'Our community is misunderstood – it’s more like a family'
People fighting to save a Dudley youth centre say it is at the heart of a misunderstood community.
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The Meadow Road Youth and Venture Centre in Wren’s Nest is under threat of closure due to council cuts but the battle to save it is under way.
Despite the area’s reputation as a crime hotspot, people living there say that is not the whole story and the fight to save their youth club shows another side of Wren’s Nest.
Mandy Murphy, aged 58, said: “I want people to look at the Wrenner and say that it is a great place to live – and it is a great place to live.
“I want our community to be the place it deserves to be.”
Mandy works in education and believes perceptions of her home are limited.
She said: “They class us as rough but there are so many people in our community that have gone to university.
“My son is a teacher, a head of department and has done well.
“We need to instil that idea in all of our community, by working together that could be a real chance, I want better for our community. I tell kids there is no can’t – only ‘I can try’.”
One of the three local councillors for Wren’s Nest, Councillor Karl Denning, is also a proud resident of the area.
Councillor Denning said: “A lot of people leave Wren’s Nest but they go back, it is more than a community, it is almost a family.
“Everybody knows everybody else, when I walk down the road people always stop and talk about the area.
“I used to work away, sometimes thousands of miles away but the last mile when I was coming home was the one I used to love, driving towards the castle, I knew I was home.”
