Isn’t that bad’, November 18). Though I must admit I was surprised to see the area described as being an estate.
For the West Marsh isn’t such a clearly defined housing location. Rather it is like a microcosm of the old Humberside county, divided by a river, in this case the Freshney rather than the Humber.
On one side of the water is what they described in the early 2000s as the “super output area” (don’t ask, it’s just more jargon!) of West Marsh. Here the West Marsh Community Centre is the centre of the community, a facility I last visited for their annual Remembrance Sunday service a week or so ago.
The other side had the designation “West Marsh Macaulay”. It covers St Hugh’s Church and Haven Methodist Chapel, along with the two community centres on the Haycroft site, St Hugh’s Community Centre and the Macaulay Area Action Group (MAAG) Hall.
I became involved with the MAAG through a course I attended.
The group had been formed in October 2001 after residents got together with agencies to try to combat antisocial behaviour in the ward. They subsequently took over the small hall adjacent to St Hugh’s on a lease, obtaining funds from WREN (the recycling people) to help pay for the building’s entire refurbishment.
I was very impressed at the time at what a voluntary body had managed to achieve. It was in contrast to the futile efforts of the professionals involved with Welhome Galleries where I’d been working, who failed to obtain the monies needed to ensure its future.
The MAAG has come through the problems caused by the Covid pandemic, when they were forced to cease all public activities, thus losing their revenue sources. Yet they, like others in the same boat, still had their bills to pay.
Twenty years since the MAAG began, I’m honoured to be associated with them. Oh and if
you’ve free time on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, you’ll be made most welcome at their bingo sessions. Call 01472 353700 for further information.
Tim Mickleburgh,