Get fit and healthy for free!

Get fit & healthy in 2013! Between 21-27 Jan, you can try any Active Lifestyles session for FREE. For information on what sessions are on near you click here

Want to help Manchester City Council with their new website?

Manchester City Council are updating their website in the next few months and need people to help with user-testing. Sign up here to take part.

Any old (or new) wool?

I am collecting wool for Longsight's Bangladeshi Women's Organisation. They have an active group going that are knitting like mad and making lots of lovely things. They hope to make enough things to sell on Longsight Market so that they can raise funds for their centre and keep it going in these difficult times. The Centre provides a lifeline for many Bangladeshi women in the Longsight, Rusholme and Gorton area. The problem is and anyone who knits will know this, wool can be pretty expensive. However, most people who knit regularly have bags and bags of odds and ends and spare wool. So clean out your closet and donate the wool to a worthy cause. You can either drop any donations off directly at the centre on Dickenson Road in Longsight or email me and I can arrange to collect. Thanks in advance!

Hate Crime Awareness Week

The hate crime week will be held from Monday 21 January until Sunday 27 January 2013, and will be used to launch the City Council’s new hate crime strategy – outlining how they will work with Greater Manchester Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and other agencies to crack down on the problem. This follows a consultation event held at Manchester Town Hall in June, in which a wide range of organisations, including religious institutions, disability groups and those representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people were invited to talk about their experiences. The strategy includes measures such as increasing reporting of hate crime incidents, taking effective action against perpetrators, making sure the agencies involved work more closely together, providing proper support to victims and preventing hate crime by educating people and working to change attitudes. Groups across the city will be holidng throughout hate crime awareness week to help their neighbours understand the issue. In Longsight our event will be a drop in styple event at Longsight Library from 11am to 3pm on Wednesday 23rd January. Please come along.

Slash your fuels bills - go collective!

Residents are being urged to start the New Year by slashing their fuel bills by up to £250 and join a ground breaking collective energy switching scheme that could mean massive reductions to the cost of heating their homes. Residents are being urged to register their interest in the collective bulk buy scheme, launched on Wednesday 2 January, by visiting www.gmfairenergy.com or calling 0800 009 3363. Under the scheme, the group then enters a ‘reverse auction’ and gets a cheaper deal together on gas and electricity from energy companies. Residents just need to produce a copy of their current energy bill to register an interest before the scheme closes on January 28, and anyone who enters will receive an offer for a new rate which they do not have to accept. The scheme is also open to residents who use pre-payment meters.

Important Council Budget Consultation

Following a grossly unfair settlement from Government the Council has been preparing plans to find a further £80m of savings from its budget over the next two years. Despite Manchester being the fourth most deprived local authority area in the country, we received one of the five worst settlements in England in 2010. A consultation with residents and businesses on the budget proposals and priorities set out by the Council was launched on Wednesday 16 January and consultations on a number of specific proposals were launched on Wednesday 23 January. Click here for details for details. Firmed up budget proposals will be put forward at the Executive meeting on Wednesday 13 February with a definitive budget to be approved at the Council meeting on Friday 8 March. In addition to the £170m cuts which have been imposed on us since 2010 this is a further blow to the residents of Manchester. It is anticipated that the Council will have to further reduce its workforce by between 700 and 900 full-time posts to ensure it can produce a balanced budget. There is no doubt that this further £80 million in cuts, on top of the £170million we have already received, is going to impact on services. Manchester Labour remain committed to doing all we can to ensure that the most vulnerable in Manchester continue to be protected, that we deliver our essential services effectively and that we encourage economic growth and investment in the city. We will also be leading on campaigns at a national level to challenge this Government’s policies and the impact they are having on the residents of Manchester.

International Womens Day Awards

Manchester City Council has extended the deadline for nominations for their prestigious Women's Awards until the end of January. The Awards ceremony will coincide with International Women's Day this year and will be held on Friday March 8 2013 in ManchesterTown Hall. Award categories include women and science and technology engineering and mathematics (stem), art, sport, business innovators, culture, community work, protecting the environment as well as valuing older women and outstanding young woman and a special women's champion award. Individual women or an organisation that is working to improve women's lives can be nominated for an award which recognises the valuable contribution that women make to the city. Councillor Suzanne Richards, Chair of the International Women's Day steering group said: "This is a joint celebration where we can truly celebrate women and their contribution to our city and society in general. I would urge people to think about the women they know and if you think anyone would make a worthy nominee make an effort to nominate them today. We really want to make sure that on a day when women's achievements are acknowledged worldwide that we do our bit in Manchester and acknowledge women's positive contribution to our city." Manchester's theme for IWD in 2013 is Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (stem) an area where women are woefully under represented and this fits under the umbrella theme of IWD 2013 the under representation of women in a range of industries. The deadline for nominations is Friday 25 January. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the website: click here where there is more detail on each of the award categories or contact Alex Keelan for an application, tel: 0161 234 4263 or email a.keelan@manchester.gov.uk