The Skills for Life centre was winding down for the day. As I opened the front door, I was met with the sound of warm chatter between Janice and one of her colleagues. Tables and chairs were already stacked, and the stationery pots on each desk were carefully replenished for the next morning.
“While you park up, would you like a brew?” Janice asked. By the time I returned, the kettle was spluttering.
Janice is a vibrant person with a welcoming nature who has worked with hundreds of people facing hardship across Salford. Described as a “motherly figure” by those she supports, her kindness reaches people from all walks of life.
“This community is the reason I get up every day,” she said. Though she wasn’t born and bred in Salford, she told me she felt like she’d been welcomed into the area with open arms.
Janice Drew has been the Learning and Migrant Support Programme Manager at Loaves and Fishes since 2021. She was instrumental in opening the Skills for Life centre, which sits alongside the Loaves and Fishes foodbank. Compassion and a genuine desire to understand people are at the core of her world, built over years of working in the voluntary sector. She previously worked with Talent Match, a Manchester-based youth employment programme, and trained as an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher.
Credits : Loaves and Fishes
For Janice, a love for mentoring started way back in her own youth. She fondly recalled school memories where the playground was her classroom and her peers would listen excitedly as she passed her knowledge on to them.
“When I’m in a teaching environment, I’m at my most alive,” Janice said, a slight smile flicking across her face. “I’ve always been a teacher, me. When I was a child, I used to teach the younger children. We used to do times tables and daft things like that.”
Her upbringing helped develop her awareness of the world through exposure to different traditions. Janice grew up on a council estate in Ardwick which, during her childhood, was a melting pot of cultures. With neighbours from Pakistan, India, and the West Indies, she explained how being around different people shaped who she is today.
“From being a young child, I was always interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds,” she said. “That was the greatest gift I was given in my life, really. To be able to grow up with people who have different backgrounds to me.”
That adoration for teaching and her understanding of the changing world around her set Janice up perfectly for her role at the Skills for Life centre – a space focused on employability workshops and building a close-knit community in Salford.
Credit : Loaves and Fishes
The centre officially opened in 2021. Although Loaves and Fishes owned the building, it had become “more of an extended garage.” When the former CEO won funding to run employability workshops, they knew they needed to expand the facility to keep up with the growing need. The transformation was part of a major refurbishment to ensure the charity could move beyond emergency aid and toward long-term empowerment.
The centre offers a huge range of services, from housing advice to ESOL classes and asylum support. When they first opened, the staff asked local people what else would help them, and they got an answer they didn’t quite expect.
“But it was interesting really, that the main thing that people wanted to learn was cooking skills.”
Two years later, following guidance from the Salford health improvement team, they launched “cooking on a budget” courses funded by the Delamere Dairy Foundation. These classes give people a space to cook great meals on a lower income, specifically targeting those who previously relied on takeaways due to a lack of facilities or confidence.
Participants don’t just leave with recipes; the project has distributed over 100 slow cookers to ensure guests can actually use their new skills at home. Nutrition students from Manchester Metropolitan University even came down to help the community develop a budget recipe cookbook specifically for slow cookers.
Janice’s empathy and drive to know people spurs her forward. She oversees a timetable designed to tackle the root causes of poverty – from “Happy Mondays” arts and crafts to intensive 1-on-1 employment support. Under her guidance, the centre aims to provide thousands of support sessions a year, helping guests build the self-belief needed to move into stable housing and work.
She’s had a massive impact on everyone around her, including friends and colleagues. Sarah Davies, Employment Initiatives Officer at Pendleton Together, spoke highly of her: “Janice is passionate about supporting people and has adapted exceptionally well to the increasing diversity within the community she serves. Her commitment, flexibility, and genuine care make her a real asset to the Pendleton area.”
As our chat came to a close, I finished the last of my coffee and put my mug in the kitchen. I thanked Janice for her time; she thanked me for mine and wished me a safe journey home. It is no surprise that her work has contributed to the charity’s recognition at the Spirit of Salford Community Awards.
Our conversation showed me that Salford is a place built on uplifting others, and Janice’s kindness to those who walk through the doors of Loaves and Fishes is something that won’t be forgotten.
