Blue-sky thinking aids Leeds revival
Yorkshire community has found a way to turn its fortunes around
LEEDS IS buzzing. But not just in the regenerated centre, with its high-rise apartment blocks, swanky shopping malls and glass-fronted offices.
In the suburbs of LS17 — home to Alwoodley and Moortown — Britain’s third largest Jewish community is enjoying a period of almost unprecedented rejuvenation.
A general sense of decline has dogged Leeds’ Jews for the past decade. Despite its 10,000 Jews, the city was listed as one of the country’s 10 fastest-diminishing Jewish communities in the 2011 census.
The problems were centred on the familiar issue of younger members moving to London in search of jobs and a livelier social life.
Now, buoyed by the opening of a Jewish secondary school after 20 years of planning, the community is beginning to believe a corner has been turned. Leeds’ lay leaders believe they may have created a blueprint for the future of medium-to-large-sized Jewish communities not just in Britain, but potentially worldwide.
This has been achieved largely thanks to an outbreak of common sense, joined-up thinking and willingness from all to pull in the same direction.
The community now finds itself re-grouped around two central hubs — the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre (MAZCC) on Moortown’s Stonegate Road and the new educational campus in the smart Primley Park area of Alwoodley.
It is there that the Brodetsky Primary School has been joined by the new secondary, Leeds Jewish Free School (LJFS) and the relocated Zone youth club.
Together the trio create a fresh, modern facility, providing educational and social opportunities for the city’s Jewish youth, from toddlers to teenagers.
Having moved from its run-down premises, the Zone now boasts provisions that would be the envy of any kids club.
A DJ booth and a professional recording studio take their place alongside the staple of Jewish youth clubs — table tennis. In the canteen, grandparents and teenagers mix in the summer sunshine as a team of volunteers serve cut-price kosher treats from the kitchen.
Waiting for his potato salad lunch is Stanley Cundle, a veteran of decades of communalleadership.Heiswell-placed to assess recent changes.
“We always had an infrastructure but it had fragmented. It’s taken a while to bring everything together. The campus has given it all a buzz,” he explains.
Education is the driving force behind the revival. Families wanting to give their teenagers a Jewish secondary education were previously forced to bus themtoManchester.Thecreationof LJFS has been a game-changer, Mr Cundle believes.
“Any Jewish child could come to live i n Leeds and be set for life now. We always said the high school would be the saviour. The place is vibrant. People have been gobsmacked by what we have done here.” As a city, Leeds has often been in the shadowsof itscross-Pennineneighbour Manchester. Unfairly so, say residents. Upmarket family homes in Alwoodley sell at an average of £400,000. Rolling Yorkshire hills are a short drive away. The thriving city centre is largely free from clogged traffic. It is an attractive package and communal leaders hope it will appeal to Jewish families thinking of moving to Britain from around the world.
Susie Gordon, the Representative Council’s development executive, has already helped convince people from Israel, Spain, Argentina and the United States to relocate.
Mrs Gordon uses social media to pave the way for new arrivals from abroad. She says: “One single mother living in Israel with her three kids was terrified of the idea of moving to England. She started engaging with our Facebook page — we have 900 people engaging online. She has now made a friend with another Israeli woman living in Leeds and is planning to move here.” The arrival of new chief executives at Leeds Jewish Housing Association (LJHA), Leeds Jewish Welfare Board (LJWB) and Donisthorpe, the city’s Jewish care home,
has also contrib-