The New Islington Marina, Ancoats lovely green space, is perfect for a walk, to relax and to gather new energy.

But the place known for its diverse wildlife is changing, and no cygnets hatched on the Marina in the last two years.

To protect and re-establish the wildlife Deana Millward, one of the boat dwellers on the Marina, set up NIMCIC, a community interest company.

“Last year the swans tried to lay eggs on the existing floating nests but they didn’t have enough nesting material due to the re-design of the Marina and eventually all the eggs felt straight through into the water. So we lost them all and we were really sad about that because we love the wildlife,” said the 55-year-old Deana. 

According to her, the floating nests have been there for a long time but nobody has ever really maintained those and the current Marina managers have not done anything about it. 

Therefore, the NIMCIC group that consists of the boat residents on the Marina tried to take matters into their own hands and stabilised the floating nests with wooden platforms. 

Last weekend Deana and member Dave Marshall drove to a farm to get ten bales of straw as much needed nesting material for the swans. As soon as they put the straw on the floating platforms, the female swans went straight on it. 

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” said Deana. 

Another main reason why they set up NIMCIC is to manage the Marina on behalf of Manchester city council. The management of the Marina is currently out for tender and they want to give it a go and apply. 

Deana said: “The current management is not good. They can’t look after the Marina as well as we can. It is our home. So we feel we are the best people to run it completely because we are always there. We want to do some other projects as well.”  

Projects in the pipeline include building floating duck houses and integrating artwork in the space to brighten up the Marina. One of the boat dwellers is Mark Kennedy, a well known local artist known for making mosaics from broken ceramic tiles, who might contribute to this art project. 

Another idea they have in mind is to organise an annual canal festival to celebrate this place with the whole community around it.

Deana said: “We would also like to apply for Heritage Lottery Funding to enable us to unearth the rich history of the Manchester Canals. Particularly in the Ancoats area and work with local schools to educate and inform the younger generations about the canals and the Marina.” 

At the moment, British Waterways Marinas manages the Marina and they might apply for this position again.

“They are only here for like an hour or two a week, which isn’t enough. They are more interested in making money for themselves whereas we are more interested in making money for the Marina, the area and the local residents and just make it a nice place to be.”