Autumn approaches and we make progress

The StartWow – well, it feels like a long time ago that I stood up in front of my fellow Traffordians to ask for their support for Gorgeous Gorse Hill.

It was quite a weekend when we won that funding, as the next day I went on to do 26 miles of the Manchester Bike Ride!

The project has really gained momentum since then, with growing interest from local residents and businesses. I feel very excited about it and think it has the opportunity to do a lot of good for Gorse Hill. If I’m honest I feel really passionate about it; every time a person joins the Facebook group or follows us on Twitter, I get a little thrill. Continue reading

Our funding so far

The Gorgeous Gorse Hill exhibition stand

The Gorgeous Gorse Hill exhibition stand

Back in June of this year (2013), Ruth Hannan, our brave and very determined project lead (this is not her official title but she has made it all happen) stood up in front of a packed lecture hall at Stretford High School. She made a brilliant pitch for funding from Trafford Council’s Voluntary Sector Grants Programme (Thrive Trafford), and got us through a tough public voting procedure to win our first pot of money. Hooray, Gorgeous Gorse Hill was go! Continue reading

What is Gorgeous Gorse Hill?

Gorgeous Gorse Hill is an initiative from the local by the local community to improve the local street-scene. We want to work with the community and businesses to identify and improve both developed and undeveloped space within Gorse Hill that has the potential to be made more “gorgeous” by community gardening and artwork.

We’ve already won funding through the Thrive Trafford funding pot and the first stage in our project is to brighten up Chester Road by working with local businesses to have the metal roller shutters painted. We know they are needed for security but they do make Gorse Hill look drab! We plan to work with a professional graffiti artist and local young people to co-produce designs and develop skills from design to implementation. Continue reading