Meet the people behind #gettingtheterracedone – part 8

Meet the CLT #gettingtheterracedone! Today, it’s Britt’s turn to introduce herself; Britt has been with the CLT since the very beginning…

“Hi, my name is Britt. I live just off Oakfield Rd and have been involved with Homebaked since the early days. I remember quite vividly the first time I went to the bakery for an event under 2Up2Down (in 2011!), the arts project that gave birth to Homebaked (or maybe was the midwife, not sure about the metaphor here…) I had just recently moved to Breck Road and also stopped touring with my theatre company. I was arriving with the plan to make a home. I had worked in a neighbourhood project in Tuebrook before and had good friends in Everton, but really I did not know much about the North of Liverpool at that point. I went to the event at the bakery with a gloomy curiosity about what had happened to the streets around it, which at that point stood tinned and empty. And most importantly I came with the desire to meet people and find a way to belong where I lived.
The bakery door at the time was quite old and a bit stuck. I remember feeling a bit nervous anyway and nearly allowing myself to take the unmoving door as a sign to just leave and walk back home. But instead I gave it a good old push and nearly fell into the room. I am forever glad I gathered the courage. I met Sue and Ange, Sam and Fred – and later Pete and Jemma and Tom, and so many more excellent people who over time became my community, some of them even friends. For me Homebaked is all about the push and the momentum that that creates, a movement that sometimes tumbles, sometimes meanders and sometimes rushes, gathering people and skills and stories and power on its way. (It also sometimes has a steady and sturdy pace by the way – I am grateful for those moments.)
I am immensely proud to be one of the parts that make up Homebaked. I am a founding member of the bakery cooperative and supported the early years of the development. I worked within Homebaked CLT as an artist, co-wrote and directed the Anfield Home Tour, co-created the ‘Thing on the Rec’, hosted fantastic local artists and helped to keep creative processes part of our DNA. I also worked for the CLT for many years as the engagement person, co-developing the community-led design work we have been doing. On the way I made lots of mistakes that we could learn from and have grown a lot. It has in no way been an easy ride though and I definitely contemplated many times to get off at the next stop.
But it has all been well worth every bump because, to say it in the words of my friend Fred Brown who sadly passed away some years ago and who I miss a lot: “Homebaked Community Land Trust is a ‘a cracking idea’ – the possibility of bringing people together to begin to control their own destinies – genius!”
I agree and I feel very proud that we have gotten this far. And I will push one more time with all my weight against that door to #gettheterracedone – in full community ownership of the land, making sure we continue to create the place we want to live in with all the security and comfort and love we need and deserve!”