Grimbarians - Single

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Sandra Stewart

"I’ve never thought about leaving Grimsby, it’s never been a place I wanted to leave. As much as I love going away for a few days with my children, we all love coming back, racing to see who can see the Dock Tower first, signalling we're home. It’s familiar, comfortable and I guess, I like that feeling of belonging to a place. I’ve always been proud to say that I am from Grimsby." 

 Born in Grimsby in 1976, Sandra Stewart was raised by her father and grandparents on Lord Street. Living above a chemist, with lots of relatives living across the road and close by, her dad & grandad often took her to Grimsby Leisure Centre to learn how to swim & ice skate. 


Eventually her father would remarry, moving them to Scartho but she still continued her sporty hobbies with weekly Ice Skating Discos and swimming at Scartho Baths. Sandra loved skating so much that she went on to found her own Roller Derby team; "Whilst I no longer risk life and limb on the track, I do still offer to teach people how to skate and have a pair of my boots in my office at Sussex Pavilion." 


Attending South Parade, Edge Avenue & Waltham Toll Bar school, Sandra went on to attend Grimsby College to study Business Administration. Quickly learning that the secretarial life was not for her, she headed to the local art college to study Jewellery and Metal Art, making her a trained silversmith. 


She had this to say about her time growing up here; "I’ve never thought about leaving Grimsby, it’s never been a place I wanted to leave. As much as I love going away for a few days with my children, we all love coming back, racing to see who can see the Dock Tower first, signalling we're home. It’s familiar, comfortable and I guess, I like that feeling of belonging to a place. I’ve always been proud to say that I am from Grimsby." 


As an art student Sandra spent plenty of time working in factories & in retail, a familiar story for many people in the area. Working in all of the local Young's factories over the years including the ones that have been closed for some time. When she was making Salmon En Croutes for M&S, Sandra was pregnant with her first child and by the time she was pregnant with her second child, she was working at M&S, scanning those same products through the till, directly for customers. 


These different earned perspectives come across when speaking to Sandra even as she began community work: "Most notably I became a volunteer with NSPCC/Childline after the birth of my third child, helping run assemblies and workshops within local schools about the work they do. I think that work affected me, seeing the divide in children’s lived experiences from one ward to the next." 


Sandra will be known by many people as a community powerhouse from across her working life; as the GTFC Family Coordinator, at Captains Cove Soft Play Area, with the NSPCC or most recently with her community interest company We Are F.I.S.H. 


We Are F.I.S.H. (which stands for Friendly, Inclusive, Supportive and Helpful) is a CIC dedicated to empowering local people and encouraging personal growth. From bingo days to football sessions, gardening to free hot dogs, We Are F.I.S.H. is a wide reaching project that covers lots of activities and projects across the town. Mostly aimed at families & children with additional needs, the CIC and Sand's GTFC connections, have lead to lots of other related community projects as well.. 


"We helped set up a grass roots football club, Grant Thorold Junior FC and more recently, we are supporting Sidney Park JFC to set back up. These clubs offer Community Training for children and young people that may not be able to access bigger clubs/teams but we wish to encourage all children to get into the sport and actively enjoy being a part of it." 


Some other related projects include; Pitstop in The Park which is a community based café in Sydney Park, Cleethorpes that offers free food options to those in need. The ex-Cycle-Hub Ticket Office by Cleethorpes train station has been made into the TickArt Office earlier this year, hosting Urban Youth Market workshops lead by Lynsey Powles, offering the chance for young people to set up businesses and stalls to sell art. They've also assisted GTFC Warm Spaces, collaborated on NEL4Heroes and with Be Great Fitness, a well known ambassador for community fitness & health. 


Sandra herself has children with additional needs and so understands the often long, difficult struggle to get help for your children and family. So the idea behind forming We Are F.I.S.H. was to make a group that other families could use to access that care, help and support. 


"I think I’ve always been involved in helping the community, I remember the days of planning how to make the world better whilst drinking on the Barge in the late 90s and how much we all believed we could make a difference." 


The future of We Are F.I.S.H. is bright as Sandra is looking to expand on training & workshops based around SEND. In fact, in the first year of the project, they won the award for SEND friendly business at the SEND awards, showing they really do deliver on their goals. The volunteers involved and all the people they collaborate with as part of We Are F.I.S.H, are eager to keep doing their important work, which you can check out on Facebook & Instagram. 


When asked for the best way people can help out the project, Sandra said this: "Get involved. Pop along and see what we do, donate some hotdogs or your time, come and have a chat with us. Magic happens every day when we all work together."


Words by Connor Stannard

Photography by Dan Clarke

Portrait proudly sponsored by...

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