Headingley residents tackle cold weather for the last litter clean-up of 2015.

 

IT has been just over a month since Headingley Litterarti had its first successful session in cleaning the streets of Headingley.

We saw a group of local residents wandering the streets of Headingley Mount and Headingley Avenue picking up the litter that they found and sorting them into the appropriate bags, ready to be collected by the Council.

Despite the December chill, yesterday was the second but also last clean-up of 2015 with the volunteers donning on santa hats to get into the festive spirit in the lead-up to Christmas to clear the streets around Ashville Road.

Even though the number of participants this time was not as high as last month’s, everyone put in more effort to collect a similar amount with the same unusual items found such as: a tyre rim, a metal door handle and a spoon.

Joe Salmon, a Green Party activist and the brains behind the group said why he thinks this is different to the rest:

Mickayla Ireland, a volunteer at Headingley Litterarti explained why Headingley has a lot of litter:

Catherine Warr, member of Green Peace in Leeds and also another volunteer, said she joined Headingley Litterarti because she thinks the cleaner the environment, the better you will feel:

Headingley Litterarti meets every second sunday of each month and they’re hoping more residents and volunteers will turn up to help raise awareness.

 

 

Shoppers stray off high street for their Christmas gifts in Headingley.

IT IS the countdown to Christmas and this weekend saw the Design@HEART Christmas Market in Headingley.

People are staying away from high street brands to look for something unique and original, and Headingley has some of the finest artists designing and making quality products right here on local peoples’ doorsteps.

The event saw over 25 crafts people and artists showcase their products for shoppers to buy which includes: ceramics, glass, textiles, prints, photographs, jewellery and many more other gifts.

Claire Riley owns Little Shop of Lathers and Jo Whitehead is an artist working in fused glass under the name of Glassprimitif and they said their views on why shopping independently and supporting local businesses is better:

Jo’s background as a textile artist shines through her work, she said:  “I approach my glass design as any other surface.

I love vibrant colours and my main influence is mid twentieth century textile designs and home furnishings.”

Fleure Gething is from Headingley and she set up her stall selling high quality cards from her designs based off famous people or portraits or English nature.

She also expressed her views on the matter of shopping independently:

Some other artists who set up their own stalls are Diana Lambert, the owner of Silver and Sparkle, who had a successful career in IT for 20 odd years before packing it all in to become a silversmith.

She said: “I decided to give up my well-paid, secure ‘real’ job, and start up my own small business.

It was very scary, but I wouldn’t go back in to the corporate world for anything.”

She now sells her jewellery all over the country, and most especially her in Yorkshire.

Rebecca Carr, an artist and illustrator who set up her Lalabuds stall at the market, uses traditional and contemporary drawing skills by combining pencil work with digitally painted layers.

She as well as Bob Bryant and Mary Cormican said why they think people should shop independently.

Bob Bryant is a designer-maker from Cumbria who travelled all the way down to Headingley just to set up his stall, Humblewood, and sell his products.

He sells homewares and gifts with a colourful, contemporary twist such as vases, clocks, platters, jewellery and others.

Mary Cormican is the owner of Gemstone Boutique that is made up of beaded jewellery kits.

So if a friend, family or even yourself are thinking about doing some last minute christmas shopping, then have a think about going to small, independent shops and support not only their business, but the community.