HUST’s Community Ticket Fund and Hartlepool United Community Sports Foundation are welcoming some people who use the Salaam Community Centre to tomorrow’s match against Sutton. The centre runs a range of support groups and services and in keeping with its name, Salaam means welcome, they’re all open to everyone in the area.

Following the riot in the summer we wanted to show support for some of the Vic’s closest neighbours by inviting them to a match and showing that Hartlepool really can be united. To find out more, we spoke to Marty Fishwick, a community development officer who started work at the Salaam Centre on the first of August.
We kicked off by asking about the events of the day:
It started as a nice peaceful first day at work, I already knew most people at the centre through voluntary work I’d been doing during the previous few months. The first sign of anything unusual came at around 2pm when the police alerted us to the fact that there was a vigil for the young girls who had been murdered in Southport. It was at the war memorial and they thought it would be peaceful but suggested that we should lockdown just to be on the safe side.
I locked up and went to see my Mam on Hart Lane, I grew up in the area and even when I worked away I always wanted to come back, it feels like home. A few hours later we could hear sirens and there were messages about trouble on social media. I decided to go back to the centre and Nancy, who also works at the centre, picked me up. The last thing my Mam said was, “Don’t be going down there, you’ll get into trouble!”
How were things when you got there?
Well, the police had surrounded the place. There was a lot of people hanging about and a fair bit of traffic with people rubber-necking. It was tense but seemed to be under control. We stayed for about an hour and things seemed to be petering out so we left at about 9.30.
What happened next?
I went to bed when I got home but didn’t sleep all that well and woke up at 4. It was then I saw what had happened when it got dark – police cars on fire, windows being smashed and so on. I thought this isn’t what Hartlepool is about and I was feeling really down. You know straight away how this sort of thing is going to make the town look in the media and I was worried about the people in the area. I must admit I felt like I’d lost my faith in the town at that point.
At about 6 I got up and left a message on the staff chat for the centre before walking down there. The scene was terrible. By 6.45 the whole team was in – we all have designated roles for times of crisis and not long after that the support started streaming in. People just kept turning up offering to help with the clean-up, donating cash or food, bottles of water, just anything they could do to help. That continued for days, there was an amazing positive energy – my faith in the town came flooding back, this is what most people round here are like.

Did you get a lot of media interest?
Yes, it was just as well that people made us feel so much better because it was a long day. We had the local and national media, press and TV, as well as the New York Times and a German TV station and all the while we had our local MP, councillors and just about anybody else you can think of all pulling together and being supportive. We’re the new Community Resilience Hub for the area and it was certainly a busy way to start! At the end of the day we went for a couple of pints just to decompress and get our heads round it all. It continued for days, well weeks, after and all in all the real story was what Hartlepool can achieve as a community, the negative actions at the start seemed small in comparison.
Why do you think the community centre became a focus for the rioters?
It can’t have been anything we do. I mean we’re open to all, any faith, no faith, any background if you need us, Salaam, you’re welcome. Just off the top of my head, we’ve got a community pantry, benefits advice, Mens’ Pie Club, craft groups, a community shop with subsidised price, and Men’s Man Cave which is like a youth club with pool and darts. In cold weather we’re a warm hub. And we do free brunches, who could be offended by that? Anybody could benefit from centres like ours one day even if they don’t need them now.
It makes me wonder if it was about our name or maybe that people wanted to attack the prayer room upstairs because they were being told, wrongly, that a Muslim was responsible for the murders in Southport. The truth is that the prayer room own the building and are great, supportive neighbours to us hile the Salaam Community Centre welcomes everyone, isn’t a religious organisation and is actually run by TheBigLeague CIC. Whatever the motivation for the attack was, it made no sense.
Do you think Pools can help our community to pull together?
I do. The club and the town should be a perfect match. I mean it says ‘Never Say Die’ on our shirts and that really sums up the resilience and strength to overcome adversity that is typical of the town. Also, we’re Hartlepool United – wherever you’re originally from and whatever your beliefs you can unite around your local club. At the Vic everybody is a Poolie!



