Didsbury - Community Index

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Didsbury 

August 2010 

index

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0787 589 5604 lesley@communityindex.co.uk

August 2010 

CONTENTS 

1 

Welcome to the August 

edition. 

This month Monica McCusker 

from Manchester Nutrition 

shares a lovely tomato recipe. 

Two enterprising locals have 

recently launched a new 

website - scavenger.org. 

uk - with the hope of creating 

a user friendly forum to 

enable us to redistribute our 

unwanted stuff. 

Tom Astell contacted 

Community Index after picking 

up a copy at Didsbury Library. 

Tom is the publicity officer 

for Manchester Intervarsity 

Club and wanted to promote 

the group with a feature in 

Community Index. 

Are you involved in a 

community project or not 

for profit group? Perhaps you 

are looking for volunteers? 

If you’d like to feature in 

Community Index, please do 

get in touch, we’d love to 

hear from you. 

Lesley 

2 

6 

10 

12 

14 

Satyananda Yoga 

a growing community in 


Succulent Seasonal 

Tomatoes 

Monica’s recipe 

Make New Friends 

with Manchester IVC 

On the Sofa 

with Gilly Kingham 

www.scavenger.org.uk 

redistribute your surplus stuff 

Deadline for the Next Edition: 

13th August 

18 

Book Review 

by Gilly Kingham 

Community Index is printed on Forest 

Stewardship Council approved paper 

using vegetable based inks. 

Front cover photograph by Janet Walsh 

m1608r2703@yahoo.co.uk 

! 

Editor: Lesley Swann 0787 589 5604 

Sub-Editor: Sam Paechter 

lesley@communityindex.co.uk 

www.communityindex.co.uk

2 

Satyananda 2 

Yoga 

a growing community in Didsbury - by Sara Adler 

I grew up in London, though 

I came up North in the early 

eighties when I was 19, 

living in and around South 

Manchester. I remember 

clearly from those first 

years my almost 

instantaneous love 

for this city, its 

enormously diverse 

communities and 

the friendliness 

of its people – a 

feeling which still 

remains. 

At the end of 1997 

I set off to the other side of 

the world and lived most of 

the next decade in Australia. 

I went to my first yoga class 

whilst living in Milton, a small 

coastal town near Narrawallee 

on the South Coast of New 

South Wales. I still remember 

how it felt! Before then I had 

“I feel fitter and more flexible, 

able to cycle now with ease. Knee 

and back problems are improving 

all the time and I have an increased 

awareness on all sorts of levels.” 

student comment 

looked from a distance at 

other people practising yoga, 

I’d always been interested, 

but had never tried it. 

Just less than 2 years ago 

I had a strong sense that 

the time had finally come 

to return home to the 

community I had left behind 

in Britain. The moment 

had come for me to 

acknowledge that perhaps 

I had come home partly 

to share the yoga I had 

grown to love in Australia 

and somehow to combine 

it with my love of 

community. 

I’ve been teaching 

Satyananda Yoga in Didsbury 

since the start of 2009. 

Classes have grown steadily 

Sara Adler 

Diploma Satyananda Yoga Teaching 

(Australia) 

Yoga in Didsbury 

Morning, afternoon and 

evening classes 

Emphasis is placed upon systematic, 

safe teaching methods which adapt 

practices to suit the many individuals 

who make up our community 

Everyone is welcome 

For further information contact Sara 

0161 445 4626 

sara.sacredspace@gmail.com 

www.sacredspace.me.uk

3 

“The postures of 

Satyananda Yoga 

have been challenging 

but not in any 

way competitive. 

Particularly now 

at this later stage 

of my pregnancy 

the use of natural 

breath awareness 

and meditation have 

helped greatly in the 

time before sleep.” 


from small beginnings, where 

a few people attended free 

classes in a room in my home. 

These past 18 months have 

been a journey, and I am 

now teaching at a beautiful 

local space, offering regular 

chanting evenings at my 

home for students, partners, 

children and friends followed 

by shared suppers. There 

have also been three Sunday 

workshops with different 

Satyananda teachers this 

year, and an annual retreat 

this June at an Ashram in 

Wales. At the end of my 

first year of teaching we 

celebrated together by 

gathering at a local restaurant 

and also welcoming our first 

Satyananda Yoga baby. 

I teach systematically and 

safely, drawing on the 

teachings of Satyananda Yoga 

and personal experience over 

the past 11 years. My vision 

is to teach in a way that 

fully includes each and every 

person in the group, nurturing 

a place of trust where 

students are encouraged to 

explore life. Teaching this 

way enables people to open 

up the possibilities that Yoga 

“Yoga has enabled 

me to listen to my 

body and my mind, 

not just within the 

sessions of yoga 

practice but within 

everyday life.” 


can offer, looking at how to 

take yoga off the mat at the 

weekly class and out into 

their everyday life, enabling 

an expanding sense of 

awareness of each aspect of 

life in the City. 

Everyone is most welcome to 

come along. 

www.sacredspace.me.uk 

0161 445 4626 

FREE Satyananda Yoga Classes as part of the 

Didsbury Arts Festival in September 

3

4 

Nina West 

Decorator 

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A free 15 minute consultation can be offered. Please phone, email or visit Pau 

for more details. 

5 

TALKING CAN 

HELP 

Psychoanalytic 

Psychotherapy 

Back & joint pain? 

Headaches & migraines? 

Anxiety & depression? 

zoneacupuncture 

The benefits of acupuncture for many 

physical and emotional conditions have 

been observed for over 2000 years... 

Peter Rigg 

UKCP Registered Psychotherapist 

Hampden House Psychotherapy 

Centre 

2, Palatine Road, Withington 

Manchester M20 3JA 

0161 445 2099 

www.hampdenhouse.co.uk 

Pauline Moffatt, PG Dip Ac, MBAcC 

Acupuncturist 

zoneacupuncture 

Acupuncture is of the therapies used in Traditional Chinese Medicine 

available at: 

Burton Road Clinic 

0161 446 2533 

to help treat a wide range of conditions and illness. It can be an effective 

treatment for musculoskeletal conditions (back pain, sciatica, neck, 

shoulder & knee pain, arthritis), stress and anxiety, lethargy, menstrual and 

menopausal symptoms, digestive problems, nausea, headaches, migraines, 

pregnancy problems, helping to improve fertility, and much more... 

Acupuncture helps to maintain the bodyÕs balance by focussing on all aspects of wellbeing; 

physical and emotional. Many people have treatments from time to time in order to stay 

healthy and energised. 

Pauline trained for 3 years in Acupuncture (Traditional Chinese Medicine) at the Northern 

College of Acupuncture in York. She tailors treatments to each individual and enjoys 

working with people to help improve their health and wellbeing. Pauline is a member of 

the British Acupuncture Council and is willing to speak to you in person if you have any 

questions regarding treatment. 

A free 15 minute consultation can be offered. Please phone, email or visit PaulineÕs website 

zoneacu 


t. 07801 542 669 

e. pauline@zoneacupuncture.co.uk 

w. www.zoneacupuncture.co.uk 


Acupuncture helps to maintain the bodyÕs balance by focussing on all aspects of wellbeing; 

Acupuncture 

physical and 

is one 

emotional. 

of the 

Many 

therapies 

people have treatments 

used 

from 

in Traditional 

time to time in order 

Chinese 

to stay 

M 

Registered healthy 

to help treat Osteopaths 

and energised. 

a wide range of conditions and illness. It can be an ef 

treatment Pauline for trained musculoskeletal for 3 years in Acupuncture conditions (Traditional Chinese (back Medicine) pain, at sciatica, the Northern 

Osteopaths treat back and neck pain and muscle and joint problems such as whiplash, sciatica and nec 

College of Acupuncture in York. She tailors treatments to each individual and enjoys 

headaches. These problems may be shoulder caused by working & manual knee with people work, pain, to help computer arthritis), improve their use stress health or stress. and and wellbeing. anxiety, Osteopathy Pauline is lethargy, a can member of mens 

the British Acupuncture Council and is willing to speak to you in person if you have any 

help with the mechanical effects of 

menopausal 

pregnancy – both 

questions symptoms, 

during the 

regarding treatment. digestive 

pregnancy 

problems, 

and afterwards, 

nausea, 

and with 

headaches, m 

age related conditions and arthritis. We also treat sports injuries such as shoulder problems and knee 

pregnancy A free problems, 15 minute consultation helping can be to offered. improve Please phone, fertility, email or and visit PaulineÕs much website more.. 

problems, and injuries due to repetitive actions such as playing musical instruments. 


Call Pauline: 07801 542 669 

www.zoneacupuncture.co.uk 

pauline@zoneacupuncture.co.uk 

Holmed Clinic 

Burnage Lane 

0161 442 8513 


Acupuncturist 

theburtonroadclinic 

Acupuncture is one of therapies used Traditional Chinese Medicine 

to help treat a wide range of conditions and illness. It can be an effective 

treatment for musculoskeletal conditions (back pain, sciatica, neck, 

shoulder & knee pain, arthritis), stress and anxiety, lethargy, menstrual and 

menopausal symptoms, digestive problems, nausea, headaches, migraines, 

Acupuncturist 

pregnancy problems, helping to improve fertility, and much more... 

OSTEOPATHY 

Nicholas Vine & Carolyn Greenhalgh 

Appointments are available Monday Acupuncture to Saturday, t. 07801 helps 542 including 669 to maintain early the mornings bodyÕs and balance evenings. by focussing on all aspects 

e. pauline@zoneacupuncture.co.uk 

physical and emotional. Many people have treatments from time to time in ord 

w. www.zoneacupuncture.co.uk 

healthy and energised. 

0161 446 2533 

Pauline trained for 3 years in Acupuncture (Traditional Chinese Medicine) at th 

College of Acupuncture in York. She tailors treatments to each individual and e 

working with people to help improve their health and wellbeing. Pauline is a me 

the British Acupuncture Council and is willing to speak to you in person if you h 

questions regarding treatment. 

www.theburtonroadclinic.co.uk 

The Burton Road Clinic 121 Burton Road, Didsbury M20 1HZ

6 

Succulent Seasonal Tomatoes 

by Monica McCusker 

We can see succulent, 

tasty local and European 

tomatoes in our greengrocers 

throughout the year, but the 

tastiest ones are available 

from July to September. 

Tomatoes are such versatile 

and tasty vegetables and 

a great accompaniment to 

most meals as part of a salad, 

stuffed or cooked as the base 

of a stew, curry or casserole. 

Technically tomatoes are 

vine fruits, like cucumber, 

squashes, peas and beans, but 

most people refer to them as 

vegetables. 

You can buy tomatoes in a 

range of sizes and types from 

the smallest cherry tomatoes 

through to the larger 

beefsteak, not forgetting 

the wonderful concentrated 

flavour of sundried versions. 

Almost all tomatoes in Britain 

are grown in glasshouses. 

They are produced in 

our natural season and 

harvested between March and 

November. 

Tomatoes are a powerhouse 

of nutrients needed for 

health. They contain vitamins 

A, C and E as well as beta 

carotene, which all function 

as antioxidants to combat 

the ageing process and keep 

chronic diseases at bay. In 

addition reasonable quantities 

of vitamin K, potassium, 

magnesium, the B vitamins 

and iron can also be found. 

One phytonutrient found 

in tomatoes, which has 

undergone a lot of research 

recently, is lycopene. This is 

a powerful antioxidant and is 

part of the carotenoids group. 

It has been shown to inhibit 

prostate cancer. One study 

showed that men who ate 

10 or more helpings 

per week had 

reduced 

their risk of 

developing 

prostate 

cancer by 

30 per cent. 

Another study 

demonstrated 

that our 

bodies absorb three times the 

amount of lycopene if the 

tomato’s been cooked, such 

as in tomato sauce or paste. 

Tomatoes are great for making 

babies too as lycopene has 

been shown to increase male 

fertility, by reducing the 

damage to sperm from free 

radicals. A 36% pregnancy 

success rate was reported 

after infertile men were 

given 8mg of lycopene daily 

until sperm analysis was 

normalised. 

Summer Offer 

30% off any Nutritional 

Therapy consultations 

throughout August. 

Call 07740 680401

7 

Tomatoes stuffed with quinoa 

Serves 2 

2 beefsteak or other large tomatoes 

100g quinoa 

250ml vegetable stock 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 onion (approx 100g) chopped 

1 garlic clove 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

Grated zest of ½ lemon 

2 tablespoons pine nuts 

1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander 

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 

Freshly ground black pepper 

1. Heat the stock in a saucepan, add the 

quinoa, stir and simmer for 15 minutes or 

until the quinoa is tender. If all the stock is 

not absorbed, drain the quinoa. 

2. While the quinoa is cooking, slice the 

top off the tomatoes and 

scoop out and eat or compost 

the seeds, taking care not to 

break through the pith and 

skin. Grind some black pepper 

into the tomatoes. Preheat the 

oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. 

3. Heat the oil in a saucepan, 

add the onion and garlic and 

cook until golden. Add the quinoa, lemon 

juice, zest, pine nuts and chopped herbs 

and mix well. 

4. Spoon the mixture into the tomatoes 

and top with the ‘lids’. Put them 

in an oven proof dish, cover 

and cook for 15 minutes or 

until the tomatoes are soft. 

Serve with a small 

baked potato and a 

green salad or extra 

quinoa. 

feeling tired? stressed? 

overweight? bloated? 

community 


May 2010 

index 

nutritional therapy can help... 

call Monica: 07740 680 401 

Nutritional Therapist & Stress Advisor 

Manchester Nutrition 

available at the Burton Road Clinic 

0161 446 2533 

www.manchesternutrition.co.uk 

REACH 24,000 

South Manchester 


Homes 

affordable, effective advertising 

for your business 

call us today and get your business noticed 

0787 589 5604 


to advertise call Lesley: 0787 589 5604 lesley@communityindex.co.uk

8 

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Repairs and Upgrades 

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Quality Hardware supplied 

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CompTIA A+ Certified Service Professional 

Telephone: 0161 870 2563 

Mobile: 07799 401793 

www.tlc-computing.co.uk 

service@tlc-computing.co.uk 

ALEX 

HINDLEY 

Plastering Services and 

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References available on request 

Dog Walking, Cat Visits, 

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Insured & Police Checked Staff. 

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Email -electricalreynolds@gmail.com 


9 


community 


communityindex 

index index 

May 2010 


community 


June 2010 


community 


July 2010 

index 

Have you had your 

Community Index? 

Now in our fourth month publishing 

here in Didsbury, we have been 

delighted by the response from both 

readers and advertisers. 

We are independently owned and 

produce a monthly magazine with 

community focused editorial content 

both in Didsbury and in neighbouring 

Chorlton and Whalley Range. We 

hope to provide a forum for local 

organisations, charities and not for 

profit groups to publicise their work 

within the community. 

There are also lots of adverts which 

provide all of our funding. We 

offer affordable and flexible advertising packages to local 

independently owned businesses. Give us a call if you run a 

local business and would like to advertise. 

We deliver to a third of all the homes in Didsbury each 

month. So, you should receive a copy through your letter box 

once every 3 months. 

If you’d like to read it every month, we’ll make copies 

available for you to pick up when you’re out and about in 

Didsbury. 

Or, send us an email to list@communityindex.co.uk and we’ll 

send you a link to the online version each month. 

We’d love to hear from you if you’d like to contribute 

an article. We are particularly keen to include projects, 

organisations and groups which promote sustainable and 

resilient lifestyles. 

Lesley Swann 

Editor 


Call us on: 0787 589 5604 

Email: lesley@communityindex.co.uk 

www.communityindex.co.uk

10 

Make New Friends 

and influence people - Manchester Intervarsity club 

Are you new in town or would 

like to increase your circle of 

friends? 

Manchester Intervarsity 

Club offers informal social 

and cultural activities for 

professional and like-minded 

people with the emphasis on 

making new friends who share 

interests. 

Many IVC members live 

in the Didsbury area and 

its atmosphere makes it a 

popular venue for pub nights 

and meals. The book club is 

held locally as was our annual 

garden party. 

Who are we? 

As a non-profit making 

organisation, our members 

put on events for each other, 

share interests and develop 

friendships. Although it’s 

definitely not a singles club, 

there have been many IVC 

weddings over the years. 

Whilst the majority join in 

their forties many remain 

members into their fifties. 

What do we do? 

We organise more than one 

event a day, on average, 

all year so provide a social 

calendar to plan with or dip 

into as the fancy takes you. 

Choose from:- 

book club, bridge, cinema, 

concerts, cycling, dancing, 

discussion groups, holidays 

at home and abroad, jazz, 

lectures, meals, parties, 

pub nights, slide shows, 

talks, theatre, museums, art 

galleries and walks. 

Our weekly discussion circles 

cover science, history, 

philosophy and current 

affairs. There’s a comedy

workshop run by our own 

stand-up comic, Diane, a 

pancake evening, mulled 

wine and mince pies and a 

professional jazz trio. 

IVC offers the chance to 

try new pursuits without 

getting too serious! Have a 

go at bridge, modern jive, 

badminton etc. 

National Network 

Manchester is one of a 

nation-wide association of 

IVC clubs which organise 

weekends to which they invite 

other clubs as guests. It’s a 

good opportunity to explore 

other parts of the country at 

modest cost and be assured of 

a warm and personal guide to 

that area. 

What does it all cost? 

The club is non-profit making 

and there is no joining fee but 

Manchester Intervarsity Club 

www.manchesterivc.org.uk 

manchesterivc@hotmail.com 

07977 403063 • Clubrooms: 0161 273 2316 

Visit us: 

Tuesdays from 8-10pm 

94 Grosvenor St, Manchester, M1 7HL 

You can also leave your contact details on our 

website, email us, leave a message on our 

clubrooms answerphone or call the club mobile. 

everyone pays a monthly or 

annual subscription. All events 

are free apart from restaurant 

and venue door charges. 

Come and meet us 

You are encouraged to come 

and meet existing members 

before deciding whether to 

join. There is a lively club 

night every Tuesday with 

11 

slide shows, quizzes or guest 

speakers or you may prefer to 

come along to a theatre trip, 

meal, walk or other event. 

Get in touch 

Please get in touch and we’ll 

send you our programme of 

events so you can see our 

wide range of activities and 

invite you to join us.

12 

On the Sofa 

with Gilly Kingham 

A Single Man 

George (Colin Firth) lives in 

the suburbs of Los Angeles in 

a glass house. Such flaunting 

transparency which announces 

nothing to hide is of course 

the perfect camouflage for a 

man receded into a grief that 

in the America of 1962 has no 

acceptable public discourse. 

For George’s heart has been 

broken – a circumstance 

literalised into a diseased 

heart – by the death of his 

partner of 16 years, Jim 

(Matthew Goode), who, we 

learn in a series of dream 

sequences and flashbacks, 

has been killed in a car 

crash while visiting family in 

Colorado. 

Based on a novella by 

Christopher Isherwood, Tom 

Ford’s film traces a single day 

in George’s life. This is to be 

George’s death day – a fact 

rather clunkily foreshadowed 

by the pistol that George carts 

about all day in his brief case. 

Still, Ford’s camera invests 

the outward almost-normalcy 

with which this English 

Literature professor pursues 

his day with the wonder of 

moments as if seen for the 

last time. Such a construction 

of inward perception is 

given greater poignancy in 

its contrast with George’s 

strictly phatic interactions 

with the Kodachrome-bright 

all-American nuclear family 

that lives opposite and his 

work colleagues. 

Even his long-standing friend, 

fellow Brit, Charley (Julianne 

Moore) – a woman washed-up 

in middle-age, the gin-soaked 

flotsam of a feminine 

stereotype which she has 

discovered too late has an 

upper-age limit – fails to 

comprehend George’s despair, 

adding to the accumulating 

cruelties of a heterosexual 

world by suggesting that his 

relationship with Jim was 

somehow not ‘real’. It is 

only George’s student, Kenny 

(Matthew Hoult), noticing 

the ‘almost’ in George’s 

behaviour – the lecture on 

Aldous Huxley’s ‘After Many a 

Summer’ diverted by a bored 

question into a consideration 

of the basis of all prejudice 

in fear of the other; more 

prosaically, the clearing of 

his office – who attempts a 

searching inquiry. George, 

typically scrupulous about the 

protocols of teacher-student 

relations, seeks to evade 

Kenny’s overtures of intimacy 

by means of the refracting 

mirrors of a self-ironising 

personal style. Kenny, 

however, proves not so easily 

deflected. 

Firth is marvellous in his 

portrayal of repression 

articulated in metonymies 

– the flinch of a jaw muscle, 

the tic of an eyelid, the spill 

of a tear – and captured by 

Ford’s insistent close-up 

camera. Sometimes, however, 

Ford, best known as a 

designer of luxury goods, 

seems to forget himself and 

we are treated, for example, 

to Firth and Goode sunbathing 

in vests against a bare snaggle 

of rock, an image resembling 

an über-chic black and white 

fashion plate discovered in 

the pages of Vogue or GQ, but 

apparently gratuitous to the 

filmic narrative other than as 

a kind of fetishised time-out. 

It is of course ironic that 

Ford’s first film should have 

as its historical context the 

1962 Cuban missile crisis, one 

of those defining moments in 

the encounter with the Soviet 

other against which America 

constituted the meaning 

of freedom as consumerist 

heaven. 

Nonetheless, there is much 

to like about this film. And I 

liked it a lot.

Design • Print • Delivery 

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13 

0787 589 5604 print@communityindex.co.uk

14 

www.scavenger.org.uk 

two scavengers hard at work... will you join them? 

During a big house renovation 

project Tom Winslow and 

Steven Strange were keen 

to call upon local recycling 

networks to source and pass 

on useful treasures. They both 

grew increasingly frustrated 

with just how difficult it 

seemed to be to do this! Once 

the house was completed 

and they had again spare 

time on their hands they 

decided to skill up and create 

a new user-friendly recycling 

platform! 

A year and a half later 

Scavenger.org.uk was 

launched. Two months from 

launch date it now has 

over 400 active members 

giving away everything from 

grapevines to playstations 

and most recently a fully 

functioning caravan! 

A website like Scavenger 

relies almost entirely on 

communities joining up and 

getting involved. Operating 

as a non-profit making 

organisation and both of 

them being in full time 

employment, Scavenger 

cannot make use of endless 

time and big budgets when it 

comes to promoting. Instead 

they both hope that the 

originality of the website 

and the way it functions will 

impress its users enough to 

harness word of mouth as 

their main advertising tool. 

If the membership base 

continues to grow as it has 

done they hope to be able to 

operate effectively not only 

locally but on a national level 

too. Their other long-term 

aim includes building links 

with local councils to combine 

expertise and continue to 

develop the website as a 

useful everyday tool that 

will assist with tackling the 

environmental problems that 

today’s throw-away society 

has created. 

If you can think of at least 

one thing that you own but no 

longer want, then why not log 

on to - 

www.scavenger.org.uk. 

Ten minutes scavenging 

and you’ll have shown your 

support, de-cluttered and 

saved one more thing from 

landfill. 

www.scavenger.org.uk - what’s it all about? 

• To sign up all you need is an email address and the first half of your postcode. 

• Items are displayed by postcode location or by distance from your location. 

• All items showing on the site are available to be taken by someone. 

• You can search for items using a range of criteria including distance, description 

and condition. 

• You can save your search for an item. Then when your desired item comes available 

the website will notify you by email. 

• You can provide feedback about other members when you give or take an item. This 

ultimately restricts the number of items available to time-wasters. 

• You will not be bombarded with unwanted emails. You can check the site whenever 

you need to get rid of an item or search for something new. 

• Each member has their own profile page in which they can track the items that they 

are currently giving or requesting.

15 

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Tel: 07989 406 858 

at: Insitu 252 Chester Rd Hulme M15 4EX 

www.planetvintagegirl.com 

30% OFF 

early bird - before 7pm 

A LA CARTE MENU 

Sunday to Thursday 

CRAZY 

VOUCHER 

Crazy Wendy’s • 210 Burton Road • West Didsbury • M20 2LW 

Tel/Fax: 0161 445 5200 or 0161 434 5617 

www.crazywendy.co.uk www.thaiesarn.co.uk 

to subscribe to the web edition email: list@communityindex.co.uk

16 


Plastering 

clean quality craftsmanship 

specialists in re-skimming and 

all aspects of renovation work 

call Matt for a free quote 

07759 655 078 

0161 282 2497 

local and independent 

didsburyplastering@live.co.uk 

Est 1995 

Anthony W Parker 

Bespoke Carpentry & Joinery 

Internal Doors, French Doors & Windows 

Sliding Sash Window Refurbishments 

Velux Roof Windows and Loft Access Kits 

Stud Partitions, Timber Suspended Ceilings 

Dry Lining & Plasterboarding 

Solid & Engineered Hardwood Flooring 

Custom Made Internal Fitments 

Sympathetic Refurbishments 

30 Yrs Experience, Advanced City & Guilds 

Attentive, Clean, Conscientious, Reliable 

For Free Quotation Call Anthony 

0161 442 7478 0751 775 2228 

M Duffin 

Property Repairs 

Chimneys 

Pointing 

Roofs 

Gutters 

Free Estimates 

0161 789 6640 

07944 729 608 

please mention Community Index when responding to adverts

DO YOU HAVE WINDOW PAINS 

Call 0161 614 1267 for the cure 

17 

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Central Heating Installation 

Power Flushing 

Servicing & Repairs 

Gas Cooker & Fire Installations 

Landlord Safety Certificates 

All types of Plumbing Work 

Fully Tiled Bathrooms 

Contact Tony Goss 

0161 865 6657 

07973 908 592 

Gas Safe 

Registered No. 196842 

Shelving 

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Bespoke TV units 

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FREE HOME DESIGN SERVICE 

Tel: 0161 286 0983 

Needham Ave, Chorlton 


18 

Book Review 

by Gilly Kingham 

A Gate at the Stairs 

by Lorrie Moore 

(Faber and Faber, 2009; 

£16.99) 

Moore, never much interested 

in plot, constructs her 

novel as an accumulation of 

moments which apparently 

drift as casually as her 

narrator, Tassie Keltjin’s 

fresher year at college. And 

yet, the attentive reader 

will sniff a tension in the 

atmosphere, a sense of 

impending ambush hinted 

at in the opening sentence: 

‘The cold came late that 

fall and the songbirds were 

caught off guard.’ That the 

birds have been ‘suckered’ 

by a tricksterish nature may 

lead us to suspect that the 

dupery of larger forces lurks 

cruelly ahead, for Tassie’s 

retrospective narrative opens 

portentously in the autumn of 

2001. At first, History seems 

to impinge little into her 

life, its terrors incorporated 

and subdued by the exquisite 

egoism of young adulthood. 

The novel is structured in 

the shifting focus between 

Midwestern town and 

countryside. A half-Jewish 

farmer’s daughter, Tassie 

has arrived in the university 

town of Troy (‘the Athens of 

the Midwest’) without ever 

having had Chinese food. 

Posed ludicrous questions by 

fellow students like ‘Is it true 

that if you eat a bear’s liver 

you’ll die?’, she nonetheless 

possesses the syncopated 

vision of the hick being less 

impressed by her professor’s 

series of lectures on Henry 

James’s masturbation of the 

comma than the fact he wears 

jeans and a tie! Back home 

in Dellacrosse for Christmas 

vacation, Tassie finds her 

mother still placing mirrors 

at the back of the flowerbeds 

and her brother, Robert 

flunking out of high school and 

set to join the army just as 

America gears up for war in 

Afghanistan. 

Her father, grows heirloom 

potatoes which he sells 

to upmarket restaurants. 

Indeed, it is the Keltjin 

potato that lands Tassie a 

part-time job as a baby-sitter 

for restaurant-owner, Sarah 

Brink – made-up and decked 

out on first meeting in shades 

of brown which, Tassie 

observes, made her look like 

‘a highly controlled oxidation 

experiment’ – and her oddly 

disengaged husband, Edward 

Thornwood. The Thornwood- 

Brinks are planning to adopt 

and Sarah insists that Tassie 

participate fully in the process 

including accompanying 

them to meetings with the 

birth mothers of potential 

adoptive children where she 

finds herself squirming under 

puzzled gazes as to who 

the hell she is. Eventually, 

the couple settle on a two 

year old mixed-race toddler, 

Emmie, whose opening 

‘Uh-oh’ as Tassie takes charge 

on her first baby-sitting 

assignment proves ominously 

proleptic. 

Thus, as Tassie occupies 

herself comfortably between 

her studies, her Brazilian 

boyfriend, Reynaldo and her 

baby-sitting duties - which 

seem to consist chiefly of 

acting as nursery maid for the 

support group Sarah has set 

up for parents of mixed race 

children, the novel cranks up 

to calamity. The horrifying 

secret of the Thornwood- 

Brinks unravels and Reynaldo 

proves to be other than 

he seems. In Dellacrosse, 

international tragedy comes 

home to the Keltjin farm. 

For me, the multiple pile-up 

of catastrophe at the novel’s 

finale seems too contrived 

to be satisfying, which is not 

to detract a jot from the 

breath-taking way in which 

Moore crafts her language 

into forensic observations 

which overspill with black 

merriment. 

Magnificent!

May 2010 

REGISTERED 

CHIROPODIST 

The Burton Road Clinic 

121, Burton Road, West Didsbury 

TEL: 0161 446 2533 

www.theburtonroadclinic.co.uk 

REACH 24,000 LOCAL HOMES! 

community 


index 


AFFORDABLE 

EFFECTIVE 

ADVERTISING 

call us today and get your business noticed 

0787 589 5604 


CARPET & UPHOLSTERY 

CLEANERS 

• FAST DRYING SYSTEM 

• FREE STAIN & ODOUR REMOVAL 

• STAINGUARD PROTECTION 

• 10% RETIRED PERSONS DISCOUNT 

• ALL WORK IS FULLY INSURED 

• ALL FURNITURE MOVED BY OPERATIVE 

We are a local company based in Chorlton 

Fully trained to 

NCCA standards 

Ring or email for a FREE ESTIMATE 

07742 369 231 

or leave a message on 0161 881 4822 

contact@pro-fresh.co.uk 

www.pro-fresh.co.uk 

Coriander 

Restaurant & Take-Away 

OUR FOOD IS: 

1. Free from excessive oil 

2. Totally free from Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) 

& Gelatin 

3. No artificial colours are added 

4. Fresh herbs, ingredients and spices are used 

5. Canned & preserved products are rarely used 

6. The technique we use keeps the nutritional value 

Eat Fresh, Feel Great! 

Take-Away 

15% Discount 

plus a FREE bottle of beer 

(when your take-away is worth over £30) 

Restaurant 

15% Discount 

Mon-Wed 

(valid when ordering starter, main meal and 

sundries. Not valid for public holidays) 

*This offer is not valid without this coupon 

0161 881 7750 

07867 728 542 

Mon - Thurs: 5pm - 11pm 

Fri - Sat: 5pm - 12pm 

Sunday: 3pm - 10pm 

279 Barlow Moor Road, M21 7GH 

www.corianderchorlton.co.uk 

19 


20 

Top Cat Services & Alpha Dog Walking 

Do you need your cat visited, 

fed and made a fuss of during the day? 

Are you planning a holiday? 

Would you like your pets to stay 

in the comfort of your own home? 

Do you need your dog 

walking during the day? 

Please telephone 0161 232 8916 if you would like 

more information regarding the services we offer 

Community Index Print Service 

5,000 

A5 

Leaflets 

£149 

5,000 

A4 

Leaflets 

£225 

1,000 

A6 

Flyers 

£89 

Double sided 

Glossy Full Colour 

130gsm 

Double sided 


130gsm 

Double sided 


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print@communityindex.co.ukk 

Tel: 0787 589 5604 

Community Index Print 

www.communityindex.co.uk 

to advertise call Lesley: 0787 589 5604 lesley@communityindex.co.uk 

please mention community index when responding to adverts

Business Index 

21 

Acupuncture 

Zone Acupuncture 5 

Building & Maintenance 

Broadoak Preservation Back Cover 

Carpet Cleaning 

Profresh 19 

Cat Care 

Petpals 8 

Top Cat Care 20 

Chiropody 

Jan Pailaqueo 19 

Computer Repairs 

TLC Computer Servicing 8 

Design & Print 

Community Index 

13 

Print 

Dog Walking 

Dog Walking 20 

Petpals 8 

Electrician 

Reynolds Electrical 8 

Furniture & Joinery 

Anthony W Parker 16 

Cheshire Shutters 15 

Karl Hutton 8 

Made to Measure Furniture Co 17 

Osteopathy 

Burton Road Clinic 5 

Painting & Decorating 

Nina West 4 

Plastering 

Alex Hindley 8 

Didsbury Plastering 16 

Plumbers 

Select Plumbing & Heating 17 

Renewable Energy 

20:20 Properties 4 

Restaurant 

Coriander 19 

Crazy Wendy’s 15 

Retro/Vintage 

www.planetvintagegirl.com 15 

Useful Numbers 

Council 

Manchester City Council 234 5000 

www.manchester.gov.uk 

Environment on Call 954 9000 

Didsbury Library 227 3755 

Local Councillors Didsbury East 

Helen Fisher 

cllr.h.fisher@manchester.gov.uk 

Andrew Taylor 

cllr.a.taylor@manchester.gov.uk 

David Sandiford 

cllr.d.sandiford@manchester.gov.uk 

Local Councillors Didsbury West 

Mark Clayton 

cllr.m.clayton@manchester.gov.uk 

Graham Shaw 

cllr.g.shaw@manchester.gov.uk 

Lianne Williams 

cllr.lianne.williams@manchester.gov.uk 

Services 

Citizens Advice 0870 126 4094 

Gas Emergency 0800 111 999 

GMPTE 0870 6082 608 

Bus, Train & Tram 228 7811 

Rail Enquiries 0845 7484 950 

NHS Direct 0845 4647 

www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk 

Police - non emergency 872 5050 

Samaritans 236 8000 

www.samaritans.org 

Community 

Didsbury Amateur Dramatics 

www.celestaplayers.co.uk 

Didsbury Civic Society 

www.didsburycivicsociety.org.uk 

Didsbury Cricket Club 

http://didsburyccsports.co.uk 

Didsbury Good Neighbours 

www.didsburygoodneighbours.com 

Marie Greenhalgh 

07749 504298 

Disbury Over 50s Group 

247 2323 

please mention Community Index when responding to adverts 

Roofer 

M Duffin 16 

Therapy & Healing 

Manchester Nutrition 7 

Peter Rigg 5 

Windows 

TWS 17 

Yoga 

Sara Adler 2 

Please note: Community Index accepts no responsibility 

for transactions entered into or work undertaken by any 

of the businesses advertising in the Index or any loss, 

harm or damage arising from using any of the products 

& services listed. 

Didsbury Village East Residents 

Association 

www.dvera.co.uk 

Didsbury Village Women’s Institute 

http://didsburyvillagewi.wordpress. 

com 

Friends of Didsbury Park 

www.friendsofdidsburypark.co.uk 

Friends of Fletcher Moss Park 

Friends of Marie Louise Gardens 

www.marielouisegardens.org.uk 

Oxfam Didsbury 

434 5380 

South Manchester Camera Club 

www.smcc.org.uk 

West Didsbury Residents Association 

www.westdidsbury.org.uk 

Pam Siddons 445 5406 

West Didsbury Society for Writers 

Jane Woolley 957 1663

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