Iain Roberts

Umbro, based at Cheadle Royal, has won the contract to supply football kits to all 23 English football teams up to and including the 2018 world cup (no, I had no idea there were 23 national teams either).

As the Manchester Evening News reports

Cheadle-based Umbro will manufacture the national side’s strip until summer 2018, which will take in the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, and the 2018 competition, for which England is in contention as host.

Umbro will also be a sponsor of Wembley Stadium, the FA Cup and the National Football Centre in Staffordshire.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, was announced on the day that members of the England team including Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney revealed the new Umbro strip which they will wear during the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

 As an aside, I should point out that companies like Umbro don’t end up in our area by chance.  Stockport Council does a lot of work on attracting businesses into the area, and supporting those already here, through things like Stockport Boost.

The outcome of spending that money might not be as immediately apparent as when we’re fixing potholes or cleaning the streets, but done well - as it is in Stockport - it can repay the tax money spent many times over and bring jobs and prosperity to an area.

It looks like the Gothic pub near Gatley Green has closed - for now at least.

I don’t have any firm information on why, and I don’t know if it’s likely to re-open as a pub.

Gothic’s closure follows on from that of the Red Lion a few months back and leaves three pubs in Gatley - the Prince of Wales, the Horse and Farrier and the High Grove on Silverdale Road.

For a few weeks we’ve had on-off smells around the north west corner of Gatley (Altrincham Road, Lorna Grove, Dingle Grove, Frances Avenue, Green Walk and other roads in that area).

Before last September when we had those smells, it was always a problem at Longley Lane tip with the green waste. They then built an enclosed building for the green waste on the other side of the site, with odour suppresant, which looked to have cracked the problem.

Pam has been investigating these new odour issues, and the people at Longley Lane tip have been saying that they check for odours daily and as far as they’re aware there haven’t been any.

We’ve now been pointed to a large quantity of agricultural waste dumped earlier in August which may be responsible for the problem.

As the Manchester Evening News reported back on 12th August

A huge pile of agricultural waste dumped in a field is being blamed for a smell blighting large parts of south Manchester.

The unpleasant odour has been noticed in Flixton, Urmston, Didsbury, Altrincham and Stockport since it was first reported in Sale on Tuesday.

By yesterday the smell had reached as far as Heaton Mersey, Stockport. At first investigators suspected a farmer spreading liquid fertiliser or manure.

But last night Environment Agency officials found a huge 30 cubic metre pile of agricultural waste dumped in a field in Carrington near Sale.

Pam and I will continue to monitor the situation, so please let us know if there are more bad smells.

A few months back I mentioned Via Michelin as a route planner with a cyclist option - I ran a few tests and it seemed to manage a fairly respectable job.

Here’s another one, and it claims to do a bit more.  It’s from Transport Direct and covers quite a few towns and cities including Greater Manchester.

This one includes options for quietest and quickest routes, a gradient profile to spot those steep climbs (something that’s caught me out a few times) and something called a GPX file (apparently for loading onto GPS devices).

 Pam and I would like to congratulate the Cheadle Green Focus Group, Village Partnership and everyone else involved in this celebration, and enhancement, of Cheadle Green.

Celebrate the 200 year anniversary of Cheadle Green, discover the history of Cheadle Hall and view the improvement project.

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September from 11am to 4pm at Cheadle Green.

For more information, please contact Brian Nash 0161 474 4519 or brian.nash@stockport.gov.uk.

View Cheadle and Gatley in a larger map

Pam King and I are continuing to look into the smells coming from Longley Lane tip in the last few weeks.

We thought the problem had been cracked last year when a new building was put up to hold green waste, along with odour suppresant sprays.

Right now Viridor Waste, the company that runs the site, are not admitting to any odour problems at any time - well, from my back garden I can spot the problems.

We’ll continue working with the Council and Viridor Waste to solve the issue.

Here are the dates for the Primary School cross country races this season. All the meetings start at 10am, at William Scholes Playing Fields, Gatley.

The league is free to all schools. It’s been in existence for 35 years and around 300 runners come to each race meeting. For more information contact Ian Burnett on 0161 485 2155 or email i.b.burnett@googlemail.com.

Wilf Richards Memorial Primary School Cross-Country League

Saturday 18th September 2010

Saturday 9th October 2010

Saturday 6th November 2010

Saturday 15th January 2011

Saturday 5th February 2011 (includes parents race at 10.30)

Thursday 17th February 2011 - Walter Hesketh Trophy Cross Country Relays

Saturday 5th March 2011

Stockport Cats Protection rescues and rehabilitates cats and kittens and have been based on a farm in Bramhall for the last 19 years.

Now they need to find somewhere new, or they may have to close.

They’re looking for a small area of land to rent or buy where they can set up 6 cat pens and a cat-proofed outdoor area. It could be part of a farmyard or an unused corner of a park or garden, but it needs to be in the Stockport area (close to Bramhall would be ideal).

They have to move by the beginning of October, so if you have any suggestions, please let them know (call Jacky Goodman on 0161 439 1274 after 6pm or comment here and I’ll pass it on).

As you may know, fly-posting has been a problem particularly on the now closed George & Dragon pub in Cheadle. Because it’s a privately owned building, it’s more complicated to get it removed.

I wrote to Punch Taverns, who own the pub, asking if they would remove the fly-posting or, failing that, authorise me to remove fly-posting on their behalf.

I’ve now received a reply, which is they won’t do that because they’re hopeful a sale is imminent and the new owners should clear it up.

We’ll wait and see, but having that building under new ownership and, hopefully, being put to good use, would be very positive for the village.