On Friday afternoon local residents demonstrated outside the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s annual general meeting in Tameside demanding the fund divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. Organised by Fossil Free Greater Manchester, a coalition of organisations and individuals, the protesters presented remnants from the recent moorland fires on Saddleworth Moor and Winter Hill to […]
Caoilfhionn Rose: Awaken album review
The perfect companion for a stroll in the park, Awaken celebrates our ties to the natural world. Greatly inspired by one of Manchester’s many green spaces, Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury, the album explores themes such as humanity, our relationship with the natural world, and how this can impact upon our mental well being. Awaken […]
Bez joins the party at Altrincham’s Alt.Harfest
In 2010, Altrincham’s shop vacancy rate was at a national high of 30%, branding it the ghost town of the UK. Fast forward eight years and the town is bustling with activity every day of the week thanks to the jewel in its crown – the award-winning Altrincham Markets. With the vibrancy Altrincham is now […]
Hulme Community Garden Centre points to brighter future for people and planet
Autumn is for harvesting, and there’s a bountiful crop of events on offer this month for Hulme Community Garden Centre’s Super September – a programme of wellbeing and nature connection events. So far there’s been Radical Herbalism, a day of “digging deep into our elders’ wisdom, interactive sessions exploring spiritual biology and talks exploring mental […]
The legacy of Black Power in Moss Side: activist Coca Clarke tells her story
Coca Clarke is an 85-year-old Black Power activist and she is still an active member of the vibrant Moss Side community, a community that – despite its many laudable efforts – struggles to shake off the lazy stereotypes and assumptions placed on an entire community by the media since the ‘gang wars’ of the ‘80s […]
Greater Manchester’s social and solidarity economy revealed
Transform GM – an action research project looking to understand, map and promote ‘alternative’ economic activity in Greater Manchester (GM) – have just launched a new website mapping the social and solidarity economy (SSE). The SSE is made up of initiatives which prioritise other values over the economic bottom line and, unlike many charities, are […]
Developers are turning our heritage into profit, and we’re paying them for the pleasure of it
Flats at Crusader Works, one of the largest surviving textile mills and new luxury property venture by Capital & Centric where one bedroom apartments are going for heady sums upwards of £189,000, are on sale again. Since the project began the MEN has released a slew of articles gushing about how the development, on Chapeltown […]
The hidden shame of period poverty
Half the population of the world are women. It is, therefore, safe to say that a large proportion of that population have periods. So, why is the issue of menstrual care still so taboo? Why do people still feel awkward and embarrassed by their period and feel that it should be something that should be […]
The light and dark of Manchester Day 2018
This time last week, thousands of people had descended into the streets of Manchester to celebrate Manchester Day 2018 as a parade made its way down Deansgate then onto Albert Square. At this fantastic annual event, wonderful sights and sounds could be seen and heard all around the city centre and beyond. The floats gleamed […]
Manchester’s first Mindful Art Centre opens in Levenshulme
Manchester’s first Mindful Art Centre is launching in Levenshulme Old Library on 27 April, 4pm-9pm. Local social enterprise The Owl and The Coconut are behind the centre, which opens with a community crowd-sourced exhibition and offers of free places on their Mindfulness and Mindful Art courses. The ‘Levy Life’ exhibition, a partnership between Levenshulme Old […]