Single Parents Alone Together (SPAT) Manchester

An informal friendship and support group for local lone parent families - we are a voluntary community group and can apply for funding but we don't have capacity at moment for this so have maintained our facebook page only - we used meet once every 4 weeks at Cheeky Cherubs play area with funding for up to 15 children whilst parents meet chat and have themed sessions - we also have other informal meets mainly arranged through our facebook group. we may look at this again in the future or other ideas members on fb have and/or if people join committee then we may have capacity for funded activities and events again.

We share experiences, coping strategies and aim to combat social isolation and enhance quality of life/maintain emotional health and well being by offering each other peer support and enjoy fun low cost family activities for our families - anyone in the group is at liberty to arrange a meet up in addition to our scheduled meets. We hope to evolve and expand as need and interest dictates - we have taken part in all kinds of trips and activities and anyone volunteering within the group has access to training and volunteering opportunities which can assist with obtaining paid employment.

A very small committee we are always open to more hands on deck to help with the varied interesting and amazing persuits and goals of our amazing lone parents doing the most difficult job in the world single handedly in a lot of cases. Self referrals accepted - don't be shy get involved and approach the chair who will welcome you to one of our meetings and/or in our social media space......we have sought to be inclusive in our ventures and participate and have a voice in decision making that affects us as well as support individuals to access other support services where needed and to provide valuable information to empower members. Just by taking part and forming friendships with one another hopefully we make a difference to people's lives.

We have been to beaches, zoos, museums, climbing centres and arranged a couple of camping trips in the 20 months we have been running, initially as a Gingerbread Friendship Group for one year and more recently as 'SPAT' since April 2015. We have contributed towards local and national campaigning for equal rights and opportunities and partcipated in radio and TV media to raise awareness of single parent issues. We have arranged talks on specific issues e.g. about drugs impacting on young people. We have some good links with local services who have supported us in setting up (e.g. home start) as well as with working in partnership with Thrive who support voluntary organisations. Committee members have a background in social and health care and are committed to principles of empowerment.