We are taking part in the Great British Spring Clean again this year. Our Groves Clean-Up will be on Saturday on March 21. Come along anytime between 11am and 2pm. As before we are being supported by Manchester City Council, Moss Care St Vincent housing. local businesses such as MSA, and our Councillors will be calling in. Also this year we welcome Manchester Student Homes who will be encouraging our local students to come and join in. 

We will have prizes and goody-bags and we're asking everyone if they can to bring some cake or biscuits to share. Let's make it a fun community and family time together doing something positive.

Our clean-up is registered with Keep Britain Tidy and our number of volunteers and numbers of bags filled will be counted in the national statistics. More details soon.

Ever wonder just how our rubbish gets re-cycled? On February 28 there will be a special Groves trip to the Re-Cycling centre at Sharston. Suitable for all ages, it should be lot’s of fun. We will hire a minibus or coach so we can all travel together. There will be activities, refreshments and a tour, and altogether it will take 2 hours: plus 30 minutes each way for travel. Meet at 5:45pm by the MSA office. Back by 9pm. If you’d like to come, let us know by email or through the WhatsApp group, or just knock on. Please note, numbers are limited.

Here is the full-size photo of the group (or as many as could be there on the day) that was used for the Be Proud Awards programme.

Our group was nominated for the Manchester Be Proud Awards and we got to the final, where we were runners-up in the Clean Neighbourhood category. Pretty good progress in just a year! To see our page in the programme click here. Six of us were chosen by vote to go to represent the whole group, and we had a fun evening. Nice food, and lots of clapping the various awards. Here are some photos.

Groves Residents Group has been nominated for the Manchester Be Proud Awards – not only that, but we have made it to the final on November 16. It's nice to get recognition for the hard work that so many have been doing to clean up and improve our streets and alleys, and the Community Garden.

We have been asked for a group photo for the Awards Programme. This will be taken at our monthly clean-up on Saturday October 5, 2pm. Let's a get a good turn out and a lot of smiling faces!

We had an excellent residents' meeting with around 26 people present – including two of our Councillors, Mavis and Bernard. We discussed ideas for activities with Trae, our Community Artist, a suggestion to prevent speeding cars on the Groves, and a Council offer for lights and cameras for places where rubbish is still being dumped.

And... it was announced that our Residents' Group has been nominated for the Be Proud Awards and has made it to the final! We will be gathering as many as possible for a group photo at 2pm on October 6th.

​Notes from the meeting can be downloaded here.

Our Bring and Share Picnic took place on August 25 and was a lot of fun. There was lots of rain on the 24th and the 26th, but not on our gathering! Over 30 neighbours came in total and we enjoyed food and chat. It was good to welcome two of our councillors, Mavis and Bernard, and Katrina, our Ardwick Neighbourhood Officer. Some of us also decorated our bins with help from community artist Trae (if anyone else would like to do this let us know). Once again plums were picked and given out (jam has been seen already!) M13 Youth Project provided activities for the children.

Thanks to M13, Trae, everyone who came and brought something to share, and to those who helped set up and clear away.

Our next Bring & Share Picnic in the Community Garden will be on Saturday August 25 from 1-3pm. Please bring some of your favourite food to share with your neighbours. Some soft drinks, and a few tables and chairs will be there, but feel free to help out with more.

Community artist Trae will be providing some fun and creative family activities around learning about re-cycling, and the M13 Youth Project will be organising some games.

Please note all children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Thanks everyone who helped with our latest monthly (-ish) clean up last Saturday. It is good to keep on top of the litter problem, and it’s a great way to get to know each other better.

As before, the bags that we left at the end of Upper West Grove were taken by Biffa. This is a special extra collection they do for us. Don't leave bags there at any other time!!

We noticed by Monday a few extra items had been left with our bags - bits of furniture, a mattress. Maybe this was from a few people trying to be helpful, but our arrangement with Biffa is bags only. However, everything was taken this time and we are trying to find to if that was a one-off or not.

We have been given some funding to work with a community artist on some fun and creative ways for all ages to learn about the importance of re-cycling, and even do our own bit of re-cyling of objects to make them into works of art! More news to follow...