Proud to be based in Manchester

This is a blog post I’ve been meaning to write for quite some time. Originally I wanted to write about being part of the amazing Manchester tech community and our home town being the first industrialised city. 34SP.com are fully based in Manchester, UK. Our data centre too moved fully to Manchester some years back. We’re a happy healthy team of over 20 staff; most of us live in Manchester if not born and raised here. My colleagues are some the best Mancunian people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

I’ve always been enthused to go to and be part of the WordPress and tech community of Manchester. This week I’m increasingly so very proud to be part of the Manchester community, as a whole, inspiring me to write this post.

Northern Powerhouse

Emotions partly locked up for now Manchester, the place I live, is a powerful place. It has always had huge untapped potential and the largest urban environment in the north. It’s true we have been assumed as the capital of the North by many people. As time goes on we are becoming more well known and attracting more and more investment. Our neighbouring towns and cities unify the Northern Powerhouse and we couldn’t be happier to be together.

The Manchester invention that changed the world

The place where the first ‘Baby’ was invented, by its real name. Or rather the very first computer, by Alan Turing, our true Mancunian hero. As a city we are lucky to have this amazing legacy and to have Baby proudly displayed at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry. An amazing story of how Manchester has shaped the world.

Not only does Manchester have this amazing contribution to our name, we shaped the world for years previous to Baby. Being the birth place of Emmeline Pankhurst and having our amazing musical history.

Being a Mancunian

Sometimes it’s easy to get swept up in trying projects and to feel like the city and the walls are very small around you. It takes a terrible tragedy to open your eyes to the powerful and warm city that Manchester is. Community is something that I’ve always thought I had to make a real effort to be involved in. For the last 5 years, it’s meant networking and pushing myself to be more involved in community projects and not spend half my life at home in front of the computer.

As a young teenager it was very easy to smile at people on the street, talk to the homeless and the less fortunate. I was a young leader in the girl guides. I spent time arranging community projects and generally being a happy go lucky person. I’m not really sure what happened when I started to get older, but living in Manchester and the growing amount of homelessness; it means you get used to closing yourself off to situations around you. Seeing the homeless is a constant everyday concern. The bustling streets mean not having time to make eye contact, smile and let on to people. And that’s such a shame.

It’s a shame that it took this awful tragedy for me to rethink this. The solidarity of the Manchester people at the recent Manchester vigil, have encouraged me to change my perspective. I’m very proud to be a Mancunian. I’m proud that we are an up and coming city, a powerhouse of technology, art and culture and I’m proud that the company I work for is fully invested in that too.

 

-Siobhan @SiobhanLHancock