Written and collated by her husband George Heron

BARBARA AND THE CREATIVE LIVING CENTRE

Barbara and the Creative Living Centre were a perfect match. For her the Centre provided an ideal anchor for her work following her enforced retirement from Bury College in 1996 and she brought to it a commitment and a range of skills which proved invaluable for the development of the Centre. She had her own massage practice and was often experimenting with other therapies and supporting other causes but she was always in contact and available to help, Barbara’s prior experience working with people with emotional and learning difficulties gave her a clear understanding of its vision and its values as well as the personal skills to relate to its members. Her qualification as a massage therapist gave her a ‘hands-on’ role with them, further extended as she learnt new therapies and took on exercise classes for wellbeing.

Since Barbara’s death in December 2024, the tributes her family have received all emphasise the personal friendship she offered.   She gave encouragement and support to all she met.   Barbara switched from teaching to massage around her 50th birthday because it enabled her to get closer to the people she was working with.   Her practice as a massage therapist always emphasised the links between emotional stress and the muscles she worked on.   Conversations in the massage room were as important as the massage itself.    This tribute from Eileen was typical "I will never forget Barbara and shall be ever grateful for her kind, caring, gentle soul helping me through many challenging times with her healing hands and understanding listening ear. Her caring farewell was always ' Go Well' I wish her the same now. Rest In Peace"

Luckily Barbara began her work as a therapist just as ideas for CLC were taking shape. At first work in the CLC was led by therapists. Before her retirement as a teacher in 1996, Barbara became a part of the group. Afterwards, as she continued to develop her skills and ran a small private practice she was free to take a fuller part in the life of the CLC and could make herself available whenever she could help. I believe her close attention to the needs of those she met embodied the ethos of the CLC and was always at the heart of her work whatever role she undertook.   

Barbara was an incredible human being. I came to the CLC on a placement and met Barbara when the centre was being run by volunteers.  She became a trustee and then the chair of trustees.  She did my interview that led me to becoming a member of staff.  She was always thinking of others.  She was devoted to helping and finding ways to help others find their path through life.  A wonderful person who will be greatly missed and always remembered. (Shelley, Senior Support Coordinator, CLC)

"Barbara was an incredible part of CLC helping so many improve their lives (Maura, Former CLC Trustee and Chair of Trustees)
"Barbara was great to me always and particularly when I was Chair at the Creative Living Centre.  I’ll always recall her North East brogue and the wonderful care she took during her healing massages."  (Ken, Former CLC Trustee and Chair of Trustees)

In 2017, towards the end of her longest period as Chair of Trustees, Barbara gave a talk to mark the 20th anniversary of the CLC  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWu99UQcfoQ . This gave a history of the Centre to that point. This next section is based mainly on what she said then and the words in quotation marks are hers.   The CLC aimed to supplement NHS mental health services by providing ‘a space with music, with plants, with friendly people, with stories, everything that was creative that allowed people to support each other without necessarily drugs and all the rest of it’ .     

The CLC grew because of ‘the immediate and apparent success of our innovative way of working with people’.  However it also needed funding, political support and effective administration and therefore a formal structure. In 2017 it became a limited company and a charity. Like all similar charities, it could only continue through successful bids for money for specific projects.   

At first Barbara preferred to take a back seat in administration. However, from her previous role. she had an abundance of local contacts an understanding of funding systems and many of the skills needed to make the CLC effective.  She offered these freely: a wise woman to be consulted to write or improve bids, suggest ways forward and overcome barriers to development. In the noughties she did accept formal positions, acting as Company Secretary from 2001 to 2004 and staying on as a Trustee after that.  
 
Around 2007/2008 there was a crisis when existing funding ran out before bids had ensured new grants were available. There was no money to pay staff. For a time unpaid Trustees ran the Centre.  When new funding bids were successful, Barbara was determined to provide the CLC with a more secure footing. Manager Liz and support worker Shelley were appointed. Liz was in office until she passed away in 2017 and  Shelley still works in the Centre. The Board of Trustees was strengthened as Barbara used contacts elsewhere to draw in well-qualified new trustees. Jane Wild was one of them. "A key part we played in each other’s lives was in 2011 when she recruited me to become a Trustee with the Creative Living Centre. She thought I would be useful. We worked closely together her as Chair and me as Secretary, until she retired from the Trustees in 2018. These were exciting times as we managed to increase staff numbers, widen the remit of CLC and move to another building. Barbara was respected by all who became involved in CLC, including Members, fellow Trustees, Staff and Volunteers. She will be missed by all who were privileged to work alongside her." (Jane Wild, Former Trustee and Company Secretary)"

The Centre also won ceremonial recognition in 2015 via the Queen’s Award for voluntary service designed to recognise exceptional work done by volunteer groups in the community and described as the highest accolade a voluntary group can receive. Barbara and manager Liz attended a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on 28th May.  

By 2018, aged 72, Barbara reluctantly began to accept that she had to become less active. She retired as a Trustee and withdrew from nearly all activities in the Centre. Around Easter 2019 she also retired as a massage therapist a couple of weeks before the Covid lockdown. She missed her work in the Centre and they missed her. When volunteer Jon set up set up exercise classes he turned to Barbara for advice and support and encouraged her to deliver her signature classes remotely. Here is his tribute: "I met Barbara as she wanted to help in the Pain group that I had started, she had ran one previously and her endless knowledge and enthusiasm for helping people really shone through and made the group what is it today. We have so many resources that I use for the group and for any other members struggling with pain. I learned so much from Barbara and will always remember her kindness." 

in 2022, the Creative Living Centre celebrated its 25 year anniversary. Barbara reached out with the following message "I am so sorry I could not get to the centre yesterday.  It sounds as though it went really well – and I just wanted to say congratulations for all your work in the centre and for the celebration.  I will say more when I can think straight but I just wanted to acknowledge you all.  Please pass on my congratulations and very best wishes for the future to  everyone, and to those new in post who I don’t really know.  I hope to visit before too long to say hello in person". Unfortunately Barbara was not able to visit the centre in person and passed away in December 2024.  

Barbara's daughter reached out to the CLC in January 2025 and explained that as part of the memorial for Barbara, they would like to ask for donations towards the Creative Living Centre. Barbara's loved ones raised a total of £986 which has supported ongoing activities at the Creative Living Centre.

As a meaningful tribute to Barbara, the Creative Living Centre team including the Board of Trustees thought it would be appropriate to have an annual volunteering award called the ‘Barbara Heron Volunteer’ award. This will mean that’s Barbara’s name and legacy will continue into the future and forever be linked to the CLC and will form part of the annual volunteer week celebrations.
  

Written by Volunteer Rachel with contributions from Creative Living Centre Interim Chief Officer Lorna

Members and volunteers, with the help and guidance from local artist Caroline Coates, @carolinecoatesart have created a bright mosaic for the front of the CLC building. It has been created to make the centre stand out and invite the community in.
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The group decided together on what images should be included and how best to represent the welcoming feel of the centre. As the tree is a central part of CLC’s logo it was chosen to be the focus of the mosaic (If you look closely you’ll also notice the tree doubles as a hand too). Members chose to incorporate flowers, bees, hearts and cups of tea to symbolise the holistic care the centre provides- who doesn’t love a brew and a natter?

​To help members get to grips with mosaic making they first made their own piece.
Mosaic making is like putting a jigsaw together, it can be tricky but has great rewards. The project was great for putting cognitive and creative skills to the test.

​With thanks, this project was part funded by The Parklife Community Fund – “The Community Fund is run by Parklife in collaboration with Manchester, Bury and Rochdale councils. It is the result of the festival’s approach to partnership working with the three local authorities and has made over £394,000 from the 2017-2024 festivals available for the benefit of community groups (priority is given to groups and projects that utilise parks and open spaces and / or work with young people).”
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Installation Day

The big unveiling
We had a beautiful day for it and a great turnout to celebrate the work of our members and volunteers. This mosaic was crafted with the support of Caroline Coates Illustration and Craft Workshops and now has pride of place at the front of the building. ​

December has been a busy month for us here at the Creative Living Centre. Our winter festival took place on the 20th December which was a fun day for all and included some games with Shelley and Tom, lots of food, laughs, a tombola and a raffle in addition to wellbeing packs for people to take home. 

There was party food for everyone including trifle and meringue nests with fresh cream and fruit. Cody and Lorna were hard at work in the Sunshine Café and the tables looks great especially with the crackers made by the creative crafts group with Sue and table decorations made by the women's group

There were several other events that took place throughout the month including

Splinter Guitar Group Singalong
​Festive Singalong and hot choc and mice pies with Joe from Nordoff & Robbins
Womens group get together
Tabletop sale fundraiser
Lots of arts and crafts including cards, decorations and wreaths
Christmas message recordings from Drama for Fun group, walking group and boxercise

So however you spent your time with us in December, thank you. We value every person who is a part of the CLC community in what ever way they feel able.

Here's to 2025 and the next chapter.
Take care and be kind to yourself

Sunday the 23rd June 2024 was the day of Prestwich Carnival and for the first time, The Creative Living Centre decided to participate in the Grand Parade in order to showcase the creative talents of our members and volunteers.

Over the past month, we timetabled Carnival Float Decorating Sessions on Thursdays and had a small group of dedicated and creative members who drew, coloured, painted, cut out, glued, glittered and crafted their way through our theme of 'Ways to Wellbeing'. Demonstrating ways in which people can enhance their wellbeing through different activities, all of which we offer here at the Creative Living Centre.

Our Take part coordinator Tom Wild has been busy over the past months engaging with our partners, forging new links and attending various events promoting the centres services for members, recruiting new volunteers, networking with local and national organisations and raising awareness of Creative Living Centre.

Autumn/Winter round up!
Men & boys coalition conference -Stoller Hall Manchester November 2023 – Cody and Tom attended this one-day conference specifically about men’s health (including mental health). This included looking at the national and international picture and hearing from some amazing organisations such as Andys man club, The Man Hug podcast, Movember, Talk About It Mate, Men’s sheds and many more! Lots of really interesting work going on both locally and around the country which was inspiring and we made lots of great connections.

Bury VCFA forum- Great to catch up with other organisations in the Bury area and share ideas/learnings. Tony Foster also announced that after several attempts he will be retiring in March 2024. We are sad to lose such a great ambassador for the voluntary sector, but we look forward to welcoming his replacement in due course!

Aviva Crowdfunder – Allotment group - We had a successful crowdfunding campaign raising over £1400 for our planned allotment group (starting in spring). This means we have been able to engage Ciaran from Sow the City to provide a 6-week growing vegetables course for members and volunteers. This started on February 15th and the feedback has been great. Our thanks go to everyone who donated and to Aviva who provided match funding to us

Nina from RHS Bridgewater provided another free workshop – Tree grafting on the 8th February– attended by members and volunteers at our allotment, learning about creating new trees and supporting older trees.

Part of our regular outreach is to attend monthly volunteer forums hosted by Salford CVS, MACC and Bury VCFA, brilliant organisations offering support, training, information and skill sharing to volunteer coordinators across Manchester.
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Thanks go out to Nas & Nicola at Prestwich job centre, Grace & Claire at Salford CVS, Tony & Neville at Bury VCFA, Barkery & team at MACC, Nina at RHS Bridgewater, Malcolm and team at Claytime Stockport, The Men and Boys Coalition team, Aviva and all our volunteers at the CLC. Engaging with all of these wonderful provisions in our local area has provided some excellent opportunities for our members and we look forward to our continued work with them.

Thanks for reading
​Tom

One of our wonderful members has written this poem to share how she feels about the CLC team and what we do here. Please read this beautifully written piece below

CLC is the place to be,
A safe space it is to me,
A warm welcome from Anne on the desk,
She certainly is one of the best.
The there's Shelley, well what can I say,
It's love, laughter and fun all the way,
She is so great.
Ladies group, a place where I can be me,
Everyone accepts me for me,
Not for someone else I don't want to be.
The ladies are kind & Caring & have hearts of gold,
A place where friendships begin to mould.
CLC a place where your healing journey begins,
to find your peace within,
so come right in,
a place to be accepted, a place to be heard 
It's truly out of this world.
Then there is amazing Jon,
who has guided me along the way,
without him, I wouldn't be here today.
Support hope & encouragement all the time,
I can always tell him what's on my mind,
he has been extremally kind.
My recovery journey is well under way,
there's ups & downs, & sometimes I feel like I'm going round & round,
with tears, tantrums & dramas along the way,
But I take it day by day.
CLC has saved my life, what more is there to say.

We have had the opportunity to offer animal therapy through Noahs ART in October 2023 and November 2023 with a third planned in for December. Noahs Art highlight the benefits of the human-animal bond to improve mental health and wellbeing across Greater Manchester. These sessions have been beautifully received by our members who have had the opportunity to experience something new and therapeutic to support their wellbeing.

Here is some feedback from our members:

"I cannot overemphasise how beneficial this session was for me and so many other members... the atmosphere was so calming and it was nice to see so many smiles together in one room! I was able to learn about and handle (play with) animals id not come across before (bearded dragon). It helped me to reconnect with the members id not seen for a while and meet new ones. I had some time away in hospital last year and it helped me to just get out and do something different. I really hope this is something that could become more of a permanent fixture as i think the others could also really benefit from animal therapy. The staff / volunteers were fabulous and knowledgeable about the pets as well as patient and encouraging when people may have been apprehensive about some of the pets. Thank you it was really enjoyable and helped me in so many ways."

​"I think this session was brilliant, it does have a positive effect on my self and my mental wellbeing. It has helped me to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people as well as animals"

"I cant thank you enough, Im so emotional today has been the happiest day in my life for years. Wonderful, fantastic, im so overwhelmed. Playing with the gorgeous Zeke, stroking him, doing his tricks with him and then asking him for a kiss and he licked my face i was in heaven . It made my day and im so grateful to everyone involved. I met the bearded dragon and a guinea pig - but meeting Zeke was the highlight. I really hope it can continue as it would help my mental health and help me to cope until I can hopefully have a dog of my own again. Its shown me that dogs truly give me a reason for living"

As the Service Delivery Manager here at the Creative Living Centre, seeing the emotional impact on our members was incredibly rewarding. We work hard to offer a variety of therapies and wellbeing activities here at the centre, with person centred counselling, Music therapy, Art therapy, psychodrama and holistic therapy available. Animal Therapy is something we have wanted to explore for a while but needed to do some fundraising for. Luckily, we have been able to fund 3 sessions and would like to continue this again next year.

If you would be interested in supporting us to offer animal therapy to members in the future, or to support any of our other activities, please see our donations & fundraising page and how to help to the CLC.

Thank you for reading
Lorna
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Our Take part coordinator Tom Wild spent some time on and off site in September at various events promoting the centres services for members, recruiting new volunteers, networking with local and national organisations and raising awareness of Creative Living Centre.

We kicked the month off by attending a job fair at the Bury Millgate job centre, there were many organisations involved and it was a great opportunity to recruit volunteers, give out information about the centre and build potential partnerships.

This was followed by attending a volunteer fair organised by our friends at MACC, it was well attended and it was wonderful to meet some potential volunteers and hear about other organisations volunteer training and work in Manchester.

Part of our regular outreach is to attend monthly volunteer forums hosted by Salford CVS and Bury VCFA, brilliant organisations offering support, training, information and skill sharing to volunteer coordinators across Manchester.

Sunday the 8th October took both Tom and Shelley to the Prestwich Makers Market where we were covered in paint for tile painting. A great day full of creativity and laughs, seeing some regular faces and meeting new people. Talking about all things mental health and wellbeing in addition to some volunteering enquiries.

On Wednesday 20th Tom was able to attend a taster session at RHS Bridgewater with the therapeutic gardener Ozichi Brewster in their wellbeing garden. The event was attended by a variety of professionals including members of staff from colleges, clinical/educational psychologists and other charity organisations. It was a wonderful experience and insight into the wellbeing sessions that are available to organisations and individuals. We foraged fruit, herbs and vegetables, planted some wild strawberries and even did some dancing in the rain! – Massive thanks to both Ozichi and Kerry who organised the day. We are now looking at taking some of our members over to the gardens in the near future.

We ended the month with an open day at the centre for potential volunteers and counselling students looking to undertake a placement with us. The day was well attended and supported by our current wonderful volunteer team. Huge thanks to all those who helped make the day a success, we couldn’t do it without you all! New volunteers will begin training on the 18th October and we look forward to welcoming them all to the team.

Thanks go out to Nas, Julie, Andrew, Rachel and the rest of the team at Bury Millgate job centre, Grace & Claire at Salford CVS, Tony & Neville at Bury VCFA, Barkery at MACC, Ozichi & Kerry at RHS Bridgewater and all our volunteers at the CLC.

Forever Manchester ‘Connecting Communities’ Walking Event August 2023.

On Wednesday 31st August our regular walking group ventured to Hollingworth Lake for a 4 mile walk around the beautiful scenic lake, accompanied at times by swans and ducks! Alongside our four volunteers were 11 members of the Creative Living Centre, who were able to enjoy the sunshine (after what felt like 2 months of rain!), connection, conversation and company!

We couldn’t have organised this event without the support of Forever Manchester and their Connecting Communities funding which helped pay for our transport to/from the lake. So a HUGE thanks to the team!

When the walking group returned to the creative living centre many shared lunch in our sunshine café at our regular lunch service which happens every Wednesday. There were many excited conversations about the walk and how good it was to go somewhere new and get out for a long walk!

Walking Group – Wednesdays 11-12.30
Lunch Service – Wednesdays 12.30-2.30
A massive thank you to our volunteers Jane, Evan, Helen & Craig who helped on the day
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Tom Wild
Take Part Co-ordinator