On Friday 10 July, in a Church Yard on Wesley Road, a team from WNWHL played the first of three cricket matches that are planned with a team from Armley Mosque, as part of an exercise to build links within the community.
The tournament is being held in memory of Steve Platts, who was Responsive Maintenance Manager at WNWHL before he sadly passed away last year. As the evening drew in WNWHL just piped Armley Mosque to victory, but they still have the chance to even things up with 2 further games to play.
The Tournament was born out of a meeting that Glyn Beynon and Stephen Towler of Community Participation previously set up with Armley Mosque, in an effort to build links within the community and contact hard to reach tenants. As well as setting up the tournament a number of regular housing surgeries were arranged, with teams from WNWHL to visit the Mosque to give advice and support on their service area, starting with Lettings, and leading on to Sheltered Housing, Aids and Adaptations, Tenancy Enforcement and Neighbourhood Management.
The Rematch:
A rematch was arranged, and as England’s Ashes dreams hung in the balance, West North West Homes were trounced by a team from Armley Mosque in a 20/20 cricket match held at New Farnley Cricket Club.
The match was the culmination of relationship-building cricket sessions held at St Bartholomew’s in Armley – part of a process to build relations between West North West Homes and the Mosque, enabling us to better understand and assist the housing needs of the Muslim community within the area.
The final score of the well-attended match at New Farley Cricket Club was a hotly debated topic, however West North West Homes were forced to accept defeat. We have challenged Armley Mosque to more matches to try and claw back some wins and hopefully improve our game.
The match also raised money to buy cricket equipment for young people at the Mosque and a donation is to be made to the British heart Foundation.
Housing information surgeries have been established at Armley Mosque for the local Muslim community, to get advice from local housing staff on all aspects of their tenancies and on how to apply for a council home. West North West Homes is now looking to repeat this successful event and interaction with other faith groups and under represented communities.
Claire Warren, West North West Homes Leeds Chief Executive presented the trophy to the winning team, and medals to all involved. The cheerful banter between the teams and spectators proved that the objectives had been more than met, and relationships had been well and truly cemented.
Watch out for more news in the future....
