Grounded MCR Cringle Park Cafe Crowdfunder

Grounded MCR are fundraising to create a new cafe and much more in Cringle Park.

You can find out more and donate on the Aviva Community Fund page HERE.

The fundraising closes at 13.00 on 26 June 2023.

We plan to renovate a 40-foot shipping container café, turning it into a community café and event space, with a barista training area for vulnerable adults. We want to continue to provide free, activity-focused and educational events in our local park – to benefit the diverse community. 

We’ve got big plans. The new space will give us room to train additional vulnerable adults such as ex-offenders, create a mini allotment and gardening club, have space for sports/activities clubs to meet, support/peer-to-peer groups to hang out, an area for local makers to display their wares plus a small zero waste shop in the future. The café menu will consist of dishes created from rescued food, destined for landfill, which will help keep prices down and ensure inclusivity for those on low income.

Grounded MCR

Who are Grounded MCR?

Grounded MCR CIC is a social enterprise serving specialty coffee, hot and cold drinks and locally sourced treats from a bespoke trike. We employ vulnerable adults with poor mental health, training them in barista/hospitality skills. We support local bakers; buy our coffee from a local roastery who pay farmers properly, and offer local makers/crafters opportunities to grow their own businesses via our platforms.

“We have gathered a huge amount of anecdotal feedback about our multi-faith, multi-faceted community and how to understand their wants and needs.

My wife Kerry and I (founders), are experienced in hospitality, PR/marketing/advertising, charity work and have both suffered with very poor mental health, which puts us in a unique position to make our business model work. Redundancy, adopting a child and Covid gave us an opportunity to start Grounded MCR, in the hope that it would allow us to use our skills to help improve ours and our employees’ mental health. The last 18 months has proved the combo of (specialty) coffee, conversation and community can help solve anything!

We try to be as inclusive as possible when hosting events and have worked with:
-Children with additional needs/SEN
-Parents and babies/toddlers
-Marginalised groups – LGBTQ+
-Non-English speakers
-Low income families
-Vulnerable adults (specifically those with long standing mental health issues

Nat, grounded MCR

Friends of Chapel Street Park / Bluebell Green Meeting

Friends of Chapel Street Park / Bluebell Green are holding a meeting on Saturday 12th November, 10.00-11.00.

They have some exciting funding news to discuss and will start of planning their next 12months of activities. They’re also looking for a new chair for Friends of Chapel Street Park and a Secretary. Could this be you? Volunteers old and new really welcome.

Inspire Taskforce Crowdfunder

The Inspire Taskforce at Levenshulme Inspire is running a crowdfunder. Find out more and donate HERE

Why are we raising money?

This winter is going to be a hard one for us all, but none more so than for our older people. As energy prices and food prices sky rocket, older people on fixed incomes will have to make difficult choices in order to keep themselves healthy and warm over the winter. Older people are at increased risk of hypothermia when the room temperature drops below 16 C.
As costs continue to increase we want to help older people avoid the difficult decisions that would otherwise mean they are left without heating or food this winter and our Warm Spaces project would allow us to reduce the living costs for many older people by giving them a warm, safe environment with food options over winter.

What will we do with the raised money? 

The Inspired Taskforce already provides activity sessions on 3 days a week and we would like to expand this to 5, so that every weekday throughout the months of winter, there is an option to come and sit in a Warm Room and drink a Hot Brew with friendly companions.
We will have many options of activity on the day, from Sewing, Knitting, board games, arts & crafts and much more – Similar to our already currently running Happy Mondays Social Group.

The Inspired Taskforce’s mission is to make the world a better place for older people – starting with our own backyard in Levenshulme and Gorton.

Further Discretionary £150 Council Tax Rebates

Manchester City Council is making additional £150 payments to people via a council tax rebate.

This is a further payment from the government that Manchester City Council has decided how to allocate from the government’s £1,626,150 discretionary fund allocation to Manchester.

Manchester City Council says:

“We’ve made discretionary Council Tax Energy Rebate payments of £150 to some of our residents most in need. For some families and residents aged 80 or over, this is a second payment of £150. If you pay your council tax by Direct Debit, we’ve paid the £150 directly into your bank account and sent you a letter. If you don’t pay by Direct Debit, or have no council tax to pay, we’ve sent you a Post Office Voucher.”

Manchester City Council

People who qualify for these payments should receive them by 11 July 2022.

Further details are available HERE

GM Green Spaces Fund

The £2.6m Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund supports community-led projects that increase the amount and quality of accessible, nature-rich green space in the city region, particularly in the areas where people need it most.

The first round of applications will close at 9am on August 22nd, 2022.

Further information is available HERE

Coronavirus Business Grants

Information from Manchester City Council

Financial support for your business


There are now three financial support schemes available to businesses through funding that was announced by the Government to help businesses in light of the Omicron variant.

COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) replaces the right to request a reduction in business rates from the Valuation Office Agency due to COVID-19 and allows us to pay successful businesses a relief of up to 100% of their 2021/22 business rates bill. The fund is limited and only available to businesses that have been adversely affected by COVID-19 and are ineligible for existing COVID related business rates reliefs.
Read more about CARF and how to apply.

Additional Restrictions Grant top up (ARG) is designed to support businesses that have been impacted by the latest Covid-19 variant but are not eligible for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG).
Find out more about the discretionary scheme and how to apply.

The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG) Did you receive a Local Restriction Support Grant last year? If your business offers in-person services on the premises in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors you might be eligible for a one-off Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant payment of up to £6,000.
Check eligibility and apply online.

Active Neighbourhood – Nothing Confirmed Yet

What’s Going On With Our Active Neighbourhood?

Councillors have confirmed the Active Neighbourhood scheme will have a new public consultation and nothing is confirmed yet.

A meeting attended by over 60 residents, including Levenshulme Community Association Secretary Jeremy Hoad, was at times tense but has brought some welcome clarity to the current status of the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood.

Levenshulme Councillors Basat Sheikh and Zahid Hussain attended a meeting organised by the One Levenshulme group on 20 September after the release of a statement from Manchester City Council that said:

Following the end of this trial, and reviews of feedback, all 14 filters will be made permanent.

Manchester City Council statement, 13 September 2021

Councillors say this statement by Manchester City Council about the Levenshulme and Burnage Active Neighbourhood scheme was made “out of context” and this is only a partial explanation of the current situation. The current road blocks / “modal filters” will only be made permanent if a full plan for the Active Neighbourhood is approved for implementation following a public consultation.

The next stage designs will provide a full plan for interventions well beyond the current trial of 14 road blocks / “modal filters” in Levenshulme. This is the first time our community will be provided with comprehensive proposals and and a plan for the Active Neighbourhood, three years after the project started. It is understood the plans will include measures for both Levenshulme and Burnage.

The statement went on to say that:

“This month [August 2021] the Highways Service presented the initial outline designs for the proposed next stage of the Active Travel Neighbourhood scheme to ward councillors in both areas. These were agreed in principle, with the plans also submitted to Transport for Greater Manchester for their review and comment.”

Manchester City Council statement, 13 September 2021

A New Public Consultation

The new plans will be released soon and go to a public consultation. Councillors did not provide details of the consultation but accepted that previous consultations and the scheme as a whole had been “…a complete mess from the beginning…” and that it had “…gone wrong…”. They stated they had been “…working behind the scenes…” to improve the plans and had rejected previous drafts before accepting the current proposals.

Councillor Hussain stated that so far the project had spent £800,000 and that the budget had been reduced for the whole scheme. The original budget was up to £700,000 for development work and to undertake a trial with a further £1.8m available dependent on a successful business case proposal to TfGM for full implementation.

When pressed by residents councillors clarified that if residents were not happy with all the proposals then the scheme would not go ahead and everything – including the current road blocks / “modal filters” – would be removed.

It was also stated by councillors that the road blocks / “modal filters” would not be retained or made permanent until or unless problems on all roads were addressed, something councillors had insisted on for the scheme to progress. No scheme would be approved before that. However, councillors were confident that the community would welcome the final plans when they saw the designs.

Where’s the Data?

Councillors were also asked “Where’s the data?” as the whole scheme was claimed to be evidence based and data driven as well as community led. Councillors explained that the filters had been left in place so that the project could gather more data after the trial had finished [in June 2021] as Covid19 restrictions were lifted. Monitoring, managed by Manchester Urban Observatory (based at the University of Manchester) had taken place throughout the trial. Doubts were raised by residents about how accurate, useful or comprehensive this data was as well as the placement of monitoring equipment.

What will the final plans look like?

More comprehensive, inclusive and balanced, it seems. Reference was made to traffic calming, chicanes, crossings, pavement improvements and speed tables (large raised flat areas on the road). These are the sorts of measures residents, businesses and community groups (including Levenshulme Community Association) have been calling for throughout the project.

Unfortunately the attitude previously of the Project Team (with Sustrans and Levenshulme Bee Network before they were removed from the project in 2020) was dismissive of this more balanced approach and focussed primarily on installing road blocks / “modal filters” to create a “Low Traffic Neighbourhood”.

Residents also raised concerns about a number of related issues: dangerous driving in the area which was getting worse; problems with HGVs; speeding; anti-social behaviour around the road blocks; ongoing issues with emergency services and problems for carers and other service providers needing to easily meet residents’ needs. These reflected concerns that had consistently been raised by the LCA, residents and businesses that the approach throughout the project had been limited and did not focus on solving the problems we faced as a community or prioritise the aims of the project to actually make our roads safer and encourage walking and cycling.

Councillors stressed that the scheme was “…not about cycling…” but about “…Active Travel, creating shared space and provision for walking, cycling and drivers getting around.”

What happens next?

The final Active Neighbourhood plans should be made public in the next few weeks. The council has already indicated there will be a public engagement meeting in late September / early October.

Serious concerns were raised about how the consultation would be run. Residents made clear that they were dissatisfied with previous consultation and engagement and councillors accepted this had not been done well. Residents at the meeting highlighted the exclusive, biased and insecure nature of the online Commonplace system and the limited and ineffective information available.

As yet it is unclear what changes will be made to the consultation process, when it will start or how long it will run for. It is also unclear how decisions will be made, what criteria will be used and what attempts will be made to ensure the whole community can get involved and have their voices heard effectively.

Councillors Sheikh and Hussain were thanked for their attendance at the meeting and it was made clear by residents that this ongoing discussion was very welcome. Thanks also to Mark at the Bluebell for hosting the meeting.

Levenshulme Community Association will continue to provide updates and announcements as they are available to enable residents and businesses to be fully involved in this next stage of what has so far been a frustrating and difficult experience for many people.

Peter Quinn Friendship Group Fundraising Buffet and Dance

The Peter Quinn Friendship Group for dementia support is holding a fundraising evening on October 2nd.

This will be a fantastic night of entertainment with the amazing Anita Ryan and incredible Richard Sanderson. Why not let your hair down and enjoy a great night at the same time as support this marvellous community group.

Tickets are £15 including a buffet

  • Houldsworth Golf Club
  • 2 October, from 19.30

Call Marion on 07767497625 to book tickets.

Crowdfunding For Inspired Taskforce

The Inspired Taskforce needs short term funding to tide them over until the Autumn, while the outcomes of grant applications are decided.

Please donate via the crowdfunding page HERE

The Inspired Taskforce is a community organisation peer-led by a Board of 13 older people. It has been established for the last 2 years as a capacity building ‘outcome’ of the former Inspired People’s Project, based at Levenshulme Inspire

The Inspired Taskforce has a proud record of campaigning for the local area to become more age-friendly and were instrumental in achieving an Age-Friendly award for Levenshulme in 2019 (from the Mayor Andy Burnham), working alongside the many other local older people groups and services.

In Our Nature Community Funding

Funding of up to £10,000 is available from In Our Nature. Information below.

Apply for up to £10k of grant funding & bring your community project to life!

Are you part of a Manchester based community, youth or voluntary group? Has your group got an innovative project idea to help your community come together to take positive action on the environment?

If the answer is yes – apply for a community project grant and bring your group’s ideas to life! You’ll be helping us on our mission to unlock the potential of households and communities to respond to the climate emergency.

What are we looking for? We are looking for projects that take an innovative, community-led approach to tackling a local environmental issue, which also delivers social and financial benefits to their local community.

Who can apply? We can award grants to a variety of non-profit and voluntary groups such as community groups, youth clubs, schools, resident and neighbourhood associations, community interest companies and social enterprises. 

Successful groups will receive…

  • A grant of up to 10k to bring their project to life.
  • Opportunities to connect and share experiences with the other successful groups.
  • Access to wider support through the “In Our Nature” programme including:
  • Graphic design support
  • Guidance with evaluation and measuring impact
  • Guidance with applying for further funding
  • PR opportunities and support

Want to get started? Great news! 

Check out our In Our Nature Community Grant page to read more and begin the application process.

Application deadline: 23:59 on 31st July.

Got a question about the grant process? Get in touch inournature@hubbub.org.uk

Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund

NEW Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund 

Applications now open until 31st May 2021

Do you have an idea to help your community recycle, reduce or reuse? Apply for a grant of between £200 and £20,000 to get your green plans off the ground. The fund is a joint Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) and Suez initiative to support Greater Manchester’s Community and Voluntary sector.

Full details are available HERE

Do you have an idea for a project?

Now is the time for you to start thinking about how your organisation can help us improve waste and recycling in Greater Manchester.

The fund aims to support projects which prevent, reuse, or recycle household waste, and also reduce contamination, promote sustainable use of waste and resources, and generate wider social benefits for the communities of Greater Manchester. We want to encourage and support innovative projects that are novel and involve a new and untried approach to tackling an issue in the key waste areas. Your project will need to focus on at least one of these areas.

This year we will focus on these priority areas:

  • waste prevention
  • increasing recycling
  • reuse of household waste
  • reducing contamination

Your project will need to focus on one or more of these priority waste streams:

  • Food waste
  • Paper and card
  • Glass
  • Textiles
  • Furniture
  • Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

When can I apply?

The Community Fund 2021-22 will be open for submission of applications from Thursday 1st April until 31st May 2021.

Who can apply?

Applications are welcome from Community and Voluntary Sector organisations such as:

  • Registered Charity (charity number must be provided)
  • Not-for-profit organisation (defined as a registered legal entity that does not make a private profit for directors, members, or shareholders)
  • Community, Neighbourhood or Voluntary Group
  • Faith group delivering community work
  • School, College or University

A walk-through application video from Greater Manchester Environment Fund can be found below.

The fund is supported through profits from the new ‘Renew’ reuse shops. The Renew shops will be opening spring 2021 and will be based at 3 household waste recycling centres:

  • Woodhouse Lane, Trafford
  • Boysnope Wharf in Salford
  • Arkwright St, Oldham

The shops will sell pre-owned items that have been donated by residents at Household Recycling Centres across Greater Manchester (excluding Wigan).

Funding for Eco Streets

Design Your Own Eco-Street from Groundwork Greater Manchester gives communities the chance to win £6,000 funding to transform an unused area into a green space. 

The Eco-Streets competition seeks to transform two un-used, un-loved areas in Greater Manchester into spaces that feature nature-based-solutions to climate change. Each design will receive £6,000 in funding and support from Groundwork’s Community Enablers to transform their spaces in 2021.

With support from Groundwork, Eco-Streets will equip communities with the skills to design, install and maintain natural features to create vibrant, green community spaces to benefit people while tackling climate change.   

Further information including eligibility and how to register interest is available HERE

Image from Groundwork Greater Manchester

Government Support for Self Employed – Stage 2

The second stage of Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) opens for applications today.

Anyone whose self-employed business has been adversely affected by coronavirus since 14 July is eligible for the scheme and will now be able to receive a second and final grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, with the money set to land in their bank accounts within six working days of making a claim.

Check if you can claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme HERE

Claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme HERE

Small Business Grants

Applications for discretionary grants for small businesses close TODAY at 10pm.

Please see below for full details and a link to apply.

Continue reading

MIF Paid Opportunities for Creatives

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PAID OPPORTUNITIES FOR GM CREATIVES

We know these are difficult times for artists and communities in Greater Manchester and that lives and livelihoods are being impacted daily. We want to support artists and creative practitioners to continue to experiment, dream and to support and influence society.

We are repurposing some of our artist development funds to support this and offering the following opportunities to GM-based artists and creatives. Alongside this we’re continuing to reach out nationally and internationally to support artists and projects impacted by these times. We are very open to proposals that would be delivered through online international collaborations in response to this call out, and we will be developing our ideas further in the coming weeks.

We encourage proposals under the following headings:

– Festival In My House – an opportunity to re-imagine MIF’s Festival in My House programme for today’s unique times. We want people to host their own micro-international festival at home, exploring remote collaborations and audiences – up to £1000 budget for each event

– Get creative – opportunities to create and deliver activity that safely engages artists / community / wider society during the crisis. This could take the form of an online workshop, performance, talk, discussion or other creative idea of your choice – up to £350 per activity.

– Remote residencies – an opportunity to develop your practice and to develop new ideas and projects. This could include responding to the COVID-19 situation or other imaginative ways to support communities, artists or audiences during the coming months,  alternatively, this could be an opportunity to research and develop an idea you’ve always wanted to do. Residencies do not have to result in specific outcomes but need to take place at home – up to £1000 per residency.

Key notes: 

  • We’re open to ideas that are not digital in form provided they are compliant with current government guidelines – these might include the use of phones, radio or other ideas.
  • Budgets includes all fees, materials and other expenses
  • Whilst our teams will do our utmost to offer support and help remotely, we’re unable to offer our usual level of producing or technical support at the moment; please bear this in mind when submitting your proposal.
  • You are eligible to apply for this opportunity if you are over 18 years of age and resident in Greater Manchester.
  • We encourage proposals from people with specific access needs and are happy to work with you to help with both the application process and to realise your idea.

How to apply: 

We are accepting proposals from GM-based artists and creatives. Please send a maximum 500-word overview of your idea to creativeengagement@mif.co.uk; we will also accept video proposals (up to 2 minutes in length) or if you would like to apply in another way, get in touch.   If you are applying via video, please send us the URL via email.

You should include:

  • what you would like to do and which of the three strands it sits within
  • how you might do it
  • who it would benefit or engage
  • any support that you might need in delivery
  • how your budget is worked out
  • your postcode
  • links to your previous work or any reference points for the ideas you’re suggesting.

Selection: 

We aim to review all proposals quickly – we’ll be looking for:

  • interesting ideas with the ability to stimulate creativity and connection
  • ideas that consider the local and international
  • ideas that are deliverable on the levels of financial and practical support available
  • proposals that help artists to develop artistically, a space to dream, imagine, create and test new ideas
  • ideas that allow for audience participation and involvement, beyond simply broadcasting
  • proposals that represent the diversity of Greater Manchester.

We will be reviewing applications based on the ideas and the opportunities these will make for the applicants.

Timeline:

We’ll be accepting proposals on a rolling basis until the end of April, or until all available opportunities have been filled. We will be continuing to respond to the needs of our community during this time and will be looking at providing ongoing opportunities past April.

Questions or support:

If you have any questions or need any support in preparing your application please email: creativeengagement@mif.co.uk and a member of the team will respond. We can also arrange to call you if that is more convenient.

Further Links 

Resources For Artists and Freelancers – An evolving open document of resources for the freelance creative community who are looking for support and guidance.

MIF Drop in for Artists and Freelance Creatives – A forum for chat and support, every Tuesday and Thursday from 2pm.

MIF Drop in for Artists and Freelance Creatives – A place to share information, useful links and discussion.

We Love MCR Community Response Fund

The We Love MCR charity has set up a fund to provide Covid-19 Community Response Grants. Full information is available HERE

Constituted community groups and organisations with a bank account can apply to this fund for £500 – £3000 for the items, equipment or supplies they need to support their communities in this difficult time.

The application process has been simplified to help get the money out to groups quickly. The application form can be downloaded here:

Completed application forms can be sent to: welovemcrcharity@manchester.gov.uk

Please share this information with groups you are aware of and your wider networks.  WeLoveMCR want to support as many groups and organisations as they can in this time of need. 

Fallowfield Loop £4.9m investment

£4.9 million investment announced for the Fallowfield Loop

Fallowfield Loop enhancements (£4.9m)
This scheme will create a 24/7, orbital cycle and walking route connecting Chorlton to Gorton. It is proposed to introduce new lighting and to improve access points along this 12km, traffic-free cycle path.

More information available HERE

https://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/8328/manchester_announces_new_walking_and_cycling_schemes_as_mayor_and_commissioner_call_on_government_for_long-term_funding_commitment

Levenshulme Pride Bids For Funding

Come along to the AXM foundation Pitch to Enrich event tonight to support and vote for Levenshulme Pride. The event will also be a celebration of the anniversary of the AXM Foundation.

20.00 at On Bar, Canal Street.

Consultation: Funding for Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations in Manchester

Manchester City Council is consulting on future funding arrangements for voluntary and community organisations.

“We fund many voluntary and community sector organisations. They’re an important part of the city providing care, support and help to Manchester people.

We want to make sure we get the best value for money, and provide that money in a way that helps organisations to do good work.

Over the past few months we have been working with a ‘co-design group’ made up of people from the council, voluntary and community sector organisations and the NHS, to come up with some new options for funding the voluntary sector in Manchester. We’ve based these proposals on the Our Manchester Strategy.”

See full information and respond HERE

Read the “Our Manchester” strategy HERE

Levenshulme Old Library Group Fundraiser

‘Supper Club’ fundraiser for the Levenshulme Old Library Group – 11th February 2017, 7pm till late at St Mary’s Church Hall, Elbow Street, M19 3PY.

Expect a 3 course feast (vegetarian options), with a complimentary glass of wine, live music from the Jazz Biscuits, dancing and entertainment. 

To get your tickets for what promises to be a simply fabulous evening click HERE

Or get in touch via our Facebook page – Levenshulme Old Library Group (LOL)

No entry without a ticket. 

What’s Your Vision For Levenshulme?

Levenshulme Neighbourhood Planning Forum would love to hear your ideas for how you want Levenshulme to develop. What’s your vision for our community?

14.00 today in the Community Studio at Arcadia Library and Leisure Centre.

This isn’t just bout dull planning matters, this is bout what we want our community to be and to look like.

Everybody welcome.

  

Artist Residency At Bankley Studios

Levenshulme’s Bankley Studios is offering a residency for a local artist from Greater Manchester.


Residency opportunity for an artist based in Greater Manchester

Bankley Studios would like to offer the opportunity of a two-month residency in Bankley’s project space ‘Studio20’ to an artist based in the Greater Manchester area. We are particularly interested in hearing from artists who may not be able to participate in intensive creative practice away from home due to various other commitments. We welcome applications from artists working in all types of contemporary visual art, including two- and three-dimensional practices, installation, new media, moving image and performance.

Taking place during May and June 2016, the residency will offer the artist space and time to experiment and test ideas, and to produce a new body of work for an exhibition in our newly renovated Gallery Space. The Artist will be supported by the Project Space Team and receive one-on-one mentoring sessions with a curator in preparation for their show.

During the residency Bankley will be hosting talks and critical discussions with artists and arts professionals around the theme of ‘Process’. The artist in residence may wish to contribute towards this event, i.e. with an Artist Talk or Open studio event.

The residency includes:

  • 24h access to a free studio space at Bankley’s Project Space ‘Studio20’
  • £200 stipend towards materials
  • 2-week solo exhibition in the Gallery Space, either immediately following the residency or scheduled later in the year (to be agreed with the artist)
  • Mentoring by a curator who will work with the artist in the installation of the show

The artist will be encouraged to hold their own artist talk and/or or Open Studio event and to add to the Bankley blog whilst in residence

Application process:

Artists will be required to submit an application form (see below) alongside 5 images of current work (in .jpeg format, no larger than 1 MB each) and an Artist CV. Selected artists will then be invited for an interview with members of the Bankley committee before the final decision is made.

Deadline for applications: Friday 18th March 2016

Interviews will take place in April 2016.

Further information about Bankley Studios can be found HERE

  

Tony Lloyd Offers Almost £1m To Neighbourhood And Youth Projects To Reduce Demand On Police Services

Manchester’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Loyd, is spending almost a million pounds of funding from the Greater Manchester Police budget on a project to get neighbourhoods to do things to reduce demand for police services in 2016.

The GMPCC website says: “Communities across Greater Manchester are being invited to bid for a slice of £900,000 to reduce demand on police services by building strong neighbourhoods, boosting volunteering, and empowering our region’s young people.”

The funds available:

Commissioner’s neighbourhood fund

  • Grants of up to £1000 (from a total fund of £200,000)

Active citizens’ fund

  • Grants of up to £5000 (from a total fund of £200,000)

Youth aspiration fund

  • Grants of up to £30,000 (from a total fund of £500,000) 

Find out full details HERE.

  
Photo of Tony Lloyd giving away money from the Greater Manchester Police budget in 2015 (photo courtesy of GMPCC website)

International Women’s Day Grants, 2016

Grants are available from Manchester City Council to celebrate International Women’s Day 2016 for events and activities held in March 2016.

International Women’s Day recognises women’s achievements and highlights the continued struggle for equal rights and equality for women. As the birthplace of women’s suffrage in the UK, Manchester has always been at the heart of the women’s movement. We’ve been celebrating International Women’s Day for more than 25 years.

The application form and guidance is available HERE

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 17th November at 17.00.

Levy Soup – Crowdfunding for Levenshulme

Levy Soup is …
A way of promoting community based activity through a creative “crowdfunding” event.

Come along and you’ll get to share a home-made Soup dinner with new and old friends. (Plus the chance to network and have a dance too). There is a paying bar at the venue.

Levy Soup has been set up to celebrate and support creative projects in Levenshulme that benefit the local community.

For a suggested donation of £5 attendees receive a bowl of veggie soup, some bread and a vote. During the evening you will hear pitches from people who want to do something in Levenshulme.

For the first “Soup” we have chosen the theme of food so if you have a food based idea or project that you would like to have funded then this is for you.

Each presenter has four minutes to pitch their idea and answer four questions from the audience. 

At the event, people eat, talk, share ideas and then vote on the project they think benefits Levenshulme the most. At the end of the night the winner goes home with all of the money raised in the evening to carry out their project. 

The first Levy Soup event will take place on October 8th, 19.00 at the Klondyke (1 Burnage Range).

Everyone is welcome to attend– no matter where you live you can share in this experience.

Information for Bidders:

You might be a group of friends, neighbours, an existing voluntary, community or resident group or an individual. (Aged 11 and over)

The application from can be downloaded HERE

What can I bid for?

It’s up to you!! Maybe a tea and tech group for older people; a Xmas party for young people leaving care, a community growing project, a raised bed for vegetable growing, a popcorn and film night for kids – these are only examples- the options are endless and we hope bidders will be really creative! The only rule is that the people who benefit should be in Levenshulme.  

All you need at this stage is an idea – We’ve made the process as simple as possible and we’ll also be able to help you think about how to present your pitch. No PowerPoint presentations allowed!

Deadline for applications
The deadline for submissions for bidders for Soup 1 is Thursday 1st October 2015. Fill in the form and send it to us now!

Good luck and if you have any questions at all please contact us!

For more information

Email: careybamber@live.com
Call: Carey 07968 031085
Find us on Facebook HERE
Twitter @LevySoup

  

Levenshulme Market Fund 2015: LCAC Update

Here’s an update from Levenshulme Contemporary Art Collective (LCAC) on what they did with the funding awarded from the Levenshulme Market Fund 2015.

Levenshulme people working together to help our community be the most dynamic and creative in Manchester.
Check out the update on the Levenshulme Market website HERE

Seventeen Days of Art, Philosophy and Action in Levenshulme

Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre (LCAC) activities start today with an exhibition at Bankley Mill (19.00) and a launch party at Fred’s Ale House (21.00). Even before that readings on the Village Green happen at 12.00 and 20.00.

Details are available HERE

There are loads of events and activities on over the next seventeen days from imaginary bike rides to a marathon reading of Das Kapital Karl Marx, discussions about regeneration, home and the urban environment, readings and discussions of work by Marxist geographer David Harvey, Communist era children’s games from Poland and a public intervention to highlight access to public services at the railway station: “To show our desire to use the station we will form a queue to fail to get up the stairs.”

Far from failing LCAC are showing what can be achieved with £2,210 funding from Levenshulme Market Fund to produce a packed programme of events by Levenshulme artists, philosophers and residents to revitalise our High Street and attract people to our community.

This is genuine local direct action and imagination at work and what fringe events should be all about during the Manchester International Festival. An explosion of creativity emerging organically from a vibrant, diverse, challenging and exciting community like Levenshulme.

  

Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre Summer Programme 

The Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre Summer Programme has been published. A packed series of events, readings and activities spread over seventeen days to coincide with Manchester International Festival.

The Fringe comes to Levenshulme courtesy of our own artists, philosophers and academics and enabled by a grant of £2,210 from the Levenshulme Market Fund 2015.

Highlights are listed below and a full interactive programme is available HERE

LCAC are also raising money for the Wood Street Mission by undertaking a  live reading of all three volumes of Karl Marx’s Capital on Levenshulme Village Green.
LCAC Programme 

Friday 10 July 2015 | Housing

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Use Value and Exchange Value 
  • (Time tbc) Chris Hamer – Bankley opening  
  • (Time tbc) Opening Party at Fred’s  

Saturday 11 July 2015 | What is Money?

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • The Social Value of Labour and its Representations by Money 
  • 2pm – 4pm Children’s Games from Communist Poland 
  • Sunday 12 July 2015 | Private Property
  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Private Property and the Capitalist State 
  • (Time tbc) Discussion: Modern Slavery in Manchester 
  • (Time tbc) Philosophy for Kids 

Monday 13 July 2015 | Us and the Banks

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Private Appropriation and the Common Wealth 
  • Tuesday 14 July 2015 | Money and Work
  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Capital and Labour 
  • (Time tbc) Art Art Labour  

Wednesday 15 July 2015 | What Does Money Do?

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Capital as Process or Thing? 

Thursday 16 July 2015 | Making and Selling

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • The Contradictary Unity of Production and Realisation 
  • (Time tbc) Zine Workshop with The Edge of the Universe Printing Press 

Friday 17 July 2015 | Work and Technology

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Technology, Work and Human Disposability 
  • (Time tbc) Old Projectors  
  • 9pm Film Screening on the Village Green  

Saturday 18 July 2015 | Who Does What Job?

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Divisions of Labour 
  • 11am – 12pm Failed Journeys 
  • 2pm – 4pm Discussion: What is Home? 
  • 5:30pm – 7pm Exhibition Talk and Walking Tour  
  • 9pm Film Screening at Bankley Studios  

Sunday 19 July 2015 | Competition

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Monopoly and Competition: Centralisation and Decentralisation 
  • (Time tbc) Orçamento Participativo: Stockie Road to Rio… and back… 
  • 2pm – 4pm Philosophy for Kids 
  • 6pm – 8pm Performance: Case Studies in Joint Action 

Monday 20 July 2015 | Town Planning

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Uneven Geographical Developments and the Production of Space 

Tuesday 21 July 2015 | The Rich and the Poor

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Disparities of Income and Wealth 
  • (Time tbc) Talk: Homelessness  

Wednesday 22 July 2015 | Family Life

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Social Reproduction 
  • (Time tbc) Pregnant then Screwed  

Thursday 23 July 2015 | What is Freedom?

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Freedom and Domination 
  • (Time tbc) Philosophy for Kids 

Friday 24 July 2015 | Endless Growth

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Endless Compound Growth 
  • (Time tbc) Round Table Discussion 
  • (Time tbc) Portfolio Review: Is Debt Worth It?  
  • 9pm Film Screening on the Village Green (TBC)  

Saturday 25 July 2015 | Destroying the Planet

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • Capital’s Relation to Nature 
  • 2pm – 4pm Children’s Games from Communist Poland 
  • 4pm – 5pm Owl Project: iLog Talk and Demo  

Sunday 26 July 2015 | How Will It End?

  • 12pm + 8pm Reading Group: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (David Harvey)
  • The Revolt of Human Nature: Universal Alienations 
  • (Time tbc) Painting Levenshulme’s Rubbish 

 LCAC Market Fund 2015 Bid Summary

Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre
LCAC Shop
Bidding for: £2210.00
FULLY FUNDED
The LCAC Shop will be a temporary, non-profit making hub of radical thinking for the Levenshulme community. It will open for two weeks during the Manchester International Festival (2nd-19th July 2015), with the aim of helping to seed the development of a future independent fringe festival. The Shop will function as an open social space, the aim of which is to create the possibility of imagining a new locality. It will serve coffee, sell radical texts and work/prints by local artists, and host free public talks, including connecting participants with other radically-minded individuals across the world via video-conferencing. It will be open to the public at varied times, including late nights for post-work discussions. The group are bidding for funds to run the shop, including rental and fittings, marketing and promotion of the space and paying/reimbursing visiting speakers and artists.
(Information from Levenshulme Market)

  
 Photos courtesy LCAC / Gautam Narayanan

Levstock raises £300

Levenshulme’s celebration of the summer solstice, Levstock, has raised £300.

In a fun packed evening with food, bands, entertainment and fireworks Levenshulme celebrated at the Klondyke.

Here is the list of local good causes that have benefited from Levstock this year. Thanks to all the great people who put loads of free time and energy into making this donation possible.

£50 each was raised for these charities:
(First 3 suggested by attendees)

Peoplewithpetsinpoverty

New Levenshulme based project supporting homeless people, especially recovering from alcohol, mental health or drug issues, especially through supporting their ability to keep pets. “folk need company and support of animal companions perhaps even more when they’re not well-off materially – animals are so accepting of people, they don’t care what their status is.”

National Association for People Abused in Childhood

“They do a brilliant job, on a shoestring, of campaigning, informing and leading courses. They have recently extended their national telephone service for survivors – much needed since many more adults abused as children are starting to seek help with their trauma since the huge increase in media reporting of such abuse – opening a northern office in Stockport.”

Breakfast in Bed Streetlife Project

Volunteers providing a regular breakfast for homeless people. “They feed the homeless of Manchester city centre breakfast twice a week (soon to be 3 times.) Run off donations from the public & small local businesses. Also do a pop up event each month offering a different service. This month Shine are opening up & giving hair cuts & washing hair. Need food donations: sausages, bacon, cereal bars, individually wrapped choc biscuits, tin foil, all donations can be dropped off at the antiques village cafe in Levenshulme.”

Levenshulme Good Neighbours

Local volunteering project that are supporting older people in their home through offering company, advice, transport to medical appointments and social events and running small errands.

Macmillan Cancer Care (Northmoor Rd Project)

Support project for carers looking after people living with cancer at home. In association with Northmoor Community Association and Great Places Housing. “Here at Northmoor Community Centre we have a fantastic project – group of dedicated volunteers who go out into the communities of Gorton, Longsight and Levenshulme and support people affected by cancer.”

Manchester Friends of the Earth

Providing information and volunteering opportunities on environmental issues (energy, cycling, climate change, locally grown healthy food etc) and campaigning for a more sustainable world. They provided the Bicycle Smoothie Maker at Levstock.

Council Kills CASH Grants – Say Hello To NIFs

Manchester City Council has killed off its CASH Grant scheme for council wards and replaced it with a new Neighbourhood Investment Fund (NIF) worth £10,000 less per ward.

CASH Grants of £30,000 per year were previously available to each Ward with local councillors deciding on where and how the money was spent. These have now been abolished and replaced withthe NIF that provides up to £20,000 per ward each year.

The new scheme comes into effect immediately from today (Monday 22nd June 2015). Information from Manchester City Council states:

“Local people and community groups can have a huge impact in their community and Manchester City Council remains committed to supporting activity that improves neighbourhoods and enhances peoples lives.”

Application Criteria

The fund is open to established groups, voluntary groups and other community groups, as well as groups of residents working together for the first time. School Parent Teacher Associations can also apply if they have the support of local residents and parents and the project benefits the wider community as well as the school.

Your group must have a bank account in order to receive any approved funding, or have permission from another group to receive the funding for you as a referee. Payment can not be made to personal bank accounts.

NIF funding is available for projects that fall in to the following categories:

Work & Skills
Projects that help people in a community to get back in to work by offering additional learning and opportunities to improve skills. It could also help fund any activities relating to coaching, mentoring or volunteering.

Community Groups
New groups can bid for initial seed funding to get an idea off the ground, become more recognised in the local neighbourhood and actively engage the community with activities. Established groups could also receive one off funding to help support smaller groups and deliver local projects.

Improving the Environment and Increase Recycling
Groups looking to organise community clean ups or planting projects can bid – with special encouragement for ideas focussed on increased recycling and waste reduction in a community.

Other Activities and Events
Applications will be considered for events that benefit the community and support the ward priorities of the local area. Any ideas should be discussed with your local Regeneration Ward Officer before applying.

What you can’t get funding for

Some projects, activities, events or schemes do not fall within the criteria for a neighbourhood investment funds, therefore applications will not be considered for the following:

  • Projects that do not directly benefit Manchester residents;
  • Traffic-calming schemes or CCTV;
  • Projects that simply replace existing facilities with no significant improvement;
  • Projects that improve or benefit privately owned land to which the public have no access and un-adopted roads and footpaths;
  • Projects that have already been completed or will have been by the time the grant is issued;
  • Ongoing revenue funding of staff wages, salaries or expenses or overheads such as rent, leases or utility costs;
  • Projects that only benefit individuals (e.g. qualifications, counselling sessions, professional legal advice etc.);
  • Groups cannot directly benefit financially from their own application (they cannot be a fiscal beneficiary);
  • Purchase of alcohol and gambling activities;
  • Activities of a religious or political nature; or
  • Activities that are contrary to Manchester City Council’s equal opportunities policy.

Assessment

Applications are reviewed by a panel to decide where funds should be allocated. Your Regeneration Ward Officer will keep you updated through the process – each application should not exceed £10,000.

More information on NIF and access to the on-line application is available HERE 

Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre Summer 2015

Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre (LCAC) will be holding a series of events and discussions this summer made possible by a £2,210 grant from the Levenshulme Market Fund. LCAC explain their aims as:

Levenshulme Contemporary Arts Centre is an incomplete gallery that questions land use and relations of power within suburban Manchester. We are interested in expanding conventions of artistic display beyond the architectural limits of the gallery.”

This summer we will be opening the LCAC shop. It will be a temporary high street hub of radical thinking, hosting meetings, discussions and a series of coordinated arts events that will work with different sectors of the local community to address the relationship between land use, constructions of community, accessibility to the arts and the possibility of an urban commons.”

The Levenshulme Market Fund grant will enable activities in a shop from 2nd-19th July 2015.

The LCAC Shop will be a temporary, non-profit making hub of radical thinking for the Levenshulme community. It will open for two weeks during the Manchester International Festival (2nd-19th July 2015), with the aim of helping to seed the development of a future independent fringe festival. The Shop will function as an open social space, the aim of which is to create the possibility of imagining a new locality. It will serve coffee, sell radical texts and work/prints by local artists, and host free public talks, including connecting participants with other radically-minded individuals across the world via video-conferencing. It will be open to the public at varied times, including late nights for post-work discussions. The group are bidding for funds to run the shop, including rental and fittings, marketing and promotion of the space and paying/reimbursing visiting speakers and artists.

(Levenshulme Market Fund bid information)

Plans for LCAC

  • A daily reading group pulling apart a work by urban geographer David Harvey
  • A theatrical enactment of what it means to act together
  • A chance to play some children’s games from Communist Poland
  • An exhibition of abstract paintings exploring urban degeneration and regeneration
  • Creative writing workshops
  • Improvised music
  • Zine-making
  • An artists’ residency
  • A round-table discussion with leading Manchester academics
  • An informal discussion about home, belonging, nostalgia and collective memories
  • Swedish artists sharing their experiences as migrants through images and text


Further Information

LCAC Website: HERE

LCAC Facebook: HERE
LCAC YouTube Channel HERE
Email: info@lcac.org.uk

LCAC Works

To get an idea of what LCAC does please see below for a link to LCAC Work No.1 (video) and extracts from LCAC Work No.2 (interview text).

LCAC Work No.1
View the YouTube video  HERE

LCAC Work No. 2
(extracts)
Dr Joseph Kisolo-Ssonko

What is LCAC?

Director 1

Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre is a gallery in Levenshulme, South Manchester, a suburb with a mixed population. It’s a gallery without walls and without anything much else other than the idea of an institution itself. We opened the gallery in a green space that had temporarily become a used car showroom in Levenshulme.

Director 2

We had a sign, we had an audience.

The sign started as an art object exhibited alongside paintings and other sculptures in an exhibition called A6 in Bankley Art Gallery.

It also had an attachment on the back of it which made it adaptable to become a sign. Then we took it for a walk down the A6, along with the audience from the exhibition, to a predetermined site on the corner of Pennington St – a patch of wasteland that was being informally used as a used-car and drugs salesroom.

Where this site met the A6 there was also an empty post. We erected the sign on this and invited people to walk from the pavement on to the wasteland.

Dr Joseph Kisolo-Ssonko
Did the wasteland itself become the artwork?

Director 2
We are interested the relationship between performance and actuality – the extent to which something is an x if you act as if it is an x and it is received as an x.

We explored the possibility of transformation that you describe through the strategic staging of an art opening on the site – champagne, speeches, gesturing at exhibits etc. In a sense it was a kind of social experiment.

Dr Joseph Kisolo-Ssonko
Was the idea that the space should be seen as empty of art that the found objects were themselves supposed to be seen as artworks?

Director 1

Actually when the launch happened we were surprised to find an exhibition ready made for us in a way. We had this idea of a marginal space and we were really excited about that but when we arrived there there were actually really interesting things to look at and – in a surprising way – I think that it did become a really rich visual experience. The burnt out caravan and discarded plush sofas were visually interesting.

Director 2

The site’s marginal but somehow multivalent functionality brought credibility to the suggestion that such things could be encountered as art. Playfulness seemed to have been in-built within materiality of the site by its recent history. We simply added one further mode of appropriation to the existing set of uses, the ‘as if’ that we have already spoken about.

Director 1

The site had a kind of awkwardness in this sense. We never found out who actually owned the space – it could have been quite a nice green space and but at the moment it was being used as a car lot as to sell drugs.

So, the space was replete in opportunity in the way that a predetermined gallery was not because it would have a predetermined function encoded within its architecture; a function that guides behaviour.

   
  

     All photos and text of LCAC Works courtesy of and copyright LCAC

Love Levenshulme website relaunch

The Love Levenshulme website has now been relaunched. The website was originally developed with funding from Manchester City Council but it has now had a major revamp and been relaunched with a grant of £5,000 from the Levenshulme Market Fund. The site has evolved from a listings site to a blog and now a magazine format.

The new website “…is a celebration of the things that make our community great; from the famous Levenshulme Market, our award winning Naawab banqueting hall, to the renowned Bankley Studios and Gallery.”

“As it takes these first tentative steps we hope you will join Love Levenshulme on its journey of adaptation. We are here to help deliver real change to the high street, solidify the vibrant community spirit and boulder the energies of the people who live and work here.

The project is coordinated by Pauline Johnson.

The Market Fund summary is provided here for reference:

Love Levenshulme is a digital and high street community asset. It was first created as an online map in 2014 and resident Pauline Johnson is seeking funds to develop it as a resource that will support local businesses, improve our trading environment, expand as a “live learning facility” and promote Levenshulme as a visitor destination. It’s a consumer facing, trader focused online resource and high street brand. The funds, if allocated, will be used to develop the site itself, to support engagement activity with traders and to launch a pop-up high street “hub” for the site, allowing business owners, residents and visitors to make their own contribution to its workings.

Have a look around the Love Levenshulme website HERE

  

Levenshulme Library News & Public Meeting

An article from the Manchester Evening News on the future of Levenshulme Library and the work of the Stakeholders Group set up to explore options is available HERE

It is a little unfortunate the article advertises the fundraiser on Friday 29th in an article published on Saturday 30th but any coverage is very welcome.

Note also that there are a couple of factual errors in the article:

1 The new baths and library facility is scheduled to open in Spring 2016, not Autumn 2015.

2 Levenshulme High School never took over the building. The school simply rented the space to use for part of the week. Local campaigning was essential to ensure the library stayed open as a library until the new facilities open.

A public meeting is also scheduled for Tuesday 16th June, 19.00-21.00 at Levenshulme Inspire on Stockport Road. Further information and discussion is also available on a Facebook group at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LLBSG/

  
  
Photo courtesy of Manchester Evening News

Levenshulme Library Fundraiser

The fundraising party for Levenshulme Library is on right now at the Klondyke (1 Burnage Range of Albert Road).

Come join the fun!

  

Levenshulme Library Building Fundraiser

Levy Library Building Information Update


There will be a fundraiser to raise money and interest in the campaign to have Levenshulme Library converted into a community centre once the library service moves out next year.

Friday 29th May at the Klondyke club.
7.30-12pm.
Klondyke Club, Burnage range, Levenshulme (off Albert Road)
£5 entry… all proceeds to the campaign

There will also be a planning meeting to prepare on Wednesday 20th May at 7pm, also at the Klondyke…

Please come along, meet nice people who care about our community, have a good time and show your support.

Keep up to date on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LLBSG/ 

Share the fundraising event with your friends and spread the word:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1578576752410405/

  

Stockport Road Resurfacing and Redesign

£2 million funding has been secured to resurface Stockport Road from the Appollo to McVities.

The stretch of Stockport Road running through Levenshulme in particular is in a dire state of repair and has been in desperate need of attention for some time so this is great news.

We understand the project will include new cycle provision and redesign of the road to improve access and usability. Residents’ groups and businesses will be included in consultation about the exact design.

The project is scheduled to start this summer (2015). Further details will be reported when available.

Aviva Community Fund

Insurance company Aviva have a Community Fund:

“The Aviva Community Fund offers you the chance to secure funding for an important cause in your community.

Open to everyone – Aviva customers, employees, insurance brokers or financial advisers (whether associated with Aviva or not) and the general public – we want you to submit a project for your community organisation and tell us what difference these much-needed funds could make.

Secure enough votes from friends, family and supporters in your community and you could be entered into the Finals, where a judging panel will award the funds.

The Aviva Community Fund offers support and funding to the causes close to your heart. Put forward a project for a local cause, and you could win it funding of up to £25,000.”

Further information is available HERE

People’s Health Trust Community Funding Available Now

Levenshulme qualifies for funding under the People’s Health Trust scheme as outlined by the organisation below:

“Local groups and organisations with great ideas to make their communities even better places to live are now invited to apply for funding to turn their ideas into reality.

Active Communities is a funding programme for community groups and not-for-profit organisations, with an income of less than £350,000 a year or an average of £350,000 over two years.

It’s for projects seeking investment of between £5,000 and £50,000 for projects lasting up to two years. We’re looking for small and local projects, genuinely designed and run by local people. By small, we mean just a small group of people on an estate, in a few streets or villages. 

We’re also looking for great ideas from communities of interest. By this we mean a group of people who have things in common and wish to come together to address something that is important to them. These ideas could be based in one neighbourhood, or cover a wider area. 

We run a two stage application process over a six week period that begins with a short online form. There’s step by step guidance to help you along the way but if you need any support, please call us on 020 7697 4021 or email us.”

Further information including an online application form is available HERE

LCA Election Results and 2015-16 Priorities

The LCA AGM this afternoon included elections with the following results:

Officers

  • Peter Naughton (Chair)
  • Jeremy Hoad (Secretary)
  • Malcolm Cowen (Treasurer)

Core Group Members

  • Matthew Ball
  • Karen Broady
  • Lawrence Hennigan
  • Mark Lake
  • John Roby Brown

Sir Gerald Kaufman MP (LCA Honorary President) was generous in his praise of Levenshulme’s diversity, initiative and identity as a fantastic place to live and work. He was particularly impressed with the strength of the LCA and the many other community groups across Levenshulme. He stressed the importance of having active and engaged residents that form the basis of a cohesive and mutually supportive community.

The meeting identified key areas for the work of the LCA over the coming year including:

  • finding a future for the Levenshulme Library building;
  • increasing community engagement;
  • ensuring active community involvement in the development of the new Arcadia Leisure Centre;
  • sharing information both online and through distributed means to reach as many people as possible;
  • building on the larger LCA membership of the past year;
  • providing more events such as the very successful LCA Community Forum meetings;
  • providing information on community funding opportunities and sources;
  • enabling and supporting greater involvement in the LCA from currently less represented groups in line with LCA key aims of inclusiveness;
  • exploring how to improve access at Levenshulme Station;
  • strengthening, developing and promoting Levenshulme as a great place to live, work and play.

LCA Officers and the Core Group will develop these ideas into firm proposals and practical priorities for 2015-16.

We are grateful to the support and hard work of the many groups that we collaborate with in Levenshulme and look forward to another positive and productive year for the benefit of all Levenshulme residents.


Levenshulme Market Fund 2015 Results

In a packed meeting at the Klondyke this evening voting took place for the Levenshulme Market Fund 2015. The following bids were funded to the amount shown. This means that everyone who bid for funding received funding as the LCDC bid was withdrawn. £15,000 was available for distribution.

Congratulations to all the successful bids and everyone who put in so much hard work for them. And well done to Levenshulme Market for their first fund reinvesting in Levenshulme.

Levenshulme Market is registered as a Community Interest Company. This is the first distribution of operating profits to community projects that are focussed on enabling local people to start up on the market or to existing local businesses to develop and revitalise Levenshulme High Street and its retail and business offer.

Levenshulme Market itself has gone from strength to strength over the past couple of years and went weekly from March to December last year. In 2015 Levenshulme Market Company will also start running markets at Manchester University and in the Northern Quarter.

Find out more about Levenshulme Market HERE

Winning proposals and amounts

Byrne the Cake Brewery – £610.56

David Foulger is a Levenshulme resident who has been perfecting his brewing in his home environment for six months and is now approaching the stage where he is ready to start trading on the market, thus launching Levenshulme’s own artisan brewery and helping gain more attention for Levenshulme’s independent traders and producers. David will use the money, if awarded, to buy equipment that will allow him to brew on a larger scale with a shorter time scale and less chance of spoilage.




Decourcey Designs – £760.00

Sharlene Decourcey is fourth generation Levenshulme and started her business trading in the Antiques Village a year ago. She would like to develop her skills, expand into market trading and build her business by undertaking further  training in upholstery, buying tools for her work and producing branded clothes, banners and business cards.



Indulge Dessert Café Expansion – £1400.00

Indulge is the only dessert cafe within the Levenshulme stretch of Stockport Road and they are keen to build their business by expanding their product range (to include pancakes, frozen yoghurt, slushies and professional coffees), increase their profile and visibility and make physical improvements to the shop. The funds they are applying for would be used to repaint the shop shutters and improve the signage, change the layout to improve service and maximise customer seating during busy periods, add customer toilet facilities, deliver a leaflet campaign in the area and purchase machines for making coffee, pancakes and frozen yoghurt.



Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre – £2210.00

The LCAC Shop will be a temporary, non-profit making hub of radical thinking for the Levenshulme community. It will open for two weeks during the Manchester International Festival (2nd-19th July 2015), with the aim of helping to seed the development of a future independent fringe festival. The Shop will function as an open social space, the aim of which is to create the possibility of imagining a new locality. It will serve coffee, sell radical texts and work/prints by local artists, and host free public talks, including connecting participants with other radically-minded individuals across the world via video-conferencing. It will be open to the public at varied times, including late nights for post-work discussions. The group are bidding for funds to run the shop, including rental and fittings, marketing and promotion of the space and paying/reimbursing visiting speakers and artists.



Lily and Daisy Flower Company – £890.00

The Lily and Daisy Flower Company will be based in Levenshulme as a market stall and local delivery service, operating by bike and selling only flowers sourced locally in season and from indoor growing operations in England and the Netherlands at other times, with the aim of being carbon neutral within two years of starting business. Melvyn Newton, who runs the Lily and Daisy Flower Company is bidding for funds for a bike trailer, a street trading licence, insurance and branding.



Love Levenshulme www.lovelevenshulme.org – £5000.00

Love Levenshulme is a digital and high street community asset. It was first created as an online map in 2014 and resident Pauline Johnson is seeking funds to develop it as a resource that will support local businesses, improve our trading environment, expand as a “live learning facility” and promote Levenshulme as a visitor destination. It’s a consumer facing, trader focused online resource and high street brand. The funds, if allocated, will be used to develop the site itself, to support engagement activity with traders and to launch a pop-up high street “hub” for the site, allowing business owners, residents and visitors to make their own contribution to its workings.



Samosa Shack – £1000.00

Samosa Shack is the brain child of Levenshulme resident Kamini Patel, who would like to develop an artisan food stall where he can sell Gujarati cuisine – particularly samosas, which will be made to order while customers wait.  He has applied for the fund to cover the costs of buying the equipment associated with setting up an outdoor hot food business as well as branding and design work to make his stall attractive to customers.



Thairish Café – Facelift – £2370.00

Levenshulme institution Thairish Café (previously Isis) are applying for funds to make their business an even more desirable destination on the high street and the interior will be a more welcoming and cleaner environment for customers. They would use the money, if awarded, to update the front of the cafe by cleaning and painting the outside area – meaning they will be more attractive to customers, particularly those coming to and from the market. They would also like to refurbish their customer toilet, making it a safer and cleaner environment, and to resurface the floor of the café.


Woolly Mammoth – £750.00

Woolly Mammoth is brings together locally sourced UK wool and vegetarian food with a focus on promoting positive mental health and well being.  The social enterprise, run by Levenshulme resident Charlotte Dillon and business partner Rachel Hall, will launch with a series of pop-up events at Levenshulme Market, with a view to eventually move to a shop space in Levenshulme. They will use the funds, if awarded, to cover the costs of buying equipment to cook their food, starter stock and branding.



All photographs courtesy of Jeremy Hoad.

Levenshulme Market Fund 2015 – Shortlist Announced

A message from Helen Power about the 2015 Levenshulme Market Fund:

Applications to the fund for 2015 have now closed. We have been inundated with excellent applications and, because we got roughly twice as many as we were expecting we have had to short list the candidates.

Thankfully, we have a trusty group of independent assessors who had agreed to act as supervisors for the applications and the voting and they have very kindly worked together to produce a short list from the applicants received. The short listed applicants/projects are as follows:

  1. Byrne the Cake Brewery
  2. Decourcey Designs
  3. Indulge Dessert Café – Expansion
  4. LCDC – Craft in the Community
  5. Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre – LCAC Shop
  6. Lily and Daisy Flower Company
  7. Love Levenshulme
  8. Samosa Shack
  9. Thairish Café – Facelift
  10. Woolly Mammoth

Further information about the voting event and the voting process are on our website HERE

What’s Going On Around The Station And Market?

If you wondered what was happening around the station and the market it is a clean up funded by the council’s Clean City fund.

This project is being led by Incredible Edible Levenshulme with Levenshulme Market Community Interest Company and other groups such as Levenshulme Youth Project. It is an interesting collaboration of groups and people across Levenshulme to improve our environment.

All sorts of things are part of the project from the mural on the container in the car park to tidying up trees and vegetation around the site, installing new planters on the A6, planting and improving the Village Green and installing trendy bike racks that double up as planters. This promises to make a big difference to the area and everyone is welcome to get involved.

A summary of the project is available on the council website HERE and a schedule of planned work has just been released (see below). A more detailed description of the project is available HERE one the Levenshulme Market website.

Bike racks to be installed on the station car park and planted with blueberry bushes.

Levenshulme Benefits From City Clean Up Funding

Levenshulme has been one of the first areas to benefit from a new fund created by Manchester City Council to deep clean the city and tidy up tatty looking areas. The new project will also include funding for community groups. The information released by the council is provided below.

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A fund of £5.5million is to be spent on a city-wide clean up programme.
The wide range of projects will improve district centres, parks and roads over the next few months, ensuring that benefits are seen as quickly as possible.

Parks and community spaces will receive £1.5million of the money, to fund works that have already been requested by friends groups and other organisations, such as cleaning war memorials, resurfacing children’s play areas, planting new flowers and low-maintenance shrubs, making improvements to existing allotments and creating new ones.

Another £1million will be spent on district centres, funding repairs to pedestrian crossings and railings, new lighting to improve visibility and deter crime as well as improvements to the appearance of run-down buildings. Parking issues will also be addressed, with updated signage, and there will also be improvements to grass verges and other open spaces.

As well as these practical projects, this funding will also help residents and businesses to organise their own community clean up campaigns, and will enable the setting up of business forums to support local traders who want to get involved too.

Over £1million will help to improve local infrastructure, renewing unsightly or rusted railings, benches and other street furniture, and replacing old litter bins with new, larger models like those recently introduced in the city centre.

Almost £500,000 will be spent on getting rid of overgrown, vacant plots and clearing waste grounds of debris across the city. There will be intensive work to clear grot-spots, roads, alleyways, and pieces of waste land across the city, which residents have complained about and, finally, in response to other concerns raised by schools, we’ll also use this funding to repaint road markings outside schools where dangerous parking is a problem.

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See the Council page HERE

New Community Funding From Laing O’Rourke

A message from Laing O’Rourke

We’re delighted to invite you the launch of the Laing O’Rourke Cash4Graft funding programme which is to take place from 18.00-20.00 on Tuesday 24th February 2015 at Laing O’Rourke offices at:
3 Archway, Birley Fields, Manchester, M15 5QJ

This exciting new fund focuses on supporting residents in the south Manchester area to come together to identify projects that will benefit their community and get together to deliver those projects. The programme will support grassroots community projects in and around the Arcadia Library and Leisure Centre development scheduled to be opened next year for sums from £50 to £250 which can kickstart great initiatives that make our neighbourhoods happier, healthier and safer places to live.

Laing commitment to engaging with local communities where it delivers projects is essential to their ethos and their corporate social responsibility strategy and the launch of this programme means that they can deliver real impact at a local level. – making a difference where you live!

This strength-based approach looks at what’s strong and not what’s wrong in communities – residents coming together to develop great ideas – and support existing groups that already deliver real impact in south Manchester neighbourhoods.

Please feel free to invite fellow community groups to what promises to be
an informal event where we can talk to you about the programme, how
you can get involved and how you can apply for funding from the programme. Forever Manchester is working in partnership with Laing O’Rourke to deliver this programme.

We’d be delighted to see you there and it would be great if you could e-mail me back to let me know that you can make it.

We look forward to meeting you.

Jean Mills
Head of Business Development

Email: jean@forevermanchester.com
Web: forevermanchester.com
Twitter: @JeanieFM

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(Google Maps link HERE)

Council Budget Cuts Last Chance To Comment

Today is the deadline for comments on the council’s proposed budget. This includes significant and severe cuts to services.

Comment via the council’s website HERE

Levenshulme Market Fund 2015

Levenshulme Market is awarding £15,000 worth of grants to people who want to make a difference to Levenshulme high street or to start or develop their own retail businesses.

As a social enterprise, the team behind Levenshulme Market have always been loud proponents of the idea that bad high streets don’t happen to economically healthy retail environments and that putting a market into a high street with multiple problems is not going to solve those problems overnight.

That is why, for their first ever Market Fund, they will be awarding £15,000-worth of grants to people who want to make a difference to Levenshulme high street and residents who want to start or develop their own retail businesses. Not only that, but they are asking the community to choose what they should fund.

The team are now taking applications for their “high street innovation fund” which will take applications for grants up to £5000 and are open to anyone who has a retail or high street improvement project they would like to deliver in Levenshulme and for their “market innovation fund” which is designed for Levenshulme residents who want to start or improve their own business on the market and is taking applications up to £1000.

The Market is on hiatus through the winter months but will restart on Saturday 7th March 2015 and will operate every Saturday this year until December.

The the final decisions on who will be funded by the scheme will be made by Levenshulme residents at an event being held on Sunday 8th March 2015, 5.00pm – 9.00pm, at The Klondyke Club, Burnage Range, Levenshulme, M19 2HQ.

Further information about the awards, how to enter and how to attend the voting event is available HERE

For more information please contact Helen Power, Director, Levenshulme Market CIC:
T: 07853 266 598
E: info@levymarket.co.uk
W: www.levymarket.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/levymarket
Twitter: @levymarket

Levenshulme Market container mural

The shipping container provide by the council for Levenshulme Market to store equipment has now been painted with a mural.

This is part of ongoing investment to tidy up the main Levenshulme car park, around the railway station and part of the A6 funded by a £25,000 Clean and Green award to Incredible Edible Levenshulme.

It is great to see investment by Manchester City Council in Levenshulme supporting local groups with businesses such as Levenshulme Market and community groups working together to improve Levenshulme.

A lot more work is planned including a green roof on the container, new planters, bike racks and landscaping around the car park. Further information is available HERE

(Thanks to Jamie Whittaker for the photo)

market container mural

Community First Funding 2014

Levenshulme neighbourhood has been allocated nearly £34k for distribution to local groups over 4 years. The local Panel has already been able to distribute c£14,000 to local groups and have a further £8,489 this year to give to projects and groups who want to make a difference in our community.

The Panel met on 13th January and confirmed that our Ward priorites are:

  • Helping people to find paid work with local learning hubs
  • Improving communications across groups and projects in the Ward
  • Making the most of existing social and leisure facilities and activities
  • Encouraging environmental projects and biodiversity in the Ward
  • Involving young people  in positive local activities and contributing to the Youth Forum across South Manchester

Bids which contribute to these priorities and which are distinctive and creative, will be considered by the Panel in early March. Application forms and national information can be found on the CDF website under Community First/Manchester/Levenshulme. Bids for between £250 and £1,000 have to be in by 28th Feb and can be sent direct to the Panel (email:  info@levenshulmecommunityfirst.org.uk). All bids have to show that there is matched funding which can be in the form of volunteering hours, which the government says is worth £11.09 per hour

Groups funded last year:

  • Friends of Highfield Country Park – Young People’s Community Allotment and straw bale centre
  • Levenshulme Youth Dance. Professional coaching for Sport and dance activities organised by the young people themselves as part of the Youth Project Forum
  • Lovelevy Fallowfield Loop – the Quadrants project launch event
  • Gaelic Football
  • UKIM Womens Welfare Wing
  • ALLFM volunteers Group – refurb of basement activity room
  • Levenshulme Food Festival
  • Teenage Pregnancy Pilot Project on affordable and nutritious food
  • North Levy Community Group: Summer Fun Day and Apple Day events
  • Personal and Community History; displays and exhibitions and activities

Small Grants available for projects for older people

Valuing Older People (VOP) Small Grants Fund

Age-friendly Manchester Small Grants Fund

A partnership between Valuing Older People and Trinity House Community Resource Centre, the Age-friendly Small Grants fund provides small grants of up to £300 for projects that benefit older people living in the City of Manchester. Priority is given to grant applications looking to provide sustainable support to community groups and projects in Manchester, and in particular, projects tackling social isolation and loneliness. We accept applications from voluntary organisations, community groups and charities.

Two rounds of grants applications will be held in 2014, deadlines for applications being:

  • Friday 31 January
  • Thursday 31 July

For more information, please download an application pack or contactRebecca Bromley, phone 0161 234 4049, emailr.bromley@manchester.gov.uk