BARTON MOSS CAMPAIGNERS HAVE PROTEST PICNIC OPPOSITE IAN STEWART'S HOUSE

Barton Moss anti-fracking campaigners held a picnic opposite Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart's house yesterday in protest at his silence over both fracking issues and Greater Manchester Police brutality… "We are just giving him a very peaceful, very friendly message that `We are going to be in your face all the time until you give us some answers'" said picnic organiser Marie Harvey.

Meanwhile, as exploratory drilling comes to an end at Barton Moss, a survey of local residents shows that 80% don't want fracking in the area.

TRAFFORD, BOLTON AND SALFORD JOIN TO FIGHT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE CUTS

"The Tories are dismantling the NHS bit by bit and the only way we can protect it is to…take to the streets and campaign" UNISON steward

Dozens of people, including mental health service users, NHS workers, trade unionists and carers, marched from Eccles town centre to Meadowbrook hospital in Salford yesterday to campaign against horrific cuts to mental health services.

Campaign groups from Salford, Trafford, Bolton and beyond held a rally before the march at which speakers urged everyone to fight the ConDem Government's dismantling of the NHS and Labour councils that comply.

SUPER SALFORD CITY FC STORM IT AT FARSLEY

Farsley 2 Salford City 3

Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt et al were a no show at Farsley this afternoon and missed their new pet club storm to victory at play-off hopefuls Farsley.

Rob Kinsella and Jamie Rother got the goals as Ammies fans sang `We are tangerine' in response to any proposed change of team colours by the Class of '92.

A Salford Star Exclusive

SALFORD COUNCIL TO CLOSE SURE START CHILDREN'S CENTRES

"These centres provide a lifeline to children and parents who would otherwise be isolated" Sue Campayne, parent
 
Salford City Council is proposing to slash Sure Start Children's Centres in the city, from services currently offered within 15 buildings to four `hubs' based in six buildings in a move that will see over £1million slashed from the budget and up to 17 posts axed.

The Council intends to shut centres including Fiddlers Lane in Irlam, St Paul's Heathside in Walkden and Charlestown and Lower Kersal Sure Start Children's Centre, much to the anger of parents who have already begun a campaign to oppose the cuts.

GIGGS NEVILLE BUTT ET AL CONFIRM DEAL TO BUY AMMIES

This evening Salford City FC confirmed that contracts have been exchanged with Manchester United's Class of '92 to `acquire' the club in the summer, `subject to FA and League approval'.

Despite ongoing fears that the club's name, colours and ground will be changed, Gary Neville tweeted tonight that "For clarity - No name change/no ground change and management and committee as before!"

GREEN PARTY, BARTON MOSS SOLICITOR AND OTHER GROUPS CALL FOR HEAD OF GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER

Barton Moss Camp solicitor Simon Pook, Manchester Green Party and other political groups have called for the resignation of Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Lloyd.

Under the banner `Tony Lloyd Must Go', the groups lists an array of issues, including the "prolonged violence and aggression by GMP in the policing of the anti-fracking protesters at Barton Moss", in which people "have seen little action". Chair of Manchester Green Party, Deyika Nzeribe, says that Tony Lloyd is "out of his depth…He should do the right thing and stand down immediately."

AROUND 1,000 TEACHERS TAKE TO STREETS AS STRIKE BITES

"I'm doing casework with members who are working 60-65 hours a week" Judith Elderkin Salford NUT

Around one thousand teachers, including many from Salford, marched through Manchester city centre today in support of the National Union of Teachers strike against ConDem Government belligerency.

Lots of Salford schools were shut or partially shut as teachers went on strike against excessive workloads, performance related pay and unfair pension changes which could see teachers working until they are 68.

SALFORD BEXLEY SQUARE TOWN HALL FLOGGED OFF FOR PEANUTS AS X1 DEVELOPMENTS STAND TO MAKE £MILLIONS

Salford's old Town Hall at Bexley Square, previously the Magistrates Court, has been flogged off to X1 Developments for just £256,000 – and now, almost one hundred one and two bedroom apartments in the complex are being marketed to buy to let landlords and `young professionals' for up to £120,000 each.

To add insult to financial injury, our former Town Hall has been retitled X1 Town Hall, Manchester.

POMONA PROTEST PICNIC AGAINST PEEL

Last Friday a Protest Picnic was held against Peel Holdings tearing up rare plant life and habitats at Pomona in its quest to build on land that is currently an eco wonderland by the Manchester Ship Canal.

The disused area, next to Manchester city centre and across the water from Ordsall, has seen over one hundred bird species and over one hundred and fifty flora species documented, including rare Bee Orchids.

SHADOW AND PRIVATE PEACEFUL ARE WINNERS OF WINNERS

"A book should make you think, as my books make me think when I am writing them"

Over three hundred Salford school children have voted two of Michael Morpurgo's novels, Shadow and Private Peaceful, as the best books from the past ten years in the `Winner of Winners' Salford Community Leisure/Libraries Annual Book Awards.

Speaking via video-link, the best selling author told young people who packed The Lowry on Friday "I don't write to win prizes. My books are troubling…"

BOLTON SALFORD TRAFFORD MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES THREAT

Defend Mental Health Services
March and Rally
Saturday 29th March 12:30
Meet Market Cross, Eccles for march to Meadowbrook

Next Saturday, service users, activists, families and health workers will be holding a march and rally to Defend Mental Health Services in Bolton, Salford and Trafford.

Health bosses want to close mental health wards in Salford and Bolton, while cutting community support and the march is in protest against axing key services for some of the most vulnerable people in the area.

EIGHT EMERGING ARTISTS HAVE DISPARATE CONCEPTIONS

Disparate Conceptions
Piccadilly Place until 29th March
Open 11am-5pm free

Eight up and coming final year artists from the University of Salford Visual Arts degree course have self launched with an independent exhibition at Piccadilly Place.

Creating in a diverse array of styles and materials, these emerging artists are well worth checking out.

GMP USING `VIOLENCE, BRUTALITY AND INTIMIDATION' AGAINST DEMOCRATIC PROTEST AT BARTON MOSS

Well over one hundred people laid siege to Swinton Police Station in Salford this afternoon in a noisy, musical and good humoured protest against Greater Manchester Police treatment of peaceful protectors at the Barton Moss anti-fracking demonstrations.

Tim, from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp, accused the GMP of "violence, brutality, bullying and general intimidation" that "create a climate of fear such that the British people feel unsafe to come forth and air their views".

RIOTS, STRIKES, SUFFRAGETTES AND VEGGIES

Salford's Radical History Walk
Sunday 23rd March 11am
Black Lion pub £6/£5

Salford has a huge radical history, from the Battle of Bexley Square to the suffragettes, to the General Strike of 1842, to the founding of the Vegetarian Society and loads more.

The sites, scenes and time-psyches are being brought back to life on Sunday in the latest of the acclaimed Red Flag Walks, with host and local history expert Michael Herbert. The event is part of the Manchester Histories Festival.

LOCK-ON AGAINST GMP AS ANOTHER LORRY WITH RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL ENTERS IGAS SITE

This afternoon, two protectors locked on to a concrete drum for over one and a half hours to "highlight our plight…we've suffered at the hands of the Greater Manchester Police and the Tactical Aid Unit". On the lock-on drum were daffodils and a sign reading `We All Love You Vanda' – a message to the mother brutally arrested this week, who was released on bail from prison this afternoon.

Meanwhile, this morning, another lorry carrying more radioactive material entered the IGas exploratory drilling site at Barton Moss.

POLICE ON `BEST BEHAVIOUR' FOR INDEPENDENT PROTEST PANEL

"This morning was very, very different and not like it happens normally at all" Dan

Anti-fracking campaigners at Barton Moss in Salford were furious this morning as members of the Independent Protest Panel, set up by the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd, visited the daily protest – but stayed behind police lines and hardly interacted with protectors.

"It didn't seem that it was independent or balanced" said Dan from the Barton Moss Camp "The police were very much on their best behaviour."

AFTER BRUTAL ARREST VANDA JAILED AND CHARGED

"The Tactical Aid Unit appear out of control" Simon Pook, solicitor.

Monday's brutal arrest of Barton Moss protector and mother of three, Vanda, by Greater Manchester Police Tactical Aid Unit shocked tens of thousands of people around the world who viewed the disturbing film and still images.

Yesterday, incredibly, Vanda was charged with assaulting the police and jailed at Styal Prison for a week until her court hearing on 25th March. 

GOVERNMENT MINISTER LAYS INTO COUNCIL FOR MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS AND DAMAGING INDEPENDENT FREE PRESS

Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis has slated Salford City Council and Salford Mayor Ian Stewart for using LIFE IN Salford magazine for "political propaganda" and "damaging local democracy and an independent, free press".

Salford Council vets every publication it funds, directly or indirectly, in the city, stating that "There must be nothing of an overtly political nature" – indeed community committee members were threatened with jail if they voted to fund the Salford Star. Yet it is one rule for Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart, and one for everyone else, as he has used this month's LIFE magazine for his own political diatribe.

BARTON MOSS WOMAN ARRESTED AND BEATEN FOR SECOND TIME BY GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE

"I got sent to prison for being accused of doing that shit. Three grown men battering a woman on the floor…I'm in shock." Bez

Vanda, the mother of four who made headlines last month after her brutal arrest by officers from Greater Manchester Police Tactical Aid Unit, was again arrested and beaten at Barton Moss this morning in the full gaze of the media – and Happy Mondays star, Bez, who was on the front line of the anti-fracking protest.

"It's a disgrace" he told the Salford Star "A peaceful protest and… to arrest someone, smashing their head on the floor is not right is it? Especially a woman…"

MUAY THAI BOXING ACADEMY PUTS KIDS ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW

Kids in Salford are being offered Muay Thai boxing classes with the emphasis on fun and focus rather than aggression. Now one of the junior members of the Manchester Fighters Academy in Viaduct Street is being hailed as a future champion.

At just seven years old, Michael begins his quest for glory this Saturday. Gareth Lyons went along to verbally spar with the youngster…

BARTON MOSS SOLICITOR SAYS SINISTER DEVELOPMENT AS POLICE TARGET LIVE STREAMERS

This week, after what Barton Moss Camp solicitor Simon Pook called "a very sinister development", some campaigners appeared to be targeted by Greater Manchester Police for live streaming officers' actions.

"Having watched the film footage, it suggests to me that the police have a central intelligence team involved in Barton Moss and people are being targeted" says Pook "The United Kingdom Government will have to have to answer…at the United Nations for any human rights violations."

SALFORD SLUMP TO OSSETT DEFEAT

Salford City 0 Ossett Albion 3

Uncertainty off the pitch surrounding Salford City's takeover by Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville et al is obviously having an affect on the pitch as the Ammies slumped to defeat against bottom of the table Ossett Albion today.

SALFORD STAR ONLINE GETS OVER 100,000 READERS IN FOUR WEEKS

The Salford Star website has been viewed by over 100,000 people in the past four weeks, an incredible achievement for a voluntary hyper local website.

While the majority of readers have come from Salford and Greater Manchester, people from all over the UK and the world have been following the Star's coverage of the Barton Moss anti-fracking protests.

SALFORD COUNCIL TURNS PROPERTY SPECULATOR AS SERVICES CUT

Salford City Council is gambling millions of pounds of council tax payers' money by signing an eight-year pre-lease on the whole block of a yet to be built office complex on the site of the old Exchange Station opposite Manchester Cathedral.

The Greengate block, called Embankment 101, is the first of two huge black buildings nicknamed The Ugly Sisters, and the Council, we understand, had earmarked around £15million to speculate on the project, a joint venture between Carillion, Ask Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners.

BEZ BECOMES THE FIRST SALFORD CELEB TO JOIN BARTON MOSS CAMPAIGN

Bez, Salfordian dancer, author, tv and pop star, is to join anti-fracking campaigners at Barton Moss Community Protection Camp this Sunday, 16th March at 2pm and on the slow walk in front of lorries delivering to the IGas exploratory drilling site on Monday 17th March.

"We are very pleased Bez has decided to support us in our fight against this unsafe, unnecessary and unwanted fossil fuel" says Martin Porter of Frack Free Greater Manchester.

NO EVICTION OF BARTON MOSS CAMP IN SIGHT

The Barton Moss Community Protection Camp looks like it is going to be safe until the end of March, as the Court of Appeal in London has given their lawyers until 26th March to submit all their evidence. With work at the IGas exploratory drilling site due to finish at the end of March it appears that the Camp will now not be evicted by that date.

IS IT ONE RULE FOR THE MAYOR AND ONE FOR EVERYONE ELSE?

It appears that Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart, has been parking his camper van in the Salford Council staff car park at Turnpike House for over a month without paying for it. All other staff have to pay 1% of their salary to park in Council car parks, while the public also has to pay to park if visiting Council departments.

Is it one rule for Stewart and one for everyone else?

HIGH NOON DRAMA AS ANTI FRACKING CAMP GETS LEAVE TO APPEAL EVICTION

Defendants from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp have been given leave to go to the Court of Appeal in London to contest the possession order granted to Peel Holdings yesterday. Judge Pelling gave the defendants until noon today to sort out the appeal and, as news reached the Camp just after noon, there were cheers and shouts of defiance.

Another dramatic day at Barton Moss came complete with a three and half hour lock-on and long delays to lorry deliveries, met with more Greater Manchester Police aggression and arrests as Salford people begin to take the lead in the protests.

`JIBBERING' JUDGE PELLING BACKS PEEL HOLDINGS

"I'm not saying he's been leant on over the weekend, it's not my place to say that is it?" Colin

This morning at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, a stuttering Judge Pelling found in favour of Peel Holdings, which sought a possession order over land where the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp is currently sited.

Outside the court, Colin, from the Camp said "The judge…seemed a very cool, calm, collected character but at the delivery of the verdict suddenly seemed to turn into a jibbering, very nervous character. I read things into that…" Tomorrow morning lawyers for the Camp will seek leave to appeal the decision before the noon deadline.

GREATER MANCHESTER SHOWS ITS OPPOSITION TO FRACKING

Over 1500 people took to the streets of Manchester today to show their opposition to fracking, the day before a verdict is announced on the future of the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp.

Speaking at the rally after the huge march had snaked through Piccadilly, Albert Square and Deansgate, Colin from the Camp said that `pantomime villians' Peel Holdings - the company bringing the eviction case - is seeking to "set a precedent that the most visible sign of the resistance to fracking can be crushed". If the eviction happens, he added, Peel must "come up against the power of the people"…

SALFORD BANDS URGED TO SIGN UP FOR THIS YEAR'S FEST

Salford bands, singers, MCs and divas have one last chance this week to sign up to appear at this year's Salford Music Festival, which takes place in September.

The Festival features hundreds of bands from Salford and beyond in an array of diverse venues around the city and most gigs are free…"We do it for the love and cheek, and not the money" says co-founder Ed Blaney.

MI'KMAQ MESSAGE OF SUPPORT FOR BARTON MOSS ANTI-FRACKING PROTEST

"Stay strong, stand strong and continue to fight. When we work together with a common vision we can change the world"

Over in New Brunswick, Canada, the Mi'kmaq Warrior Society has been at the forefront of the battle against fracking, including a brutal showdown with the police last October after an injunction was obtained against their blockade.

The Mi'kmaq nation already has ties with Salford, due to its people's love of Coronation Street, and now those ties are being strengthened with a message of support to protectors at Barton Moss. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Mi'kmaq flag was being flown at the daily Salford protest against IGas.

FROM BARCA TO BROKE

Ossett Town 0 Salford City 3
Kendal Town 2 Salford City 0

On Tuesday night Salford City outplayed Ossett Town with their most comprehensive Barcelona-style passing away performance of the season. Then this afternoon could barely manage a shot at goal as they slumped to a 0-2 defeat at Kendal Town. To ease the pain of defeat, here's a special double match report.

BIGGEST UK ANTI-FRACKING DEMO AS BARTON MOSS CAMP STAYS

No To Fracking in Greater Manchester
March and Rally
Sunday 9th March
12:45pm* Piccadilly Gardens

On Sunday, Frack Free Greater Manchester hopes to hold the biggest march and rally ever seen in the UK against fracking. It comes as the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp awaits a judge's decision on Monday as to whether Peel Holdings will be allowed to evict campaigners from its land.

`IGAS SHOULD BE HAPPY IF A COURT CASE IS TAKEN AGAINST THEM'

IGAS' claims that fracking is perfectly safe should be tested in court, lawyers working on implementing the international crime of Ecocide told the Salford Star this week.

The lawyers were at the Barton Moss exploratory drilling site gathering evidence and said that IGas should be "happy for a court case to be taken against them so they could establish that fracking is, indeed, perfectly safe".

AS BARTON MOSS PROTECTOR CAMP EVICTION GOES TO COURT A LOCK-ON COFFIN BLOCKS LORRIES AT IGAS SITE

Today, as Peel Holdings went to court to attempt to evict anti-fracking campaigners at the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp, a black coffin lock-on appeared on the public footpath at Barton Moss Road, delaying IGas delivery lorries for hours. The sign on the coffin read `Frack will seriously damage your health'.

No result has come from the High Court today for Peel's `possession order' for the land it owns on Barton Moss Road.

IGAS SHARES PLUMMET AS DAILY ANTI-FRACKING PROTESTS BITE

Shares in IGas, the company which is carrying out controversial exploratory drilling at Barton Moss, Salford, have plummeted since January, losing over 20% of their value according to latest Stock Exchange valuations.

The company has admitted in confidential documents seen by the Salford Star that `the timescales for the exploratory drilling have been delayed due to the protesters'. The delays will have cost IGas huge amounts of money, apparently reflected in its share value loss.

`COME AND SEE HOW PEOPLE ARE BEING HURT EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR NO REASON' SAYS SALFORD GRANDMA

"I feel violated, abused…and I don't break the law"

A grandmother from Salford has urged local people to go to Barton Moss, not to protest, but to see the antics of the Greater Manchester Police Tactical Aid Unit, following another unnerving day on the anti-fracking protest.

"My message is `Come down for one day, you can stand away from it all, and you will see what is actually going on here, and you will see how people are being hurt every single day for no reason'" says Gaynor from Irlam.

AFTER BARTON MOSS BRUTALITY ACCUSATIONS LLOYD SETS UP PROTEST PANEL

After three months of almost silence in the face of accusations of GMP policing brutality at Barton Moss, the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Lloyd, has set up an `independent panel to examine major protests and demonstrations'.

A statement from Lloyd issued yesterday says that the panel will meet this week to "discuss recent major demonstrations in Greater Manchester including the ongoing protest at Barton Moss". Frack Free Greater Manchester has already asked to address the panel.

GMP KETTLE RESIDENTS TRYING TO PROTEST ON PUBLIC FOOTPATH

"The police seem to have forgotten their remit, they've lost the plot" Colin

Greater Manchester Police inspectors this morning denied local residents and anti-fracking campaigners the right to protest on Barton Moss Road, the public footpath used by lorries delivering to the iGas exploratory drilling site.

After a two hour lock-on in the road by three protectors, residents were kettled at the side of the road by Tactical Aid Unit officers, allowing lorries to drive unimpeded up the lane for the first time in three months.

BARTON MOSS CAMPS OUTSIDE GMP HQ IN NEWTON HEATH

Barton Moss campaigners last night occupied land outside Greater Manchester Police headquarters in Newton Heath in protest at GMP Tactical Aid Unit's `brutality and violence' while policing daily demonstrations at the iGas exploratory drilling site in Salford.

This morning, protectors told the Salford Star that they didn't believe the `heavy mob' should be brought in to police peaceful protest.

SIX THOUSAND YOUNG PEOPLE IN SALFORD CRACKING UP

"I've expected a massive mental health implosion in Salford since 2009 and it looks like it is here" Julie Blower Tree Tops Counselling

Around 12%, or six thousand young people in Salford, are cracking under the strains of mental health issues – which range from bullying to exam and sexual pressures to parenting problems. Yet there's little or no funding to sort it out.

Now a voluntary group, Tree Tops Counselling Salford, which could only help 520 young people last year, has launched a Fight The Pressure Salford campaign to try to bring awareness to the `implosion'.

`WE'RE SLEEP WALKING INTO A POLICE STATE'

Carole Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan whose shooting by police officers led to the UK riots of 2011, said today that "We're just sleep walking into a police state… as the police, with the support of the government, think they have the right to go out and kill".

She was speaking at a Piccadilly Gardens vigil for Anthony Grainger, two years after the Salford man was shot by an officer of Greater Manchester Police.

GANGSTER DOLPHIN, SEXED UP DOLPHINS AND MORE IN THIS MUST READ SALFORD BLOCKBUSTER

The Perfect Pair: The Mirror Cracks (Matador)
David C Holroyd and Tracy J Holroyd

Anyone who thinks that a dolphin's permanent smile means they're happy, needs to read The Perfect Pair books by Salford authors David C Holroyd and Tracy J Holroyd.

After last year's all-diving, all-splashing `factional' expose of what goes on behind closed dolphinarium doors, comes the sensational sequel, The Mirror Cracks, complete with gangster, sexed up and screwed up dolphins swimming around their psychic trainer.

MANCHESTER UNITED CLASS OF '92 COME TO WATCH THE AMMIES

Salford City 0 Curzon Ashton 2

Following reports that Manchester United's Class of '92 are about to buy into Salford City FC, today saw the consortium's Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes stand behind the goal at Moor Lane to see the Ammies at close quarters.

Salford lost 0-2 to top of the table Curzon Ashton, courtesy of an own goal and a penalty.

TWO YEARS ON AND STILL NO ANSWERS OVER SALFORD MAN'S DEATH

Marina and John Schofield, the mother and stepfather of Anthony Grainger, have criticised the Independent Police Complaints Commission on the second anniversary of his death.

The unarmed Salford man was shot by an officer of Greater Manchester Police on 3rd March 2012 and, two years on, the family are still looking for answers into the circumstances of his death, with little progress… "The disillusionment of the family with the entire process is understandable" they have said in a statement.