Chorlton and Whalley Range Neighbourhood Update

by Laura Cassidy, Neighbourhoods Team

Free Cookery Classes at JNR8

Join Whalley Range Community Forum and Greens & Others for free cookery classes at JNR8 in Whalley Range. Starting on Monday 12 January from 10am to 12 noon for three weeks. Learn how to cook healthy meals and snacks on a budget. Places are limited and bookings are essential. Please call Chris or Kate on: 0161 881 3744 or email: communityforumwhalleyrange@gmail.com

If the course is oversubscribed you will be added to the list for the next three week course.

Mums Matter January Course

Manchester Mind’s Mums Matter Course will be starting on Tuesday 20 January at Whalley Range Sure Start Children’s Centre. This friendly, welcoming eight week group offers time to focus on your emotional wellbeing and mental health. These supportive sessions are for Manchester mums with at least one child under the age of two. Each session lasts two hours and all sessions are delivered in local family hubs. There is an optional crèche provided, giving you the opportunity to fully focus on yourself. 

Mums Matter is a course, developed by Mums for Mums. You will be offered a range of tools, such as breathing practices, mindfulness and meditation. Develop your own practice to support yourself in your new role as a Mother. Space to share and connect to other Mums is a vital part of the course and there is also an unstructured session at the end where you will be able to decide as a group, how to strengthen your connection as a Mums Matter support group. If you are interested in this course and would like to know more then please ring Lisa on: 07955 299 848 or Faye on: 07592 376 720 or complete the expression of interest form here: https://data.manchestermind.org/mums-matter/self-referral

www.manchestermind.org/events/mums-matter/

Free Writing Workshops in Alexandra Park

Bembe Café are hosting free weekly writing workshops at their space in Alexandra Park. Drop In sessions from 12pm to 2pm starting Sunday 18 January, weekly until 22 March.

Join in at Bembe Cafe for writing workshops led by writer and facilitator Toreh O'Garro. 

You will be exploring many themes relating to what community can mean through writing and sharing space with our neighbours. Consider this a welcomed interruption to your week. Not a rude one, but a creative one! One that swiftly slips into your Sundays and chucks in something special. Inspiration for your next piece, a sense of community nourishing the week ahead or maybe just maybe just maybe some writing advice to harness your voice!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572199929332

Cheshire East to mark Holocaust Memorial Day

Cheshire East Council will hold a service of remembrance to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.

This year marks the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex on 27 January 1945.

The Mayor of Cheshire East, Councillor David Edwardes, will lead the service in the Council Chamber of Crewe Municipal Buildings at 11am on Tuesday 27 January 2026. 

Members of the public are warmly welcome to attend and will be joined by civic dignitaries representing communities from across the borough. The leader of Cheshire East Council, Councillor Nick Mannion and deputy leader Councillor Michael Gorman will attend and give short addresses.

The hour-long ceremony will include readings of testaments from survivors of genocide, the lighting of memorial candles and a two minutes’ silence.

The guest speaker will be Stuart Ferster, who will tell the compelling story of his father, Chaim Ferster BEM, who cheated death in eight Nazi concentration camps – including Auschwitz – and survived the Holocaust.

Chaim lost most of his family in the Holocaust, including his mother, father and two sisters. His sister Manya was the only other member of his family to survive.

Invitations to the commemoration are being sent to all town and parish councils across Cheshire East, along with secondary schools in the Crewe and Nantwich area. Further information will be available on the council’s website. Any help to publicise the Cheshire East Council commemorative event in your local community would be much appreciated.

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is marked each year on or around 27 January – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp by the Soviet army in 1945. 

On and around this day, schools, communities, faith groups and others across the UK join together in national and local events to commemorate the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis and their collaborators, as well victims of other acts of Nazi persecution and of subsequent genocides.

Since 1945, there have been several other attempted genocides across the world – including Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur – and these are also commemorated on Holocaust Memorial Day.

HMD also provides an opportunity to reflect on the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust, an especially poignant consideration for this year’s commemorations, which take place against a background of rising antisemitism in the UK and globally.

Each year’s HMD has a different theme, chosen by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, as a focus for educational and commemorative events. The theme for HMD 2026 is ‘Bridging Generations’. It’s a reminder that the responsibility of remembrance doesn't end with the survivors – it lives on through their children, their grandchildren and through all of us.

We hope that HMD 2026 can be an opportunity for people to come together, learn both from and about the past and take actions to make a better future for all.

Two Cheshire charities receive combined £25,000 donation from Omaze

Two Cheshire charities receive combined £25,000 donation from Omaze

Two charities in Cheshire have received a £25,000 donation, divided equally between them, from entertainment company with a social purpose, Omaze, following its recent house draw in the area.

The first beneficiary of the joint donation is Lymm Sanctuary Hub, founded in 2019 - which provides wide-ranging community support for people with dementia, parents and carers of children with special educational needs, particularly ADHD and autism; and older vulnerable residents. 

The second beneficiary is Green Room Theatre, Wilmslow, founded in 1924 to advance education in all parts of the community through dramatic plays, encouraging local people to experience the benefits of performance arts.

Lymm Sanctuary Hub will use its £12,500 share to sustain three core projects over the next year - the Memory Café, which supports people living with dementia and provides vital respite for their carers; the Digital Café, which helps older residents navigate technology with confidence; and the Vantry Project, an affordable mobile food hub serving more than 150 local families. 

The Vantry had previously been funded by Sainsbury’s, but with that support ending in February, the donation will allow the service to continue uninterrupted. The Hub’s befriending project will also benefit from the donation, enabling it to meet growing local demand.

The Green Room Theatre, Wilmslow will use its £12,500 to launch and support a new youth drama group in its first year, offering young people the chance to explore performance in a non-musical setting. 

The funds will also go towards upgrading its reception and communal areas so the theatre can host more local groups, installing air conditioning in the main auditorium to improve the audience experience, and strengthening links with nearby schools to provide theatre access for children who might otherwise be unable to afford transport or city-centre tickets.

Omaze has a commitment to leaving a lasting legacy in the communities where its Grand Prize houses are located - in addition to the main donation for its House Draw charity partners – and is “delighted” to be supporting these two very worthy local causes.

Richard Pearce, Chair of Trustees, Lymm Sanctuary Hub said: “We are delighted to receive this generous donation from Omaze.  It will benefit our projects and services, enabling us to support more local people through challenging times.”

Paul Lewis, Chairman, the Green Room Theatre in Wilmslow said: “I have heard of Omaze’s work with charities and even bought tickets. I was absolutely thrilled to hear that Omaze would make a donation to our theatre. It will help us to get our plans for more community involvement in place, including helping local children experience the wonders of live theatre.”

Sue Johnston, Actor and Patron, the Green Room Theatre in Wilmslow said: “I’m delighted that Omaze has provided a fantastic donation for our theatre. I know the theatre will use it positively to help the community, and especially young people, experience the thrill of live theatre.”

Caitlin Bahrey-Neumark, Omaze, said: “Everyone at Omaze is absolutely delighted we have been able to make a contribution to these two fantastic charities.

“I was honoured to visit the Green Room Theatre, Wilmslow to meet representatives from both charities and hear about the incredible people who are providing such vital community services.

"Omaze will continue to help more local causes in the areas where we host our house draws, wherever possible.”

PP Omaze Green Room Theatre & Lymm Hubb

Salford schools go global as headteachers forge links with Chinese education

Salford headteachers are learning from other countries on the global education stage and gaining inspiration for their own schools. 

Three Salford headteachers had an extraordinary international learning experience in China, bringing back fresh ideas and exciting opportunities for schools and communities.

Sara Walker (Westwood Park Primary), Rachel Gallagher (Clarendon Road Primary), and Michael Earnshaw (The Friars Primary) represented Salford at the 20th Jiangsu International Forum for School Principals in Yangzhou this November.

The event brought together more than 300 education leaders from across the world, focusing on Artificial Intelligence in schools and sharing best practices to shape the future of learning.

As part of the cultural exchange, the headteachers visited schools across Nanjing Province, met Chinese pupils, and experienced firsthand the incredible quality of education in China.

Each Salford school has a ‘sister school’ in China, opening doors for collaboration and friendship:
•    Clarendon Road Primary with Meiling Primary School
•    The Friars Primary with Huaiyin Experimental Primary School
•    Westwood Park Primary with Nanjing Normal University Affiliated Hanjan Experimental Primary School

Suman Education International – the organisation who supports the sister school link programme – funded the visit and plan to offer funding to more schools across Salford for future conferences. The conference will be back in China in 2027 and Suman will be running a similar programme.

Information on the organisation can be found here: http://suman.uk.com/

Clarendon Road Primary School Headteacher Rachel Gallagher said: “We really relished the opportunity to explore the education system in China and were delighted to be able to learn more.

“We’re excited to hopefully host the Chinese schools in Salford next year and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing information about their visits with the staff and pupils in their schools and their headteachers in Salford."

Westwood Park Primary School Headteacher Sara Walker said: “It was a brilliant experience and already my children at school are excited to learn. I hoped to see the education system of another country and speak with fellow professionals from around the world to learn from their experiences. In the past, I had a similar experience in South Africa and it was eye opening.

“It has opened up a conversation about other countries the children are interested in. The visit combined my love of education with my love of travelling and sharing other cultures with the children at school. I very much appreciate it and will never forget it.”

The Friars Primary School Headteacher Michael Earnshaw said: “We really enjoyed our visit which was very interesting and informative. We’re looking forward to building upon this relationship in the future. We would like to thank our school governors, Salford City Council and Suman Group for the partnership which made this trip possible and for the extremely generous hospitality received for the duration of the trip."

Paul Dennett, Salford City Mayor said: “This international exchange marks a truly proud and landmark moment for Salford. Our headteachers have represented our city brilliantly, building meaningful relationships with schools in Yangzhou and across the wider Jiangsu region, and bringing back fresh insights that will enrich classrooms and communities here at home.

"This important work sits within Salford’s wider engagement with China, where we are steadily building long-term partnerships rooted in cultural exchange, shared learning and shared ambition. What our headteachers have experienced in Yangzhou demonstrates the real value of international cooperation, from seeing innovative teaching practice first-hand to forming friendships that will support collaboration for many years to come.

"We want Salford’s children to grow up with a strong sense of their place in the world, with opportunities to learn from different cultures and global approaches to education. Exchanges like this do exactly that. They broaden horizons, strengthen our city’s educational offer, and deepen the relationships we’re developing internationally. I look forward to these partnerships continuing to grow, and to seeing the benefits reach even more of our schools, young people and communities.”