The return of our Bring and Share picnic in the Community Garden yesterday was a fun time of neighbours coming together to share great food and conversation. Thank you to all who came and all who brought food and drinks to share. A particular thanks to those who came early to help set up and stayed to help clear up. And thank you Georgina and Mario from M13 Youth Project for providing craft activities and games for the young people. Finally, thanks Marie for loan of the gazebo, Manchester Active for equipment and our various sponsors. 

Our summer Bring and Share Picnic is back, after having to miss a couple of years due to Covid restrictions. It will be on Sunday August 14, 2:30 to 4:30pm in the Community Garden and everyone is welcome. This is a great opportunity to get together as a community on the Groves and get to know our neighbours better. We ask everyone to please bring some food or soft drinks to share (home cooked is always very welcome!), but if you're unable to do that come along anyway. There's always plenty to share.

Workers from M13 Youth Project will provide craft and sport activities for the children (parents are welcome to join in) and Manchester Active are bringing play equipment. The picnic is organised by Groves residents and supported by the Council, GM Police, MSV Housing and MSA. Download a leaflet here.

We had an excellent, productive and fun morning tidying up the community garden and clearing fly-tipped items and litter round the Groves. It feels good to make our neighbourhood look better. Big thanks to everyone who helped: local residents plus workers from the City Council and Moss Care St Vincent Housing. Thanks too for the drinks and snacks.

Our NEXT community event will be the return of our Bring and Share Picnic in the Community Garden on Sunday August 14 from 2-4:30pm. Make note of the date. More news to follow.

Our next community litter-pick will be on Saturday May 14, 11am to 1pm. We will meet as usual at the MSA Office at the corner of Upper West and North Groves for handing out bags, gloves and pickers. If you can’t come at that time but can help sometime over the weekend, get in touch and we’ll get you a bag (or two). This is always a fun time together, to chat and catch up while we make the Groves look better. And doing something to improve our environment always seems to make us feel better. Maybe we can find some prizes for the best junior litter picker uppers…

Thanks to everyone who turned out to help with our Groves New Year Litter Pick. Some of our litter heroes are in the photo. There was a lot to pick up, and we filled about 20 bags (some more will be added as other neighbours take a turn over the weekend). Our street and alleys now look a lot tidier, and it was great to meet and chat as we worked. And the chocolate rewards went down well!

It would be so much better if people learned to be tidy and respect their environment so days like these were not necessary, but while they are (because we don't want to live in a tip) we will enjoy them.

We're having a community litter pick on Saturday January 22nd from 11:30am to 1pm.
Collect bags, and pickers and gloves from outside the MSA Office on the corner of Upper West and North Groves and come and help clean up our streets and alleys alongside some of your neighbours.
If you prefer to do another time over the weekend, contact Judith to arrange to collect a bag (plus picker and gloves if you need them). Filled bags can be left at the Upper West Grove end of West Grove and will be collected by Biffa on Monday.

A tree in nearby Swinton Grove Park is being fitted with Christmas lights and we're having a community switch-on event next Wednesday, November 24, 4:40-5:30pm. There will be refreshments, singing of traditional carols and other music, plus special Christmas treats for the children, and prizes for any children who come in a Christmas hat, particularly one they have made themselves. It's all free thanks to support from the Council and a number of local organisations including Moss Care St Vincent Housing and Elizabeth Gaskell's House, which will also be open all day for free entry for M13 postcode residents.

Yesterday Upper West Grove became an Active Play Street for the day. Residents were asked to park their cars elsewhere and the street was closed to traffic from 11-4pm. We began with a litter pick with prizes for the children who joined in. Then Manchester Active brought in loads of games, lots of neighbours brought food and we had 3 hours of fun and conversation while the children played and laughed. We reckon around 30 adults and 50 children came for all or part. One neighbour said it reminded her of how the streets were back in the 60s when not many people had cars. Thanks to Manchester Council, Manchester Active, MossCare St Vincent Housing and Biffa.

We have produced another issue of our newsletter – everyone on the Groves will have had one through your doors in the last few days. It has an important message about Covid vaccination. If anyone else wants to read, download here.

Remember the hanging basket kits offered by the Council that many of us took last November? Well, those seeds and bulbs have been growing and here are some of the results, sent in via our WhatsApp group. Some green fingers in the Groves! Spring is truly on the way. If your hanging basket isn't here and you would like it added, just send an email.