Its now a year since I started tweeting about Moss Side. Here are some of the highlights.
Alexandra Park
Early in the year there were consultations about Alexandra Park, later to result in an award for its restoration. In January, I retweeted that Manchester City council announced its consultation about the bid:
News: 2011 poised to be landmark year for historic park - People who use Alexandra Park in Whalley Range are being i...http://ow.ly/1aLueu
Moss Side Ward Profile 2010
By the end of January 2011, the new Police UK site was about to publish crime statistics for the whole of the UK. In the meantime the Moss Side Ward Profile 2010, published by Manchester City Council, provided information that challenged stereotypes about the area:
Such as in facts about crime and antisocial behaviour:
'The incidence of crime and anti-social behaviour in Moss Side is lower than that of the city as a whole' - MCC Moss Side Ward Profile 2010
Moss Side has lower burglary rates than the Manchester average - MCC Moss Side Ward Profile 2010
The incidence of 'theft from motorvehicles' in Moss Side is 41% below the average rate for Manchester - MCC Moss Side Ward Profile 2010
Police UK
The publishing of Police UK statistics on its national website around the beginning of February produced a number of comments about what might be expected. Some were derogatory about the area. Detractors were to be proved quite wrong when the facts were produced. Moss Side was proved to have lower overall levels of crime than the majority of areas in Greater Manchester.
Perhaps most interesting was an analysis of the figures by the Manchester Evening News:
Moss Side/ Hulme a well below average 34th out of 58 areas in Greater #Manchester for violent crime offences http://ow.ly/3SEp3 #policeuk
Infusion Homes
By mid February, an announcement shed light on the flurry of demolition and re-building that had been going on between Claremont Road, and the (now demolished) Stagecoach bus depot:
We can now reveal that on 26th February we will be officially launching three brand new show homes on the Infusion development, Moss Side!
Infusion Homes - seeking to turn ordinary terraces into stylish eco-homes - sought to add to Moss Side's already rising stock of good quality affordable accommodation:
'Green credentials include a solar panel on the roof... sunpipes...thermal skin... & energy efficient windows' shar.es/3hYLG
Corrie Star Kat Kelly attended the opening ceremony:
Corrie star opens 'Infusion' in Manchester|Easier Property | easier.com | 28 Feb 2011 | http://ow.ly/44Wdt
Local interior designers @nochintz provided the interiors for the show homes:
Another shot from today's site visit for @NoChintz showhome in Moss Side, Manchester http://instagr.am/p/B0ekm/ via@sanjayprasad
By May, Infusion Homes was reported as having achieved a great deal of sales success, with 60% of properties already sold:
Buyers flock to £17m Moss Side Regeneration schemeinsidethem60.journallocal.co.uk/2011/05/10/buy…‘infusion’-moss-side’s-17m-regeneration-scheme/
And as having won an award of 'Best Affordable Housing Scheme' in the country at the annual Housing Excellence Awards.
Infusion's Moss Side housing project we were working on has won a national award! http://bit.ly/k9Ijac Photos here... http://bit.ly/lZJmhb
In October, the development was shortlisted for another award:
Moss Side @infusionhomes housing development - shortlisted for an award at the Builder & Engineer Awards 2011 - 5 Octawards.builderandengineer.co.uk/node/54
In November, it was chosen for a 'celebrity photo shoot':
'Infusion' development in Moss Side chosen for celebrity photoshoottwthpr.co/ymYz0
Cranswick Sqaure Residents Group
In mid March. I retweeted a link to a little film about Cranswick Square Residents group. Well worth watching, this gives an account of how a residents group, formed in 2009, have got together to transform not just their's and surrounding streets but a patch of unclaimed waste ground, turning it into a garden and community space for all the neighbourhood.
Great little film about Cranswick Square Residents Group in Moss Side by @ClubhouseC (CSV Media)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOvjuhUJ-6Q
The Triangle Community Garden
A photographic story of Cranswick Square residents groups community garden 'The Triangle' was later highlighted on their blog:
The Triangle from wasteground to community space: A Moss Side Story: wp.me/P13ODh-6Y #Manchester #MossSide
With a grand opening of the garden on 26th May:
RT @phdodd Moss Side Residents build a garden and a communityj.mp/mDID6C
Flower to the people: Moss Side residents join forces to turn empty land into garden http://dlvr.it/XJfzk
Photos of community garden at 'The Triangle' in Moss Side - from@phdodd twitpic.com/5ap64m
Gardening seemed to provide a bit of a theme in the area, with the start of the Bowes Street Allotment Group in June:
Interested in growing your own veg? Bowes Street Allotment group needs you! Find out more - Mon 6 June 5-7pmhttp://fb.me/Wd2Vy71w
And later the @openyardens event (see below).
Historical connections
An exhibition and press coverage in April highlighted Moss Side's historical connections, being 50 years since cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin visited the city:
Yuri Gagarin's visit to Manchester and reception at the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers in Moss Side http://ow.ly/4zDXh
Other historical connections provided for some interesting tweets.
Not least:
What 'Time' magazine said of Moss Side's Emmeline Pankhurst - "She shook society into a new pattern from which there was no going back."
Influencing the names of streets in a new housing development:
Streets on new Moss Side estate named after Elizabeth Gaskell: The great great great grandaughter of Elizabeth G... bit.ly/nV1vF1
And:
Blue plaque tribute to communism founding father Friedrich Engels at former Moss Side home manchestereveningnews.co.uk/p/1421420
In addition:
Some interesting historical images were provided by former resident and street photographer Daniel Meadow's exhibition at the National Media Museum in Bradford:
Prompting:
Some interesting historical images were provided by former resident and street photographer Daniel Meadow's exhibition at the National Media Museum in Bradford:
'The Shop on Graeme Street' - Daniel Meadows photos of Moss Side from 1972. photobus.co.uk/?id=539# Exhibition@mediamuseum until 19/02/12
Daniel Meadows on digital storytelling with photography bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictur… via @BBCNews
Prompting:
Street photography in the #Manchester Archives:flic.kr/s/aHsjwWDp9h A set of candid images capturing the Manc way of life through the ages
Manchester Archives
The tweet of Manchester Archives @mcrarchives provided some great imagery of Moss Side (and Hulme) past throughout the year;
I love the smell of #smog in the morning! Check out this Moss Side smog of 1912... http://s.coop/15g7 #manchester #archives #airpollution
Utterly brilliant Hulme set from 1960s and 1970s by Visual Resources @ MMU http://s.coop/e7l #photos #hulme #manchester #archives
Looking forward to the semi-final? Manchester City v Manchester United at Maine Road, 1967 #facup #mcfc #mufchttp://flic.kr/p/9qR6au
A nice little BBC film also recalled memories of Moss Side from the 60s and 70s:
Memories of Moss Side and Hulme from 60's and 70's - 5min BBC film http://ow.ly/3Emdr
Fusion food in the heart of Moss Side
Early in the year, Manchester budget gourmand @mancfoodian began to explore the culinary offerings of Moss Side's answer to the 'the Curry Mile'.
'Deep in the heart of Moss Side, further up Claremont Rd than most people ever go, past the Sudan Satellite shop and the cheap mattress places, is a Somali restaurant-cum-takeaway called Dubay Caffe.'
@mancfoodian seemed impressed by this fusion of Indian, Italian and Ethiopian cuisine:
Cheap and tasty Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali food as recommended by Manchester foodie @mancfoodian bit.ly/ilIleJbit.ly/jTZGa2
The Manchester Riots
As just about everyone will be aware, Manchester city centre and Salford experienced some of the worse rioting in the UK for many years. The nature and cause of these riots is still difficult to understand. Moss Side, thankfully, was unaffected.
Memories live long and many people on Twitter were predicting riots would start in Moss Side, as had occurred almost exactly 30 years earlier but, once again, the negative cliches and stereotypes about Moss Side were proved wrong.
Not that there was n't a sense of tension in the air in Moss Side on Tuesday 9th August. Walking around the area, things did seem eerily quiet. I photographed a Heron on the lake in Alexandra Park:
Moss Side peaceful but spotted this heron in Alexandra Park - possibly poised to riot at any moment! twitpic.com/63lguz via@twitpic
The Caribbean Carnival of Manchester
Fun & good times broke out among thousands of people of all denominations, in Moss-Side at the weekend! #MossSidecarnival
Caribbean Carnival 2011, Moss Side , Manchesterflic.kr/s/aHsjvSvy8o
I posted 22 photos on Facebook in the album "Carnival Weekend"fb.me/16OFGmIeW
... and the Caribbean comes to Manchester:hannahbeatrice.co.uk/2011/08/moss-s…
Project 81 provided an interesting historical perspective on the riots that had occurred in the area 30 years ago:
The @Project81mcr exhibition was installed yesterday at the Windrush Centre in Moss Side / Hulme. Looks greatyfrog.com/ny77589254j
Open Yardens
What do you get when you cross a garden with a yard? A 'yarden', of course. Seeking to demonstrate the creative and horticultural potential of such spaces, typical of Moss Side, and many Manchester, terraces, the @openyardens event was organised in August. Like the Caribbean Festival, the event seemed a fitting unique Moss Side risposte to the city centre riots - an expression of confidence and a celebration of the area.
Would you believe Moss Side was such a leafy ghetto?!@openyardens photos now up on my site:hannahbeatrice.co.uk/2011/08/open-y…
Some great new housing developments
Much had been made of Infusion Homes earlier in the year but some other new housing developments are worth a mention. They are characterised by good quality and affordable homes, many with eco features and available through shared ownership schemes. The development at Maine Place continued to expand, with new flats about to become available, and a new mixed development, offering houses for sale, rent and shared ownership, developed by Moss Care Housing, on Great Western Street saw completion.
The Maine Road development received high praise from residents, highlighted in the Manchester Evening News:
Much had been made of Infusion Homes earlier in the year but some other new housing developments are worth a mention. They are characterised by good quality and affordable homes, many with eco features and available through shared ownership schemes. The development at Maine Place continued to expand, with new flats about to become available, and a new mixed development, offering houses for sale, rent and shared ownership, developed by Moss Care Housing, on Great Western Street saw completion.
The Maine Road development received high praise from residents, highlighted in the Manchester Evening News:
Now pastor Reji is a Maine man | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk shar.es/3vYao
'Goal-den days at a new home' - New resident talks about what its like living at Maine Place development in Moss Side menmedia.co.uk/manchestereven…
The new development on Great Western Street received less press attention, yet offered high specification, affordable homes with modern eco features, such as solar panels:
Brand new high spec. homes with eco features. Shared ownership: 3 bed house £73'000 http://ow.ly/6jd9a 2 bed flat £64'000http://ow.ly/6jd6W
With the streets being named after a, previously mentioned, former Moss Side resident:
MT @moss_side RT @VictStudies: 150 years ago, Elizabeth Gaskell captured the lives of Manchester workers... read moremenmedia.co.uk/manchestereven…
The Moss Cider Project
If its autumn in Moss Side, it would be hard to miss the Moss Cider project. @mosscider had been tweeting all year. Set up in 2010, the project is a community initiative aiming to make cider from the apple trees of Moss Side, and south Manchester beyond.
In May you could have attended a cider tasting:
Check out footage from the launch of @mosscider's #homebrew #realcider made in Moss Side, Manchester here: bit.ly/ciderlaunch
In August, you could have attended a meal where Moss Cider was served with rabbit pie:
Cider? Made in Moss Side? Called 'Moss Cider'? Whatever next?!northstardeli.com/the-moss-cider…
By October, things had really got going. People were invited to donate apples:
Ciderhouse open for apple drop off 10am-1pm today. St. Wilfred's on Royce Rd in Hulme. After that we're all out apple picking!
And to press apples:
Nothing to do on a wet Sunday? Join us for cider making here:bit.ly/tmcpHOUSE anytime between 2-5pm, tweet back if you're coming.
The project featured in the press:
Woop! Dan got featured in today's M.E.N. Still time to get you copy. Hope it leads to more apple donors. pic.twitter.com/rLL7kLIG
On the radio:
Gourmet Night on @bbcradiomanc tonight - @mattyfwhite explores Mcr food & drink scene, featuring, I believe, @mossciderbbc.co.uk/manchester/pro…
And on the TV:
'"Now onto something completely different"... See @mosscider on@BBCNWT last night bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod… ( from 18:58 mins)
Until:
We've reached capacity for the donations we can accept for this year, so no more drop-offs please seefacebook.com/TheMossCiderPr…
With @HydesBrewery one of the few remaining family run regional breweries, the Royal Brewery, run by @heineken and @mosscider, the full range of brewing enterprises seems to be represented in Moss Side today.
There's something brewing in Moss Side - @Heineken (Royal Brewery), @HydesBrewery and @mosscider
Manchester Academy School
Manchester Academy was in the news throughout the year. In October I retweeted a link to their news page:
Manchester Academy in the news… bit.ly/9CVFcD
My first tweet, in 2010, had been one about the success of the school:
Once-failing school now named as one of UK's best - Manchester Evening News shar.es/XrTTq
The restoration of Alexandra Park
With Manchester City Council consultation on Alexandra Park starting the year, it seemed fitting that news of the park being awarded £2.2million for the restoration of this beautiful park was announced in the run up to Christmas 2011
£2.2m lottery grant will restore Alexandra Park in Whalley Range to Victorian glory dlvr.it/11FnSB
Finally...
This is obviously a brief run through of events but gives an impression of an eventful year in Moss Side.
Much more is available on the @moss_side twitter feed and elsewhere. The favorites tab will provide a sample of some of the best tweets. Happy New Year to all @moss_side followers, residents of Moss Side and beyond!