GRIT Studios have been going for 3.5-4 years with bases in Stockport and a studio in Manchester, Deansgate. now they have a space for "Gritters" in Salford. An old natwest bank in Salford shopping centre has been left empty and unused for 6 years(!) so hopefully the space can be put to better use!

Upon arrival, it was clear it would be a big task. With builders in this week to do bits of plastering and filling in holes in the wall and ceiling, the space was safe to use.

Jordan and Stefanie donned their overalls to fill in walls and plaster, including over a disused lift shaft with paint to give a clean slate for incoming artists 🎨🖌. Pavel, Gameel, and Peter helped scrape and clear paint from the windows, clear large items as rubbish🗑, and clear rooms of any bits left from previous incumbents. Ben helped scrape paint, paint over removed wallpaper, and clean windows🪟.

After a couple of hours, we had done what we could with a likely repeated trip back to finish any specific tasks with opening days not too far away.

It was really great to help out and good numbers to get a lot done in a short amount of time. Hope you enjoyed the task and see you soon!

There was a February chill with hail, rain 🌧, and a blustery wind to welcome Peter and Ben to St George's community centre in Collyhurst. We were also welcomed by a brand new sign outside that had been installed the previous day!

Once Peter had found the centre, Cath gave us our paint brushes 🖌, rollers, dust sheets, and paint for us to get to work sprucing up the corridor area of the centre 🎨

One wall was orange, to match Peter's post holiday tan, and the other magnolia. Masking tape became our best friend to reduce paint going where it shouldn't while a handy folding chair 🪑 enabled us to reach parts near the ceiling.

Peter was very adept with the roller while Ben cut in and filled in patches near sockets, fire escape signs, and around door frames.

Despite the area size, we out did ourselves by finishing(!) the job in the corridor with minimal spillage, even covering the area outside the toilets. I put this down to the fantastic supply of tea, coffee ☕️, biscuits 🍪, and pastries 🍩 fuelling our efforts. The friendly pup 🐶 helped too.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning indoors helping out the community centre. Hopefully next time a bigger group can help with painting in the hall and reception area!

Welcome to Georgina, Pavel, and Sam! Great to meet you for the first time!

Big welcome and thank you to Ivo too, GoodGym founder, who made his way by train to come and check out what we're up to. Thank you for coming along and for the hints and tips for future sessions.

Tonight we had a couple of missions:

• Collect donations of clothes to donate to local homeless charities
• Pick up discarded waste and litter following the high winds over the weekend

Thanks to Peter and Eoin (collection from work), Pavel, and Rhi who brought bags of items along to pass on to Sophie (via Eoin) and the Friday outreach team to pass on to those who need warm clothing donations over the winter months.

For the litter pick, we made our way towards Ardwick, picking up litter as we went. The largest collection of litter was around one of the green spaces overseen by Ardwick Climate Action known as Greek Street, likely items discarded by passing drivers on the main Mancunian Way.

We found a lot of takeaway items, plastic bottles, vapes, bags, and cans plus a purse (handed into a police station as it contained ID). In the end, we collected 6 full bin bags and cleared a green space that hopefully can be used by locals and those passing through. The location information was passed onto Keep MCR Tidy to arrange for collection as soon as possible.

On the way back, a few of use had a light jog back to St Peter's Square covering Vimto Park and Piccadilly Gardens in the process.