One of Merseyside's most deprived areas is currently in a fight against the cost of living crisis.
Netherton in south Sefton has been in the spotlight for its struggles with deprivation for years, but now the cost of living has risen sharply people could see lasting effects diminish their quality of life. Last year the ECHO spoke with volunteers at the Community Grocery at Emmanuel Baptist Church in the area where they offer affordable shopping to people struggling.
The store is run in partnership with a national charity called the Message Trust and offers people the chance to shop affordably three times a week. Opening in June, it saw the biggest opening event out of all the stores in the network to that date and is run mainly by volunteers who aim to create a bond with those who use it.
READ MORE: Pub at 'beating heart' of Merseyside community facing the edge
Now, following the jump in prices of day-to-day living, the store has seen its 1,000th member join, and even the community-run organisation has had to raise its weekly membership from £3 to £4. Store volunteer Keith Roberts has now spoken out as people continue to struggle as energy prices, fuel prices and food prices increase.
Keith, along with countless others who work day and night, works to ensure people don't go without. The full-time supply teacher has a PhD and two PGCEs and admits he's one of the lucky ones as he manages to pay his bills.
He told the ECHO the country has regressed in his lifetime and also claims that children should be taught more practical life skills in school. He said: "Things don't happen in a vacuum. I watched a documentary the other day about why we work and there were all these fantastic companies talking about the things they're doing to improve the lives of their workers but all too often that is just not seen. We have regressed so much in my lifetime.
"We're a generation that's not doing as well as the generation before us. It's very frustrating. Around the world, people are struggling to get employees and there's this fallacy that people don't want to work but no, people don't want to work for what you're offering.
In 2017, research showed that South Sefton wards were the most deprived in the borough, with Linacre coming in the top 1% for deprivation in the country. Netherton and Orrell ward found itself in the top 10% in the country, showing the struggles that people face in south Sefton.
Keith added: "Most people who are on benefits are working paycheque to paycheque. I've chosen not to have children because I don't think I can have the life that I want and support a child at the same time, I'm wondering whether I can even afford a dog or a cat at the minute and I know I'm not alone in that.
"I've made the major life decision that if I carry on in this country and I want a good quality of life I can't afford to have children because of how high prices are. My friend was looking at a three-bedroom house in Southport and he said the rent was £890. That's before bills and anything else."
Kathy, a mum-of-three who has spent a large part of her time in south Sefton revealed the impact on her and her family. The former pub owner now helps her friend, Michelle Lewis, run Cooksons Bridge in Litherland, casting an experienced eye over the day-to-day runnings.
The 57-year-old spoke to the ECHO about the latest struggles following the April price rises. She said: "You can't afford to put your central heating on for five hours in the evening, you're lucky if you can afford to put it on for an hour or two.
"A lot of older people are going to suffer. My daughter is going to suffer. She's got three kids and she's the same as me and pays on the smart metre and has noticed the increase.
"It's wrong. I can understand it going up, that's life, everything goes up in price but it's the extent that it's gone up. It's not crept up, it's jumped. More people are noticing it because of the jump. Even the standing charge for having a metre has jumped up."
Keith spoke about his friend who moved to Ireland shortly after the Conservatives came to power, he said: "The minute the conservatives came in he moved to Ireland. He's now got residential status in Ireland and he's a member of the EU. It's not like this everywhere, it certainly isn't in the nordic countries where they do it properly and invest in the population.
"They have a high quality of life. He's loving it and he said the best decision he's ever made was leaving this country in 2010. I was doing a PhD at the time so I couldn't just get up and leave. There's a big part of me that wishes I had just gone then.
"That's the way I'm looking at it now. I love this area and I've always been here, I'd love to stay but I feel like I've got to go because my quality of life isn't what it should be at my age.
"I've got to move on to sell my labour for what it's worth because we're all underselling my labour massively and we're all being exploited. I don't think that's embellishing it at all. We are all massively being exploited and we know we're being exploited.
"We don't know what we can do about it because we don't think anybody represents us. If I can better myself I feel as though I need to better myself, whether that means leaving my family."
