History Group next talk: May 2nd, “The Lost Railways of South Manchester”

The Chorlton History Group meets on the first Thursday of each month starting at 1.30pm, at Wilbraham St Ninians Church, Chorlton

Next meeting: Thurs May 2nd 2013:   Roy Chapman will give a talk on “The Lost Railways of South Manchester”

Contact Bernard Leach (BTLeach@gmail.com) to be put on the Chorlton history mailing list

Assembling the Good Neighbours Greenhouse

On a cold damp Friday morning in March (08-03-13) the Chorlton Good Neighbours gardening group made a start on assembling the newly purchased B&Q 10' x 8' greenhouse 

John, our resident DIY supremo had already made a wooden template for the base, so today was about levelling the ground, digging a trench, ramming the earth flat, putting coarse grit and sand down and then laying & mortaring the breeze blocks. Finally the aluminium base was assembled and put on top of the breeze blocks

The next day, Saturday 9th March 2013, saw us start on the next stage of assembling the greenhouse . It was another cold and damp day. The base had been constructed the day before. The ground had been levelled and a trench had been dug out for the breeze block base.  We had pummeled the earth solid and flat using a rammer, then we laid a load of sandy gravel. John then put the breeze blocks in position and mortared in between the joints. Meanwhile the aluminium base had been assembled and we put in place on top of the breeze blocks and left it overnight to set.

On Saturday morning we started assembling the aluminium greenhouse frame, starting with the rear gable. Again, John took the lead and after finding the relevant struts and nuts, bolts and fixing plates we eventually managed to complete the rear side of the greenhouse. By then we were all so cold (especially our fingers from working with nuts and bolts on the cold aluminium) , that we called it a day. Next step, the front panel and door!

Survey of Good Neighbours' Exercise Classes

Good Neighbours gets funding for its weekly exercise sessions with the Getting Active Through Exercise (GATE) Project. These sessions take place on Mondays (1.30 pm),  Wednesdays (1.30pm) and Fridays at 10.00am.

In order to evaluate how useful these sessions are to participants Good Neighbours and GATE cooperated in carrying out a survey of those who attend these classes. A full report of this survey and those carried out at GATE funded exercise classes elsewhere in Manchester will be published late, but the initial findings from the CGN survey are now available

Nearly all the  replies gathered through the survey exercise were extremely positive, and has shown that the GATE project classes are a well received, popular service of benefit to the attendees of the classes taking place at Chorlton Good Neighbours. 54 filled in questionnaires out of a possible 65, which is a high response rate (84%)

Attendees ages ranged from 65 to 96, with the average age being 79 which shows you are never too old to exercise

One if four got to the sessions by transport provided by CGN, without which they would have been unable to attend. Many thanks to the volunteer drivers who make this possible

The respondents reported that as a result of attending the classes they had

• confidence in preparing or cooking a light meal (54%)
• increased confidence in walking round the house (53%)
• Confidence doing light housework (48%)
• Confidence going out to do light shopping (41%)

In order of importance they rated the following benefits of coming to the classes:

• greater flexibility (28%)
• spending time with others (17%)
• decreased joint pain (12%)
• greater confidence (11%)
• decreased muscle pain (8%)
• improved strength (7%)
• better sleep (6%)
• increased motivations and more energy (5%)

A large number of respondents have reported increased levels of activity, increased and prolonged mobility and increased confidence in their mobility levels, directly as a result of attending and participating in the GATE project exercise classes.

Also, a large number of respondents have reported that attending the classes has improved their sense of wellbeing, improved their social lives and helped combat feelings of isolation and loneliness. This anecdotal reporting of improved wellbeing and by default, improved mental health, cannot be underestimated and is extremely valuable information for both service providers and commissioners.

Primroses, seedlings and spent hops

Primroses, seedlings and spent hops

Another lovely Friday morning on Feb 15th 2013 in the Chorlton Good Neighbours garden plot.

The seedlings are coming on, the potatoes are chitting and we planted some primroses which give a bit of colour to the garden. The previous day we picked up some spent hops from the Dunham Massey brewery and we have spread them on the rather claggy soil near the raised beds. The 10x8 greenhouse has now been ordered so hopefull that will arrive in the next few weeks

Video of WW2 Event at Chorlton Good Neighbours

Video of WW2 Event at Chorlton Good Neighbours, Feb 7th 2013

A video of the World War 2 Event at Chorlton Good Neighbours, celebrating 4 local WW2 veterans. The video show the build up to the event and the presentations to the two arctic convoy veterans, Bob Cowan & John Mackay, In addition,  Mickie Mitchell the petrol lorry driver and Alan Wood the fighter pilot, were also honoured at this event

Full versions of the videos shown at the event can be viewed online at:

Alan Wood: Fighter Pilot with coastal command, Banff Strike wing

Mickie Mitchell: She served in the army and then the Fire Service in Manchester during the blitz

John Mackay is another Arctic Convoy veteran who lives in Chorlton. Here is a video where he talks about his experiences on HMS Keppel in the Arctic Convoys

Bob Cowan: the World War Two Arctic Convoys and the Chorlton Good Neighbours campaign to get the British Government to allow veterans like Bob to received the medal of Ushakov from the Russian Government

Photos of WW2 Veterans Event, Feb 7th 2013

Photogallery of the event celebrating our Word War Two veterans  held on Feb 7th 2013 at Chorlton Good Neighbours.

Thanks to Carolyn O'Hanlon for the photos

Chorlton's Arctic Convoy veterans on Granada TV

Granada TV Tribute to Chorlton Good Neighbour's  World War 2 veterans

Local TV broadcast a short video of the event held on Feb7th at the Good Neighbours History Group meeting . Paul Crone of Granada TV interviewed the two Arctic Convoy veterans present - Chorlton Good Neighbours regular, Bob Cowan and John Mackay who we recently found out lived just down the road from Bob, but the two had never previously met

Report by Paul Crone

John Mackay and Bob Cowan talking to each other at the event

Some of the audience at the meeting

Sunday Tea with the Leetones

Sunday Tea with the Leetones

After Christmas it was back to normal for the Good Neighbour's Sunday Teas which take place the first Sunday of each month. At this tea, members were entertained by the Tony and Lisa of the Lee Tones  who sang such songs as Mary Wells's  "My Guy", Connie Francis's  "Who's Sorry Now", Carole Kings's  "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" which still sounds as fresh today as when it came out 55 years ago

Helen also talks to Charlene a new volunteer who gives her impression of a first visit to our Sunday Tea event

Gardening Club on Ice

At a time when most animals are hibernating and most plants lying dormant we have had an unusually productive time at the Gardening Club.

In our first week back after Christmas we received a large consignment of manure - a very rich if odorous present! This is a good time to feed the soil for the growing season to come and this mix of chicken and horse manure will help do the job. As usual we had to use our combined strength and smarts to get the massive bag of manure through the narrow gate way!

The next week, snow and ice fell on the garden like a white sparkling cloak and outdoor work was put on ice.

However these quiet times are perfect for taking time to reflect and plan so we had a meeting to discuss what we would like to grow on the plot this year and fuelled ourselves with plenty of tea and cake. A fan of colours and visuals I brought a large piece of paper to roughly draw out our plot and write down our ideas, concerns and favoured fruit, flowers and veggies. As ever I was impressed by the wealth of knowledge and the enthusiasm that we have in this group of ours.

The next week the ground was still rock solid and the temperatures bitter cold so we got on with some indoor preparations; chitting potatoes, making plant labels out of old milk cartons and making seed pots from newspaper (see video below for Paul's tutorial). Again we discussed our plans for the garden, especially what type of greenhouse we want to install and where.

Our Gardening Sessions are 10-12.30 every Friday. If you would like to find out more contact us on 0161-881-2925 or come along to one of our sessions at St Ninian's Church, Egerton Road South and have a look for yourself. 

Carolyn O'Hanlon

Older Men Development Worker

2012 Garden Produce for Sale

Even at our first attempt the Chorlton Good Neighbours garden was productive.
Here Carolyn is arranging potatoes and collecting Kale and other goods for sale at one of the Thursday Coffee Mornings.