Welcome!
I have really loved working on this issue of MOOR. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always enjoyable but I can’t pretend the last 18 months or so have been easy. In fact I don’t mind admitting that as a small local business, totally dependent on other local businesses, (many not able to trade during the various lockdown stages) we had some difficult months and subsequently, you’ll have noticed, a couple of slimmer issues of the mag!
But happily, this issue has been very different! There’s a feeling of optimism in the air, with many of the businesses we work with starting to trade again. I have managed to have face-to-face meetings with clients – some of whom I have worked with for over a decade and had really missed seeing in person – phone calls and zoom meetings just don’t cut it sometimes. We’ve been able to have MOOR team catch-ups and a lovely team lunch at Leoni’s. My colleague Sharon and I have even been able to spend a couple of days together working on The Heatons App….all outdoors of course!
But that’s not all that has made this issue such a joy to work on. Our features and editorials have been particularly interesting to work on this time round – I defy anyone not to have enjoyed our fashion shoot day at ‘Frock Goddess’. Sharon, photographer Jordan Gurry and I had great fun with our models Candice and Susie, both Heatons residents and willing to help out their lovely neighbour Jenny who owns Frock Goddess where we did the shoot. I hope you like the photographs (pages 9, 11 and 13) as much as we enjoyed styling and photographing them. We’ve been talking to cafés and restaurants about how they’ve adapted to the ‘new normal’ and it was really uplifting to hear how positive they are about the future (page 60). Added to that, out of the blue a couple of Heatons ex-pats contacted us about their Heatons memories, which were both touching and fascinating and have inspired our new ‘Readers’ Memories’ feature (page 56). Our regular interview with The Heatons Neighbourhood Outreach is always interesting, but in this issue we report back on two amazing projects that have really warmed my heart (page 33). Such an amazing group – we’re in awe of the thousands of you out there who are members.
In addition, we’ve been able to bring back our regular MOOR Books feature, where we help to promote local authors – we’ve crammed details of three books into this issue (pages 54, 55 and 70). Then of course the news that the Friends of Heaton Chapel Station have won ANOTHER well-deserved award (page 77) has been the icing on the cake.
I hope our feeling of optimism and positivity has fed though to the whole of this issue of MOOR, and that you enjoy reading it. Please shop local and use local traders who not only have helped us keep the magazine going during these tricky times but now need your support as much as ever.
Best Wishes from Melissa & The Whole of the Moor Mag Team