We all know how important community is, whether it’s sharing a BBQ with your neighbours or calling on each other for help.
But how many of us are so proud of our communities that we’d dedicate our lives – and all of our free time – to protecting it?
One man in Droylsden does exactly that, spending 365 nights a week patrolling the streets, keeping an eye out for disturbances and burglaries.
This is Andy (and his dog Shadow) from Crimewatchers, a project he set up in 2020 to help tackle crime across Droylsden and Audenshaw.
Andy and Shadow from Crimewatchers. Credit: The Manc Group
The work of Crimewatchers has evolved since then, and is now a valuable scheme supporting people from all walks of life.
Andy will never turn away a vulnerable person in need, or from his neighbourhood, from helping out with litter picking to arranging Easter egg hunts for local children.
They can arrange to have free locks fitted for vulnerable people, help elderly neighbours who have had a fall, and hand out selection boxes at Christmas.
From 11pm every night of the year, Andy and his beloved German Shepherd Shadow are out helping others, no questions asked.
Andy and Shadow from Crimewatchers. Credit: The Manc Group
Andy said: “Every single night. Bank holidays. We’ve just worked all Jubilee Weekend. We’ll work Christmas, we’ll work New Year, we’ll work it all.
“We help anybody who needs it. Sometimes we find people who need help when we’re out patrolling, other times people get in touch with us – and if we can help them, we will.
“We’ve not got enough people to patrol outside Droylsden and Audenshaw but that doesn’t mean we’d turn down a request for help from outside that area.
“The community have got us to where we’ve got to, their response has been amazing.
“As you can imagine at first, the police were quite concerned about who we were and what we were up to at night, but the community 100% had our backs. Everything we’ve done, the community have supported us.
“It’s going from strength to strength and that’s because of the residents.”
As much as Andy helps others, he receives plenty of love in return, which was never more apparent than when his old dog Sabre died.
He said: “Everybody loved Sabre. He was the boss, the leader of the group. Without Sabre, I wouldn’t have got Crimewatchers off the ground. People really took to him and his nature. We came as a duo. When he passed away, it was really sudden and instant.
Andy and Shadow from Crimewatchers. Credit: The Manc Group
“But the community really rallied around me, in an instant they set up a GoFundMe and raised over £2000 for me, so I could get a new companion.
“Shadow is a community dog. He lives with me but I see him as part of the community. Everybody loves him, just as they did with Sabre.
“Somebody attempted to stab me a few nights ago and when I posted that on Facebook it got a lot of engagement – but then a video of Shadow will get two million views. People love him.
“He’s not a working dog. He patrols with us but as a pet.
Andy and Shadow from Crimewatchers. Credit: The Manc Group
“When I get called to a job, especially if someone’s being aggressive or there’s a situation, I’d never get him out of the car. He’s not a deterrent, he’ll never bite anybody, he’s not an attack dog.
“Shadow will just sit there, not barking, just watching – he would never do anything, he’s a pet and a mascot and a friend. I’d never put him in danger.”
One of Andy’s fondest memories from his work with Crimewatchers is when he was called out to help an elderly man who had had a fall and couldn’t get up, but was unharmed.
He said: “His Mrs rang us and said it’s not an emergency but she really needed help and didn’t want to call for an ambulance.
Andy and Shadow from Crimewatchers. Credit: The Manc Group
“He was at his most vulnerable but they trusted us to come into their home and help, and that is massive for us.
“It was no effort really, we were already out and about, but for him, on the floor and not knowing when he’d be able to get up, it was huge.
“That kind of support – the fact that people can call someone when they can’t get hold of family in the middle of the night and they don’t want to call 999, they know they can ring us. That’s amazing.”
You can find out more about Andy and Crimewatchers with our latest instalment of Local Heroes.
You can also donate to them through their Facebook page.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Tameside
Ornella’s Kitchen, the tiny Italian where people wait MONTHS for reservations, teases new restaurant
Daisy Jackson
Ornella’s Kitchen, the tiny Italian restaurant where people will happily wait months to book table, has teased the arrival of a new restaurant.
The cosy spot has been doing a roaring trade in Denton, where just a handful of tables are squashed in around the deli counter.
Here you’ll find arguably the best pasta dishes in the region, from pistachio carbonara to short rib and parmesan gnocchi.
And Ornella’s Kitchen has become so popular it’s now nigh-on impossible to get a booking unless you like to plan really, really far ahead (or do what we did and eat lunch at 11.30am).
Today, the beloved Tameside restaurant has teased an expansion and a new location, with a post debuting ‘Ornella’s Little Kitchen’.
That’s pretty much all the info they’re willing to part with at this stage, promising more details next week.
Ornella’s Kitchen has teased a new restaurantThe size of the existing Ornella’s Kitchen
But fans are very quickly speculating on where the new Ornella’s Kitchen could be.
Many are calling for the restaurant to open up in popular foodie neighbourhoods like Stockport, or Prestwich.
And others (us included) don’t care where they go, as long as it gives us twice as many chances at booking a table.
Ornella’s Kitchenall started as a lockdown project for Ornella Cancila, where customers would come and collect carefully-made Sicilian dishes from a bench outside her home.
And now it’s grown to be one of those local spots that Tameside residents are proud of, and everyone else in Greater Manchester is jealous of.
Giuseppe’s – the tiny Italian bistro that proves Stalybridge is fast becoming a dining destination
Daisy Jackson
Giuseppe’s in Stalybridge is a restaurant that’s putting in an enormous amount of effort to please just a very small group of people – this teeny tiny bistro has just 18 seats.
With such a small capacity no one would blame them for sitting back and scaling back to a concise little menu of pizza – but Giuseppe’s really said ‘no grazie’ to such an idea and committed itself to a full bistro menu.
It’s yet another exciting addition to the rapidly-booming restaurant scene here in Tameside, where neighbours include Cafe Continental, Gladstone Barber & Bistro, and SK15 Bar & Bistro.
Giuseppe’s arrival on the Stalybridge high street has created a cosy corner for locals, one which could quickly follow in the footsteps of Ornella’s to become a fully-booked-for-months-in-advance destination.
Inside its welcoming navy blue walls you’re welcomed by a room filled with trailing plants, ceramic lemons and a huge doodle map of Sicily.
The menu also hails from Sicily, specialising in wood-fired pizzas but also dipping a toe into pasta and small plates too.
Pizza at Giuseppe’s Italian bistro in StalybridgeA spread of dishes at Pizza at Giuseppe’s Italian bistro in Stalybridge
Giuseppe’s pizza dough is meticulously made fresh with Italian 00 flour, left to ferment for at least 48 hours, before being stretched and topped and cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven until it’s all puffed-up and charred around the edges.
At lunch times, those delicious pizza doughs are folded in half to make Italian panozzi sandwiches, the charred dough encasing fillings like Sicilian fennel sausage and friarelli, and mortadella with stracciatella.
These are strong contenders for the best pizzas this side of Greater Manchester, with a soft and chewy crust that stands up against much bigger names in the pizza game.
Rum baba at Giuseppe’sThe team at Giuseppe’s in Stalybridge
Giuseppe’s pasta bowls include a hearty paccheri with Sicilian sausage AND guanciale, all salty and rich and creamy.
And once you’ve eaten your fill in this tiny little spot, where the windows go all steamed up in winter and you’re nudging up against neighbours chatting over pizzas, you can polish off with Italian desserts too.
There’s a very respectable slab of tiramisu on offer, plus a rum baba soaked in syrup and packed with fresh cream.
Giuseppe’s in Stalybridge may be small in capacity but it’s huge on spirit.
Daisy Jackson -
8th July 2022 
