We take a moment for Hulme Adult Education Centre.
Friday July 20th 2012 is the Centre’s last day with the office closing and staff moving to Greenheys in Moss Side. The decision to close the Centre was taken by Manchester City Council in 2011, as part of its cost-cutting budget.
The Adult Education Centre, which moved into the Library
building in the early 90’s was a valuable community asset providing offer a
large range of courses aimed at improving lives, getting people into work,
volunteering and improving job skills.
The Centre was also the space where local people help gathered and created works that were part of the character of the area.
A well-known example of this was the ‘Mapping Our Lives’ project by residents of
Hulme and Moss Side which went on to win a NIACE
national award for ‘Adult Learners of the Year’ in the 90s and was an exhibition
within the library.
The other is the 10 year old, 84 foot long Hulme Mural, which was created between 2000 and 2002 by the
"Hulme Urban Potters" a group composed of students and tutors from
the Hulme Adult Education Centre. It chronicles the history of the
community from Roman Times to the present day.
The moving of the Education Centre means that Hulme is
likely to lose the service for good. In the 1960s, when the original Centre was demolished despite protests from the community, Adult Education eventually
returned to the ward. There are no plans for this to happen from the Council.
The loss means the only community service left in the building
is the library, which is due to be moved by December 2012. Despite concerns and sustained
enquiries, the new home for the library has still not been announced and the
Council refuses to say what it has planned for the building itself and the
mural.
