|PIC1|Last weekend a huge charity event took place all over the South of Manchester, with events taking place across Didsbury, Northern Moor and Burnage. The range of exciting events were a celebration of the youth of the city, who displayed their exceptional talent and charity support to the full.

The Message Trust’s Big Deal Weekend came back to the city on the weekend of 17th and 18th June. Hip-hop, Gospel music performances, barbeques, charity fasts and so much more were used to raise money for good causes and for the promotion of community spirit.

The Big Deal Weekend was co-ordinated by South Manchester churches and Christian charity, the Message Trust. The Message trust is motivated by its Christian values to realise its vision to Manchester, which includes the reduction of crime and the fear of crime, as well as promoting unity and community cohesion.

|PIC2|One of the activities at the weekend was mobile youth club, the Eden Bus, which parked in the Parrs Wood complex on the Saturday. Young people from St Margaret’s, Burnage also participated in a 24 hour charity famine.

Meanwhile Piper Hill High School, Northern Moore hosted a barbeque and an open air concert, along with dance workshops and a five a side tournament. Also the police station forecourt of Didsbury Village was filled with Gospel singers entertaining the people.

Shops in the village also gave away fair-trade chocolate bars and bunches of flowers to shoppers. The Big Deal Co-ordinator of The Message Trust, Alan Saunders, said: “It was fantastic how the whole South Manchester community came together – this is what we work towards and this weekend we were not disappointed. It was a brilliant 2 days and a lot of fun was had by everyone!”

|PIC3|On the Sunday Fog Lane park was the scene for a family fun day, with sports and games such as the rodeo bull, bungee run, gladiator game and bouncy inflatables, along with arts and crafts, donkey rides and musical entertainments and refreshments.

The main stage of the event hosted the Urban Academy competition to find hopeful performers such as rappers, MCs, dancers and all round entertainers.

The events of the weekend concluded on a high note with an excellent youth event, the SPACE Summer Roadshow. Usually held at the Manchester Apollo Theatre, the event provided a showcase for young talents like LZ7, thebandwithnoname, TBC and Blushuk.

Alan Saunders said: “It is so exciting to see how much young talent is out there. Over the weekend we’ve had young people DJ-ing, singing, dancing – it’s incredible and they really do strike a chord with other young people. This is the very positive side of youth and one that we need to pay more attention to and encourage.”

The Message Trust works throughout all of Greater Manchester. For more details about events taking place this summer visit www.bigdeal.org.uk.