Withingtonia

Fancy occasionally contributing an article to this blog ?

2009-01-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

I'd like to get this blog including blogs from local business in Withington, and well basically anyone with an opinion or observation who lives around here.

Fancy helping ?
Contact Ian

Withington Wanderings (Ladybarn Park)

2009-01-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

Ladybarn Park is an often overlooked gem.
I recently went for a wintery walk around the park on a sunny evening, and took a few pictures.

I was suprised to find the bright red trees looking like a scene from Canada as the sunset.

More Ladybarn Park photos.

Events in Withington & New Bars

2009-01-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

It's great to see new investment in Withington.
Whilst one end is under going redevelopment, there has been a couple of new bars on the Wilmslow Rd.

I've only had the chance to nip into Indigo - which is in the old Niche/Blues Bar, down stairs from the 7-11. Once you get past the curtains in the entrance, which do put you off a little, it's actually a really nice little venue with a good selection of beer.
Ernie's Rythum and Blues are playing there 29th Jan.

The other bar is Bar One 461 ( http://www.barone461.com ) which is on the site of the old Barclays bank. It has a modern feel to it, and some comfy sofas, as well as serving food. Doesn't look to be as varied on the beer front, but since I've not been in I'll reserve judgement.

Definately room enough for both in Withington, and complement the other main pubs/bars/cafes & restaurants in the area.

So, do you know of any events happening in Withington in January o February ? If you leave a comment then people will know about them.

Finally made it to recycle my cardboard...

2009-01-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well after getting the information needed from the council, I finally made it to the supermarket recycling point at East Didsbury/Parswood - the nearest one to Withington.

Whilst, it's only a trial and it was xmas I was pretty disappointed to find the 2 large cardboard skips overflowing.

It's a difficult time of the year to keep these services running, but looking at the boxes it looked mostly like xmas presents and large consumer goods boxes. I'd imagine that it was reasonably predictable that their would be an increase in demand over xmas.

On the other hand, at least this shows that their is demand to recycle cardboard, and a reasonable degree of awareness that it can now be done.

Hopefully soon, we'll be able to get cardboard recycled from our own homes paper bins.

Recycling Cardboard In Withington

2008-10-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've often thought it odd that we can recycle paper, but not cardboard in Withington.

I've had a look in both the Tesco's and Saisbury's and it seems they only collect paper or cartons.

Curious, I sent the council an email.

This is the reply.
---------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Environment On Call.

You can recycle cardboard at your local refuse centre either Sandfold Lane
Levenshulme 0161 224 0806, Reliance Street, Newton Heath 0161 688 5611,
Longley Lane, Sharston 0161 491 2522 or Chester Road, Stretford 0161 865
8817

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further enquiries.

Nigel H*****
Contact Centre Agent
Environment On Call
Pink Bank Lane, Level 2
Manchester. M12 5QN
Tel: 0161 954 9000
Fax: 0161 274 7182
Email: contact@manchester.gov.uk
---------------------------------------------

Hope that helps someone, and who knows maybe one day we can just recycle locally in the bin.

Allotments in Withington ?

2008-08-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

I don't know if its because I live in a small flat, and have limited outdoor space - or maybe it was because I've just watched Countryfile, and a site called Food Up Front ( http://foodupfront.org ) was mentioned, but I've just been looking up allotments in Manchester.

It turns out that there's quite a nice website listing them all!
Just over in the Old Moat direction, seems to be an allotment called Albermarle.
http://www.amas.org.uk/manchester_allotments/plots/albermarle/

Has anyone reading this had experience of an allotment they would like to share ?
Maybe there's even someone with one on Albermarle ? How about just plain growing things other than weeds in your gardens ?

Would love to hear about them.

Ian.

Withington Bus Services

2008-06-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've just been trying out the GMPTE Journey Planning local services finder.
Seems a step in the right direction for helping us find how the heck to use the local buses. The website is a bit slow at the moment, but it will have to search through huge amounts of data. It's something that I've looked into in the past through (alteris.co.uk) and when I get time/money I will look into it again. With all the talk of congestion charges and improving bus services I think it's crucial that GMPTE get this right.

Bear in mind that I've just done this search on a SATURDAY AFTERNOON, and the services available will be more during the week, and less during the evenings I expect.

Below are the results:-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Transport for Greater Manchester, UK GMPTE Local Bus Stops Enquiry
Services in the vicinity of M20 4xx

Showing services for Saturday at 1600

The following services operate on the day selected above and within approximately 250 metres of your location, using those stops listed below. The departure times are approximate and show those journeys operating during the selected timeband.

Click on a service number to view just that service's details
41 ALTRINCHAM - NORTHENDEN - RUSHOLME - MANCHESTER
42 STOCKPORT - E. DIDSBURY - RUSHOLME - MANCHESTER
42 EAST DIDSBURY - RUSHOLME - MANCHESTER
43 AIRPORT - WYTHENSHAWE - WITHINGTON - MANCHESTER
43 AIRPORT - WYTHENSHAWE - MANCHESTER Night Bus
46 MANCHESTER - RUSHOLME - CHORLTON Circular
47 MANCHESTER - CHORLTON - WITHINGTON Circular
48 NORTHENDEN - WITHINGTON - MANCHESTER
111 MANCHESTER - WITHINGTON - SOUTHERN CEMETERY
142 EAST DIDSBURY - UNIVERSITY - MANCHESTER
143 W DIDSBURY - RUSHOLME - UNIVERSITY - MANCHESTER
157 WOODFORD - CHEADLE - DIDSBURY - MANCHESTER
178 WYTHENSHAWE HOSPITAL - WITHINGTON - REDDISH
179 STOCKPORT - WITHINGTON - WYTHENSHAWE HOSPITAL
42A REDDISH - E DIDSBURY - RUSHOLME - MANCHESTER

Local stops index
SBH070 - BURTON ROAD , OLD MOAT LANE towards
SB1705 - COPSON STREET , PATTEN STREET towards WEST DIDSBURY
SB3442 - PALATINE ROAD , MARRIOTT STREET towards NORTHENDEN
SB3443 - PALATINE ROAD , WILMSLOW ROAD towards MANCHESTER
SB3399 - WILMSLOW ROAD , ARNFIELD ROAD towards DIDSBURY
SB3400 - WILMSLOW ROAD , PALATINE ROAD towards MANCHESTER
SB3363 - WILMSLOW ROAD , SWINBOURNE GRVE towards DIDSBURY
SB3362 - WILMSLOW ROAD , WELLINGTON ROAD towards MANCHESTER
SB3446 - YEW TREE ROAD , OLD MOAT LANE towards SOUTH CEMETERY

Have a search yourself at:
GMPTE Jounrey Planner / Local Bus Stop Finder.

Withington Photo Competition

2008-06-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Withington Civic Society are running their annual photography competition.
This years theme is Trees, and their are prizes of £50 and £20.

You've until early September (Monday, 15th) to submit your photos, and with luck we'll have a few more sunny days before then.

Details:
Withington Civic Society

Ian

Going Going ... Gone.

2008-06-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

The Withington Cinema ( Cine City ) has now been demolished.

Whilst their was a campaign to resurect the cinema, it's for the best that its now gone.

I believe their will be a 6 storey block of flats/shops put up to replace it in due corse. Hopefully their will be some community aspect to the block, and not all the shops will become charity shops.

Also Pleasure Lounge has now gone - it's been for sale for awhile, with planning permission to be redeveloped into flats. The White Lion is also set to become flats.
Whilst this will mean lots more flats when it's all done the entrance to Withington should actually look modern, and provide a boost to the village.

May 2008 Election Results

2008-06-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Published in a digestable format over on M.E.N:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local_elections/1_manchester

The condensed version for around Withington is below:
Burnage:Liberal Democrats hold
Candidate Party Votes

John Allman Cameron - Liberal Democrats - 2096
Tom Murphy - Labour - 768
Peter Schofield - Conservative - 228
Angela Tibke - Green - 142

Didsbury West : Liberal Democrats hold
Candidate - Party - Votes
James Anthony Wenham Alden - Green - 281
Robert Gutfreund-Walmsley - Independent - 81
Jenny Lennox - Labour - 620
David Michael Bean - Conservative - 451
Graham Shaw - Liberal Democrats - 1283

Old Moat : Labour hold
Candidate - Party - Votes

Lia Angharad Sims - Green - 213
Andrew Henryk Fender - Labour - 1391
Paul Lally - Conservative - 205
Sufiyan Nasim Rana - Liberal Democrats - 947

Withington : Liberal Democrats hold

Candidate - Party - Votes
Brendon Jones - Liberal Democrats - 1267
Zoe Slater - Conservative - 199
Felicity Susan Paris - Green - 223
Leif William Jerram - Labour - 508

So, whilst there was a consistent Green vote across most wards, and Labour held firm Old Moat, the Liberal Democrats did pretty well around the Withington area.

What's on in Withington ?

2007-04-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

(Plesure Lounge sign by Eddie Malone)

Fuel and Pleasure Lounge are two of the main places running a variety of events in Withington centre.

Located in the centre of the village on Wilmslow Road, Fuel can be found online at myspace.com/fuelsnights.

Further towards the Didsbury end of the village at the corner of Parsonage Road is The Pleasure Lounge.
Pleasure runs regular Monday night Jam sessions, and other band / comedy nights.
For more information see: pleasurelounge.co.uk.

The Victoria also seems to have the occasional band on, and eons ago aparently Soloman's used to have Jazz nights on. Ask in the venues I guess.

5 minutes down the road in Ladybarn, The Ladybarn has also recently started running music evenings.

Joy Bar now seems to have shut. I didn't go in, but it did seem to have started putting on the odd night too. Shame then. Go to these things or you might regret it one day I guess.

2007 Local Elections...May is nearly here!

2007-04-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Here are the nominations for the Withington area.
I once again havn't got a clue who to vote for....probably like most, so I'll try and address that.

If you're not registered to vote, you have until Wednesday, April 18th! NOT LONG!
Go to http://aboutmyvote.co.uk, or phone 0800 328 0280.

Withington

Adele Douglas : Conservative
Alison Firth : Liberal Democrats
Felicity Paris : Green Party
Andrew Simcock : Labour

Old Moat

Alice Coren: Green Party
Andrew Perfect: Conservative
Jeffrey Smith: Labour
Richard Wilson: Liberal Democrat

Didsbury West

James Alden : Green Party
Peter Caddick : Conservative
David Ellison : Labour
Robert Gutfreund-Walmsley: United Kingdom Independance Party
Neil Trafford: Liberal Democrat

Fallowfield

Ashton Cull : Conservative
Peter Morrison: Labour
Rachel Sills : Green Party
John-Paul Wilkins: Liberal Democrat

Burnage

Iain Donaldson: Liberal Democrats
Frank Duffy: Labour
Joseph Gair: Green Party
Peter Schofield: Conservative

I invite any of the nominees to add as a comment their LOCAL manifesto's and why they should be elected on LOCAL issues. (We all know the national parties, but it would be good to get discussion on LOCAL issues).

The Elections take place on May 3rd.

Aparently there will be some discussion taking place on ALL fm (96.9 FM)
These will take place on April 17th and 24th between 3 and 4pm.
Email allfmbusiness@yahoo.co.uk
See http://allfm.org for more details.

Interesting voting percentages statistics can be seen at:-
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/elections/archive/votescast.htm
Are the politicians doing enough to engage you ?

Want to know who won in 2006 ?:-
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/elections/types/local/2006.htm

Or the full set for Withington:-
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/localdemocracy/councillors/withington.htm

You can also find out who your MP is here:-
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/john_leech/manchester%2C_withington

Where is Withington ?

2007-04-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

Withington is an area of South Manchester in England.

To it's north is Fallowfield - and the major student halls in Manchester.
To it's south is Didsbury, one of the most affluent areas of Manchester.
To the west is Chorlton, another fairly wealthy suburb.
Over to the east is Burnage.

(The milestone outside the Firestation)

Wilmslow Road disects the centre of Withington Village, and provides the main transport routes in the north to south directions of the area, splitting off to the start of Palentine Road just to the south of the village.

(Entrance to Withington looking North)

Numerous buses compete over this route, and weekly passes can be obtained for as little as £3 per week on Finglands, and £4 per week on the Stagecoach owned Magic Bus.

Mauledth Road runs east to west just north of the centre of the village, and links up with the shops and pubs of Ladybarn, and the train line at Mauldeth Road station. Over to the west Mauldeth Rd links up with Princess Parkway, which is one of the main arteries into the city centre.

East of the village lies Parsonage Road, and various over leafy Victorian era roads, before connecting with Ladybarn Park.

West of the village lies Burton Road, leading up to West Didsbury. There's also Old Moat Estate, and Old Moat Park.

The village is a lively centre having a number of busy bars and cafes, for it's mix of young professional and student population. Notably FUEL and Pleasure Lounge, which provide a number of varied forms of entertainment, and the eaterie Soloman Grundy.