In conversation with Emily, a Cosy Homes Club researcher

Emily Hutchinson was a community researcher on Cosy Homes: Energy Efficiency for All!. This project explored energy, housing, fuel poverty, and the cost-of-living in Liverpool. In this guest blog, Emily reflects on her experiences working with Homebaked Community Land Trust and Institute for Community Research and Development.

Emily talking about the research findings at the Cosy Homes Club Conference, held at Liverpool Lighthouse on 18th September.

So, Emily, tell us a bit about yourself

I’ve been living in Everton for the past seven years. I’m originally from the Lake District but moved to Liverpool for university. I left my degree part way through, but had fallen in love with the city. I now live here with my husband and a 3-year-old. In addition to my work with Homebaked CLT, I work for Liverpool City Council Libraries. I also do local history research on the Everton area and specifically on my local church (St George’s Everton). I’m currently running a project to promote their 200-year history, and doing local history talks. And I also recently took up a role teaching chess to kids in primary schools.

Why did you apply to join the project?

I’ve always been interested in research and, after leaving university, I thought that chances like this one would have been closed off for me due to my lack of qualifications. The position of community researcher was then recommended to me by two people who thought I might be interested. I considered that it would be a fun opportunity to get myself back into research while also helping out my local community, and that it could possibly open up some other opportunities in the future.

What sort of things have you been up to on the project?

We decided to start our research in places where we already had a connection and to utilise groups that already meet on a regular basis. For me this meant reaching out to the local churches. St George’s offers a local food pantry, where a colleague and I were able to speak to people informally about energy and housing. St John Chrysostom hosts a women’s group weekly, and they kindly allowed us to host a focus group to discuss the issues and what changes they want to see in the local area. I also interviewed people in the community.

In terms of creative methods, we hosted a film night at the local launderette. We screened the community play Dampbusters, which was produced by Easthall Theatre Group in Glasgow in 1990. We discussed with residents the crossovers between working-class housing experiences in Glasgow and those in Everton and Anfield today. People enjoyed this because there was a strong sense of community at the event, and people were able to talk about their own housing situations.

What did you learn from being involved in community research?

A lot of my previous experience with research was very desk-based. In this project I learned a lot about conducting research out and about in the community. The research that we obtained was qualitative data (as opposed to quantitative), and it was important to us that we captured the heart of the community and the real lived experiences of people living in the area.

The project also allowed us to be creative in terms of how we presented our findings. We shared our work at a one-day conference, wrote blogs, and published the newspaper People Power (Vol. 3). We always felt comfortable and listened to in meetings, which was really important, and I really enjoyed working with the ICRD and Homebaked CLT teams.

What do you plan to do next?

My work on the project has given me the confidence to consider going back to university. I’m currently putting together an application to study History and English Literature at Liverpool John Moores University. I’ve also been developing the research that I’ve been doing with the church, hosting history talks, and designing leaflets to advertise the church’s history. Through my role as a community researcher I’ve realised that there are still routes into the things that I want to do (that previously I thought were not possible having left university).

I’m looking forward to staying in contact with ICRD in pursuit of more research opportunities, and helping Homebaked CLT with its mission to achieve warm, quality, and affordable housing in the areas of Anfield and Everton.