Festival flower stall makes a stand for cleaner streets in Old Trafford

A magical stall is setting up shop at an Old Trafford street festival.

'Daisies, Dates and Dustbins', the brainchild of a local creative group, will offer handmade thank you gifts to community-minded locals at the Ayres Road Festival on Saturday 21 June 2025.

Once completed, the stall will take on the appearance of a traditional street food cart, but in place of bhajis and burgers will be blossoms and blooms.

Every Festival-goer who picks up a piece of litter and hands it over will receive a one-of-a-kind flower, which has been made entirely from scrap and surplus materials.

Whilst anyone who collects and bins 15 or more items will be given a special recipe book. Containing meal inspiration from chicken biryani to hotpot, it was created by the group, who have been meeting weekly at OT Creative Space on Ayres Road.

Long-handled litter picking tools will be provided on the day by Trafford Council.

The group, called Creative Conversations, are themselves no strangers to picking up rubbish. Their project began back in March with an enlightening litter pick. On a 50m round trip from the doorway of OT Creative Space, they collected five bags full of litter, the oldest with a use by date of 2022.

Upcycling artist Hathaikan Kongaunruan has been leading the sessions, along with Creative Conversations group leader Gulnaz Tahir. She said: "After cleaning up some of the collected items, including crisp bags and chocolate wrappers, we strung them on a hanging wire, from the oldest to the most recent use by dates.

"The group then used this 'rubbish timeline' to rekindle memories and to think about future wishes, which often involved preparing food and eating together with family. From this, we developed the community recipe book, which contains family stories as well as meal ideas.

"The group then decided that floral gifts would be a great way to encourage others to also pick up litter, and so our beautiful cart, Daisies, Dates and Dustbins, was born! We have now made over 240 flowers, each one unique, and all made from scrap or surplus materials including pipe cleaners, maps, magazines and fabric scraps. Absolutely nothing was bought new for this project."

Group member Iqra Tariq painted the front cover of the recipe book in watercolours. She said: "People consume so much more than they used to and make so much waste. I have lived here over seven years and there is more rubbish on the streets than ever. The bins are always overflowing.

"But I think people take their lead from what other people do. So, if they see someone dropping litter on the street, they think it is OK to do the same. I hope this project will show people that there is another way, and that most local residents really do care about how their neighbourhood looks."

To lifelong Old Trafford resident Helen Cassidy, the answer is simple. "It's easy, she said. "Put it in the bin!"

The weekly workshops have been part of the OT Creative Space's Reclaimed Narratives project, which is supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Lynda Sterling, founder, OT Creative Space, said: "Reclaimed Narratives explores identity, culture and lived experience through the objects we keep, discard and waste we create.

"Three artists led community workshops to co-create artworks that will be displayed at Ayres Road Festival. We hope they open up lots of positive conversations about community pride in Old Trafford."

You can find out more about free activities at OT Creative Space, 27 Ayres Road, Old Trafford M16 9WA by popping in 9am-4pm Monday-Thursday or phoning/Whatsapping 07823504223.