RECAP: Prince William visits Manchester

Hideaway Youth Centre said they had a ‘great’ visit from the Prince and are looking forward to his support in the future.

The Prince gives a final wave to the crowd as he gets in his car and heads off, bringing his visit to Moss Side to an end.

The royal has been posing for selfies and shaking hands with members of the public as he greets the happy faces who have come down to see him. Someone has even brought along a painting of him as a baby to show him.

For his final engagement in Manchester today, the Prince is spending some time greeting well-wishers who have gathered to see him outside the Millenium Centre. Lots of people have their phones out eager to snap a shot of the Prince as he makes his way down the line.

A lovely photo of the moment Prince William and Ms Simms met for the second time has been shared by the Prince and Princess of Wales’ X account.

“From Buckingham Palace to Moss Side and fulfilling a garden party promise,” they have captioned the photo.

Ms Simms previously spoke to the MEN about her long chat with the Prince at a garden party in Buckingham Palace in May and the moment she invited him to come to Moss Side.

“He walked over to me and shook my hand,” the 57-year-old said. “I said hi and he shook someone else’s hand then came back and had a full blown conversation with me.

“I was like wow. He just picked me out of the crowd, it was not a planned conversation. Nobody told me he was going to come and talk to me. He asked if it was the first time I had been to Buckingham Palace and I said ‘yeah’.

“He was really engaging with me and was concerned with the issues I told him about. I said ‘how about you come and see us? Come to Moss Side’. I invited him to the Rastafarian HQ and he said he would really like to come.”

The Prince’s next stop is Jessie’s Wall, which commemorates the death of Jessie James.

Jessie’s life was tragically cut short by gunfire in the park adjacent to the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse in 2006. Extensive work has been carried out in consultation with the local community over the past few years to restore the tribute, which was originally created by Jessie’s friends soon after his death.

The Prince spoke to Jessie’s family in private earlier and he’s also spoken to the designer of the wall.

It turns out it’s someone else’s birthday today too – the Prince’s private secretary who has been on the visit alongside him. The royal was all smiles as he joined in with an unexpected Happy Birthday singsong led by Ms Simms and the Keeping It Real 24/7 volunteers.

The Prince joked he was trying to restrain himself as he had a look at the food on offer. Ethan says the centre has put on a spread of jerk chicken, curried goat, rice and peas, and salt fish and it “smells incredible”.

Up next, the Prince has donned a pair of blue gloves so he can help prepare a chicken soup with some of the kitchen’s chefs. It looks like he’s been given the important job of cutting up the veg.

One of the charity’s focuses is helping to provide training courses for people looking to get into work – including helping aspiring chefs to obtain food hygiene qualifications.

Upstairs, Prince William is talking to Ms Simms about the foodbank and being shown some of the culturally-important food, such as breadfruit, that it stocks.

They’re also being played some reggae music by a DJ from Moods Radio. The prince has also been learning about some of the non-food items the foodbank helps to supply.

Ethan says the Prince looks “relaxed” and is “enjoying his time here” in Moss Side.

The Prince has sat down to chat with some children doing painting and papier-mache at one of the arts and crafts table.

With today’s theme being under the sea, the Prince takes the opportunity to give them a quick lesson in microplastics, reporter Ethan says, explaining how they can be mistaken for food by marine life.

Over at the next table, the Prince looks impressed by the children’s attempts at making egg parachutes. “It’s all very clever,” he tells them.

Inside, the Prince has been speaking to Lisa Samuels, the CEO of Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse, about existing stigmas in men’s mental health and to some of the youth workers.

Our reporter Ethan spotted a nice moment when Prince William assured someone who had got down on one knee to greet the royal that it was unnecessary.

Meanwhile, there’s arts and crafts, basketball and lots more going on inside the centre.

The Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse is a community hub that looks to create brighter futures for young people in Manchester. Here, the Prince will be hearing about the work of Keeping It Real 24/7, a foodbank and community lifeline set up by Wendy Simms.

The Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse works with a wide range of local organisations, including The Hideaway Youth Project, to provide a weekly programme of inclusive activities and clubs allowing young people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

The centre also provides mental health support and NHS services as well as careers advice and guidance, and programmes for those leaving the care system.

Prince William’s next engagement is at the Millennium Powerhouse, where a crowd of well-wishers has already gathered to green the royal.

During Prince William’s sit down with some of Manchester’s business leaders, he heard about how young people are being helped with introductions to technology and the basics of running a business.

“It’s about building a model we can replicate everywhere,” Prince William said. “We’ve yet to find one that really works. But if we can find a solid template it becomes something we can visualise.”

Andy Burnham said: “It has meant a huge deal to us that you’re here today, and it says a huge deal about the person that you are. It’s wonderful the recognition you’re giving to this community, because it’s a stronger community than people realise.”

He added: “You’ve given us an opportunity to build from here. So thank you. We are taking a community approach. That’s what we can do for you – the opportunity that we’ve got with this new partnership is to build the pathways we’ve just been talking about. Taking young people, building the pathways for them. We are going to give you a template you can take across the country.”

As Prince William heads out, Andy Burnham tells the Prince he will give him a ‘template’ for youth pathways he can take and use across the country.

Prince William is now meeting local business and school leaders to discuss their work with The Hideaway.

His Royal Highness will be hearing about the long-term impact that the Alliance’s new youth employment, skills and training programme will have on local young people. It is aimed at helping to build aspirations and support those at risk of violence to reach their true potential.

The Prince has been challenged to a game of pool. ‘No pressure’, he’s told as he takes his shot.

The Prince listened intently as one young boy read him a poem he had written.

One young boy told the Prince he was doing boxing at the youth centre.

Prince William looked relaxed as he chatted and laughed with some of the younger children helped by the youth project. He wished one of them a happy birthday and leant down to shake the hand of another young girl, who told him her name was Phoebe.

Our reporter Nicole says the families are speaking to His Royal Highness about the agony of losing loved ones. Audrey Thompson, mother of Rhys Thompson, who sadly died in 2021, is one of the family members speaking to the Prince.

However the conversation has had some “light-hearted moments too,” Nicole says “as HRH joked about his darts being better than his pool.”

Prince William is sitting down to chat with families who have been affected by youth violence about the devastating impact the issue has on local communities.

During his visit to the Hideaway Youth Project, lead partner of the Manchester Peace Together Alliance, Prince William will learn more about the work of the Alliance to reduce violence among young people.

Today’s royal visit marks the launch of a new initiative, galvanised by The Royal Foundation and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, which will help to expand the work of the Alliance through the creation of new opportunities for those at risk of youth violence. The Manchester Peace Together Alliance is a community-led programme working to pinpoint and address the underlying causes of youth violence, with support from the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit.

The organisation works closely with young people aged 10 to 25 in Hulme, Moss Side and Rusholme who are vulnerable to youth violence; providing activities and targeted mentoring programmes to put them on the path to success.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog ahead of a special Royal visit today. Prince William will be shortly arriving in Mancheser to learn about the important work carried out by community projects here in the city.

Some of the details of the Prince’s visit have been kept under wraps, but we do know that he will be visiting the Moss Side Millennium Powerhouse to hear about the work of Keeping It Real 24/7 – a foodbank and community lifeline. The charity was set up by Wendy Simms, who invited The Prince to visit Moss Side to meet the local community during a garden party at Buckingham Palace earlier this year.

Later on, Prince William will also spend some time meeting members of the public outside the community centre.