AllyTaylorShore

Monton’s Summer Mingle is on Saturday July 6th

Organised by Monton Unitarian Church in partnership with Monton Village Community Association (MVCA), the event will include market stalls, children’s entertainment, food and confectionary, a floral workshop and community art installation, live entertainment and a two-day fun fair.

Most of the event, which runs from 11am until 7pm, will take place in the grounds of Monton Unitarian Church and there is something of interest for everyone in the community. The headline sponsor is The Garden Bar.

For foodies, there’s local honey, cakes & biscuits and cream teas alongside a range of wellbeing products. Blossom by La Turka will mixing up delicious mock-tails, Common Ground Coffee will be providing hot drinks and the Monton Van will be offering a range of tasty food and snacks.

Live entertainment will include live music throughout the day plus the Blue Bell will be running live music events during the day and into the evening.

For younger family members there will be plenty of games and entertainment including appearances from Louby Lou the clown, a Disney Princess meet and greet and special guests, Paw Patrol’s Chase and Marshall who will be attending between 1-4pm.

The fun fair includes tea cups and a waltzer and will be open on both Saturday 6^th and Sunday 7^th July from 11am-7pm.

MVCA will be hosting a raffle with fantastic prizes from local businesses. Volunteers will be wearing yellow t-shirts and visitors can buy tickets from allocated sellers and the event information stall.

Marie Hargraves, Director of Monton Summer Mingle is impressed by the involvement and support of local businesses, and is encouraged by so many different community groups coming together to make this event one to remember.

She says: “We are lucky to have so many thriving businesses here in Monton and we’re delighted that so many of them are keen to get involved either by having their own stalls at the event or through sponsorship and promotion of the event.

“Platinum sponsor The Garden Bar has played a pivotal role in this event coming together alongside Blossom by La Turka and The Blue Bell.

“The Summer Mingle isn’t just about raising funds for the Unitarian Church and MVCA to help the wider community; we want to benefit local businesses by bringing more people into Monton to enjoy everything they have to offer and bring our community closer.”

Victoria Smith, Volunteer Manager, said: “Everyone has worked so hard bring this wonderful summer event to life over many months. We’d like to pay a special thanks to our volunteers as we couldn’t do anything without them.

“We have a great team of people who give back to their community and we’ll be looking to repay them with a fun experience and lots of snacks throughout the day to keep them going. La Turka is also very kindly hosting a wrap party for all our volunteers.”

Local businesses supporting the event include The Garden Bar, Blossom Bistro by La Turka, Blue Bell, The Bread Club, Edison Bar, Twig, Clear Clutter Now, Access Lock & Safe, Emma Evans Studio, Monton Village Bakery, The Gatsby Salon, Everything but the Cake, Ashley Tree Services and more.

‘Cool’ local co-working space set to open this Winter

Pre lockdown, only one-in-eight worked from home and in 2023 around 44% of people work from home either full or part time/hybrid. For many people though, especially the self-employed, working and looking at the same four walls whilst the washing machine rumbles, the endless answering the door (& Ring) and taking the dog for guilt walks, is wearing thin.

For home workers in Monton and the surrounding areas looking for a change, ‘trendy’ shared office space locally is currently lacking but an amazing new shared office concept is to open later this year.

A stone’s throw from Monton, in bordering Swinton, Ministry of Work is the creation of 37-year-old entrepreneur Eddie Whittingham who saw the empty premises online last year and was immediately drawn to it. Having never developed property before (he previously worked in cyber-security) he became hooked on the 132-year-old chapel and threw everything into the £1million development. Working with his architect they drew up comprehensive plans to create a charming, modern space with essential technology plus air conditioning, meeting rooms, private phone booths, outdoor seating, 1GB internet, free tea and coffee, and much more. The building’s modernisation also includes 48 solar panels and it has achieved an ‘A’ rated EPC rating.

A hard hat tour of the 5,000 ft space, which is located on Manchester Road revealed beautiful stained glass windows and other original features including original trusses…there’s even a time capsule that had been buried under the floor in 2000! The interior style is stylish-yet-comfortable with leather, woodwork and ironwork – and Eddie has kept the majority of original features.

The ground floor incorporates a number of private offices for 4-8 people plus a reception, a podcast studio and kitchen. Upstairs are 36 individual coworking desks plus break out areas and plenty of bookable meeting rooms and additional kitchen facilities. The space is also dog friendly and is expected to book up incredibly quickly ahead of its mid-late November opening.

Coworking flexible spaces start from £200 per month, with private desks starting from £300. Eddie has put together a number of packages where people wanting to hot desk flexibly can purchase a package of 5 or 10 days a month. The aim is to create a professional local working space and friendly community with events and a social aspect.

Said Eddie: ‘To see the chapel restored to its former glory is amazing and I am so proud to see the office space take shape. It’s going to be the ideal location for any small local businesses that are mainly desk based. So far we’ve had bookings and interest from designers, PRs, entrepreneurs, HR consultants; a really wide range of local professionals and I am excited to meet everyone and see this community develop. We have designed this space very carefully and included little details often missing in similar spaces like a snug where co-working people can have a little privacy and our dedicated podcast and content studio, where brands can create amazing content.’

Images property of MinistryOfWork

Follow https://www.instagram.com/ministryofwork/ for more information

Monton’s new Christmas 2023 light legacy

With only 73 days until Christmas, plans for upgraded festive lighting in Monton are in full swing.

Monton Village Community Association has organised a significant upgrade of the current festive lighting to bring cheer to locals and visitors in a tough year.

The new lighting and decorations includes 5ft trees (sponsored by local businesses) which will be hung over premises’ doorways, new festive lamp post wraps, tree branch wraps and roundabout lighting.

The team has worked tirelessly to secure sponsorship from local businesses as they were faced with additional costs running into thousands relating to infrastructure and licensing.

Monton Village Community Association is committed to running free, inclusive, morale boosting events that bring the community together including an annual summer festival.

The new festive lighting will be on show at The Monton Jingle Mingle which will take place on November 25^th. The event has been organised by the Association and Monton Unitarian Church and full details will be released soon.

Lisa Rondeaux Muir, from Monton Village Community Association, said: “The volunteers at MVCA are really excited and honoured to be working on behalf of the residents and businesses on the new and improved Monton Christmas Light legacy.

“Clement and Attlee are sadly going to remain on the shelf this year as there’s a number of concerns around safety and anchoring them.

“We still need to raise further funds to secure the reindeer and festoons so this is very much work in progress and something we intend to build on each year!”

More information about the Christmas event is due to be announced shortly and individuals and businesses are being encouraged to join the association to help raise much needed funds to put on a fun event to kick start the festive season.

So far, the following local businesses have pledged to hang the 5ft trees at premises and there are additional sponsorship opportunities available.

Please contact ilovemontonteam@gmail.com for more information.