Motoring SPECIAL OFFER MOT ONLY £30 On production of this advert! around SADDLEWORTH 74 www.AroundSADDLEWORTH.co.uk www.aroundsaddleworth.co.uk NORTHERN CARNIVAL CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE TO BE BUILT IN TAMESIDE BY SARA TEIGER A Mossley carnival arts organisation has risen like a phoenix from the ashes after a catastrophic mill fifire destroyed 15 years’ worth of work. Global Grooves [1] lost hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of giant puppets and handprinted costumes when their storage warehouse at Ray Mill in Stalybridge burned to the ground in March. But now the charity is back and stronger than ever as it announces plans to turn its current home - The Vale [2] - into a £1million carnival arts hub. The project will create Tameside’s fifirst high quality and accessible arts centre, providing exceptional facilities for local and international artists, audiences, young people and communities from Greater Manchester and beyond. Arts Council England has contributed £490,000 to project through Small Capital Grant funding. Phase one is due to open to the public in spring 2020. A centre of excellence for carnival in the north, Global Grooves’ new facility will be only the second building dedicated to the development of carnival arts in England.The UK Centre For Carnival Arts opened in Luton in 2009. CEO Leon Patel said:“Global Grooves has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a world class arts facility in Tameside - the fifirst in the borough - consolidating all our activities in one place, catalysing a right buildings and equipment so that they can continue reaching new and broader audiences, to ensure that everyone is able to access arts and culture. I am proud to see that in this round of funding we have been able to give £3.6 million to support 11 organisations from across the north to achieve their ambitions to improve how they deliver arts and culture to our communities.” Arts and learning centre The Vale, on Micklehurst Road, was launched on a shoestring as a social enterprise in September 2015. Five partner organisations including Global Grooves put in £35,000 of their own money in order to open Vale Mill up to the public. Popular as the centre has been, offering a year round programme of borough-wide engagement with arts aCnd ocarnivtala, ancd tbuilding a locally- rooted, internationally connected, resilient and sustainable arts Paula Aicken 07l7ive4mu7sic,fifi0lm6sh5ow1ing4s,t3heatre, workshops and family activities, access organisation”. P“WaewuilllcreGateiacbcessioblenew 07817 915686 spaces in which audiences and participants will mix with most dynamic artists and ideas from around the globe, to learn, imagine, create, grow, and share breath-taking carnival arts here on the edge of the Pennine hills.” Alison Clark, director north,Arts Council England said:“This award will is compromised as entry is via a steep external staircase and some spaces are rudimentary and not completely weather proofed.The new centre will be fully accessible and fifinished to a high standard. Since 2003, Global Grooves has inspired people all over the globe to Keeping you on the road and safe this Summer give a new home to carnival arts in the north west and is great news for carnival which makes such a huge contribution to festivals and public celebrations. Centres like this are also so important to artists and communities and we are pleased to be able to support it.” working in the Gambia, Brazil, New Zealand, Singapore, and Trinidad & Tobago. It was founded by friends Holly Prest, Eraldo Marques, and Leon Patel. Leon and Holly met at a community music project in Mossley when they were 13-years-old. Now a National Portfolio Organisation, Global Grooves performs regularly to audiences of over 45,000 and have worked with thousands of participants around the world. 90 Sarah Maxfifield, area director north, Arts Council England, said:“The Arts Council’s Small Capital Grants help to ensure that organisations have the take part in carnival-style events, Motoring