Showroom launch for furniture retailer
FURNITURE shop Arighi Bianchi has launched a new showroom solely to showcase garden furniture.
Situated on the Silk Road the retailer has opened its new showroom on the ground floor of its five-storey Grade-II listed building.
Founded in 1854 by Italian immigrants Antonio Arighi and Antonio Bianchi the store has been a fixture in the town ever since.
Managing director Sarah Bianchi said: “Outdoor furniture and accessories have become a big part of our overall offer and, as such, we decided to create a dedicated Garden Room within our store to inspire shoppers looking to create something stylish.
“Our outdoor collection has been curated to offer something for everyone – no matter what size of garden they have or budget.
“The garden room has really breathed a new lease of life into the store and allowed us to translate our approach to interiors to the great outdoors. It’s already proving a big hit with shoppers.”
“Popular products include our Egg Chair and Athena nest chair, Fire Lanterns and the Barrington four piece seating set.”
SPORTS and skills sessions for people with disabilities are being run to improve physical and mental health.
People with disabilities can attend the sessions, which are run by Macclesfield FC Community Trust coaches, on Wednesday evenings from 6.30-7.30pm twice a month at Macclesfield Leisure Centre.
East Cheshire Eye Society and the Disability Information Bureau have teamed up to put on the sessions, which are funded through Active Cheshire, Sport England and the National Lottery.
Alan Chappell, charity manager at East Cheshire Eye Society, said the programme, which began in December last year, helps to ‘develop confidence and sports skills’.
He said: “It helps them engage in sport where otherwise they might have struggled to access it partly because there wasn’t anything available locally and partly there weren’t things that took disability into account.
“We’re making sure we can engage anyone who has a disability in the sessions. We don’t have to separate people off or say you have to be skilled.
“It’s also partly about getting people out and about in the local community. It means people can see and understand disability sport and it just opens up the conversation about that.”
The sessions are all game-based to encourage the participants to learn throwing skills, movement, balance, teamwork and spatial awareness.
Alan added that the sessions can also help those people with disabilities who felt isolated during lockdown to get back out there.
He said: “We have seven attending at the moment but we did time it really badly with the Omicron outbreak so it was just bad luck. The numbers are growing slowly at the moment. We are trying to encourage more people to get involved.
“It’s also important to the individuals to develop that confidence as
Covid has had a big impact with people. It’s a way to get people to start coming back out again and engaging in activities.”
Alan added that the fact the session is in Macclesfield will help with local people who have had to travel to Manchester or Buxton for similar sessions.
“It’s that opportunity that isn’t always there for people with a disability,” he said.
“It’s the location and the ability to get to something like this.
“If you have a disability then travel can be complex. It’s about making disability sports visible.
“We are also looking for new funding so if there’s a local organisation who would like to help we’d love to hear from them.”
To book onto a session or to find out more information email: reception@dibservices.org.uk or call 01625 501759.