Why did you join 2Up 2Down?
I live on Wylva road which is just opposite the bakery and I got involved about 18 months ago when I just came in to find out what was happening. It just seemed like something you were either going to watch fail or you were going to get involved in and make sure something good came out of it. So I started coming along to meetings and now I’m busy telling everybody about it and telling them to get involved. I guess it was different for me because I haven’t had the years and years of broken promises and letdowns that have ground down a lot of the local residents.
So I was more inclined to get involved in something like this and more positive than most people. Saying that I have had moments when I felt it was all too much but I think if you really care about something then it’s not going to be easy. I also really hope that people get out of it what I have – which is the realisation that there are things that I can do and there are things that I can change if I put in a little bit of effort first.
What does living well mean to you?
I think it’s a life where you are responsible for yourself and you have the personal freedom to do the things you want to. So you are not trapped in a job or trapped in situation where you feel hopeless – it’s about autonomy and responsibility. That can be anything from having the choice over your food to having control over your home. So for example, with the food rather than getting it from you local supermarket you could get the skills to grow your food and be able to cook it. So living well is that and the freedom to not just be working to pay the bills which is what I think a lot of people here in Anfield feel like they are doing. They are running just to keep still because the bills need paying and what’s coming in isn’t enough to cover that.
