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A pilot project led by a key figure from Big Issue magazine has been held in Hartlepool in a new bid to help people with financial problems.

Peter Bird, who is the brother of the homeless magazine’s co-founder Lord John Bird, has spent the last eight weeks running the Social Echoes initiative in town.

It has helped rough sleepers and others who need help to re-engage with their families after many years and supported them to work with a range of local services to help them on their journeys.

The project received funding from the PFC Trust, which was set up by EuroMillions lottery winners Frances and Patrick Connolly to improve the lives and life chances of the people in Hartlepool.

Peter Bird of Social Echoes and the Big Issue bumped into Hartlepool United mascot H'Angus in the town centre.

Peter, of Lincolnshire, said: “Social Echoes follows on from 30 years of the Big Issue ethos – ‘a hand up and not a hand out’.

“We work with people who other people would cross the road to avoid, it is as simple as that.

“We want to help people in the community with financial deprivation. We want to avoid using the usual labels people are tagged with.”

Work to tackle stigma around mental health in Hartlepool

Social Echoes met at Cafe One77 in York Road. Picture by FRANK REID

Every Thursday the project met at Café One77, in York Road, where people from the community received a free breakfast and the chance to speak to organisations such as Advice at Hart, Hartlepower, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Positive Solutions and the PFC Trust.

Peter added: “Our aim is to support other fantastic organisations in collaboration because that is the way forward for communities."

In Hartlepool and other places, he said he has seen many of the same problems he saw years ago in London including homelessness, substance misuse and mental health. Food is also a big issue in the current climate.

Peter is now keen to roll Social Echoes out for longer and in different areas of the country.

He said: “We hope to continue into the foreseeable future with this. My aim wasn’t just an eight-week pilot programme, I’d love to look back after a year and see how the people who we have helped have taken up the mantle to run it themselves.”

*Social Echoes is currently exploring funding options. Anyone interested in helping can contact 07375 552187 or email [email protected].

The Big Issue's Peter Bird runs pilot project in Hartlepool helping financially-deprived people