New LoveLevenshulme Postcards

Wahey!

We finally did it! We've now got stacks and stacks of LoveLevenshulme postcards ready for you lot to pick up and start spreading your love for Levenshulme. At the moment they're only stocked in POD but we'd like to have them in as many places as possible so get in touch if you're a cafe, bar or shop in Levy and you'd like a pile of cards to give away get in touch and we'll bring some over to you.

Ed Sprake - Exhibition

Local photographer, Ed Sprake, who we profiled a few weeks back, has got his first show at the Portico Library and Gallery as part of Northern Exposure, an exciting new exhibition showcasing local photographers.

As well as Ed, the exhibition will show work from Chris Dutton, Stephen Fellows and Robert King and runs from Tuesday 5th April until Thursday 28th April . For more details visit the Portico website or Facebook page.

Market Days - Show Your Love

Another reminder that today and tomorrow are market days in Levenshulme, with Manchester Market's food and local produce market being held today on the green and opposite on Station View (down the side of Mellor estate agents and into the car park behind). It's open until 4.00pm so there's still time to get down there and pick up some yummy food for the weekend.

And for those of you who can't make it today there will be a craft fair in Antiques Village yard with more Levy loveliness, including limited edition Made in Levensulme babygrows and bibs and Love Levenshulme canvas bags. The fair will be situated immediately outside Agapanthus and since they still hold the title of my favourite shop in Levy I thought it might be a good time to remind you to pop in and say hello - they've got lots of new stock which can be viewed on their website. I'm hoping to drop in some LoveLevenshulme postcards before the big day too so pick some up to pass on your love for Levy.

Tagpassiton Community Loyalty Scheme

The tagpassiton scheme is a discount card for residents, designed to encourage us to shop local - something we here at LoveLevenshulme are all in favour of. The cards, which come with a fob, can be bought from the website at a cost of £5.00 and entitle holders to discounts at loads of Levenshulme traders, including:

• 1001 Antiques
• Agapanthus Antiques
• Antique Village Cafe
• Bridgette's Flowers
• Bubble Cafe at Inspire
• Emily Pitts Creative
• Gareth Batowski Furniture
• Isis Cafe
• M19 Bar
• POD
• Shine Hair & Beauty
• Village Stores
• www.depomedia.co.uk
• www.doodlelove.etsy.com

You may recognise tagpassiton from some of the banners currently adorning Levenshulme and the team behind it are involved in Levenshulme Business Week.

Aside from being a great way of getting discount for local shops and services, the scheme also offers an opportunity for community organisations to raise funds for their work - schools, charities and local groups can purchase the cards in bulk for £2.50 each from tagpassiton and sell them on, keeping any profit for their community work. Visit the website for more details.

The Age of Stupid

Community Arts North West have arranged a showing of the Pete Postlethwaite film on climate change, The Age of Stupid at Inspire on Thursday 7th April. They're really keen for it to be a welcoming and enjoyable social occasion so they've arranged for there to be a cafe run by volunteers selling snacks before the showing and a discussion after it for attendees to air their views on what they thought of the film and how we can act on climate change both as individuals and communities.

The screening starts at 7.00pm but the cafe will be open from 6.00pm. Tickets cost £3.00 and can be booked at www.ecoweekenda.org.uk. For any more information, contact Pauline on 0161 448 2834

Cycle Repairs at POD

On Sunday POD will play host to Dave of Revolve Mobile Cycle Repairs who will be on hand to carry out basic repairs, services and all manner of bike related-services and advice so that you can relax with a latte while they, as the poster puts it "fettle with your metal". Dave will be on hand from 10.00am til 4.00am and you can follow him on Twitter as @revolveMCR of get in touch with him direct at dave@revolvemcr.com or 07939 062 600.

Friday Night Disco III

Friday Night Disco returns to the Klondyke this, er, Friday, for another evening of dancing, drinking and general misbehaving, with Gary, Graham & Pip playing tunes to dance extravagantly to.

Festivities kick off at 8.00pm and continue late into the night. Entrance is £3.00 with £1.00 of that going to Save Levenshulme Baths & Surestart campaigns. Check out the Facebook page for more info.

Levy Baths - Community Project

Celia Turley, an MA visual anthropology student at Manchester university, has been in touch about a project she is planning with some fellow students about the importance of Levenshulme swimming pool to the local community.

She's hoping to speak to Levenshulme residents who have been using the pool for a few years about their memories and experience of the pool, to try and discover why such a strong response was formed in Levenshulme when the baths were threatened with closure. Whether you've been going to the pool once a week to catch up with a friend and have a swim at the same time, or teaching your child to swim, no experience or thought is insignificant in building up a picture of what relevance the pool has for the community. It's a really interesting project and another opportunity for us to show off the fact that we do things differently here in Levenshulme so please get in touch with Celia if you have anything you'd like to say.

Market Bonanza!

Seriously, we're getting close to having more markets than people here in Levenshulme...

First of all a reminder - this Friday is the first ever Levenshulme Street Market, brought to us by the acclaimed Manchester Street Markets team. Emily Wardman, who organised the craft fairs at the library last year, has been in touch to say that they'll be taking two stalls at the fair. The market promises a massive range of locally produced wares - from finest wild-salmon and freshest sea-trout to pretty cupcakes and mouth-watering fudge. And it's not just food - there will also be clothing and authentic arts and crafts, courtesy of Emily's "Made in Levenshulme" stalls - yummy cakes, stationary, home wares, hand made soaps, fashion and accessories and quirky prints are just a few of the goodies that will be on offer.

The market will be held on the green and opposite on Station View (down the side of Mellor estate agents and into the car park behind) from 9.00am to 4.00pm and will be held on the fourth Friday of every month from March onwards. Please do try and get down to the market so we can show Manchester Markets that they made the right choice in coming to Levenshulme and encourage them to keep coming.


Now, sadly, like me, many of you have to work on Fridays and might not be able to make the market...well never fear! The intrepid creatives of Levenshulme have a solution! Emily will also be holding an arts and crafts fair at the Antiques Village this Saturday. The fair will be open from 10.00am to 5.00pm in the court and will show the very best of locally hand made products including cakes, fashion, textiles, hand made soaps and toiletries, paintings and much more. All the details can be found on the Facebook page.

Levenshulme Means Business

Levenshulme Traders Association are working with Manchester City Council to organise a week of events encouraging enterprise in Levenshulme. The programme starts on Monday 21st March at venues around the area and include taster sessions from the Mary Portas training course, HSE accredited courses for the workplace and sessions on online business.



All the events can be found here. Contact Cassim Kaaba from Manchester City Council if you are interested in booking.

Vernacular Spaces at Bankley Studios

A new photographic exhibition exploring how young people occupy and define their personal space will preview at Levenshulme's Bankley Studios on Friday night.


Social documentary photographer Sangita Mistry and artist Monixa Mistry have undertaken a participatory photography project looking through the eyes of high school students from India and England. The personal investigation gives insight into two different communities.


The exhibition will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00am-4.00pm until 3rd April and on Saturday 26th March the artists will be in attendance to discuss their work.


For more information visit the Bankley Studios website.

Levenshulme’s Got Talent

You betcha we do!

As part of Levenshulme Business Week, pupils from St Mary's and Alma Park schools will be showcasing their talents on Tuesday 22nd March at St Mary’s Parish Centre. The show will start at 3.30pm and promises the best of young talent in Levenshulme. The children will in front of the judges for 2 minutes with their acts which will include steel pans, bollywood dancing, disco dancing, singing.

Tickets are £1.00 from St Mary's and Alma Park receptions and you can contact Marion Quinn (link - marionq32@gmail.com) from St. Mary's Parish for more details - 07767 497 625.

Tradfest 2011

Tradfest, the Levenshulme arm of the Manchester Irish Festival, is in full swing. There's lots going on, from Irish Blues to a special St Patrick's day concert. One particular highlight for me is the exhibition of photography from County Mayo being held now in The Union Inn.

The exhibition has been put together by Tony Hennigan with contributions from a group of photographers from all over the UK and Ireland, including Eamonn O’Boyle who will be showing work from his recently launched book.

Also in the exhibition are Kerstin Hellmann, exhibiting work from this years Mayo Calendar, Castlebar based photographer Alison Laredo (whose photograph of girl with horse in mayo hat is shown above).

Other photographers include Bill Heaney, Karen Golden, Clare Dews, Trevor Buckley, John Fergus and Con Hayes.

Levenshulme Salon Launch – Save ALL FM

Just a quick reminder that tickets for the launch night for the Levenshulme Salon, which is being held at The Klondyke on 19th March 2011, are on sale at POD, the Bluebell, the Klondyke Club and www.wegottickets.com. Tickets are just £5.00 and all the details can be found on the Facebook page.



The line up for the evening is now taking shape and will include performances by Caulbearers, Blue Grenade Phil Davies and the Ninja Smokebombs and The KJs. More importantly, though, this event is also a fundraiser for ALL FM, which is currently under “risk of closing should funding from Manchester City Council be ceased immediately with no replacement.”




The station is due to celebrate its tenth anniversary this year and claims to provide “a voice for the community by the community,” training its staff and members (there are currently 150 volunteers) on all aspects of broadcasting, from presenting, to producing and editing.



It broadcasts shows in a variety of languages - English, Farsi, Urdu and Polish - and works within the community alongside vulnerable groups, often giving local coverage to organisations that may have been excluded from the mainstream media.



There is an online petition to save the station, which you can access here.

Convulse at POD

Until 18th March POD will be showcasing work from a new puppet installation by Theresa Wilson. The launch night was on 4th March and included a visit to a nearby secret location to view a puppet installation involving movement and shadow. You can still view the puppets themselves by contacting Theresa on 07792374128.



Teresa Wilson is a textile and installation artist exploring the territory between sculpture, poetry and theatre.


Her recent solo exhibition Changelings (i) showed at the Chapman Gallery, University of Salford in February 2010. Changelings (i) explored ideas of melancholy, isolation and fear in a darkly humorous re-telling of folk tales about fairies and snatched babies; shadowy figures offering a darkly romantic vision of a dreamlike alternative reality.



Convulse retells a true story of Irish Immigration, hardship and cruelty, to coincide with Manchester Irish Festival.

Fruitful Levenshulme

More proof, if it were needed, that Levenshulme residents have a lot of fight in them – hot on the heels of the victory over the planned baths closure, North Levenshulme Community Group have won their battle to plant fruit trees on wasteground at the junction of Ark Street and Park Grove.



The group have now planted seven trees - all native British varieties - and hope they will be used as a community orchard to provide free fruit. Having been given a grant for the trees and planting two years ago, the plans were delayed when the council insisted they buy expensive insurance for the site.



Members of North Levenshulme Community Group are planning a party to celebrate later in the year and we’ll let you know as soon as we have details.

Irish Food and Film Night at Inspire

Tomorrow night Inspire are hosting an evening with an Irish theme, to tie in with the Manchester Irish Festival. Traditional Irish food with be served at 5.30pm, followed by two Irish films. The first film is The Secret of Kells, a Celtic fable set in the Middle Ages and was Oscar Nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2010, which will be shown at 7.00pm.

Then at 8.40pm after there will be a showing of Six Shooter, a black and bloody Irish comedy (with an 18 certificate to match, so not one for the kids) which won the Oscar for Live Action Short Film in 2006.

Admission to The Secret of Kells is £4.50 and Six Shooter is £2.50 or you can see both for £6.00. Dinner is charged seperately. To book contack James Hennigan on 07833 461222.

VICTORY!

Right, this is very late and I’m very sorry, although given the jubilation and press coverage it got I’m sure you all already know but, just in case…


LEVENSHULME BATHS ARE SAFE!



At last Monday’s scrutiny and governance meeting the council announced that they will be exploring options for refurbishing or even replacing the baths with a new facility and that the baths will remain open until that time – at least two years.



I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank all the protesters and the people of Levenshulme who worked incredibly hard to save this vital facility. You have proved, once again, that Levenshulme is an engaged community like no other and that we will not be marginalised. The achievement is massive and the statement it makes is even bigger. This is a victory for the people of Levenshulme.



As I’ve said before, LoveLevenshulme is all about creativity – we like to show people ways that they can engage with their community by getting crafty and creative – but there certainly seems to be an audience for a more politically-engaged blog for Levenshulme and that’s something we’d really like to encourage. If there’s anyone out there who thinks they’d like to provide a voice for all the community groups and events that are happening out there we’d be happy to help. Get in touch and Tim and I will talk you through setting up a blog, using social media, whatever takes your fancy!

Naturally Cycling Levenshulme

It’s always nice to hear from fellow Levenshulme bloggers so we were pleased to get an email from Lorenza who writes the Naturally Cycling blog which covers her love for cycling and the adventures she has with her bike in and around Manchester. As she’s a Levenshulme resident it features quite a lot, highlighting what a great place it is to live. Because, as she so simply puts it “well…that’s the truth”.



A is a picture from the blog of Cringle Park in the snow and there’s more Levy and non-Levy content besides. There are a lot of cyclists here in M19, not least because we’re quite well served by cycle routes, so why not get in touch with Lorenza with your ideas about good cycle routes and trips.