Deliberate Recreation - Altrincham Town

Altrincham - From Dead To Deliberate Recreation

In 1984 I started working in a hairdressing salon called Cliche in a town named Altrincham. I hated it. The owner named Dean was from Paris and he was nuts. Not only did he walk with a limp, have a large bolt that was always visible through tight black Farah pants that had been there since a back car accident. He was rude. He could be a tyrant. The women loved him.I know!Anyway, the town then was inhabited by a large Jewish contingent that had settled there lost WWII. The prosperity was always obvious. Big houses, big everything and known as posh!Then came the later years. I'm not sure what happened but the town lost everything. At one stage around 80% of the shops were empty... eighty percent! You can imagine what it became like.Now then...

Deliberate Recreation in action

We have just come back from a coffee there and it's like a brand new town. Packed, prosperous and it also has an endless invasion of outsiders that travel miles to visit the old marketplace and surrounding area.Just around 3 years ago a couple of fifty something hippies saw a vision. Not like Mary in a field but a vision of Recreation that would be done deliberately.The old market was chained out, locked, blocked and consumed by rust and flies.ButIt was also huge and begging to be loved. The couple made a decision to deliberately recreate a spectacular location that people travel miles to visit.And there's more.The old conservative club just opposite has also been restored as has the whole street and streets leading off from the old now new AltyMarket!That is cool. Now the vacancy rate of the town is under 7% with businesses promised into those empty shops.

Deliberate recreation takes a moment in time.

It starts with a thought. The thought is a seed. The seed takes root. The root starts to grow.And then...Attention, nurturing and planning and even hard work then has to take place to make it happen.The power of deliberate recreation can be just huge. Now this ghost town has been filled with life once more and it all started with a singleMoment where two fifty something hippies took a decisive decision to deliberately recreate the impossible!Impressive.But life is like that.Zoomanity loves to control you.Zoomanity doesn't care about you.Zoomanity under delivers on every promise.Zoomanity doesn't want you to deliberately recreate anything.(more detail on Zoomanity)Yet

Has your life had its doors locked and been left to just rot until it ends. That's retirement right?

Not for me and it should be for you.You can recreate anything you want to recreate. It's a simple choice. This town made a choice and that choice started small.How about you?Peace.Alan Forrest SmithImage source: Altrincham Market