If you really care about your own village...

If you live or work in Northenden you probably feel that there's room for improvement! Why not take a positive step towards helping make Northenden a better place by joining Northenden Civic Society. We know you're busy people so we're not asking for lots of valuable time, but an annual family subscription of only 5.00 pounds would go a long way in helping the Society achieve its many goals.

Northenden village has felt many of the pressures of the 20th century, not least those resulting from rapid developments in road traffic. Palatine Road has become a busy commuter route, while the building of the M60 and the extension of Princess Parkway to form the M56 has brought both opportunities and new pressures for Northenden. With easy access to the city, airport and national motorway network, opportunities for business development are considerable, but such a development must be compatible with the existing fabric and amenity of the area.

A sense of unique place and belonging is still felt by many who live here and the Conservation Area (established in 1981) should help to focus fresh interest and resources on the core of the old village. However, what finally counts is the quality of life, now and in the foreseeable future, planning and environment which conserves yet enhances our inheritance, and improving services and amenities to make our ''urban village'' a good place in which to live and work.

What is the Northenden Civic Society?

We are a non-partisan amenity society concerned with the quality of present day Northenden. The Society keeps a watchful eye on all environmental matters, talking to the appropriate public bodies, private companies and individuals to ensure that new developments will be of benefit to the village as a whole. The Society is concerned too, about the provision of good post office, police, health and transport services, for example. These are all specialist areas of course, but the Society, as a responsible group of interested residents, attempts to make informed and considered representations on behalf of its members.

Local authorities and other bodies may not always have the resources to do everything Northenden people want, so the Society discusses priorities and achievable aims with them, follows up promised action and, when necessary, renews pressure.

How do we work?

The Society is registered with the North West Civic Trust and enjoys charitable status. The Executive Committee is elected annually and receives monthly reports from working parties concerned with local history, planning and amenities, tree and bulb planting, Conservation Area and so forth. Believing in self-help, we have undertaken a number of clean-up-projects, including the Dell and the ''village green'', and have persuaded the Council to provide plant containers and more litter bins throughout the village. The Society also arranges a varied programme of activities including local walks, coach outings, and a popular Christmas dinner. Members are kept informed through the Society Newsletter, which appears about three times a year, and through public meetings and talks on specific subjects.

What have we achieved so far?

As a voluntary organisation with limited resources, the Society is careful to set itself achievable targets; it tries to be responsible and informed and to have realistic expectations. Over the past two decades the Society has achieved a good deal, including many small but important modifications to development plans as well as a number of more visible improvements. It has successfully campaigned for:

• Northenden Conservation Area, officially designated in November 1981, which includes most of the old village centre with Boat Lane, parts of Ford Lane, Mill Lane, Royle Green Road and Church Road. It's principle buildings are St Wilfrid's Church, Northen House, the Old Rectory (all listed) and the Tatton Arms Hotel.
• The Library (Church Road) opened by the Society's Vice-President, Alf Morris MP, in October 1982.
• Northenden Health Centre (Palatine Road).
• The Police Station (Ford Lane).
• Re-use of the scrapyard, Boat Lane, now the site of the very sheltered housing development (1991).

The Society is currently looking at ways of achieving better car parking facilities for both residents and visitors, and will continue to campaign for Northenden's future as an attractive and commercially successful district centre. It will also be pressing for landscaping and other improvements in the Conservation Area and for the maximum retention of green and open spaces.

History

Probably dating from Saxon times, Norwordine was mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086. Medieval salt merchants forded the River Mersey here and by the 17th century the village could boast a sizeable mill and a smithy. With the building of a footbridge in 1861 and its enlargement in 1874 to take vehicles, Northenden began to develop as an attractive riverside township for Manchester's more affluent managers, clerks and tradesmen and it is the Victorian and Edwardian development that gives the village much of its present character. In the wake of Manchester's acquisition of Wythenshawe for a new ''garden city'', Northenden became an official district of Manchester in 1930.

In the early part of the century Northenden was still very much a Cheshire village. Most of the local people were engaged in the market garden industry for which the district was famous for so long. Each Easter and Whitsuntide thousands of townsfolk flocked into the village for the "wakes" and the attractions of the river. Sundays, particularly in the summer, would see the people of Didsbury, Withington and Rusholme queuing at the Didsbury terminus for the horse drawn bus which would bring them "clip clopping" down the road to the "Church Inn" disembarking for the boats and fair, and to buy flowers and vegetables.

Take Pride in Northenden - It's Your Village.

We need your help now -
to make Northenden a better place to live

A subscription only costs:- Family 5.00 per annum Single 4.00 per annum O.A.P. 2.00 per annum

Join Now

Your membership would be valued, for by joining you are demonstrating your concern for Northenden and helping the Society to be a broadly-based and representative group. Should you have any special interests or skills however, which you feel may be of help to the Society, please let us know.

Being a Charity we are in real need of funds to allow us to contribute towards projects and to support any suitable activities within Northenden.

If you feel you wish to help in a financial way. Please let us know, and a Committee member will be pleased to make contact with you.

Why not remember us in your Will?

Why not give a friend or neighbour Gift Membership of the Society for one year?

We are always grateful for any contributions that we receive.

Northenden Civic Society welcomes new members.

Your membership applications can be sent to:
Sue Walker
17 Hollyway
Northenden
Manchester
M22 4WS
Tel: 0161 902 0746
Email: susan.walker63@ntlworld.com

To contact the Society: Email address is gpheby@hotmail.co.uk

If you would like to receive copies of the Agenda and Minutes by email, please request them from gpheby@hotmail.co.uk

Registered Charity No. 503200
President; The Reverend Greg Foster M.A.Dip.Anth.
Vice President; Mr Paul Goggins MP. Member of Parliament; for Wythenshawe and sale East.

Committee Members; Connor Jerram (Chair), Greg Forster (President), Graham Pheby (Hon-Sec), Carolyn Macdonald(Vice-Chair), Mavis Chapman (Treasurer), Sue Walker (Membership-Sec), David Farwell (Planning & Amenities), Martine James (Conservation Area), Mary Di Mauro (Planted Areas), Gwyneth Lloyd, Joan Mycock, Papa Andoh-Kweku, Janet Breeze, David Devoy, Tony & Sandra Hoath, Peter Clouston..

Our Next Meeting:

Make a difference in your community (Volunteer):

We need volunteers to help deliver our newsletter which is issued around 4 times each year. If you can help, please contact Graham Pheby (Hon-Sec)
Tel: 0161 613 2703
Email: gpheby@hotmail.co.uk

Reporting any highways, or street defects:

Please, help keep our village an attractive, safe and welcoming neighbourhood by reporting any highways, or street defects.

By doing this you will be taking ownership of our neighbourhood.

Make sure Northenden is to your liking (Don't ignore it, report it!).

Among the problems the Society would like reporting are unswept and unweeded pavements and gutters, trip hazards and potholes, dog litter and graffiti, fly tipping and litter, street lights out and blocked drains.

Please, report and encourage others to report, defects to the authorities, FixMyStreet or Fill That Hole:

• Manchester City Council - contact by email or phone:
  contact@manchester.gov.uk (Tel: 0161 234 5004)