Campaign for a Living Wage

In response to an email I received from Ed Miliband MP (see below). I have signed up in support of the Campaign for a Living Wage. I thought some of our readers also might want to support the campaign.

Dear Suzanne,

In Britain in 2010, over 5 million workers are paid under £7 an hour. And yet, studies show that people need £7.14 -- at the very, very least -- to fulfil their most basic needs: food, clothing and housing.

The Labour Party, even in opposition, is in a position to do something about this injustice -- and to campaign to transform the lives of some of the lowest paid workers in the country.

That's the sort of Labour Party I believe in, and that's the sort of party I am seeking to lead -- one that engages in communities and campaigns for real change in people's lives.

That's why, on Friday, I launched an important campaign for a living wage at an event in London. There was real support for the campaign and the launch was heavily oversubscribed.

But for our living wage campaign to succeed, I need you to take a stake in it -- and to take it to your own communities and networks.

There are two crucial ways we need you to support the campaign at this stage. First, we need you to sign the petition to show you support the living wage:

http://livingwage.edmiliband.org/

Once you've done that, we really need you to help us build momentum behind this campaign, by forwarding this email and inviting ten of your friends to join you in signing up, by tweeting and Facebooking your support for the living wage, and by asking people you know to join the Labour Party.

We are not the first to campaign for a living wage, and I know we won't be the last. But I hope we can share and spread the belief that the Labour Party can add to this campaign for fairness -- and reconnect as a transformative force for good in this country.

Many thanks for your support,
Ed

Longsight Festival Fun!

I am a little late blogging about this but didnt want to let it go by without a mention. Monday was the first Longsight Neighbourhood Fesitval. I say first because we hope that it will be an annual event. It was a great day with stalls, good food and excellent entertainment. The festival was officially opened by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress and was also attended by Sir Gerald Kaufman MP. Our excellent compare for the day Abid even managed to get the Lord Mayor and Sir Gerald bangra dancing.

Huge thanks must go to Fajer Rabia, Inspired Sisters, Manchester Sport Academy, St Agnes Church and Longsight Sure Start Centre. Without all your hard work the day simply would not have been the success it was.

World Cup fever comes to Manchester

It’s going to be a fan fest in Manchester this June with big screens showing World Cup matches around the city.

Manchester is hosting just one of fifteen Hyundai Fan Park sites around Europe so that fans can enjoy the spirit and atmosphere of the tournament in a safe and controlled environment.

The Hyundai Fan Park at Castlefield Arena will screen all 64 matches across the 31 days of the event. General capacity is up to 8,000 people with the area expanded to create a 17,500 capacity venue for England matches.

Access to the Hyundai Fan Park at Castlefield is free of charge but tickets are required to access screenings of England matches.

These are available from www.quaytickets.com and are limited to four tickets per household.

Tickets are free of charge but there will be a booking and postal fee of £1.50 per order to cover costs. Tickets will be posted first class.

Screens will also be located in Spinningfields and Exchange Square but will only be showing group stage matches, and will not be screening any England games.

There’s Allsorts To Do This Spring

There’s Allsorts To Do This Spring

Great news for families… there’s a whole range of exciting activities going on in venues and parks near you for kids and young people this May holiday.

Most activities are FREE.

For the full list of activities, dates and venues go to:

www.manchester.gov.uk/allsortstodo

Longsight Litter Pickers!

Over 30 young people from Manchester Sports Academy, local councillors and staff from Inspired Sisters were joined by Manchester's Executive Member for the Environment Councillor Nigel Murphy on Saturday for a Litter pick around Hamilton Road.

Whilst the local Councillors and Football team cleared the streets of litter Inspired Sisters went door to door to raise awareness of next weeks Longsight Neighbourhood Festival.

Councillors involved were Abid Chohan, Luthfur Rahman, Suzanne Richards, Rabnawaz Akbar, Rosa Battle and Nigel Murphy.

Local Labour Councillor Suzanne Richards said: "One of the main concerns reported to us by local residents in Longsight is litter and fly tipping. Saturday's litter pick was about showing that we must all take responsibility for our local area and work together to make longsight a cleaner and greener place to live. In just a couple of hours we removed over 10 black bags worth of rubbish from streets."

If you would like to help organise a litter pick in your local area then please get in touch with either Suzanne, Luthfur or Abid.

Longsight Neighbourhood Festival

Charities boost from student recycling campaign

Charities are to benefit from a huge campaign encouraging students to recycle and reuse their property as they leave their homes this summer.

And students taking part in the scheme, affecting around 7,000 properties as well as those living in halls of residence across south Manchester, will be eligible to win tempting prizes.

Manchester City Council is working with the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University to organise the scheme in a bid to end problems caused by piles of rubbish being left outside as houses are vacated.

Students in Victoria Park area will be given bags into which they should place old clothes, sheets and shoes, as well as reusable materials, and leave outside their homes.

These materials will go to charities such as Oxfam, the Mustard Tree or the Fallowfield-based Wesley Community Furniture Project.

Students who leave materials outside for collection can text 'zero waste' with their name and address to 86099 or e-mail recycling@manchester.gov.uk and be entered into a draw to win prizes including tickets for end of term party Pangea or a year-long Stagecoach bus pass.

The campaign follows a scheme introduced last year, in which extra collections were organised for student halls of residents, and vanloads of duvets were donated to dogs' homes across the region.

Longsight Labour Councillor, Suzanne Richards said: "At lot of work has been done in the area to engage with students. It’s important that we work closely with both universities to make sure recycling is made even easier for students.”

"Manchester has the biggest student population in Europe and we're very lucky to have them here, but we also need to make sure our permanent residents face as little disruption as possible when thousands of students leave their homes at the end of the summer term"