New members joined in May 2009:

High Lane Garage - A friendly local motor dealer with a reputation for looking after its customers. Stockport Council 'Business Excellence' awards four consecutive years. Trading Standards 'Fair Play Charter' member.

Sally Bennett - My philosophy is providing a professional service that ensures clients feel relaxed and revitalised after their treatments. I have over 25 years experience including teacher. I offer a wide range of treatments to the face and body.

Prest Financial Services - Wealth managers, Independent Financial Advisers for local people and businesses. Investments, pension and retirement specialists, life assurance and protection policies. Long-standing family business, trusted for over 50 years.

Peak Group of Companies - Family run, local based commercial property letting company with buildings in Marple, Stockport, Hazel Grave and Hyde to let.

New members joined in January 2009:

Roc Solutions - Installation, design and testing of electrical fittings and circuits. Fault finding, extensions and additions of circuits, kitchen fitting and general joinery.

Jane Lomas PR & Marketing - Professional PR and marketing service, designed to raise your profile and promote your business to potential clients and customers.

My Medicine

Marple Chiropractic & Physiotherapy Clinic - Chiropractic and physiotherapy clinic. We treat all muscular, skeletal problems, using the technology of a subluxation scan. We can test the body's ability to cope with life's stresses and develop tailor-made care programmes.

Basmati Indian Cuisine

The Good Mood Co. - Specialist wedding and occasion makeup. Radiant, flawless and long-lasting makeup to enhance your natural beauty. Airbrush and traditional techniques available.

Marple Childminding Service - OFSTED registered childminder offering flexible friendly care either full-time, part-time, before or after school, or just holidays. Servicing All Saints school, Nursery and Treetops Preschool.

It’s a cracker in Marple this Christmas!

Marple is kicking off the festive season in spectacular style on Saturday, December 6 with its Christmas Cracker shopping and entertainment event in the town centre. From 10am to 3pm there will be a feast of festive music, traditional seasonal fare for sale and fun for all the family.

Activities will focus on four main areas: Market Street, The Hollins, Marple Baths and Stockport Road close to its junction with Station Road.

The town’s retailers will be setting out their stalls for the Christmas season. Many shops will be providing winter-warming mince pies and mulled wine, and displays of their wares will spill out on to tables outside on the pavement.

To help create a real festive atmosphere, many more groups will be providing street entertainment including local schools, drama groups, brass bands, choirs, hand bell ringers, dance troupes, stilt walkers and street entertainers.

The Christmas Cracker event is being organised by the Marple Business Forum. The fun will start at 9.45am at the row of shops on Stockport Road by the Station Road junction. Father Christmas will be there on his sleigh, together with his helpers, who will be handing out sweets, while Hazel Grove Band play a selection of festive carols.

At 10am Father Christmas will set off on his sleigh in a procession led by the band. He will then take up residence in his grotto at the end of Market Street until mid afternoon. Every youngster who visits Santa in his grotto will receive a free gift.

There will be letterboxes for the children to post their letters to Father Christmas, The boxes will be outside Mick McPhee’s Newsagents on Stockport Road, Stationery Supplies, Stockport Road and KayDee Hair & Beauty at the top of Market Street. All letters will receive a personal reply from Father Christmas!

what else is happening in Marple on the day?

At 12noon there will be traditional Christmas carols in a short Advent service arranged by the Marple Churches Together, on Market Street, accompanied by Marple Band and Hawk Green Band and the Maia Choir - everyone can join in.

Watch out for the reindeer - eight feet tall and eight feet long and operated by two puppeteers! 

Don’t miss the eye-catching, giant stilt walking ‘Ice Maiden’ as she wafts through the streets of Marple.

The popular Billerettes are adding their own unique brand of fun. Watch them at Stockport Road at 12.30pm; Marple Baths at 1pm; The Hollins at 1.30pm; and Market Street at 2.15pm.

Carver Theatre will be performing songs from their January panto Mother Goose at 11am in Market Street and 11.30am, outside Marple Baths.

Rubber Duck Youth Theatre from Mellor will be performing extracts from their December show Robin Hood, Prince of Geese at 1pm on Market Street.

All these attractions … and don’t forget there will be free car parking for visitors on the day!

New members joined in October 2008:

All Saints Church - All Saints' Church seeks to help people encounter God, to grow in love and relationship with Him, and to be resourced for life and service in our community and beyond.

AM Photo-Graphics - Industrial, commercial photography and advertising, including brochures, leaflets, corporate design and exhibitions.

The Gents Hair Salon - Your local barber since 1985.

LJM (Insurance) Partnership LLP - Innovative insurance advisor who will get to understand your business and tailor an insurance arrangement that provides value for money and consistently satisfies our clients' requirements.

M. Rodgers Brickwork - All aspects of brickwork undertaken. All work carried out to a high standard with good attention to detail.

Mellor Tennis Club - We are a friendly local Tennis Club, and welcome players of all ages and abilities for social and match tennis. We play all year on floodlit, all-weather courts. Coaching available.

New members joined in August 2008:

Ardern Dies Ltd - Toolmakers to the packaging industry.

Crystal Angels - Quality Gift items at competitive prices. Many have been designed by skilled crafters from around the North West.

La Romantica - Enrico welcomes everyone to try his authentic Italian food.

J. W. Mulligan & Sons - Hardware, household and plastic suppliers. We pride ourselves on our friendly and helpful staff.

Sahara - Indian takeaway serving curries and kebabs. Free delivery service available within a 3 mile radius. All meals freshly cooked to order and served in special heat-retaining packaging.

New members joined in June 2008:

Jones Law Partnership Solicitors - An expanding firm which retains personal contact and the highest levels of professionalism. We have experienced solicitors handling Family and Divorce, Conveyancing, Commercial Leases, Personal Injury and Wills and Probate.

Scratch Nails & Beauty - Professional, friendly family-run Nail and Beauty salon offering a full range of quality treatments including facials, spray tanning, eye treatments, waxing, make-up, electrolysis, aromatherapy and reflexology.

New members joined in April 2008:

Suburban Ink - We are a modern professional studio, offering a wide range of tattoo styles including recolour, old school, tribal and black& grey. Specialists in custom work and cover-ups. Own designs and artwork welcome.

Check your blood pressure - and help Martha’s kidney research campaign

Visitors to Marple town centre will be able to get free blood pressure tests whilst they are out shopping this Saturday (March 15).

Trained medical staff will be on hand to administer the health checks at Boots the Chemist on Market Street from 10 am to 4 pm. The tests are free, but donations will be requested on behalf of the “Find a Cure for Martha” fund.

Marple Business Forum, which has organised the blood pressure day, is supporting the fund which aims to raise £1 million for kidney research. The local campaign is led by a plucky three-year-old girl, Martha Stringer, who has incurable kidney disease.

Martha, who lives in Marple, suffers from FSGS, a condition that leads to kidney failure. Inspired by her spirit, the Marple Business Forum, which represents the traders in Marple, is undertaking a number of initiatives to fund vital medical research into the condition.

Said Marple Business Forum chairman David Hoyle: “The blood pressure testing day for Marple shoppers is our first fund raising event for the Find a Cure for Martha appeal. Apparently high blood pressure is an early warning sign for kidney problems.

“World Kidney Day is taking place next week so we thought we would boost public support for the appeal and give Marple shoppers the chance to check their own blood pressure at the same time.”

In addition to seeking donations from all those who participate in the free blood tests, collectors will be touring the town centre armed with collection tins. Many local shops are also asking customers to make donations.

Marple Means Business

Click here for the January 2008 issue of the Marple Means Business newsletter.

Marple's gone Christmas crackers!

Marple residents enjoyed a cracker of a festive event at the weekend (Saturday December 1).

The Marple Business Forum organised the Christmas Cracker, which involved local shops and businesses and attracted many people with various entertainment.

It was supported by Marple Churches Together, Stockport Council, local organisations, schools, choirs, bands and drama groups.

There were four performing areas across the town centre, with events taking place all day.

Santa was on hand to listen to Christmas wish lists and ensure everyone had been behaving themselves, and there was food and drink aplenty.

(Reprinted with kind permission from Stockport Express December 5.)

Marple Means Business

Click here for the August 2007 issue of the Marple Means Business newsletter.

Marple Means Business

Click here for the January 2007 issue of the Marple Means Business newsletter.

Marple Means Business

Click here for the October 2006 issue of the Marple Means Business newsletter.

Marple Means Business

Click here for the August 2006 issue of the Marple Means Business newsletter.

Historic bridge restoration one step closer following donation from Marple Business Forum

Traders in Marple have donated £750 towards the restoration of the historic Iron Bridge in Brabyns Park.

Marple Business Forum decided to make the donation after hearing about the campaign to restore the 192 year old Iron Bridge to its former glory.

The campaign is being led by the Iron Bridge Restoration Project Group. The group has already won a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £30,100, and local fund raising efforts have so far raised a further £12,200 in match funding towards the restoration phase.

Said Marple Business Forum chairman Paul Whatmough: “The Iron Bridge is an important part of the town’s history. The aim of the Marple Business Forum is to help make improvements to the town to make it more attractive to visitors and residents alike, so we were delighted to give this contribution to the restoration group.”

The Iron Bridge, which was built in 1813 by Salford Iron Works, has just received Listed Building Consent from English Heritage.

For more information about the project visit www.marple-uk.com/ironbridge

Marple guidebook launched

Visit Marple, the town's first guidebook for many years, has just been published. The colourful booklet is designed to be both a guide to Marple's traders and an invaluable reference to all the amenities and attractions on offer in the town.

The free guide is being distributed to every single house in Marple, Marple Bridge, Mellor and Compstall. It will also be available further afield, to attract visitors to the town. Local council offices, tourist information centres and estate agents from a wide area will be distributing the guide.

Entitled Visit Marple - a guide to a vibrant, historic town, the guide contains an A-Z listing of Marple Business Forum members, together with a trader locator section to help readers find traders by their business type.

Other features include a short history of Marple and key facts about the town, information about links with its namesake town in the USA and details on the many amenities the town has to offer.

In addition it lists Marple's many clubs, groups and associations with contact details, provides useful contact numbers, and lists the town's healthcare facilities, schools and churches. A street map of the town is also included in the guide.

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