For those of you who haven’t seen the M.E.N. yet today here’s the charming Shay Given wearing one of our lovingly crafted hats:

You can see the rest of the coverage at www.makemanchesterproud.com

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me; TV shows, meeting the Mayor, being told to ‘go on go on’ by a genuine Irish person…

All of these momentous events were down to the launch of the Make Manchester Proud Campaign which is part of the Dublin-based Niall Mellon Township Trust.

The charity is searching for 70 Mancunians to travel with 1,000 Irish volunteers to South Africa to build houses in Townships and we helped them to launch this at a very busy event yesterday at the Midland Hotel.

The TV appearance was on the Channel M Breakfast show, thankfully at that hour of the day it wasn’t me but Charlie O’Kelly of the charity who chatted with the presenters on the red sofa.

Meeting the Mayor came later as she came along to the event, green St Patrick’s Day hair and all,  to show her support for the charity. We were also joined by City and Ireland keeper Shay Given who was a good sport and merrily posed with a hard hat and shovel.

Being St Patrick’s Day the ‘go on go on’ was an offer of alcohol but given that I was signing in the ‘dignitaries of the city’ at the time I politely refused.

The launch event was such a success that I have really high hopes of the people of Manchester to make this charity a success and if the support we’ve had so far is anything to go by I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.

This week, we heard that a project we’ve been looking at for a while was about to be signed off.

The Niall Mellon Township Trust, one of Ireland’s most well know and respected charities, has confirmed it plans to launch in the UK – and has chosen Manchester as its first destination.

The Trust, est 2002, produces quality social housing for impoverished communities in the townships of South Africa. In year 1, they completed 150 homes – in total, they’ve completed 11,000 homes and have big plans for the future.

The charity operates year round in SA, but twice a year, thousands of volunteers take part in the Building Blitz, a week long building project that, in 2008, produced 253 new homes.

Social engagement will form a big part of the charity launch and ongoing campaign to build awareness in Manchester and then the UK.

Anyone who wants to get involved in the project can get in touch with me at jennifer.ogrady@democracypr.com.