Improving Our Image

Ambassadors promoting Wythenshawe’s green space at the Cheshire County Show, a special reception for VIPs in Wythenshawe Park and pupils growing vegetables for ‘best in show’ are just the latest initiatives in the Real Lives campaign.

Ambassadors for Wythenshawe: Real Lives campaign have this week been spreading the word about Wythenshawe’s green space at the Cheshire Show.

Wythenshawe: Real Lives image campaign launched last autumn and it aims to challenge outdated and negative perceptions of Wythenshawe through activities and first-person accounts from residents, investors and employees of the district in Manchester.

The campaign is being funded through a partnership made up of Manchester City Council, Wythenshawe Forum Trust, Parkway Green and Willow Park Housing Trusts, St Modwen and Marketing Manchester.

The Cheshire Show is held annually in the County Showground, Tabley in Knutsford and attended by around 70,000.

The ambassadors from the campaign - which aims to tell people positive things about Wythenshawe - spoke to visitors about the district’s heritage trails, events such as Theatre in Wythenshawe Park and Northenden Farmer’s and Producers Market.

They will also be giving away plants grown at Primrose Nurseries in Moss Nook, Wythenshawe. The plants will have images and messages on the plant tags about Wythenshawe.

Cllr Eddie McCulley, Chair of Wythenshawe Area Consultative Committee and an ambassador for Real Lives, said: “Wythenshawe is really green. We have great parks, sites of biological importance and an interesting heritage.

“We are taking that message to visitors at the Cheshire Show to make them aware of the positive assets in Wythenshawe. They also get the chance to take a piece of Wythenshawe home with them, with our plant giveaway.”

Alongside this campaign activity, Wythenshawe Park, one of the largest green spaces in Manchester and a green flag award winning space, will be hosting theatre by Heartbreak Productions in July.

Ahead of the performance of As You Like It on Thursday 2nd July, a VIP reception will be held in the Courtyard Tea Room in the park, for guests to meet ambassadors for the Real Lives campaign and other stakeholders in Wythenshawe.

The event will be hosted by Paul Stewart of Northwest-based property development and investment company, Bluemantle, one of the investors in Wythenshawe and an ambassador for the area.

Bluemantle owns eight units on 85.5 hectare Roundthorn Industrial Estate including the Habitat building and the adjacent 66,000 sq ft building named The Studio.

Bluemantle is working on a five-year plan to improve the image of Roundthorn and boost the local business economy through substantial investment and refurbishment.

Paul Stewart of Bluemantle said: “We are very proud to be part of this event which is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the potential that Wythenshawe has to offer and we are delighted to support the local community as it comes together to promote the future of the area.”

The event will see business leaders from organisations such as Manchester Airport, Wythenshawe Hospital, British Airways and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce get together to enjoy the setting of Wythenshawe Park, the theatre production and to give their backing to Wythenshawe: Real Lives.

Pupils from Crossacres Primary School and Rackhouse Primary School in Wythenshawe will also be celebrating Wythenshawe’s green space this summer.

They will be taking part in a gardening competition, which will see them growing their own vegetables to enter them at the Brooklands Show on 5th September.

Cath Carmont, parent of six-year-old Kiaya at Rackhouse Primary is teaching the pupils to grow their own vegetables after becoming a gardening convert herself.

Cath is a wheelchair user and has two raised beds at Yew Tree Allotments in Wythenshawe. She began growing her own vegetables last year after being inspired by BBC Gardener’s World campaign and a friend who is a landscape gardener.

She said: “I wanted children to understand where their food comes from, how it grows and to be able to taste the difference. Rackhouse is really enthusiastic about this and we have done really well so far, growing everything from seeds.

“Wythenshawe has a lot of green space and we should make the most of it. We have been growing marigolds, chard, beans, peas and pumpkins and the children are really enjoying it. It’ll be great for the children to enter the show.”

Real Lives image campaign aims to challenge outdated and negative perceptions of Wythenshawe through activities and first-person accounts from residents, investors and employees of the district in Manchester.

The Real Lives campaign will be supported by visuals featuring real people in real situations and real locations in Wythenshawe. These are being rolled out on outdoor sites in the coming weeks and already feature on Parkway Green Housing Trust’s vans.