Putting Gorton on the Web.

After four years of putting together a well respected and widely read local newsletter, we have decided that it's time to take a step further and publish on the Web.

When I first brought this before the Forum, I was asked what we could possibly gain from putting purely local issues into such a vast arena and who would be interested in a small corner of East Manchester which usually has trouble attracting the attention of the City Council. The glib answer was that we should do it because we could, that it would do no harm and anyway, Mr Blair says we should all be on the Internet.

The problem with glib answers is that they usually lead to poor solutions, and as we take our community very seriously indeed, this was not an option. A better answer was called for and this is what we came up with.

The issues that affect our community are essentially the same that affect any number of urban communities in Great Britain and indeed elsewhere, and it was felt that by publicising those that affect us, issues such as crime, unemployment, deprivation, urban decay and strategies for regeneration to the widest possible readership, we might help others to see things from our perspective, to see what our community is doing to tackle them and perhaps encourage others to take action. In turn we would welcome input from members of communities who are tackling the same issues, learn from their successes and failures, as we hope they can learn from ours. 

It is also held that a vast majority of the people who have been born in Gorton and moved away for whatever reason, and like many people from many different areas, retain an interest in the place of their birth. We hope that we can provide something of interest to all 'Gortonians' wherever they may be.

Finally, it might occur to some people that we are taking a somewhat difficult path in building and maintaining our own site and having hosted by a commercial concern, especially when there are excellent voluntary organisations such as MCIN who could have done it for us. The answer is that we feel that by doing it this way, we can best represent the interests of the community and what we learn by doing this we can pass on to others. We don't aim to be controversial, we will not carry unbalanced or extremist views, but, as time goes on, we do hope to produce well informed, balanced and relevent information, if, on occasion, critical of certain bodies and organisations.