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Wish you were here, Sir Richard?

Susannah Wright
21/ 2/2008

RESIDENTS are to bombard the council leader with postcards of Levenshulme’s ‘grot-spots’.

The move comes as part of the Friends Of Levenshulme’s campaign to urge Sir Richard Leese into taking action to regenerate the area.

The postcards are to be handed out to people as part of an Easter Sunday event. Families will be encouraged to visit five of the area’s run-down spots, have their postcard stamped, and then send the card to Sir Richard.

And on the back of the cards is a message to the leader which reads, ‘If Levenshulme is really a priority as your District Plan states, then prove it: invest in our facilities’.

To get all sectors of the community involved, and to make the day a fun event for children as well, those taking part will be given an Easter egg, donated by the area’s traders.

Stuart Calton, from Kersh Avenue, is a member of the Friends Of Levenshulme (FOL) group. He said: "We want to make Easter an interesting day for everyone and we thought this would be a creative way to bring together a serious issue with a fun family event. "I think it’s important to get kids involved because a lot of the facilities in Levenshulme that are not being invested properly in, are things that children use, like the swimming pool and the sports centre.

"The council say they want to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour among kids, but then they don’t do enough to keep up the services they want to go to."

The places that the group have identified as needing urgent investment and action, include the area surrounding St Mary’s Church on Stockport Road, the site of the former Chapel Street Community Centre, the swimming baths on Barlow Road, the Arcadia Sports Centre on Yew Tree Avenue, and the former Kwik Save supermarket site on Stockport Road.

Stuart added: "There are so many places in Levenshulme that have been neglected for years and unless something is done, it’s only going to get worse."

The event will be held on Easter Sunday, March 23.

An open meeting to discuss further preparation of the day will be held at 2pm on Saturday, February 23, at Levenshulme Library on Cromwell Grove.