Marple
Bridge
Association
Promoting the interests of people who live, work, shop, socialise, or have children at school in
Marple Bridge
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View along Town Street, from the bridge
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Since 1987 Marple Bridge has been holding a non-commercial Christmas Party known as Winter Wonderland, usually on the first Saturday in December. From humble beginnings, this has evolved over the years in to a fantastic family afternoon out, which attracts thousands of people to the village centre, whatever the weather.
The very successful ‘Bridge in Bloom’ campaign, organised and paid for by the Marple Bridge Association, puts flowers on the village centre lampposts, and in other containers and at other sites around the village including the Peace Garden. All this hard work has seen the village compete successfully in regional and national competitions, both in its own right and as part of Stockport’s winning entry in Britain in Bloom in 2005.
Marple Bridge is a very attractive, predominately stone built, village on the edge of the borough of Stockport. With its lovely stone cottages, scenic riverside walks, coffee shops, traditional and trendy pubs and other individual shops, the centre of the village is a Conservation Area.
About the Marple Bridge Association
The MBA’s main aim is to help Marple Bridge continue to be as attractive a place as possible, in which to live, trade, work, shop, eat, drink, or walk and ramble, by ensuring it continues to thrive as the centre of a vibrant local community.
About Marple Bridge
‘Bridge in Bloom’
Winter Wonderland
MBA Blog
The Marple Bridge Association Blog is where you will find more in depth news coverage of our latest events and projects.
Marple Bridge TV
Marple Bridge TV is the Marple Bridge Association’s own channel on You Tube, where you will find video clips and photo montages of recent and past events in the village, as well as media coverage of the Association’s activities.
Visit Marple Bridge
Marple Bridge is easily accessible, being just 5 ½ miles along the A626 from junction 27 of the M60, on the borders of Stockport, South Manchester, North Cheshire and the High Peak district of Derbyshire.
Contact Us
MARPLE BRIDGE ASSOCIATION FINANCE
Marple Bridge Association is a free membership organisation open to anyone who either
lives, works, owns a business, has children at school, or is a pub regular in Marple
Bridge. The various activities and projects that it finances are therefore entirely
dependant on money raised through fund raising activities such as Winter Wonderland,
and from grants and business sponsorship.
The Marple Bridge Association is led by an elected Committee:
Chair: Karl Guare
Vice Chair: David Harris
Secretary: Kevin Hart
Treasurer: Bob Wiggins
Committee Members (in alphabetical order of surname):
Trevor Bass
Peter Corcoran
Margaret Haresnape
Judy Rhodes
Gareth White
Cath Wiggins
To email any committee member, please click on their name.
MBA Constitution
The Marple Bridge Association has been a fully constituted body since 2005. It has a written constitution which you can read here.
The MBA AGM is usually held in February, but may be in March. After the Chair’s and Treasurer’s end of year reports, each Committee member, starting with the Chair, stands down, and then may seek re-election.
Any member of the MBA may be elected to the committee, or one of its principal offices, after being proposed, seconded and gaining a majority of votes of those present at the AGM.
Marple Bridge Association -
the facts and figures
In summer 2010 nearly £400 was raised for Bridge in Bloom, by the MBA Car Boot Sale held in Brabyns Park.
It is hoped to hold further sales in the future.
This raised a lot of money in the past, but is currently on hold, due to the present economic climate. It is hoped to hold further Summer Balls in the not too distant future.
Historically, the main project supported by the MBA was the provision of floral displays
on the lampposts in Town Street, financed by the proceeds from Winter Wonderland.
However, over the past few years, the MBA has supported a number of additional projects
that enhance the attraction of Marple Bridge as place to live and trade.
In addition
to the floral displays on the lampposts (average annual cost £1300) the Association
has installed a number of plant containers along Town Street, which are planted out
twice a year with summer and winter bedding (average annual cost £470). The Association
has also funded a number of specific projects, namely constructing and planting the
Peace Garden (£1320), and erecting a village sign (£820) and a notice board.
Green
Projects at local schools (e.g. creation of gardens) have also been supported by
the Association (cost £720).
In addition to money raised through Winter Wonderland,
the above projects have received generous support from Stockport Metropolitan Borough
Council, local businesses and the Marple Bridge Summer Ball.
Former long standing Marple Bridge Postmaster, and Honoury MBA Lifetime President, Nigel Chadwick officially opens the Marple Bridge Peace Garden; conceived, designed, constructed and planted out by the MBA at a cost of about £1350
The main opportunities for the MBA are:
To embrace the fact that, notwithstanding later remarks herein, its active membership continues to grow, many of whom are younger members of the community.
To find a way to ride the large wave of goodwill in the area generated by its organisation of the Royal Wedding Street Party, and other events.
The main challenges faced by the MBA are budgetary, focus, and apathy.
The MBA’s stated aim is to help the village continue to be as attractive a place as possible, in which to live, trade, work, shop, eat, drink, or walk and ramble, by ensuring it continues to thrive as the centre of a vibrant local community.
It has partly furthered this aim in recent years through various ‘capital’ projects, such as the Peace Garden, Village Notice Board and Village Sign which have been generously supported financially by Stockport Council, who are unlikely to be in a position for the foreseeable future to support similar undertakings. Any future proposals for local environmental improvements of a similar nature to be funded by the MBA are likely to be severely constrained as a result.
It remains to be seen whether the present economic climate will result in a large depletion of Winter Wonderland revenues this year, which are the main source of funding for ‘Bridge in Bloom’, and hence the floral decorations around the village centre including the beautiful hanging baskets during the summer.
Focus, or deciding where to, or whether to, direct one’s energies is another major challenge for the MBA. A debate needs to be had in the village generally over whether the village centre car parks should be mainly for the use of commuters using the railway station, or reserved in some way for shoppers wishing to visit the village shops.
The ‘High Street’ and not so high street, faces tremendous challenges in the years ahead from both out of town shopping centres and the internet. Footfall in the village centre has been falling for years. But it remains a fact that everyone will miss local shops, pubs, and cafés if they are forced to close from a lack of business. Use them or lose them has never been more of a truism, but anyone wishing to of late will often find any potential parking places occupied by cars dumped here all day by people going off to work elsewhere.
However, perhaps the decline of the village centre commercially speaking is inevitable, desirable, inalterable, or inconsequential? Should the MBA become involved or sit on the fence? How will these possible changes affect the local community? Will it still thrive?
Finally, despite the government’s call for people to become involved in the so-called ‘Big Society’, it remains a fact that voluntary community organisations like the MBA are frequently run by the same people year in year out, who are generally older community members. They are often denigrated as ‘do-gooders’, (perhaps they’d rather volunteers were ‘do-bad-ers’ or best of all ‘do-nothing-ers’) by many of their fellow citizens, who nevertheless benefit from these others unpaid efforts. So, apathy remains a major challenge for any community organisation, as often even people who believe in what’s being done feel that it is not for them to get involved, for some reason.
| MBA Facts, Figures, Opportunities & Challenges |