Celebrating fifty years of Carnival in Alex Park on 11 Sept

The Caribbean Carnival has been a regular fixture in the Moss Side and Whalley Range calendar since 1972. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary this year, the Alexandra Park Heritage Group are holding a special event in Chorlton Lodge (by the park entrance from Claremont Road) at 2pm on Sunday 11 September.

Whalley Range Labour councillor Angeliki Stogia says “I’m really grateful for the fantastic work of the Heritage and Friends groups in the Park, helping bring the history of our area to life.”

Admission is free – full details are on the flyer (see below), and for more information you can email the Group.

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Alexandra Park pavilion cafe – councillors’ update

Many people have been surprised and saddened by the news that Coffee Cranks, who currently operate the cafe facility in the Alex Park pavilion building, have decided to close when their current lease terminates at the end of this month. The three Whalley Range Labour councillors (Angeliki Stogia, Muqaddasah Bano and Aftab Razaq) have made this statement about the closure:

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BMHC consult public on preliminary expansion plans

The British Muslim Heritage Centre (BMHC) are consulting on plans to construct new buildings on their site off College Road. The three Whalley Range Labour councillors Aftab Razaq, Angeliki Stogia and Muqaddasah Bano have written to residents in streets near to the Centre with information about the consultation and their first thoughts on the plans they have seen. The text of the letter is as follows:

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Night time clock-watching in Alex Park!

Bano and Aftab at the ‘Switch-on’ event

On October 21, the Friends of Alexandra Park held a lovely “Big Light Switch-on” event at dusk, to celebrate the installation of two beautiful new clocks (back lit with LED lighting) in the ‘tower’ of Chorlton Lodge. This is the second ‘Legacy Project’ to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Park (although because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the original plans to mark this milestone during the year have inevitably had to be scaled back).

Councillor Aftab Razaq, who attended the event with Councillor Muqaddasah Bano, says “We are so lucky to have this group of dedicated volunteers and supporters who help to look after Alex Park all year round, improving facilities in and promoting the heritage of the ‘People’s Park’ at the heart of our ward. As always, they deserve great thanks from us all”.

The Friends welcome visitors to their Information Point in Chorlton Lodge (near the Claremont Road entrance to the Park) which is open every Wednesday and Friday beween 11am and 2pm, and on the first Sunday of the month between 12 noon and 2pm. They also have calendars, Christmas cards and other goodies on sale, perfect for stocking fillers. For more information, see their Facebook page.

Another award for the Moss Side Community Allotment

Aftab, Angeliki and Bano congratulate volunteers on their latest award

The Moss Side Community Allotment Group has received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the so-called ‘MBE for voluntary groups’. It is an acknowledgement of the thousands of hours of work put in by group members to “dig, plant, sow, construct and most importantly, share”, and will be added to a growing number of recognitions which they have received – and which are proudly displayed in their self-built community room ‘The Hub”.

Whalley Range Labour councillor Aftab Razaq called in earlier today with fellow councillors Angeliki Stogia and Muqaddasah Bano, to congratulate the group on this latest achievement. He said “It’s actually really incredible what Phil and the volunteers have managed to create here over the last eleven years in the heart of this residential area, surrounded by houses and flats. There’s fresh fruit, vegetables of all kinds, even some beautiful chickens. All the helpers deserve enormous credit, for their really inspirational project”.

The Community Allotment is located on the corner of Caythorpe and Bowes Streets, in the part of Whalley Range ward which is in Moss Side neighbourhood. For more information about the project, see their Facebook page.