Browse Sections

• Education
• Roadworks
• Shipman
• Special reports

Making the estate bloom

Sue Carr
31/ 7/2008

A MOSSLEY estate once known as ‘steel city’ because of the shutters on all the empty houses has blossomed for this year’s Tameside in Bloom.

Five years ago, Micklehurst was a crime hotspot and a place people wanted to move off, not on.

But thanks to the determination of one resident, the troubled estate has cleaned up its act and is now in line to scoop an ‘In Bloom’ award.

The man behind the makeover is Frank Gittens, secretary of MERA or Micklehurst Estate Residents Association.

Frank, 51, said: "When I moved onto the estate five years ago, there were burglaries, drugs, burnt out cars.

"All the empty properties were boarded up with steel shutters to stop people breaking in. We used to call it steel city.

"I wanted to change the stigma of the estate and in December 2003, the residents association was launched."

Frank, a father-of-two, started a tool hire club where tenants could hire equipment such as strimmers and lawnmowers to tidy up their gardens.

The scheme took off, so this year he upped the ante and asked his neighbours on The Larches to enter their street in the Neighbourhood Awards category of North West In Bloom.

"Surprisingly, they all said yes and it’s been absolutely brilliant," he said.

"We only had about 12 weeks to get everything done but it all came together.

"Before, people wouldn’t even bother with their gardens but all the neighbours have been out helping each other."

Frank, whose 10-year-old son, Franklyn, has won a ‘Young Achievers’ award for his horticultural efforts, credits New Charter Housing with helping him inspire the estate. He hopes Micklehurst’s ‘In Bloom’ efforts will be even bigger and better next year.

"Now other streets have seen what can be done and are asking when they can do the same" he added.

"It’s changed so much, we even have a waiting list of people wanting to move onto the estate!"

RHS In Bloom judges visited Tameside last week and will return for a final tour of the borough on Thursday, 14 August.

To find out more visit www.tameside.gov.uk/inbloom.

Most recent 1 of 1 user comments