Your Square Magazine Issue 4 Spring 2016

YOUR SQUARE ISSUE 2 2015 ISSUE 4 2016

Coming Soon: Spring In The Square Thomas Cook: A look inside the travel agent Recent Events: The Swinton Spooktacular and our Christmas Festivities News: Two new businesses in the Square PLUS MORE GREAT OFFERS & BARGAINS!

Your Square/Centre Information

WELCOME A WORD FROM THE CENTRE MANAGER - DAVE SIMISTER Welcome to our Fourth Issue of ‘Your Square’. In this issue we will look back at some of the fantastic events we have held over the last three months and welcome some new tenants to The Square.

Christmas may not seem that long ago but Hallowe’en seems worlds away.

You may remember in the last issue we were looking ahead to all the exciting things we had planned for our ‘Swinton Spooktacular’ and as the pictures in this issue show, we had a great turnout for the parade and the sun even came out.

Unfortunately, the sun did not shine for us over Christmas, but spirits were

not dampened by the three consecutive weeks of rain that we had. Even our giant Toy Soldiers got wet! (at least we got to enjoy one dry Saturday). We did however manage to dress many young elves, got plenty of letters off to Lapland and with visits from some special guests including Bailey McConnell and Mr Zip our Christmas Festival went off with some special Christmas Fun! We even managed to raise some more well needed money for the Agnes Hopkins Centre and we will tell you all about that and how it will be used in the next issue.

This issue though is all about welcoming our new tenants and looking ahead to Spring and our Festival ‘Spring In The Square’. We have two spectacular days planned and you can find out all about them on the following pages, you will also be able to meet our new radio partners; KEY 103. The 1st and 2nd of April promise to be very special days and in the meantime I look forward to seeing you all down here at The Square. And don’t forget to bring along the vouchers on the back page of this issue for all those great savings.

Contact Dave: 0161 728 4388 dave.simister@gvafm.co.uk Other resources: swintonsquare.co.uk @swintonsquare facebook.com/swintonsquaresalford Read YOUR SQUARE online at www.yoursquare.org

YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD MANAGEMENT TEAM We work with residents across Swinton and Pendlebury, making sure they feel fully informed about what’s happening in their area, empowered to have their say in the decisions being made and able to get involved in improving things for themselves.

Community Committee Local priorities 2015-16 • Working to increase footfall and improve the vibrancy of Swinton town centre.

• Supporting young people to get engaged in positive activities • Maximising the use of green spaces in the neighbourhood • Supporting community groups and individuals with growing projects

Karen Smith Neighbourhood Manager Kelly Wray Neighbourhood Development Officer Jo Skeets Admin Officer

0161 607 1965 salford.gov.uk/communitypriorities @salfordcouncil

NEW ARRIVALS: KATH’S TEA ROOM AND HELPING HANDS Since the last issue of Your Square we have had two new operators move into The Square; Kath’s Tea Room (left) and the stylish Helping Hands charity shop (right) Kath’s is in old Tea Rooms unit in the covered market area and offers a great range of hot and cold food.

Helping Hands is a brilliant charity that focusses its efforts on this area. Read more about them at www.helpinghandssalford. co.uk

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Your Square/Centre News

SWINTON SQUARE SPRING IN THE SQUARE We’re delighted to be able to announce details of our first major event of 2016 which will be two days of great family entertainment taking place on Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd April. We know how everyone likes the interactive element of these events so we’ll be having some very well known Sci-Fi characters walking around The Square on the Friday while on Saturday we’re inviting the local kids to come dressed as their own favourite Super Heroes for a parade around the Square. Saturday will also see some top class entertainment from Mr Yippadee and the brilliant Rebecca Keatley from CBeebies. Both days will also have a Minions Tribute Show as well as other favourites such as face painters, a magician and a Punch and Judy show.

FRIDAY 1ST APRIL SATURDAY 2ND APRIL

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Your Square/Meet the Tenant

ANDY JOLLY THOMAS COOK ple like to book early to get exactly what they want - and first edition prices are always competitive.

You’ve been to plenty of the destinations that Thomas Cook serve, what’s your favourite?

Norway, definately. It was a cruise up the coast and it was just beautiful.

It was in March and it was cold but it was different to anything I’d ever experienced.

December 2015 was the wettest on record so we decided that Thomas Cook should be our first ‘Meet The Tenant’ of 2016. At only 27, Andy Jolly has already had more experience of travelling than most of us will manage in our lifetime, so we spoke to him about selling holidays in the Square How long has there been a Thomas Cook in Swinton Square?

Well I’ve been here ten years and the store has been here in the precinct for closer to twenty years.

How has the industry changed during your ten years in the business?

It’s changed a lot. Obviously there are so many different ways people can book now and it’s great that Thomas Cook have acknowledged that, meaning that however you book you will get the same level of service and the same prices.

Do you find there are less people coming through the door because they are booking online?

There are still a lot of people who want that extra level of advice. Perhaps they’re not sure where the best deals are to be found or they are just not sure where they want to go.

I assume the choice of destination is very different now too...

It’s obviously much broader but Spain is still one of our most popular destinations and Turkey is up there too.

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Does Europe still offer any obscure destinations that offer great value for money?

Bulgaria springs to mind immediately. It’s very cheap compared to other Then there are the newer places like destinations in Europe.

Cape Verde which we have recently started offering.

And what’s your tip for future popularity?

Is the packaged holiday as popular Cape Verde, it’s out of this world. It’s as ever? a chain of islands similar to the CaIt’s the way we tend to sell holidays naries but with more, smaller islands but we offer dynamic packaging too. some of which are more developed So we can buy flights from one oper- than others. That’s the place to go! ator, select accomodation from another... to get the best, most flexible hol- 25 The Parade iday for our customers.

0161 641 3396 How do you help people who really have no idea where they want to go?

This happens a lot more now. Years ago people would take the brochures away and pick their holiday but people now know that they can come in and talk to us. We’ll ask them about their likes and dislikes, where they’ve been before and how much they enjoyed it, what price range they have in mind... and we can tell where the right place would be for them Are cruises big business?

Huge. There are so many cruise operators who operate in different ways that there really is something for everyone.

So what should people be thinking about booking now - February/ March?

In terms of this Summer you might be looking for some great late offers.

We’ll also be taking bookings for Winter and by April we’ll start taking bookings for Summer 2017. A lot peo-

Your Square/Events

SWINTON SPOOKTACULAR

A Fantastically Frightful Day!

When Hallowe’en came to Swinton Square it was great to see so many people getting into the ‘spirit’ of it. As well as the familiar and ever-popular fairground we had a Spooky Disco, live entertainment, a kids’ Hallowe’en workshop, spooky facepainters and a brilliant Hallowe’en parade around the Square.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Rain!

This Christmas we hosted four consecutive Saturdays of great festive entertainment and it was great to see that everyone was in high spirits despite the horrible weather we had for the first three. There were some brilliant guest appearances over the festive period, from the likes of Britain’s Got Talent’s Bailey McConnell and our old friend Mr Zip. Not to mention the Snowflake Sisters and the hugely popular Minions.

Alongside all that, we ran Elf Makeovers and had a Letters To Santa stall that ended up costing us a fortune in postage to Lapland!

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