Get Stuffed

A couple of the Reddish News team took a little trip down to Houldsworth Mill this afternoon, on the off chance that Reddish's very own taxidermy shop 'Death Warmed Up' would be open. Sadly, it was all closed up, but luckily for us there will be an exhibition of Patricia Calder's work starting with a preview tomorrow (Saturday 30th June)!

So if you are as intrigued as we are (which is VERY) then get yourself down to Unit 33M, Vauxhall Industrial Estate, Greg Street, Reddish, Stockport SK5 7BR!

by Ana Hernandez

It's a Rocky Road

One of the biggest issues I face almost on a daily basis is staying away from Classic Cakes. Positioned right next to the bus stop on Gorton Road and absolute torture for the dieter who has to catch the bus several times a week. Their window display alone is enough to get me drooling. I have to operate a serious level of restraint to stay away.

From the first day I moved to Reddish my weakness has been the Rocky Road, I have never seen anything like it. A mound of marshmallow, biscuit and what I assume is left over sugar paste from the cakes all wrapped up in milk chocolate. There is a white chocolate version but I’m loyal to the milk chocolate option. This thing is a beast – I challenge you to eat it in one sitting (but no, I am not sharing).

The Rocky Road is a sweet, gooey crunchy sensation. Possibly one of the best things about Reddish. The sweet mountain will set you back all of £1.20, a very reasonable price for the size. Not a marshmallow fan? Classic Cakes have something for everyone and I’m sure the rest of the Reddish News team will be sharing their favourite sweet treats with you in the future.

Until then let us know what your favourite Reddish cake shop is, and don’t forget to let us know what we should try out!

by Liz Edwards

A treat at Retreat

I feel like I’m cheating a bit here. I’m not a resident of Reddish (though I am a frequent visitor) as I live in London. I am, however, becoming a bit of a regular down at the Retreat Salon on Reddish Road. This time, I supplemented my usual eyebrow threading appointment (£7.50, fifth appointment is free) with a neck and shoulder massage (£10 for 20 mins). I stepped in to the salon and was greeted by the lovely Priya. The first time I met her it was a bit of a shock as I was confronted with a flustered and extremely loud person with bright purple hair. However, it’s really easy to warm to her quickly as her eccentricity is more charming and welcoming than a reason to feel uncomfortable.

After a 10-minute wait (not unusual – best to come here on a day you’re not in a rush) I was led upstairs to a massage room. It reminded me of a Turkish boudoir; all purple and complete with four-poster day bed and exotic trinkets. I don’t know if I’m making it sound slightly tacky here. It isn’t. It’s really, really nicely done and makes a huge difference to the stairs and corridor, which look like the inside of a non-descript office. I stripped off and got on to the bed, ready for the perfectly nice Tina to start on my painfully kinked neck and shoulders.

I’ll be honest. It wasn’t the best massage I’ve ever had. If, like me, you spend most of your time hunched up over schoolbooks or a computer, every now and then you need your muscles beaten in to submission by hands akin to those of an angry ogre. This was an experience closer to being danced on by fairies. Not unpleasant and relaxing enough, I just didn’t walk out as knot free as I’d have hoped.

After going back downstairs and being greeted by a glass of water and an ever-cheery Priya, I settled down to have my eyebrows done. In between threading, she told me a bit about the background of the business. The salon has been open for about 18 months and the most popular treatment is eyebrow threading. It’s easy to see why – my appointments with Priya are quick, relatively painless and I appreciate her thoroughness and willingness to talk you through the process. She’s a total boss at eyebrow threading. It’s all over in 7 minutes and, in the 3 years I’ve been having my eyebrows threaded, nobody has done it better than her.

All in all, a good experience. I find the salon good value for money and (despite the slight grumble at often having to wait) I usually enjoy the experience. Here’s a tip. Phone a week or so in advance and request Priya specifically to do your eyebrows to save time and pain.

Retreat Beauty website

By Louise Frodsham

Reddish Rubbish

I have a lot of love for Reddish, but one thing that really gets my goat is how littered our streets are. I've never lived anywhere where I've noticed the crazy amount of litter in the streets quite as much as in our fair town (and I've lived in some pretty hardcore areas of London!) It's such as shame.

I know my particular road is subject to more litter than most because school children use it as a cut-through on their way home. Every day I leave my house and scoop up tens of chocolate bar wrappers/coke cans and the like, put them in my own bin and die a little bit inside. I have become the crazy woman who calls the council on a weekly basis. They literally know me on first name terms now and I get the feeling they have stopped caring because they basically think I'm insane. At first they sent street cleaners and litter pickers (who, by the way, are terrible. I've watched them from my window just walking up and down the road not bothering to pick anything up), but I've got a feeling my one woman battle is failing.

But it's not just my road that's rubbish. Reddish Lane/Gorton Road is, frankly, disgusting. Plastic bags, crisp packets, chip wrappers fly around our streets every single day and it seems to have become accepted that that's just how it is. Is this really how we want Reddish to look? Am I the only one who feels really crappy when I step out on to dirty streets? It can't be good for anyone's state of mind.

It took these pictures between the Post Office and Williamson Street (where the side entrance to Morrisons is). It can't have been more than a 20 metre walk. 

I've been wracking my brains as to why we have such a high volume of litter in our community and I've narrowed it down to the following questions:

1) Do we have enough bins in Reddish?

2) Do we have enough support from the council when it comes to regular street cleansing?

3) Do we, as residents, just not care enough? If there is litter on the streets are people more likely just to drop their own litter?

I have my own views on the answers to these questions but I'd like to know yours.

This is the first post in what  I hope to be the beginning of a campaign to clean up Reddish.

by Ana Hernandez

Well Redd

Reddfest Weekend Roundup    

If I was to ever have picked out a career path then I’m glad it wasn’t as a weatherman. Quite clearly my wonderful prediction of '15 degrees and cloudy, no need for a brolly for the weekend’s festivities' was greeted with an almighty two finger salute, as the rain not only visited us but it felt like the rivers Tame, Medlock, Irwell and Mersey had taken it upon themselves to visit from up above. No bother though, we’re a hardy lot up North and a bit of water certainly isn’t going to dampen our spirits.

And so, to Reddfest. I walked/swam, to be greeted by organiser Cllr. Kate Butler (complete with new name tag) and Vince Mather, who were both proud to show off this year’s selection of stalls. From the Reddish building’s preservation trust (manned by Cllr. Paul Moss) to the Youthspace stall, it showed that there is clearly a great amount of community spirit in the area. However, there were a few stalls there that I feel I should single out for praise;

The Kindling Trust: Whilst it might not be hugely in the public knowledge, the Kindling Trust along with Phil Arnold of Reddish Vale College, Mark Rogers of Stockport Homes and a few others are planning a £1m bid for five years of funding to promote sustainable and green living in the area. This looks like a really exciting and interesting project and can’t wait for us to report more about it over the coming months.

Fi and Me: Fiona and Lucy, two sisters, have come together to produce a fantastic array of handmade cards/gifts/jewellery. Really impressed. Definitely worth checking them out at the various craft fairs that they attend locally.

ARC: I was only vaguely aware of their work prior to this but it looks like a fantastic community group. ARC, Arts for Recovery in the Community, aim to promote the well being of people who are experiencing emotional or psychological distress by encouraging creativity in the art. They had some great pieces on display and told me about their Summer Art Fair on the 30^th June.

Overall, the event seemed very well attended considering the downpour and I’m hoping that next year will see an increase in business based stalls. Clearly a bit of warmth is too much to ask for!
Did you attend Reddfest? Did you enjoy it? click on contact and let us know.




Failing to Produce

Not only was Reddfest on this weekend but we also saw the first producer’s market too. I popped down, along with two other members of the Reddish news team and, well, underwhelmed doesn’t cover it. We had already spoken of our concerns with regards to lack of promotion of the event but to be greeted with only three stalls was shocking. I’ve visited Heaton Moor market before and, whilst not the biggest, it was relatively thriving. I don’t want to come down too hard on it because we should be supportive of these efforts, I just felt that subsequent ones could do with significantly better promotion.

On the positive side, Ben and Ana hadn’t visited Broadstone Mill before and had a great time there, especially in the kitchenware’s section.

By Jez Myers

Reddfest weekend special

Are you Reddy?

It’s that time of year again for the annual Reddfest celebration. Organised by Reddish Business Forum ( if you run a local business and aren’t part of this organisation, you really should join) this promises to be a half day of arts & crafts, music and a load of community based stalls.

So, what do you need to know?

Well, it’s held in Houldsworth Square, it’s on Saturday 9^th June and it’s on from 11am-4pm. Most importantly though, it looks like the weather will be acceptable (15 and cloudy) so no need to bring the brolly.

St. Mary’s primary school are doing some African drumming at 11:30 and followed by the Reddish Prize Band at 12. Did you know Reddish had a brass band? I didn’t.  They’ve been about for 115 years so you’ve got to think that they’ll be awesome after all that rehearsing.

There is an art gallery and competition being judged based on local schools’ submissions. Above all that though, there’ll be the announcement of the Classic Cakes competition winner!

Some of the stalls look fantastic, I love the work that Youthspace do and they'll not only have a stall throughout the day but also a workshop at Reddish WMC from 4pm. Other stalls include ARC, Friends of Reddish Vale and The Kindling Trust, all of whom we’re planning future articles on.

We’ll be down there, we might even have some flyers to hand out so please say hi.

For more info, check out Reddfest or follow them on Twitter.

 

Farmer’s Market at The Mill

We’ve heard lots of rumours that there’s a farmer’s market on its wat to the car park at Broadstone Mill on Sunday from 10am. I think this would be a great addition to the local community and would be fantastic. However, we’ve tried and failed to get any more information on it. If I find out any more then I’ll update this and let everyone know. The last information I had was that it was from 10am, there will be stalls as well as shops and a bouncy castle for the kids. If anyone knows anything more about this then please tell us!




Messy Church

If you’re at a loose end on Sunday and have a child (or children) aged 5-11 then Messy Church could be the place for you. Reddish Life Centre on Sykes Street is offering an arts and crafts session from 4-6pm. The cost is £1 for adults and 50p for children, but this includes sandwiches and drinks.

Competition Winner

As I was overwhelmed with responses to last week’s competition to name a person who came from Reddish, I am pleased to announce that the winner of the £1 towards a cake is Amanda Green of 'Creations 4 Occasions' at Broadstone Mill. She feels that we should be known as Reddishians. A gold coloured coin will be winging itself towards you shortly.

Thanks as always for reading, we’re nearly up to 1500 views and 150 followers on twitter so please help to spread the word. See you at Reddfest!

By Jez Myers

Review: Sweat Shed

Hidden away down on the Vauxhall Estate is Sweat Shed - a place that has filled me with fear since I was talked into signing up for a month long bootcamp. I'm not scared of hard work - I used to train with someone known as 'The Punisher' - but the very idea of bootcamp left me feeling sick to the stomach. There is something about the name that makes you picture scary army trainers shouting at you to do 1000 press ups in the mud.

Luckily there was no mud and no shouting (but there were a few press-ups). Mat, owner and instructor was kind and welcoming and the first 45 minute class flew past. The session was broken down into sections. The first was partner work where there were 3 lots of 8 minute bursts or exercises. This was followed by around 5 minutes of individual work. These were challenging and luckily there was no pressure to keep going if you need to rest.

The first session has put some of my fears to rest, but Mat has a glint in his eye that suggests he likes causing pain so I'm sure the sessions are going to get tougher. I'm going to be going along to bootcamp sessions over the next month and will be updating regularly on my progress. Wish me luck!

If you're taking part in this months bootcamp, or have previously taken part let us know. Please don't scare me too much though!

by Liz Edwards

You can read Liz's Week 2 Round Up HERE