Mayo manchester help turn black friday green

Whilst the rest of the UK seemed to be fighting over a bargain on Black Friday, Levenshulme in south Manchester - home to one of the biggest Mayo communities in the UK - decided to turn the day into 'Green Friday' with a free Christmas lights switch on party for over 1,500 people.

Santa arrived on the 192 Christmas Sleigh Bus via Attymass in Co. Mayo, laden with presents. The Levenshulme traders had initially promised to give away over 300 presents but ended up giving away a mammoth 525!

The annual event was part of @smallbizsatm19 promotion as part of the national Small Business Saturday initiative, which takes place on Saturday, December 6.

Visitors to the free party enjoyed just over four hours of entertainment and a free visit to Santa.

Lawrence Hennigan, chair of the local traders and one of the directors of the Mayo Manchester Business and Tourism Group, commented: “This is our 18th year staging the annual event, but I think it was our biggest yet. My 89-year-old father, Joe Hennigan, from Levenshulme, made a special effort to attend and was very impressed with the street dancers from the Ann Finnegan School of Musical Theatre.

“Everyone in the community gets involved in the event, not just its Irish traders. We might just be a small village, but the traders here have big hearts. When they saw how many people were queuing up they were only too happy to make sure that no-one went home without a present.”

Entertainment included a visit from Elsa from Disney’s hit children’s musical film Frozen, Irish singer Joe Keegan from the hit BBC Music Show - The Voice, Fred the Red from Manchester United and Manchester’s hit musical theatre dance troupe - The Ann Finnegan School of Theatre.

The official lights switch on was performed by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Cllr. Sue Cooley, along with local MP, Sir Gerard Kaufman, and local councillors and traders.

The event’s main sponsors are Manchester City Council, Stagecoach Manchester, the Levenshulme Pub Company, the Horseshoe Pub, Sanderson James Estate Agent, Mustafa Solicitors, Great Places Housing Association, Nawaab Restaurant and Intime Taxis. Contributions have also been made from other local traders and organisations in the area. Just over 74 local traders supported the event.

For more, see www.levenshulmetraders.co.uk.