Sevenstreets support ABetterCrosby events

The ever inventive and informative Sevenstreets, Liverpool based website has included our Christmas events in their latest piece here-

http://www.sevenstreets.com/events-and-attractions/radar-david-morrissey-visits-crosby/

Thanks to them for their support and long may they continue to inform and entertain us.

Crosby 365

Have a look at Crosby in a unique way,every day of the year- the brilliant idea of local photographer Andrew Hoban @hobanphoto on Twitter. Crosby 365 is a series of photographs taken of the places we pass all the time but maybe don't notice or have forgotten about.
Here's one we all know - with the "Great" in Crosby!

David Morrissey( in conjunction with ABetterCrosby ) celebrates Christmas!

Times are hard in Crosby and elsewhere, but the spirit of Christmas - giving, community, togetherness, lives on and this year as a group of hard working residents, the committee of ABC have worked tirelessly to organise a Christmas tree for the village. We will be collecting outside Sainsbury's and near Boots on Saturday 26th November from 10am -4pm so please donate if you can
We do however need lots of help with funding and here are the details of an event organised to support the Plaza and Christmas in Crosby on Friday 2nd of December. Please try to attend one or both events and show you care about the community you live in and make it a BETTER place to live
http://www.crosbyherald.co.uk/news/crosby-news/2011/11/17/david-morrissey-to-light-up-crosby-68459-29790234/

Art Exhibition 21st November Oh you Pretty Things Victoria Road Crosby

A group of young local artists are holding an exhibition of their work this month at Crosby's latest independent business venture Oh You Pretty Things (shop and Gallery on Victoria Road just up from the Crow's Nest pub)
It starts on Monday 21st November and is on for a month - great ideas for original Christmas presents.
http://theliverpoolartcompany.co.uk/

http://ohyouprettythingsonline.com/

A fairer future for Crosby

At the Council's Crosby Area Committee last night Rev'd Canon Roger Driver, Dean of Bootle, (which as a Deanery also covers Waterloo, Netherton, Seaforth and Litherland) made a proposal that Crosby should become Sefton's first FAIR TRADE TOWN.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/campaigns/fairtrade_towns/about_fairtrade_towns.aspx

Most people know what Fair Trade is all about, and it is hard not to agree with the idea.
If Crosby were to make the grade, and get recognition, it would a real good news story, with lots of knock on benefits, linking all sorts of community groups and schools to ideas about trade, and crucially, promoting all trade in Crosby.
What was stricking was that Rev'd Canon has identified Crosby as the place most likely to succeed in Sefton in achieving Fair Trade Status. He said Crosby already has business, such as Cafe Barista in Crosby Village, amongst many others which are Fair Trade. There is already real interest across Crosby about the issues Fair Trade address, with groups such as the Waterloo Partnership, and numerous local charites and church projects.
Taking a moment to dwell on this, Crosby has reason to be graciously proud that people perceive ours to be a community that understands and thinks about such issues beyond our doorstep. Although apparently Fair Trade also does work around fair local trade - supporting food producers in Sefton perhaps.
Rev'd Canon went to the Council meeting to get council support, which he did, and now needs community and trader support. With Crosby's population of about 50,000 people he is looking for 12 or so Fair Trade retailers and 6 Fair Trade cafes or restaurants.  If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch with him or the national Fair Trade organisation.

Two Crosby Things for Halloween

Two seemingly unrelated seasonal ideas for you -

1) In our family's continual attempts to live well for less, we use our local green grocer - and look what we saw today !

Local produce for Queensway Allotment - definately the biggest range of pumpkins in Crosby.

At £2.40 for a biggish one, £1.40 for melon sized and £1.00 for small ones, can you find better value - or a better choice in Crosby? Find the display at Pineapple on South Road and the pumpkins at both their shops.The other one is on St Johns Road.

2) Totally seperately jewellery shop Oh You Pretty Things at the top of Victoria are having a spooky film night  on Halloween itself - its sounds like fun......
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oh-You-Pretty-Things/122332047831273?sk=info#!/event.php?eid=155561041207495&notif_t=event_invite

Disconnected, different, things but two local shops adding some colour and personality to life in Crosby.

A great place to be

Saturday afternoon, 22^nd October.

Wow, what a lovely day. I have just come back from taking my kids to the playpark in Crosby Marine Park, next to the lake.

About 3pm Saturday 22nd October - How many people can you count?

The weather was crisp, clear and bright, and the park was absolutely packed – we had to queue up for every go on the swings, ‘frying pan’ and slide. What an amazing transformation from the state of the park a year and a half ago, when the play area was hidden by rat infested shrubbery and the main users of the equipment were youths looking for a quiet place for an alcoholic drink.

Congratulations should go to the relevant people in Sefton Council, who managed to make the right decisions and implement the right solutions. Everybody involved, which includes the local community via the Friends of the Park, should be proud of how the whole place has been transformed.

The better play area seems to be bringing far more people into the park – all year round, and in turn they are discovering the birds, crabbing, the wealth of water sports on the lake and the Iron Men. 

Good places require constant care and intelligent development. I read in the Crosby Herald the other week how the council are aiming to save money/make money, and one of their budget figures is to make more money from the new Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre (what a mouthful!). How? 

Sticking an attractive sign up on the building, saying ‘Family Café and Bistro here!’, would be a good start. Not everybody realises it is a public building, not just a water sports centre, and any commercial bistro would surely be promoting themselves to the captive  (trapped with children) audience of parents in the park. I was definitely in the market for a coffee and some hot hearty grub after my stint of childcare, along with a couple of cakes for the kids.

Next Saturday 29^th Oct 3pm- 5pm it the Scarecrow Festival in the Marine Gardens next door. This was a really brilliant family event last year. Here's a review from last year -www.sevenstreets.com

Let’s hope for the same weather as today. See you there.

ABetterCrosby