Outdoor Party attracts 5,000 to Levenshulme

Party & Fireworks Display staged in Cringle Fields

A joint free outdoor party in Levenshulme organised by local traders, Manchester City council, the parks department, allfm radio and Michael Maloney Funfairs attracted a crowd of just over 5,000 on Thursday 30 October.

The event was part of the Levenshulme Festival an annual event which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and is now seen as one of Europe’s biggest community celebrations.

Lawrence Hennigan the president of the festival said
“It was great to see such a large crowd again at the event on such a cold evening, people came from all over. We even got a visit from an Irish Radio production student, Michelle Melvin from Ballina, who had read about the festival on the internet. She came along to record the event for her end of year assignment and we were only too happy to help her out.
It was great to see the whole community pooling their resources in these difficult times to put on such a massive free family orientated event. The event certainly put a much needed smile on everyone's faces. It's important for the community to support each other in times of uncertainty. We were very grateful to all the performers at the event and the support given to us by numerous organisations and the very generous offer of a stage donated by the Full Irish Radio programme on ALL FM Radio 96.9fm."

Despite the cold weather and threat of rain everyone turned up to enjoy the credit crunching event which featured a free fireworks display put on by one of the city’s premier fireworks display companies. Free face painting was also provided for the kids as an extra treat.

There was also a host of free live entertainment including dancing displays from the Banat Egyptian Dancing troupe, the Keegan Kennedy School of Irish Dancing (as seen on Channel M TV), the Manchester School of Samba and ‘Syd Bozko’ (winners of Manchester Irish Festival YGG unsigned).

The event was compered by Irish DJ James H who who kept the crowd warmed up with his selection of Irish classics.

Festival chairperson Tony Hennigan said “The outdoor party is always one of our highlights and last year it got national media coverage when it was featured on channel 4 TV. We have really pushed the boat out this year for our anniversary and despite the credit crunch everyone has pulled together to put on this free event.”