Thursday 10 December 2009

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At the Angels & Salford

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR

SEASONAL OPENING TIMES

Last Shopping Day

Monday 21st Dec 09

Close at 4:30 pm

Re-opens

Monday 4th Jan 2010

10 am

All hire equipment booked over the

Christmas Holidays must be collected by

1 pm on Monday 21st Dec 2009

& returned by 10:30 am

Monday 4th Jan 2010.

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Friday 20 November 2009

Robert Owen Day at MOSI



Grumpy helped celebrate the very first Robert Owen Day on 19 November 2009 by creating a banner to commemorate his life.

The event was organised by Young Co-operatives and held at Manchester Science and Industry Museum. Students from around Greater Manchester were invited to help create the banner.

Click here for more information about the event.






Monday 9 November 2009

Grumpy at the Angels!

Good News!

Grumpy Manchester will be opening at The Angels on Monday 16th November 2009 from 10am.

Grumpy at the Angels
Endcott Close (opposite Gorton Monastery)
Gorton
Manchester
M18 8BR

tel: 0161 230 6953
fax: 0161 230 7569
email: manchester@grumpy.org.uk

Shop Opening Hours:
Monday to Fridays 10 am to 4.30 pm

Office Opening Hours:
Monday to Fridays 10 am to 5 pm

Recycled Scrap Warehouse • Play & Educational Supplies • Play Equipment Hire • Play Training for Adults • Creative Workshops for Children & Young People • Office Space Hire • Training & Conference Rooms • Community Cafe

View map of M18 8BR on Multimap.com
Bird's Eye view of M18 8BR
Get directions to or from M18 8BR

Communication Through Art Workshops


The Communication through Art Workshops have been set up for individuals who attend the Langdale Centre Blackpool who have difficulty verbally communicating, we use art as a means of communication to encourage self expression, individuality and choice.The Communication through Art Workshops believe that individuals whatever their sensory, physical or cognitive ability have strong and vital qualities which are a reflection of their individuality and self expression it is these qualities that we explore and make visable by using colour, shape collage and sculpture.
(S Davies Artist-in-Residence)

New Play Team For Salford

Salford has four new Play Development Officers who will be supporting and developing play provision across the city and implementing Salford’s Play Strategy, ultimately with the aim of improving the quality of play opportunities for the children and young people of Salford. The team will also support the existing BIG Lottery play projects in Salford, and consult children about play spaces with regards to the development of the DCSF Playbuilder Programme. The new Officers have over twenty-seven years’ experience working with children and young people between them across the voluntary and community sectors. Matthew Barker and Michelle Hagan have both joined from delivering and managing play for voluntary organisations in Manchester, while Gareth Stacey has moved to Salford after five years with Flintshire County Council’s Play Service. Stephanie Williams works with the team part-time, after six years working on play and sports projects across the city. Welcome to Salford !

Friday 30 October 2009

Halloween at Albert Park

To watch a video of the event and the Magic Garden that Grumpy created, click here

Broughton kids prepare Halloween lanterns
by Tom Rodgers, Article taken from Salford Online

Salford Park Ranger Billy Masters and the volunteers down at the Church of Nazarene in Lower Broughton were helping local children to make lanterns for their Halloween parade in Albert Park on Saturday.

The simple laterns, which will have tealights inside them for the walking parade, were built by pasting tissue paper onto wooden sticks, which were soaked overnight to make them taut and strong.

As Billy says, the children also produced toadstools, bats and other spooky Halloween items to display on the night with GRUMPY – the Greater Manchester Play Resources Unit.

Around 50 children are expected to the Halloween walk through Albert Park in Lower Broughton on Saturday night, with the parade starting at 5pm and finishing at 7pm. There is also a pre-event party planned for the local children, from 3pm to 5pm.

The Church of Nazarene is currently open on a Monday and Tuesday for local families to bring down their children for a place to hang out and play, taking the pressure off mums and dads to find childcare for them in the afternoons or after school.

It's a wonderful place, but it's completely unfunded at the moment and oversubscibed, obviously. Out of everything going on there, this is the only thing that needs to change.

Friday 21 August 2009

Thursday 6 August 2009

National Play Day at Albert Park

Life's a Beach...in Salford, (article taken from Salford Online)

Children will soon be digging out their buckets and spades to build sandcastles on Salford's first beach next week.

14 tonnes of sand from Wolverhampton will be laid at Albert Park in Broughton on 6 August to build the man-made beach.

The beach is being organised by Salford City Council's park rangers and GRUMPY (Greater Manchester Play Resources Centre) to celebrate national Playday to encourage children to get out and play.

The focus of this year's Give us a go! campaign is to promote challenging and adventurous play opportunities and to make parks and open spaces good places to play.

The sand is being supplied by a quarry and is specially made so it's safe for children to play in.

Traditional seaside entertainment will include a Punch and Judy show and donkey rides.

There will also be a performance from Artizani, a bouncy castle, face painting stalls and space hopper football.

The beach will be there for one day only and after the event the sand will be reused in park and allotments in the city.

Councillor Keith Mann, lead member for the environment at Salford City Council said: "We've never done anything like this before and it's nice to be able to put on something a bit different for people of all ages to enjoy this summer."

The beach will be open from 1 until 4pm and entry is free.

Photos From National Play Day 2009










Wednesday 1 July 2009

FREE Play & Creativity Course (Level 2)

Do You Work or Want to Work with Children and Young People ?

FREE

Grumpy Play & Creativity Course (Level 2) to ALL Members from the Voluntary Sectors in Blackpool. Grumpy Blackpool is offering a Free, Informal and Fun 6-week Training. By end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Understand how to support children’s spirit of creativity and imagination
  • Appreciate the creative process of working with recycled materials and play
  • Gain skills and confidence to support play opportunities
  • Design & develop stimulating physical environment that promote choice & challenge
  • Extend your knowledge and explore the nature of children’s play

New Start Date; Wednesday 15th July 09 (1st session)

(with 5 sessions to follow in September)

Interested ? Contact Ruth Northall Training Co-ordinator

Blackpool 01253 767 251 Salford 0161 737 1644 email ruthn@grumpy.org.uk

Friday 1 May 2009

The Angels Get Grumpy!

Published Tuesday 28th April 09 (article taken from manchester.gov.uk)

A Northwest-based charity called GRUMPY, the Greater Manchester Play Resources Unit, is to take over the management of The Angels community centre in Gorton.

Set up by the Monastery of St Francis and Gorton Trust, The Angels community facilities were developed by the Trust in 2005 and provided a base for their work until they moved into the newly restored Monastery in 2007. The Angels building continues to offer a range of community activities, meeting facilities for local groups and charities and a twice weekly luncheon club for local residents run by the Probation Service. It is also home to the Monastery's other success stories, the well known Gorton Voice Community Choir and Gorton Visual Arts Group and a Sure Start centre which accommodates 12 children aged between 0 and 5 years.

Allan Hargreaves, GRUMPY's Managing Director said: "The Angels is an incredibly special place and it's a privilege to be involved in its future development. The location is perfect for us and the outdoor space will give us a chance to provide play activities and training in the open air.

"GRUMPY regards play as being essential to every child's life and vital to the processes of human development. Experience gained through play, during the years of childhood and youth, form the basis of adult behaviour. The Angels will provide a safe and creative environment for the young people of Gorton to enjoy and learn from play."

Libby Graham, Director of Social Regeneration at New East Manchester said: "It's great that this partnership between GRUMPY and The Angels has been formed as to lose the activities based there such as the Sure Start programme for families in the area would have been tragic. The Monastery Trust have done a remarkable job over the past four years in running this wonderful centre that has benefited so many local people. I know that GRUMPY will do an excellent job of ensuring it retains its vital role for the residents of Gorton."

Elaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of The Monastery Manchester said: "This partnership marks a new and bright future for The Angels. Creating this community hub and seeing it grow and thrive has been immensely satisfying. The Trust was not set up just to restore Gorton Monastery. It was as much about using that work as an inspiration and a catalyst for breathing new life into the area. The Angels became the base for all this important community activity. I am so glad that GRUMPY's professional team are able to take the centre on to its next phase and I know it will be in safe hands."

Pam Tideswell, Head of Sure Start added: "The partnership with GRUMPY is a valuable one and we look forward to stronger links being built between the partners".

GRUMPY is a grant aided voluntary organisation funded by a variety of sources including Manchester City Council and AGMA.

The Angels Community Centre is based in the former All Saints primary school on Endcott Close, off Gorton Lane.

Monday 5 January 2009

Grumpy and Eureka!



Pick up your maracas for a school visit to Eureka! this spring term.

This spring term Eureka! The Museum for Children in Halifax, West Yorkshire is celebrating the theme of carnival with a variety of exciting activities for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 school groups. The new sessions will be delivered by a professional artist and musician-in-residence from the innovative organisation and children’s charity Grumpy.Carnival at Eureka! will give children the chance to design and make their own fabulous costumes and noisy percussion instruments and will culminate in a parade around Eureka!’s Town Square in the Living & Working Together gallery.

Teachers will also have the opportunity to gather new ideas and skills for making colourful, recycled costumes and effective musical instruments for other projects back at school. Carnival is a festive season celebrated all around the world before the Christian period of fasting known as Lent. One of the most famous carnivals is in Rio de Janeiro where, every year, local Samba dance schools parade in bright and colourful costumes in a purpose-built ‘Sambadrome’.

Based in the North West with centres in Manchester, Blackpool and Salford, Grumpy is a registered Children’s Charity established to improve the quality and range of play opportunities available to children and young people.The carnival sessions at Eureka! cost £6.50 per child and are available to book at 10.00am or 12.30pm every week day from 19 January to 13 February 2009 for a maximum of 35 children. Groups will also have time to explore Eureka!’s galleries before or after the session. To book a visit for your group call the Bookings Hotline during office hours on 01422 330012.

Eureka Press Release