My name is Doretta Lorraine Maynard (now Hampson). I was born and brought up in Moss Side. I have been involved in many community initiatives. From the age of 4, I was in Manchester’s very first Caribbean Carnival in the troops and as a Carnival queen. My father also made, played and tuned the steel pans. I first started choreographing dance routines when I attended Abasindi Black Women’s Cooperative group with my mum, learning African dance and watching the dancers and drummers in their element. I also attended dance school doing tap and ballet in Moss Side.
As a Girl Guide, I went marching on Sunday afternoons, parading the streets and bringing joy to onlookers. This was my step to doing more in my community, not just where I lived but also at the school I attended. I introduced new dance routines for culture day and wrote poems to represent girls like me. Writing poems, lead me to writing my own songs then making progress as I joined a band performing in and around Manchester.
I have always been someone that would try most things and discovered that I could instil positive behaviour in others so, I took up motivational speaking and writing, which lead me to work with and set up many community initiatives like CARISMA, Peace FM, Street Pastors and
Independent Advisory Group (IAG).
These groups were set up to help reduce gang crime and prevent police stop and search harassment of young black males within our community. I engaged in many avenues of bringing and highlighting these issues to our community by holding meetings with others for the ‘Enough is Enough’ campaigns. For example we hosted plays, talent shows, hosting events across England including Manchester, Birmingham and London. I am a fitness coach running my own business, ‘Delivering Lifting and Motivating through Training’ (DLMT).