Writers Anne Sansom and Shamshad Khan ran creative writing workshops at two Manchester schools, Abraham Moss and Cedar Mount, and Anne Sansom ran workshops for teachers and students at Lambra High School, Punjab, India.

In both Manchester and India teachers and students were asked to write poems about the places and things that matter to them in their neighbourhoods.

The poems were published on Anywhereblogs in Manchester and India.

Anne Sansom with students at Shaheed Baba Khushal Singh Secondary School in Lambra, Punjab, India.

Anywhereblogs was an initiative for the whole of Manchester, one of the first public, citywide services of its kind in the world. Anywhereblogs enabled mobile phone users to discover and create the secret life of the places and events that mattered to them, while out and about around their city, using text messages and WAP on mobile phones to read the secret life of well known places and add their own feelings about somewhere in the city they cared about.

The Anywhereblogs WAP programming from 2005 onwards, and all of the SMS system, was built by Pete Bamford.

Pete built a system that worked first time and never once went wrong, and he also graciously and with good humour saved Anywhereblogs from several very public technical failures that he had no responsibility for.

Anywhereblogs was only a small part of the range of things that Pete was excited about and expert in, from electronics hacking to physical computing to programming to VJing, and he brought a joy and enthusiasm to them that made it seem crazy not to be as interested in everything as he was.

Pete died in October 2008 aged 29 after an operation on a serious condition he had had all his life.

The world is short enough of people with Pete’s combination of good humour, decency and skill, and he’ll be missed by everyone who knew him.

Peter Bamford 1979 - 2008

For about a year, from February 2007, we put up posters at bus stops in Manchester asking “Where were you happiest to arrive and why?” and inviting people to reply by text message, or read what someone else has written, again by text.

About 2000 people read messages, and 400 sent them in, and these are some of the most memorable:

picadilly is my best, because i found the love of my life there. Ten years strong. By jim of salford.

At ashton new road waiting for a bus to take me home from another one night stand!

getting the bus to the hospital in time to see my brother before he died he was only 19

The 375 terminus at Shiloh Road - it has to be Manchester’s loneliest bus terminus, with sweeping moorland views

rail replacement from stockport to sheffield the peaks are gorgeous today in the sunshine

[it takes a lot of good humour and some lovely scenery to write that about the rail replacement bus service!]

And finally, this fantastic piece of Zen philosophy for living: