March 2018 by Local Living

LOCAL

March 2018 Issue 11

Delivered to

10,000

Homes! LOWTON & GOLBORNE

OFFICIAL OPEN WEEKEND FRI 9TH SUN 11TH MARCH SEE PAGE 3

215-217 Chapel Street, Leigh WN7 2AP

Welcome to the March issue of Local Living Hello and a very warm welcome to the March issue! This months issue is packed with lots of great stuff to read as always! There’s a lot happening this month: Mothering Sunday is on the 11th, followed by St Patrick’s Day on the 17th and start of Easter weekend at the end of the month. I’ve included an article on Mothering Sunday on p6&7 including a recipe for Simnel Cake. Another on getting your home ready for sale over on p12. We have Just Clean as our first ‘Featured Business of the Month’ on p9. If you would like everyone to find out a little bit about the face behind your business please get in touch! The next issue is due out over the Easter weekend. If you want to get your business in front of 10,000 local homes and businesses please email or call to book your space!

Tracy Leach, Editor

My pick of the month!! Easter cupcake jars. You can find these tasty treats and more over at Lotty’s Little Cake Shop on her Facebook page. ~ Bespoke Handmade and Hand Decorated Cakes and Cupcakes for All Occasions ~ Facebook.com/lottyscakeshop

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As the days become longer and (slightly) warmer, the first calendar event of spring is around the corner: Mother's Day. While we now associate the day with making breakfast in bed for our mums, it has not always been intrinsically linked to honouring motherhood. From tradition behind the day to its americanisation, here is the story behind Mother's Day.

When is Mother's Day?

This year, Mother's Day – also known as Mothering Sunday falls on Sunday, March 11. The day is always on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday and usually in the second half of March or early April. The day is a celebration of mothers and the maternal bond; traditionally children give flowers, presents and cards to their mothers, as well as to other maternal figures such as grandmothers, stepmothers and mothers-in-law.

When did Mothering Sunday begin?

In the UK, the day has long been associated with mothers and family. For centuries, it was custom for people to return home to their families and their ‘mother’ church on Laetare Sunday – the middle of Lent. Those who did so were said to have gone ‘a-mothering’. The day often turned into a family reunion and a chance for children working away from home – often young domestic servants - to spend time with their mothers. Many used to pick flowers from the verges along the way to leave in the church or hand to their mothers when they got home. But it was American social activist Anna Jarvis (1864-1948)

from Philadelphia who lobbied the government for an official day to honour mothers in the US, and is regarded as the "Mother of Mother's Day". She dedicated her life to the cause after swearing she would do so after her mother's death, which fell on May 9. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May to be 'Mother's Day', to honour the day Anna Jarvis' mother died. However, over the years Jarvis became increasingly concerned at the commercialisation of the day, saying "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit." She also didn't like the selling of flowers and the use of greetings cards which she described as "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write". The day took off in Britain when vicar's daughter Constance Smith was inspired by a 1913 newspaper report of Jarvis' campaign and began a push for the day to be officially marked in England. Smith, of Coddington, Nottinghamshire, founded the Mothering Sunday Movement and even wrote a booklet The Revival of Mothering Sunday in 1920. Interestingly, neither Smith nor Jarvis became mothers themselves. By 1938 Mothering Sunday had become a popular celebration with Boy Scouts, Girl Guides and various parishes across Britain marking the day and communities adopting the imported traditions of American and Canadian soldiers during the war. By the 1950s it was being celebrated throughout Britain and businesses realised the commercial opportunities, leading to the card- and flower-heavy version of the day we celebrate today.

Mothers Day traditions Simnel cakes are associated with Mother’s Day. During Lent, people did not eat sweet foods, rich foods or meat. However, the fast was lifted slightly on Mothering Sunday and many people prepared a Simnel cake to eat with their family on this day. The poet Robert Herrick drew the connection between the two as early as the 17th century, when he wrote: I’ll to thee a Simnel bring, Gainst thou go’st a Mothering A Simnel cake is a light fruit cake covered with a layer of marzipan and with a layer of marzipan baked into the middle of the cake. Traditionally, Simnel cakes are decorated with 11 or 12 balls of marzipan, representing the 11 disciples and, sometimes, Jesus Christ. One legend says that the cake was named after Lambert Simnel who worked in the kitchens of Henry VII of England sometime around the year 1500.

MAKE YOUR OWN MINI SIMNEL CAKES INGREDIENTS •MARZIPAN • 250g caster sugar • 250g ground almonds • 2 eggs, beaten • 1 tsp almond essence

MAKES 12

180°C/350°F FOR 45 MINUTES

•CAKE

• • • • • •

110g butter

•

350g mixed raisins, sultanas & currants

• • •

110g soft brown sugar 3 eggs, beaten 150g plain flour Pinch salt ½ tsp ground mixed spice

55g chopped mixed peel Zest of ½ a lemon 2 tbsp apricot jam

1. Mix the sugar and almonds together and add enough beaten egg to achieve a fairly soft consistency. Add the almond essence and knead until paste is smooth and pliable. Roll out a third of the paste and cut out 12 x 6cm circles, reserving the rest for the tops and the marzipan balls. 2. Preheat the oven to 140°C/284°F. 3. Grease the sandwich tin. 4. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then gradually beat in the eggs until well mixed. Sift in the flour, salt and mixed spice. Add the dried fruit, peel and lemon zest and mix thoroughly. 5. Place half the mixture into the holes of the tin, smooth the tops and cover with the marzipan circles. Add the remaining mixture and smooth the tops, leaving a slight dip in the middle of each to allow for rising. 6. Bake for 45 minutes then allow to cool completely on a wire rack 7. Brush the top of the cakes with the apricot jam. 8. Roll out half the remaining marzipan and cut out 12 x 6cm circles, place on top of the cakes and crimp the edges. 9. Roll the remaining marzipan into 11 little balls for each cake and place on top of the cakes around the edges. 10. Put in the oven for about 6 minutes or until the marzipan begins to brown.

RECIPE COURTESY OF LAKELAND.CO.UK MADE IN LAKELAND 12 HOLE LOOSE-BASED MINI SANDWICH TIN AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE

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I think that it is a pity that more people do not grow at least something that they can eat fresh, straight from the garden. You don’t have a vegetable plot? You don’t need a special vegetable plot. For instance, there is no reason why you should not grow a variety of outdoor tomato, or a courgette, or a couple of cabbages in the flower bed. Or, if you like something a bit more exotic, why not have two or three globe artichoke plants in the herbaceous border (I do); they are magnificently stately plants and they will produce buds that grow into the globe artichokes that are expensive to buy, if you can find them in the shops. I’ll tell you how to prepare and cook them later.

waste from our vegetables? If you want the best for your garden, get a couple of compost bins, put them in an out of the way corner, and put all soft waste into them, mixing it with equal amounts of shredded cardboard (including the tubes from loo and kitchen rolls). When the first is full, start on the second. In a few weeks you can use the compost as a mulch around your choice shrubs or on your herbaceous border or vegetable plot. A couple of points. 1. With a bucket of weeds, fill with water and leave for 10 days before putting them in the bin so than any weed seeds have rotted. 2. If you are worried about rats getting in, put the bin on a sheet of ½” wire netting so they can’t dig their way in. “The answer lies in the soil” and good soil needs lots of humus = garden compost.

Malcolm Greenhalgh

Newton-le-Willows Gardeners’ Association Sales and Advice Hut is on the Rob Lane allotment site and is open Saturday and Sunday mornings, 10.30-12 noon. On Good Friday 30th March 10.30am–12.00 for a coffee, cake and gardening demonstration morning. New members welcome. We enjoy salads and I rarely grow these in the ground. Instead I have picked up some big old fish boxes about 10” deep, I drilled more drainage holes in them, and I grow our salads and French beans in them. Fill the boxes with compost (from growbags or something like Clover Yellow). Sow a row of 15 radish seeds, one inch apart along the edge of a box. Buy at least three different sorts of lettuce seeds (one soft, one crisp, one red) and sow a tiny pinch of each in a pot. When these are well germinated, prick them out in your box 3” apart, each way. When they grow and touch, take every other one and enjoy. Let the others grow and harvest them later. Don’t neglect those packets of mixed salad leaves that come in a wide range of mixes; sow those very thinly and they will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. By sowing and harvesting and sowing and harvesting you might never have to buy a lettuce until next Christmas!

MLSgardenservices

QUALITY LANDSCAPING GARDEN MAINTENANCE AND JET WASHING

01942 731302 / 07927960281 MLSgardenservices

Friday 9th March: 4pm, 4.30pm + 5pm Saturday 10th March: 10am, 10.30am + 11am Create the perfect gift for Mother’s Day this year. Join the Houseplant team who will help you make the perfect potted arrangement, unique to you.

Why put green waste into the green bin: I am thinking of lawn mowing's, the buckets of weeds we will pull up, waste from the veg plot (e.g. potato haulms and broad beans when all the pods have been picked) and the peelings and other

All materials included. £4.99 per child. Online booking is required, book online at bents.co.uk. Places are limited

Young Slimmer of the Year Amy joined on the Lose weight feel great scheme provided by the NHS & Wigan leisure culture trust. This enabled her to join SW for 12 weeks and attend an exercise class for free for 12 weeks. Amy achieved her target weight loss of 2 1/2 stone by attending the group sessions each week learning her new free food grooves and enjoying her favourite meals.

Amy’s before picture and achieving her Younger Slimmer award from Vicki Jones

Clint is the owner of Just Clean Property Care... Hi, I’m Clint the owner of Just Clean. I live in Lowton with my family, my wife Sarah and I’m the proud dad of 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. I started out with Just Clean just over 15 years ago, back then it was just me doing jobs here and there. Over the years as my business has grown so has my team and Just Cleans reputation to a reliable, honest and trustworthy company. I am proud and passionate about the business that I have built up which I feel shines through when you meet me and in the standard of work. If you are looking for an exterior cleaning company then why not give us a call.

Call Clint for a free no obligation quote

01942 470089 or 07834 241 642 www.justcleanpropertycare.co.uk www.conservatorycleaningwigan.com

Tuesday The Three Towns Operatic Society rehearse 8 – 10pm at Tyldesley Methodist Church, Elliott Street, Tyldesley M29 8JE. Anyone wishing to become a member is invited to come along with no commitment. Learn in a friendly atmosphere. Broadway, West End, Songs from the Shows, Popular and Classical Music. For further information look at our website or contact Ursula Lightford on 01942 670284. www.thethreetowns.net

Wednesday 10:30 Coffee morning St Thomas Church. Thursday 8:30 - 12. Coffee and chat at Lowton St Mary’s, Newton Road.

Thursday Lowton and Golborne art group meets every Thursday at Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club from 10 till 4 and enjoy not only the freedom to express their artistic talents but also engage socially with other members with similar interests.

Second and fourth Friday of the month Knit and natter held in St Luke’s church on Slag Lane. 2-4pm. Lots of chatting and cup of tea and a biscuit 50p towards costs.

Fourth Wednesday of the month Golborne & District Townswomen s' Guild meet at Northfield Court, Lowton Rd. Golborne from 7pm. - 9pm. We provide speakers, and social activities. Please contact Avril on 01942 726 033 for further details.

First Thursday of the month Our first meeting of 2018 was very busy and was well attended by our members, we soon got back into the swing of things after our Christmas break. Our next meeting is on Thursday 1st March at All Saints social centre in Golborne at 7.15 pm. Visitors are always welcome. For further details please contact Lin Hayes on 01942 207764

FRIENDS OF LOWTON WEST ARE PROUD TO PRESENT

SHOP 2 DROP FASHION EVENT TICKETS CAN BE BOUGHT AT LOWTON WEST SCHOOL RECEPTION OR AT THE BODYWORKS BY CHRISTINA (INSIDE SALON HQ ON CROW WOOD ROAD, LOWTON)

    

HIGH STREET CLOTHES 8-20 (M&S, WALLIS, EVANS, RIVER ISLAND) AT HEAVILY DISCOUNTED PRICES LIVE MODELS SO YOU CAN SEE, TOUCH AND TRY ALL GARMENTS. ALL CARD PAYMENTS ACCEPTED LICENCED BAR, RAFFLE AND SPOT PRIZES SELECTION OF LOCAL BUSINESSES SELLING THEIR BEAUTY AND ACCESSORY PRODUCTS., STALLS £15, VENDOR TO KEEP PROFITS

SO GRAB THE GIRLS AND LET THE HIGH STREET COME TO YOU!

Thinking about selling your house? Here are some top tips to improve your chances There are some simple ways to increase the value of your home and sell it quickly. 1. First impressions count really count! Most buyers form their first impressions of a house within seconds of walking through the door. Tidy up the outside of the house – plant some seasonal flowers, trim the bushes, weed, repaint or renovate the front door and windows. Make sure you’re path is swept and looks tidy. Or even, for a small cost you could have it jet washed.

4. Eliminate clutter Clutter doesn’t sell homes, it makes them seem smaller and disorganised. Take time to remove as much as possible without leaving the rooms bear.

5. Keep paint work neutral

2. Spring clean Cleanliness and tidiness should never be underestimated and so clean each room top to bottom. In high impact rooms such as the bathroom and kitchen make sure surfaces are cleaned and focus on floors, too. A sparkling floor will instantly lift the room. A proper clean will also make your home smell fresh and appealing.

3. Fix it Got a dripping tap or a cracked tile? These will send the wrong message to potential buyers. From removing grubby sealant to replacing damaged areas of carpet, getting all problems fixed before putting the house on the market is a smart idea. For a small cost you could revamp one of your ‘major rooms’ such as the bathroom or kitchen and potentially add thousands to your property price,

Neutral colours won’t put any buyer off. Potential buyers walking through your home will be able to plan to put their own stamp on the house without having to remove yours first. If necessary, paint all your home white – yes, it make take a few weeks, but it will be worth it in the end.

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ARCHITECT SERVICES

ROOFING

Lowton based architect for your property conversion designs including submission to local authorities for planning and building regulation consideration. Excellent service with quality drawings at competitive prices. Ring Gavin Pinion at Goldcrest Design Services Ltd on 01942 729832 or 07958102874

Time served roofer. (25 yrs. exp). All roofing and gutter repairs - from a broken tile to a full re roof. Insurance work undertaken, special rates for OAP’s. Call Alan on 01942 576183 or 07930 110031 for a free estimate

INDUSTRIAL/COMMERCIAL GAS SUPPLIES Local company that provides Industrial Gas for all solutions. Welding gas, propane, butane, commercial refrigerant gas and domestic. We have an extensive range of consumables available for collection at the trade counter and we can deliver 90% of our stock within 48 hours. PLEASE QUOTE LOCAL LIVING WHEN YOU CALL. Gas UK on 0800 133 7490 or to email: oders@gascylindersuk.co.uk and visit our website www.gas-uk.co.uk SEMI RETIRED (GLAZIER) Still enjoys hard work, very experienced in all areas. Enjoys especially replacing misted up double glazed units. We can clean / refresh your UPVC windows of doors - you’ll find my prices very reasonable and my services extraordinary. For a free quote call same day or evening. 07413 917964. You have my 100% guarantee on both works. What could be fairer?

UPHOLSTERY DESIGNS Atlas Upholstery Design Services. Specialist in the re-upholstery of Settees, Easy Chairs, Dining Chairs etc. Headboards recovered and made to order. Spring repairs etc. Do you need new foam cushion? Pubs, Clubs, Caravans recovered etc. 40 years In the trade. Workmanship guaranteed. Free Estimates. Call David on 01942

Lawro’s Disco

Guaranteed to get the party started!