Join us for a fundraiser for Palestine at Bluebell Green.
We are witnessing unspeakable horror in the genocide in Gaza. We want to add our voices of opposition, support for a ceasefire and find some hope in the coming together of our community.
We will be creating and crafting birds to add to the Birds of Gaza project.
Add your finger and hand prints to our giant kite which will be displayed at Bluebell Green to keep the story of Palestine alive. This is inspired by Refaat Alareer’s poem of protest and hope.
Help to plant seeds of hope. You can plant and take home your own pot, and/or help us to plant vegetables and flowers to grow at Bluebell Green.
Plus story time and all our usual outdoor play.
There will also be refreshments and food on sale.
As this is an event for all ages we’re conscious that parents might want to make decisions about what their children hear/ learn about appropriate for their age. So all activities will be suitable for all ages and the focus is on hope and community.
A team from Dowhigh Ltd has been on the Village Green today clearing overgrown shrubs, scattering poppy seeds and replanting. Some plants have been recycled but many new plants have been supplied by the marvellous Bud Garden Centre. The planters have been refreshed with new soil and plants and the whole area will be cleaned and tidied up. New murals are also planned. It is a big improvement already and we look forward to seeing how it develops and the final results. Hopefully the Bee will be repaired as well as we have previously reported the cracks and damage.
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
Grounded MCR are holding CRINGLE BARK (raising money for @dogs4rescue ) on SAT 8th JULY 10-4pm
DOG SHOW 10-12pm – no need to book on but it is first come, first served. 15 dogs max per category and all entry fees to @dogs4rescue. (Categories on poster.)
Doggie paddling pool Prizes – rosettes and Dogimisu from @paradisoauthentic
FREE KIDS ACTIVITIES: – bouncy castle – glitter tattoos from @soul_sisters_universal – entertainment 12.30-2 from Singalong Sally – we defy you not to love her!
FOOD & DRINK – pizza, chips and more from @social_scranevents – luxury ice cream from @exclusive_scoop – brews and cakes from us -hopefully a bar too
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.
St Marys RC Primary School have been working with a group of 8 Year 5 children for this project, based in our local nature reserve, Highfield Country Park, alongside the Friends of Highfield Country Park.
The children have been making woodland crafts, and Martin Maudsley has told the group nature stories over the 4 seasons and been filmed there.
The whole project will be at The Whitworth Art Gallery for the day on Saturday 2nd July. The children will have stalls to tell visitors about the woodland crafts (foraging, whittling, coppicing, charcoal making, willow bark weaving, wreath making and clay), and Martin is telling stories.
The Bee Sanctuary has got together an amazing group of people with specialist knowledge to help them make as comprehensive as possible record of the wildlife on the Bee Sanctuary and Highfield Country Park in ONE DAY.
Birdwatchers, Bug hunters, Bee botherers, Slug lovers and all nature watchers welcome.
There will be a School Street Event followed by lots of family activities in the park, supported by MCC Parks, Friends of Chapel Street, Bluebell Gardens, Bee Sanctuary Movement and Grounded MCR CIC.
Join the Friends of Highfield Country Park for their monthly walk around the park on Saturday 28th May!
They will be exploring different areas of the park and discovering the range of nature and wildlife that can be found. This will also be a chance to find out more about the Friends group and their future plans.
Everyone is welcome to join and the walk will be suitable for all ages and abilities. Meet by the Bowler Street entrance (postcode: M19 2UA) at 11am with the walk lasting until around 12.30pm.
Friends of Highfield Country Park are looking for new committee members. Message below:
We are looking for two volunteer roles to fill in the committee and we would be extremely grateful if you could let us know if you are interested by emailing janesebire@yahoo.co.uk
We would also be very grateful if you could send this opportunity to anyone in your networks who might be interested.
Treasurer
As treasurer, you have responsibility for looking after our group’s money. Your role will be to keep transparent accounts including receipts and report to the committee. This role will require approximately 4 hours per month and is ideally suited to someone with financial or accounting experience.
Social Media Volunteer
We are looking for a creative and technologically savvy individual to help the Friends of Highfield engage the local community with the park, including through our new website and social media. We think this will require approximately 4 hours per month.
If you are interested drop us a line and let us know why you would like volunteer for your local green space. Let us know by 19th April, and we look forward to meeting up for a walk around the park,
Best wishes,
Alec, Jane, Vicki and Lillian
Committee of The Friends of Highfield Country Park
The Levenshulme Christmas Lights Switch On Event will be on Friday 26th November on the Village Green.
This is always a highlight of the year and a true community event open to everyone, organised by and for our community. Businesses and groups across Levenshulme come together to make this happen with funding. Thanks to Levenshulme Traders Association for organising everything.
The event starts at 16.00 with Father Christmas arriving at 16.30 and the lights switch on at 17.30. There will be entertainment and guests throughout and free presents to the first 300 children.
It is great to be able to have the Christmas Lights Switch On again this year but please bear in mind that Covid is still a factor in our lives so please be respectful of others and the ongoing advice to ensure a safe and happy event.
Some time ago Levenshulme Community Association suggested that the old phone box on the Village Green be converted into a location for a public access defibrillator. We have now heard that the council is exploring this. We will provide updates when further information is known.
Advice from the British Heart Foundation is available;e HERE
There is currently a public access defibrillator at Levenshulme Station.
A dog walk around Highfield Country Park is happening today to show support for a local resident and her dogs and all victims of dog violence. This follows a recent attack by an out of control dog that resulted in the death of another dog and injury and trauma to other dogs and people.
Thanks to Laurie for organising this in a show of love, support and solidarity.
When and where?
START 14.00 (gather from 13.30) at the Bowler Street entrance to Highfield Country Park
FINISH at the Fallowfield Loop entrance.
The route passes through the open green bit where the playground is for some running about, along the freshly resurfaced path next to the golf club, then back down past the Bluebell pond, the little animal graveyard, and picnic area, before following the path next to the stream to the Loop exit and more running around space.
It should be a nice easy stroll, and everyone is free to do as much or as little of it as they want/feel able, with or without a dog! (You can even sneakily cut across to short cut it and wait for us to meet you at the end.)
Station South may still not be open yet but they’ve teamed up with Pow Wow Pedal Power, Cycling UK and The Big Bike Revival for a Family Bike Ride on the Fallowfield Loop.
Start 19 September at 13.00 at The Quadrants entrance to the Floop on Crayfield Road.
There will be a litter pick at Cringle Park and Field on Sunday. These happen on the first Sunday of every month 10-11.00. Meet at the stone circle. Bags are provided. Please bring your own litter picker and gloves if you have them.
“If you’re wandering round Levy tomorrow, you might like to pop down and take a look at some of the stuff I’ve been painting in lockdown. You can find me on the grassy knoll behind the Crayfield Road entrance to the cycle path – just round the corner from the Antiques Village. Look forward to seeing you.“
The Friends of Cringle Park and Field are doing a survey:
“The Friends of Cringle Park and Field want to create a vision and a long term plan to improve the park. To be able to do this we want to find out who uses the park, why they use it, what they like about it and what they would like to change. All the information you give us will help us secure money to improve the park.This is the first of what will be an annual survey. Please share the survey link with friends and family as we would like as many individual people as possible to complete it. The survey has 13 questions and should only take 5 minutes to complete. Thank you very much!”
Over the past year Levenshulme Community Association has developed the Levenshulme Community Directory. This LCA project, developed and led by LCA Secretary Jeremy Hoad, is a resource for our community and promotes Levenshulme to the wider world.
The Community Directory shares information, supports community cohesion and links people together as well as supporting several key aims identified in the Levenshulme Community Manifesto.
The Directory provides listings organised into five themed sections as well as a complete A-Z page:
The Community Directory is a “live” resource and always open to additions and improvements. If you have anything you think should or could be added then please get in touch.
Monday 8th March is International Women’s Day. Levenshulme Ramblers encourages residents to travel to Highfield country park to learn about the various women that shaped our city.
Across highfield there will be over 20 information sheets dotted around the place. Who can you find? And what will you learn?
This is socially distanced activity for International Women’s Day in conjunction with and funded by Manchester City Council.
Thanks to Levenshulme Ramblers for organising this.
The recent consultation and engagement around the Fallowfield Loop and Yellow Brick Road allowed users to have their say on what they liked and disliked about the route and provide suggestions of how to improve the route in the future. There was an overwhelming response to the engagement exercise with over 5200 residents and users having their say.This was in part due to the support provided by Friends of Fallowfield Loop, who helped promote the consultation and placeposters along the route.
People who took part told us that the existing urban greenway along the Fallowfield Loop and Stockport Branch Canal is cherished for its rural feel within an urban environment. Users feel like they can escape the hustle and bustle of the city into this secluded setting in the heart of Manchester. It does however have issues such as crime, anti-social behaviour, and fly tipping, which detract from its good points and make some users feel so vulnerable that they avoid using it.
Respondents told us that their priorities were:
Addressing personal safety and anti-social behaviour
Complimenting the existing habitat and biodiversity
Providing a more open route
Connecting to surrounding neighbourhoods
Revitalising the existing landscape to create more open and less intimidating environment for users.
Upgrading access points to make the entrances prominent and the route accessible, creating a more inviting route to travel along.
Transforming and enhancing open areas to provide places for people to enjoy.
They also raised a number of repeat issues such as poor access, signage and visibility of the route, along with the need to eliminate the public perception of the route being unsafe to travel along because of issues relating to crime and anti-social behaviour.
The poor access points, connectivity, and signage to and from the Fallowfield Loop and Stockport Branch Canal were all raised during the engagement exercise. Users felt that by improving existing access points and creating more would make the route more attractive and potentially reduce crime and anti-social behaviour by providing a “safety in numbers” approach.
UPDATE: The group won and has secured £5,000 funding for their proposals in Chapel Street Park.
A new local group, Friends of Chapel Street Park are in the running for a £5,000 grant to make improvements to the park. Their proposal is:
“Chapel Street Park is the oldest park in Levenshulme, near Manchester, and is a green space surrounded by terraced housing and flats, most of which don’t have gardens of their own. The local Friends of the Park group have grand plans for the former bowling green that’s in desperate need of some restoration, and they aim to transform the space into a sunshine-inspired community garden with areas dedicated to vegetable growing, wildlife and wellbeing.”
Friends of Chapel Street Park Higgidy funding bid
Three grants of £5,000 are being made by the Higgidy Family Kitchen company. The winners will be announced on 25 January 2021.
You can view all ten shortlisted projects and vote for your favourite HERE
EDIT: Click HERE to see the Manchester Evening News article on the Friends of Chapel Street Park proposals.
Higgidy Winners Announcement
“We’d like to say a huge congratulations to Brighton Women’s Refuge, Chapel Street Park and the Little Growers Club who are our three lucky #SeedsofJoy competition winners!
These projects have won £5000 each to go towards their beautiful community veg garden projects. Alongside this, they’ll receive a special consultation with @francestophill to get them going on their project.Thank you to everyone who has entered and supported this competition, we hope that you’ll all continue growing veggies and reaping the benefits that community gardens have to offer.”
Photo courtesy HiggdyPhoto courtesy Manchester Evening News
Manchester City Council has been allocated funding from the (Greater Manchester) Mayor’s Challenge Funding (MCF) to improve the Fallowfield Loop. Funding will go towards cycling and walking improvements to help the public safely make essential trips by walking, cycling and other active modes of travel. Measures that are already being looked at include:
Providing Street Lighting along the route.
Introduce more litter bins and seating areas.
Widening the route to 3 metres or more.
Introduce new areas of public realm for everyone to enjoy.
The Fallowfield Loop proposals are the latest of Manchester’s Bee Network proposals to be developed and the Council is asking for feedback to help determine the details of the plan.
You can also see a video below about the project from Angeliki Stogia, Manchester City Council Executive Member with responsibility for environment, transport and planning.
A trial will start in July 2020 of some of the Levenshulme Bee Network changes to our roads. 29 locations will have changes with roads being blocked to vehicle traffic. But which roads will not be affected?
Residents have made their own maps to help people see which routes will not have road blocks to vehicles on them starting in July (referred to as “modal filters”). These roads are likely to have significantly increased traffic.
The reason these have been done is the Levenshulme Bee Network maps do not show which roads traffic in the area will be redirected onto and can be used as “through routes”. They have been done by residents to help everyone understand the impact of the project and so people can plan how to change the routes they take from July.
Roads that traffic will be diverted onto:
Albert Road
Barlow Road
Broom Lane
Cromwell Grove
Crossley Road
Grangethorpe Drive
Hemmons Road
Kingsway
Matthews Lane
Moseley Road
Mount Road
Slade Lane (north of Albert Road)
See below for the maps. Further information on the July changes can be found HERE
Levenshulme and surrounding areas are about to experience major changes to our roads.
This is the first stage of the changes being imposed by the Levenshulme Bee Network Project. This is a new idea to create a “Filtered Neighbourhood” and to make walking and cycling easier by blocking off roads and restricting access for motorised vehicles. A whole host of other ideas are planned as well. This is just the start.
Travelling around Levenshulme and getting to and from the area will never be the same again.
12 June update
Please note that the information below was correct when it was posted. However, Levenshulme Bee Network has now changed the description on its website about the July 2020 changes. There is nothing on their website to indicate this has been changed.
Original text when the announcement was made:
“In the next few weeks we will be installing 29 temporary modal filters throughout the neighbourhood.
These will remain in place for a minimum of six months whilst we consult and tweak the filters with your feedback. They will then become permanent within 18 months.”
New text as of 12 June 2020:
“In the next few weeks we will be installing 29 temporary modal filters throughout the neighbourhood.
The trial will be undertaken using an experimental traffic regulation order which means that we can make changes following your feedback and monitor the impact for the first 6 months before the Council decides if the filters will be implemented on a permanent basis. All feedback from residents and monitoring of traffic, pedestrian and cycling levels as well as air quality levels will be considered before any of the filters are installed permanently.”
See below for details of the roads that will be affected, what will be done in July and maps including these changes.
Many of you will have noticed that the lovely Living Tree that we planted on the Village Green is looking, well, less than living. Unfortunately this tree along with three others in other locations have died. This is despite our collective efforts as a community to welcome our tree to Levenshulme, make it feel happy and keep it watered (huge thanks to everyone who helped with that).
But don’t worry, Levenshulme Community Association has been working with Manchester City Council and the suppliers to find a solution. We are pleased to confirm that the tree will be replaced. This is at no additional cost to us.
A new tree will be supplied and planted later in the year and we will let everyone know when this happens so we can collectively say hello to our new living Living Tree.
Levenshulme Community Association is delighted to have worked with partners to plant a living tree on the Village Green.
The new tree will be a permanent feature and means that we will no longer have to pay annually for a Christmas tree. The new tree has been planted in the same position as the Christmas tree is positioned. This means the Village Green remains unobstructed with good views of the Levenshulme Bee and when decorated with lights at Christmas it will be visible from a distance along Stockport Road.
The tree is a sequoiadendron giganteum (giant redwood). This is the best type of tree because it is resilient, long lasting and will establish itself quickly. It was supplied by Glendale Civic Trees, imported from the Netherlands.
We are grateful to Manchester City Council for providing funding through the Neighbourhood Investment Fund. Sponsors also providing funding are:
Levenshulme Traders Association
Great Places
One Manchester
Manchester Central Fund
Levenshulme Community Association
Thanks to Manchester City Council for arranging all necessary groundworks and in particular to Ikhlas Ur-Rahman, MCC Neighbourhood Officer for providing the support and coordination to enable this project to happen. This would also not have been possible without the support of Levenshulme Councillors Dzidra Noor, Basat Sheikh and Bernard Stone.
The Living Tree also meets several of the aims of the Levenshulme Community Manifesto including to:
Protect and enhance our formal and informal green spaces for recreation and play.
Promote changes for clean air and to reduce pollution.
Improve our urban landscape, for example with more street trees.
“As you may have seen in an article on Manchester Evening New’s website yesterday Manchester City Council are now looking to build a school on Showcase Cinema, Hyde Road and not Nutsford Vale. We held our monthly meeting today and we our very pleased with this outcome. As stated on Manchester City Council’s website and the article on line, it has proved far too expensive to build safely on Nutsford Vale. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last three years. NUTSFORD VALE STAYS GREEN!!”
Family Event at Highfield Country Park – Building Bat & Bird Boxes – Fri 27th October
Come to this family friendly event and help protect the wildlife of the park. The biodiversity of the park is growing, and it is great news we now have confirmed bat populations living there. This event is supported by the John Muir Trust and we are grateful to them for support. Read more about bats in the UK at the Bat Conservation Trust.
Location: Highfield Country Park (meet at the picnic area by the Fallowfield Loop)
The biggest dog show in Levenshulme is back! Those doggies are itching to dust off their glad rags and strut their stuff. Wuff!
Do you enjoy baking? Bring your cake down on the day for the stall. It will be greatly appreciated. Just drop us a message. Those who can’t bake can still help. Let us know if you’re interested.
A protest march against cuts to school funding will be held on 29th April starting at 12.00 from the main entrance to Cedar Mount School and heading to Crowcroft Park for a rally and picnic.
“Please contact Miss Hollywood on 0161 359 3160 if you are interested in attending the protest at Crowcroft park on Sat 29th April. We will be setting off from the main gates at Cedar Mount Academy at 12.00 noon, bring placards and loud voices. Please share the post with your friends #whatwouldyoucut #saveourschool”
