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Didsbury Arts Festival is back this year 23 June – 2 July with a number of events and installations across Didsbury. DidsburyFM are very proud to be participating once again in the festival, with our installation “Represent Me” taking place at Bright Horizons Nursery, 139a Barlow Moor Road, M20 2DY on Sunday 2nd July 12pm – 4pm.

Our installation is a community contribution event, with art provided by the students of Didsbury High School. We asked them to think about designing some car park symbols for under-represented groups in their community.

We asked them: “In a typical carpark you might see specific symbols for disabled, and for parents, sometimes for motorbikes or electric cars – but who else might have their own symbol? What might it be, and what kind of a space might they need? Do athletes have the spaces as far away from the shops as possible? Do Audi drivers have spaces carved at jaunty angles, slightly over the pavement?

Consider your own community, the in-groups and out-groups. What symbols would represent them?”

Come down and visit us on 2nd July, when we will be painting the best entries onto the car park outside Bright Horizons nursery – have some tea and cakes with us and take a look at what the children come up with! It will be a great event.

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This week Sally interviews local author Ben Saunders about winning the Cheshire Prize for Literature and self-publishing. Tune in to AllFM 96.9FM or online https://allfm.org on Fridays at 3pm to hear more…. The real voice of Manchester!

Missed the show? Catch up on our Mixcloud site: https://www.mixcloud.com/DidsburyFM/didsburyfm-20th-january-ben-saunders/

Happy New Year and welcome to 2023! Let’s hope it’s a good year for all.

Sally has begun the year with a new radio slot on AllFM Community Radio – listen again to her first show here: https://www.mixcloud.com/upload/DidsburyFM/didsburyfm-13th-january-with-catrina-walker-jones/

Sally interviews DidsburyFM former speaker Catrina Walker-Jones about her story and her career, and some valuable financial advice for listeners.

Look out for live speaker dates – we plan to be back at the Metropolitan from 5th February

DidsburyFM were super proud to participate in the Forever Manchester / Manchester International Festival doorstep singalong on Thursday 28th May. Celebrities from all over the world joined in to sing with Dan McDwyer and a remote choir and orchestra – belting out a series of pop tracks across the city.

Kicking off the introductions ahead of the opening song, Take That’s Shine, Mark Owen said: “We’re made up to have one of our songs chosen to be the opening song for the evening, the beginning of the party….so Manchester, Greater Manchester, it is time Together in One Voice for you to Shine!”

The playlist of hits – which was also broadcast live on BBC Radio Manchester – continued with Martha and the Vandellas’ Dancing In The Streets, Emeli Sande’s You Are Not Alone, Tom Walker’s Leave A Light On, James’ Sit Down, and M People’s Search for the hero.

Watch the highlights below, and check out the guest appearances of Sally and Sarah during “Sit Down”!

https://youtu.be/z7x_FUMG5m8

We are proud to announce that All FM Community Radio Station and sometime hosts of DidsburyFM have won Community Radio Station of the Year AND scooped the Queen’s Award for voluntary service!

We could not be more proud to support this fantastic station. Now that the new studio is complete, we will be able to pre-record DidsburyFM shows so watch out for more community interviews coming soon! If you’ve not tuned in before, set your dial to 96.9FM in the South Manchester region for a diverse mix of local radio presenters hosting chats and fantastic music from around the world. If you’re further afield, listen via the internet on allfm.org

Dear friend

We hope you’re keeping safe and well in these testing times. As we’re sure you’ll have expected, our meeting of Didsburyfm is every Sunday 8pm on zoom but here are a few bits of news and updates that you may find interesting or useful.

Guidelines and information

We’re in a fast-moving situation, so all the information below may be subject to change. Please check using the links provided.

Business Rate Relief and Grants
The Council has already confirmed that no direct debits for business rates were taken on 1 April before relief has been awarded. This was to ensure businesses are not unnecessarily burdened before the Government’s relief package is put into action.

The Government has announced Extended Retail Relief of 100%, for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses. Eligible businesses will receive a new bill showing nothing to pay for 2020/21 in the week commencing 6 April 2020

If the Council believed your business to be eligible for the £10,000 Small Business Rates Grant you should have receive a letter this week (w/c 30 March 2020) asking for your bank details and other essential information.

If the Council believes your business is eligible for the £10,000 or £25,000 Retail Relief Grant and your bank details are on file (because you pay by direct debit), the award should be paid to you week commencing 6 April 2020. If the Council does not hold your bank details, you will receive a letter shortly. The grant will be awarded as quickly as possible following your response.

The Nursery Relief package should have been available from 30 March 2020. Eligible businesses will receive a new bill showing nothing to pay for 2020/21.

Businesses that believe they should be eligible for support but have not heard from the Council by 15 April should email: businessrates@manchester.gov.uk and put “Grant – urgent” as the subject.

Please note: businesses do not need any third party support other than Council officers, who are ready to help. Third party companies will likely take a percentage of the relief grant you receive.

Cllr Carl Ollerhead, Manchester City Council’s executive member for finance and human resources, said “We have moved quickly to make sure Manchester businesses have the support they need through this incredibly challenging period. We know that this will be a worrying time for many people and we’re doing everything we can to give businesses the help they need. Please get in touch if you think your details on our systems are either out of date or incomplete as this will delay any support you are entitled to.

“Remember – if you do need support, the Council’s website is being updated constantly with advice and helpful information. We are here to help and we will get through this together.”

The Business Growth Hub – the Manchester Business Growth Hub is taking calls Monday – Friday 8-8pm and 9-1pm Saturdays and Sundays – 0161 359 3050

Furloughing Staff – HMRC guidelines
HMRC have released information about furloughed workers and the 80% pay calculation:
A quick summary:
The earliest start day of a furlough is 1st March 2020
The furloughed employee must have been employed on 28th February 2020
Employees on reduced but non-zero hours are not eligible
The employer must write to the employee to confirm they are furloughed
National minimum wage does not apply to furloughed workers as they are not working, with some exceptions
Employees cannot be both furloughed and on SSP, they are one or the other
Furlough lasts a minimum of 3 weeks and a maximum of 3 months
The maximum allowable earnings is £2500 per month.
Earnings are based on the higher of the earnings in the same period last year and the average of the last 12 months
Bonuses, commissions and fees are not included in the earnings calculation
The employer does not have to pay more than the 80% figure
The payments are still subject to all the normal wages deductions, e.g. tax, NI, automatic enrolment
Employers can also reclaim the associated employer NI and minimum automatic enrolment (AE) employer pension for the 80% figure
This list is not comprehensive and we recommend you read the original guidance yourself rather than relying exclusively on this email. At first glance the reclaim calculation is straightforward. However, you need to:
Exclude bonuses, commissions or fees in the calculation
Average the pay over the number of months of employment if less than 12 months
We Love Manchester – funding available
Funding support is available to groups and organisations dealing directly with the impact of Covid-19 on their communities in the city of Manchester. The charity has therefore created the Covid-19 Community Response Grant. The short application form is available here. Constituted groups and organisations can apply to this fund for £500 – £3,000 for the items, equipment or supplies they need to support their communities in this difficult time. The application process has been simplified so the money can come out to groups more quickly. Completed application forms can be sent to welovemcrcharity@manchester.gov.ukPlease share this information with groups you are aware of and your wider networks.

Business Continuity Updates

Retailers who are still open

Apologies for any omissions – this is based on a quick look-round. Check websites and social media before leaving home.

Our members – please support local independents for your essential supplies!

Cheese Hamlet (9.00 – 1.00)

Little Pigs Butchers

Fresh Save

Wheildon’s Butchers

Fusion Deli

Sterling Pharmacy (till 5.30)

Other shops still open
Food retailers – Evans, Axons, Broadbents, Holland and Barrett
Supermarkets – Co-op, M&S, Aldi, Tesco
Others – Blaggs, Boots, all banks, Post Office
Manchester City Council
“Neighbourhoods Teams North, Central and South have been asked to work from home. We are keeping in touch with each other and all our internal and partner services – passing on information as it becomes available. In the meantime can I ask that you keep me updated of any issues within your community where intervention may be required resulting from the impact of the Coronavirus? It is important that as a community we pull together to help others.We are aware that a number of households / families will encounter difficulties over the coming weeks / months and we with other services will look to support what we can during this difficult time.
If you are on social media please follow us on twitter @ManCityCouncil, @mccdidsbury and Facebook Manchester City Council.”
Mark Youlden, Neighbourhood Officer Didsbury East
The ‘Virtual’ Chick Hunt is on!
The Francis House team have have had to cancel a number of fundraising events, including the annual Great Didsbury Easter Chick Hunt around the Village. Instead, they’ve created a brilliant virtual virtual chick hunt for everyone to enjoy! No matter where you live you can now take part, learn a fact about Francis House and enjoy the quiz.
Can you find all twenty characterful chicks hiding in the interactive map?
www.francishouse.org.uk/chick-hunt
Please also consider making a donation to help them carry on their vital work helping children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families. The Francis House team would like to thank their sponsors Towers Manchester and Lady Barn House School; Maria for knitting the original chicks and members of Didsbury Traders.
Happy Hunting!

If you’re already out buying essential supplies in the Village, look out for knitted mini-chicks (with Creme eggs) on sale in shops including the Cheese Hamlet and Little Pigs Butchers. And if you’re at home, you can buy your mini-chicks online.
Giddy Goat Toys – now selling online
“My website is www.giddygoattoys.co.uk . Delivery is only £2.50 or locals can opt for click and collect. I’ll keep coming into work for as long as I’m allowed – hoping we don’t get put in full house arrest lockdown but it’ll just be me – all other staff have been furloughed to minimise contact.” Amanda x
Didsbury Parsonage Trust
“The Parsonage is closed until further notice.
We have been overwhelmed by expressions of support and goodwill – a testament to the special significance the Parsonage holds for many people. Many people have offered financial support to help keep the Parsonage afloat during the period of closure. This is hugely appreciated, and if you would like to donate you can do so by clicking here.
While the building is closed, you can still contact the office as normal by phone or email. If you have enquiries about room hire or venue hire for later this year, or for 2021, please get in touch.
Local Primary Schools’ Spring Open Art Show – the children, along with their carers and teachers, have put so much time and effort into producing this fabulous artwork that we are determined it will not go unseen! We plan to film the exhibition so that it can be viewed online – details will be on our website soon. We also hope that if things improve in the autumn, this exhibition can continue and provide a cheerful and positive focal point for our re-opening.
At the time of writing, the Parsonage Gardens are still open every day. We know the Gardens are well-loved by the local community, and we sincerely hope they will remain accessible to everyone over the coming months.Our wonderful volunteer gardeners will continue their work for as long as they can, providing a beautiful, and much-needed, haven for us all.”
With all best wishes from Steve, Fiona and Margaret: the Parsonage team
0161 445 7661 info@didsburyparsonagetrust.org.uk
Choice Home Tutoring: online tuition – here to help
“We are delighted to be able to offer tailor-made online tuition sessions with specialist tutors for all ages and subjects. Our online platform replicates many of the benefits of face-to-face tuition so that students continue to get the most out of their lessons. At Choice, our online whiteboard is totally interactive to the extent that it allows the tutor and the student to type, draw, talk, screen-share and interact in real-time in a manner that is as close to resembling an actual face-to-face session as is possible.
Our whiteboard is also user-friendly and, following a demonstration by the tutor, students of all ages are easily able to navigate around the various tools it offers. Sessions can be any duration and at any time of day.

We remain confident that students who utilise our whiteboard will benefit as much from it as a face-to-face session.We want to ensure that children’s education is maintained; our team of experienced tutors will guide studies, recommend resources and take some of the pressure off you at home. We’re happy to talk through online options and hope that things can return to normal as soon as possible.

Take care of each other!”
Best wishes, Colin and Jo Murphy – Choice Home Tutoring 07527 377502 info@choicehometutoring.co.uk

Food Sorcery Cookery School: prepared meals
“In these unusual times, we have a large kitchen and multiple chefs to support – we have looked for a way that we can continue to trade and support the local population….we have designed a selection of delicious comforting home cooked meals. Packed in individual portions, you can order to collect from us or we can arrange selected local deliveries around Didsbury, Cheadle & the Heatons.”
https://www.foodsorcery.co.uk/prepared-meal-let-us-cook-for-you/
Didsbury Car show cancellation
“We’re sorry to tell you that we’ve had to cancel the Didsbury Car Show, planned for 12 July. Unfortunately, the restrictions caused by the virus epidemic look like continuing at least until the summer, and there is too much organisation involved for us to try to postpone it to a later date this year. We’re really sad about this, but meanwhile we hope you all keep safe and healthy!”
We hope this has been helpful. If you have news to share, just send us an email.
Stay safe and well, everyone

Sally
Didsbury FM

Since the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was announced, we have been inundated with queries about furloughing employees, to qualify for the Scheme.Furlough, itself, doesn’t mean anything in particular in UK employment law. It appears to be a turn of phrase which the Government has chosen to apply to this particular situation; when employees are off work, paid, but would (alternatively) be laid off or redundant, but remain employed in times of economic crisis. 

What is the Scheme

The Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was announced on Friday 20 march, with the intention of reducing the number of layoffs and redundancies.
The Government’s aim is to get this scheme up and running before the end of April. The Scheme will essentially pay some of the salaries for those members of staff who would have otherwise been redundant or laid off.  Instead they are retained as employees, but 80% of the salary (up to £2,500) will be paid for, for 3 months, by the Government under this Scheme.  Once furlough ends, they will go back to work as normal.The 80% of the employee’s salary is based on the higher of

(1)        The earnings in the same pay period in the previous year;

Or

(2)        The average earning the previous 12 months (or less, if they have worked for less).

For an employer to qualify for the payment under the scheme, the employee must have been furloughed for a minimum of three weeks solid. After this three week period the employee can come off furlough. Therefore, this means an employer cannot rotate staff between furlough and non-furlough.It is a grant so is not repayable by the company. The current guidance is that all UK businesses will be eligible.Dependent on the contract, it is likely that you will require the employee’s consent, as their status will change to a “furloughed” employee.   We are recommending this is done in writing in case evidence is needed or a dispute arises down the line.An employer will also be able to choose whether the employee only receives the Government subsidised 80%, or whether the employer meets the cost of the additional 100%. If the intention is for the employer to receive only 80% of their salary then you will, again, need to obtain their agreement to such a decrease in salary.At this point, we should add, that we are still awaiting further government guidance and draft legislation, so there are still some points that are still unclear and the advice below may be subject to change as the further information develops. 

Who is furloughed?

As far as we understand, the Scheme will only reimburse the wage costs for employees who were paid through PAYE and employed on 29 February 2020 and would otherwise be laid off or made redundant. This means employees taken on after the 1st March 2020 are excluded from the scheme. However, employers will be able to re-employ people who have since been made redundant after the 1st March 2020 and furlough them. We are unsure of whether there will be any enforcement or method by which this is checked, but we would expect the draft legislation to include some kind of penalty or consequence for the abuse of the scheme.This means that people can’t necessarily be furloughed just because they have (for example) child care commitments due to school closures or are vulnerable and therefore should self-isolate.Employees selected to be “furloughed workers” should be selected for furlough based on their job responsibilities and whether they would truly otherwise be laid off or redundant, and should ensure that they don’t consider any protected characteristics (eg. gender, disability, pregnancy and maternity) in the course of making such decisions, as this could be discriminatory.Employees existing employment contracts will remain in force whilst employed, which means that they will also continue to accrue holiday and be able to access any contractual employment benefits, whilst furloughed.An employee who is on furlough leave can choose to volunteer or do training so long as it does not generate any money for their employer. 

Can employees put themselves on furlough leave?

Essentially, no. Employees can suggest it may be a good solution or alternative to any threat of redundancy, but at the moment the guidance suggests that, to qualify for furlough leave, employers will have to show that those employees would otherwise be laid off or redundant, and not simply that they would be on unpaid leave. That is a threshold which only the employer can evidence.Employees cannot simply place themselves on furlough leave; it has to be agreed with their employer.Hundreds of thousands of businesses are having to make substantial adjustments in an effort to come out of the other side of Coronavirus, this is an especially tough undertaking given the uncertainty as to when this situation will come to an end or what the economy will face once we are able to emergeThere are law firm and law clinics providing support are also offering specific advice and draft letters for employers to agree with their staff furlough leave, at a reduced fixed fee. Please do not hesitate them if they can be of any assistance.

Take care,

Sally

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As social venues close, and we are advised (sensibly) to social distance ourselves – ie stay 2 metres apart and in well ventilated areas, there won’t be any more DidsburyFM speaker events in the next few months.

But don’t worry! Sally is going to host live events on a Sunday evening from the confines of her own home! Keep an eye on our website for event details, or on our Facebook page https://facebook.com/didsburyfm for more details.

Happy Isolating! Please share tips and tricks on how to keep the kids entertained!

Much love from all at DidsburyFM

Here at DidsburyFM we’ve always aimed high, we always ask our guests “If you had a million pounds, what would you do with it?”

At our July speaker event we spoke to Tim Lambert, and he talked about how he sees young people today doing some amazing things, and how he if he had £1m he’d take a thousand teenagers, and give them £1000 each to do something for their community.

We love this idea, and we’d like to help Tim make it happen. This year, DidsburyFM will be fundraising from local charities, and whenever we raise £1000 we will work with local high schools to arrange a competition whereby the teenagers can apply for that £1000 to make their community idea come true.

It may be as simple as a bin in a certain location, or it may be a one-off event such as a visit from an inspiring speaker or a training session from someone with great skills, or it may be a small improvement to something that already exists.

Whatever it is, we’re sure we will be inspired!