The ad-free version is ready for purchase on iOS mobile app today we couldn't find that page";var n=e.querySelector("h2");return n&&n.remove(),{staticContent:e,title:t}},d=function(e){var t=document.createElement("button");return t.innerText=e,t.classList.add("error-page-button"),t},f=function(e){var t=document.createElement("div");t.id="recirculation-404",t.classList.add("brand-hint-bg");var n="\n \n \n Tick here if you would like us to send you the author’s response A largely residential area east of Didsbury village and bordering on Stockport Burnage is dominated by key commuter route Kingsway Burnage is famously where Liam and Noel Gallagher grew up The area is also served by the Manchester Airport train line which stops at Burnage Station off Fog Lane and the Fallowfield Loop cycle track Sign our campaign for a grant funding review Sten Architecture designed the Burnage scheme While the Government Property Agency’s 900,000 sq ft city centre digital hub tops Manchester City Council’s February planning bill it is not the only project tipped for the green light this week A three-storey upward extension providing an additional 54 rooms is proposed at Moxy Hotel off Atkinson Street in Spinningfields KE Hotels submitted an application to Manchester City Council last year to make Moxy Manchester bigger citing strong demand and high occupancy rates since the hotel opened in 2021 would take the number of keys from 146 to 200 Manchester City Council’s planning team has recommended the project for consent Located on a constrained site on the edge of Spinningfields the only expansion option is to go upwards built behind the retained facade of the former Invicta House hat factory The scheme has been tweaked to address Manchester City Council’s concerns Revised plans for a residential scheme on a site off Mauldeth Road currently occupied by a B&M Bargains store were submitted last year following the withdrawal of a similar scheme St Helier-based Triple Jersey wants to build a a 115-home build-to-rent development in Burnage The revised plans propose three more homes than the first iteration of the scheme which was withdrawn before being determined by Manchester City Council Triple Jersey is proposing 41 two-bedroom apartments and 74 houses The original scheme was devoid of any affordable homes due to viability constraints The first iteration of the development was due to be considered by the authority’s planning committee in February and was recommended for refusal by officers due to the perceived “poor quality” of its design and a lack of affordable homes the project has been recommended for approval despite garnering 106 objections many citing concerns around the loss of the B&M store A planning report prepared by the city council states that since the withdrawal of the earlier application Triple Jersey “has engaged in discussions with the city council to overcome a number of design and layout concerns that had been raised with the previous proposals.” It adds: “Those discussions have been positive and have resulted in the proposals subject of this report which are considered to have overcome the previous published reasons for refusal relating to design provision of defensible private amenity space; relationships to nearby buildings and sites; and siting of particular house types and potential impacts from comings and goings adjacent to them.” Read our comments policy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Better than what’s there now..is the car was/petrol station going Don’t need the traffic congestion making g worse we could do with more local shops for residents B & M is the most popular & highly valued store in the area The surrounding schools/doctor’s surgeries,dentists etc are bursting to capacity right now anyway and can not facilitate such a large expansion of housing This housing plan right in that particular area will destroy Burnage The existing B and M store will be really missed by the community But the main concern will be the increase in traffic congestion at that junction but the people who make the final decision will not have to put up with it it’s a crap B&M staffing is always terrible and there are other bargain shops around People are always complaining that massive chain stores damage local independent shops so closing down B and M might provide a shot in the arm for the likes of Burnage Lane and Lane End Road This planning proposal for Burnage can jog on 8 of the proposed 115 homes are set to be ‘affordable’ how does this help the housing crisis in any way shape or form Instead you remove a a very popular and profitable shop that the local population depend on The race is on to implement the planning permission for the 15-floor Store Street scheme before it expires later this year Having withdrawn earlier plans for 115 homes on a seven-acre former ironworks of Crabtree Lane the housebuilder has lodged fresh proposals for 194 houses and apartments Register for free North West property intelligence Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Join more than 13,000 property professionals and sign up to receive your free daily round-up of built environment news direct to your inbox By subscribing, you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value" It's been nearly forty years since an Asian boy was stabbed to death by his white classmate in Burnage Whether the killing was racially motivated remains strangely contentious to this day The first two weeks of class at Burnage High School in the autumn of 1986 were violent Boys bullied each other in the local park by school and name-called Asian students all the time a tall white boy of thirteen known for bullying other students of all races approached a group of four Asian boys playing football in the playground on a Monday morning before school Coulburn took their ball and threw it on the roof telling one of the boys he’d beat him up after class When that student was walking home from the lower school later that day Coulburn lay in wait by the gap between the railings of Ladybarn Park punching him in the face and knocking him to the ground charismatic Bangladeshi teen described by his sister as a “people magnet,” Ullah was considered a leader amongst the Asian students intervening in the fight and humiliating Coulburn in the process the way he had with the student he’d taunted there was chatter around the lower school about a fight in the park after class with classmates surrounding them to watch the showdown Ullah initially took a hit and started to bleed causing him to retreat; Ullah went home victorious saw blood on her son’s shirt and grew concerned Ahmed insisted that it was all right to return to school and he wanted to show them off to his friends She was planning to visit the school later that day to talk to Ahmed’s teachers so she would be there should anything happen “If only I’d insisted he didn’t go to school that day,” Fatima later told Sunday Today in a 1987 interview “But I didn’t think it was really a threat I thought it was just a children’s fight.” boasting that Ullah would meet the blade if he tried to start a fight a crowd of boys gathered by the classrooms surrounding Ullah and Coulburn Ullah pushed Coulburn to the jeering of his peers “I’ve just killed a P***,” Coulburn yelled in triumph as he ran off across the campus lawn Tucked away on the lower ground floor of Manchester’s Central Library is a small exhibition in a glass display case documenting the life and death of Ahmed Iqbal Ullah There’s a black-and-white photo of baby Ahmed with a bowl haircut wearing a playsuit and a curious expression There’s a page of the novel he started writing the summer before he died There are photos of protesters who took to the streets in 1987 after Ullah was stabbed to death by a white classmate on their school’s playground holding signs reading “Death to racism” and “Ahmed’s blood will not be in vain.” a man stumbled across the exhibition and started shouting a senior member of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust to make out exactly what the man was saying but here was the gist: This here says it was a racist murder at which point Sharma pressed the panic button beneath her desk he didn’t have to be removed; he wandered away on his own “I didn’t feel physically threatened,” Sharma remembers now “It was more… it was more….” She struggles for the words she acknowledges that the library is a place that’s used by “so many different people,” some of whom “are having challenging lives and are in various emotional states.” This man could have just been using the archives as an excuse to lash out But the incident nonetheless felt reflective of a very real and widespread denial “of all the kinds of systemic and institutional racism” that existed at the time of Ullah’s death — a denial “that to this day still exists.” “The murder itself was obviously a horrific event for the family and for local communities,” Sharma says a denial of the fact that it was a racially motivated attack.” When the trust took on a project in 2016 to bring Ullah’s story to a wider audience on the 30th anniversary of his death Sharma (who didn’t work for the trust at the time) remembers seeing Facebook comments about the events denying that it was racist “This idea that it was just playground bullying gone wrong really holds.” The 1980s were characterised by changing attitudes towards racism in Manchester schools These issues played out significantly in Burnage English schools had started employing a variety of educational tactics to address racism in the classroom all while a national campaign mobilised to reject them That opposition had its roots in New Conservatism galvanised by Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979 The trope of the “loony left” began to take hold in the tabloids and within the Conservative Party itself identifying and vilifying “social radicals”: feminists It was a term meant to criticise and belittle increasingly popular though still divisive social movements supporting minority rights and education “Children who need to be able to count and multiply are learning anti-racist mathematics — whatever that may be,” she said in a 1987 party conference speech Manchester was no exception to this growing division mounting tension eventually led to a major riot New Conservatism brought pay rises for the police and less tolerance for dissent in a difficult economic environment for working-class Black Britons which in turn led Manchester City Council to acknowledge a need for policies to combat discrimination against students of colour in schools Manchester’s earliest multiculturalism policies were informed by the Rampton and Swann reports which revealed the unequal education outcomes of immigrant students policies on racism and anti-racist education slowly took hold in city councils and schools first appearing as declarations that equal access to education was a priority eventually evolving into vague recommendations that schools should enact race-conscious policies it was recommended that schools hire more immigrant teachers The 1985 Swann report found that “a substantial part of ethnic minority underachievement is … the result of racial prejudice on the part of society at large.” This laid the groundwork for the first iteration of multicultural policies at Burnage High School multiculturalism’s beginnings saw black students treated as though they had “special needs.” At Burnage Asian students were relegated to band H — the lowest band for slow learners — on account of their perceived lack of English proficiency watched Ullah bleed out in front of him on the playground Ahmed joined a group of boys surrounding Ullah as he groaned and bled facing away from him and forming a circle to prevent other students from rubbernecking when they checked Ullah’s injuries and radioed an ambulance But when precious minutes continued to tick by and the ambulance still didn’t show up — due to what was later discovered as a series of miscommunications causing a more distant ambulance to come to Ullah’s aid — the police lifted the bleeding boy into a car to go to the hospital Deputy Head Peter Moors accompanied him there The school released an internal statement telling teachers who thought the school day should have been cancelled to “say nothing” and to “behave as normally as possible” Kamal Ahmed couldn’t unsee what he had just witnessed — a scene that would haunt him every time he passed the spot where Ullah lay dying in the playground he looks into the distance while recalling the details to me on the ground floor of the Greater Manchester Bangladeshi Association in Longsight as if he is reliving the scene all over again the Ullah family received a phone call from the school: there had been an incident It's unclear how much detail they were given but the family wasn’t informed how serious Ullah’s injury was so they called a taxi to take Fatima and Ullah’s father to the hospital she asked the receptionist about her brother's status but got no response Selina and her sister were shown to a side room where their parents were crying It was then that her parents told them what happened “We weren’t thinking about how it happened He was the biggest boy in the form and had a reputation for aggression He was responsible for setting the art block on fire (as part of a group that frequently bullied Asian boys younger than himself There needed to be clearer-cut discipline policies and transparent communication between the governors But the school never brought his actions to the governors’ attention schools across the UK were navigating school policy amidst a growing immigrant population and evolving approaches to racism an all boys’ school — today known as Burnage Academy — retained a grammar school ethos attracting many students for its academic prestige Selina remembers her mother fighting to get Ahmed into the school because of its academic reputation even going through a school appeal to secure his spot who ended corporal punishment and implemented multicultural education policy initiatives these included teaching “community languages,” such as Urdu The school also took advantage of funding targeted at hiring staff to support and reflect students from immigrant backgrounds were of “New Commonwealth and Pakistani origin,” but of the 100 or so teachers The faculty saw new hires supporting multicultural education as “spies for the headteacher,” according to a Burnage resident who remembers the culture of the school at the time Some considered the new faculty “diversity hires,” unqualified to teach The police released a statement to the press on the day of the murder one that came to a controversial conclusion: Ahmed’s murder was a non-racist incident The Manchester Evening News and other local news sources published the statement which read that “There was no evidence of any racial overtones to the killing.” Many of Ahmed’s classmates where buses were arranged to take them to the funeral Boys milled about at lunchtime after being told to assemble in the hall Then a faculty member made a surprise announcement: only Asian students would go to the funeral It was unclear where this decision came from; one source alleges the directive came from the police while another says that the school administration made the call after hearing there would be violence from the Asian community This decision deepened rifts in the community angering white and Afro-Caribbean boys who were not allowed to mourn their friend There were activist groups distributing anti-racist literature at the service but little else indicated there had been any plans for violence whether they were directly attributed to Ahmed’s death or not One student stabbed another with a butter knife at school One teacher called students “spineless turds” and threw his keys across the room A group of Afro-Caribbean boys attacked some Asian students on the bus back home; the bus driver was attacked in the midst of it A group of Asian students went to the faculty to warn them that white boys were forming gangs; they were told that they could be adding to the problem by organising into groups themselves there were rumours that a hit list targeting 12 or so white students who had been violent or aggressive toward Asian students was circulating the school The white boys on the list were locked in a classroom by their teachers for “protection,” according to staff at the time A group of Asian students surrounded the doors outside the building many white students didn’t return to school for several days after that — and some didn’t return for the rest of term Macdonald blamed the school’s lack of explicit action following Ahmed’s murder for the incident writing that “there was a certain inevitability about the confrontation that took place in March.” who had been found guilty of murder when he was fourteen years old Manchester City Council enlisted senior barrister Ian Macdonald and three others to undertake an inquiry Their report was scheduled for release at a press conference on March 30 the council decided the findings were too incendiary for publication the Manchester Evening News obtained the report it published every word of the concluding chapter as an eight-page exclusive: “BURNAGE: THE WHOLE STORY.” The Macdonald report found that Coulburn was violent unstable and antisocial and should have been taken out of school after his earlier incidents of arson and violence It concluded that Coulburn did not murder Ullah explicitly because he was Asian — but if he had been white It found no evidence that any specific actions taken at Burnage created the circumstances that led to his murder The subsequent violence and tension in March 1987 were deemed a direct result of the school mishandling the tragedy Macdonald rejected the claim that anti-racist policies were to blame for Ullah’s death; in fact “An effective anti-racist policy should have eliminated that climate and the issue of violence in general and racial violence in particular,” MacDonald wrote the story became that Burnage’s extreme anti-racism policies had led to Ahmed’s death “Anti-racist policy led to killing,” read one headline in The Daily Telegraph The Independent’s education editor claimed that Ullah’s murder showed “anti-racist” education was a “disaster.” attempting to clarify its findings in the face of media misrepresentation released a statement they called “Putting the Record Straight.” They concluded that “an effective anti-racist policy should have eliminated that climate,” but the statement was never widely published by national media The growing narrative criticising anti-racism education only added to a belief that immigrant students were reducing the quality of “English” education Headlines in two May 1987 issues of The Sun read: “James got curry for lunch and talked Indian,” and “Boy who can only count in Punjabi.” the senior member of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust says that she’s spoken with “teachers who are who are quite confident in teaching global histories and creating a really representative and anti-racist curriculum,” but for others there’s “a huge lack of confidence” when it comes to these topics “There's a really strong sense that we need to teach a diverse curriculum that everybody regardless of their ethnicity and their family heritage needs to understand multicultural Britain — why we are the way we are,” she says “What teachers feel uncomfortable about is how to do that especially at a time when young people are getting really affected by Behind a creaking metal gate is a park dotted with benches and mini forests of trees The “Friends of Ladybarn Park” board is empty and headphone-wearing runners sprint along the perimeter trail I found myself wondering where Ullah’s and Coulburn’s first encounter happened Was it where the entrance gate creaks open Was it at the bend where the path veers left What history does a place hold when everything has been buried away Selina and her sister took charge of the family They kept their parents “watered and fed.” But grief takes a toll Ahmed’s and Selina’s father was hospitalised around the anniversary of his son’s death He was in hospital for nine of the 10 anniversaries he lived to see I ask Selina if she blames anyone for her brother’s death I told her at the start of the interview that she could choose not to answer any questions she wasn’t comfortable with “It's a place we’ve really tried not to go to She didn’t think she would ever come to accept that her brother was dead but it never had the national impact of other acts of racial violence such as the murders of Stephen Lawrence or Shukri Abdi Aside from the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archives tucked into the Manchester Central Library and the findings of the Macdonald Inquiry which was published in book form in 1989 as Murder in the Playground there is little mention of him in historical narratives despite the Ullah family’s persistent efforts to memorialise him in the education trust and archives while also opening a school in Bangladesh in his name Ahmed’s murder was never considered a national “flashpoint” in race relations Aside from a brief social media presence on the 30th anniversary of his death there's no mention of him on the Burnage Academy website (The school did not respond to our requests for comment.) There’s no significant memorial for him at the Bangladeshi Association in Longsight and there is no plaque in his memory in the park where the first fight broke out When I asked the librarians about Ahmed Ullah it took them a moment to register what I was talking about that boy that was stabbed?” “That was a while ago Ahmed’s tragedy held water for a national political narrative but not so much for the story of an Asian boy who was known to stand up to violence and taunting “People might not know his name,” says Selina Additional reporting by Shannon Keating. You can find more information about the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre and Education Trust here Share this story to help us grow- click here It's been nearly forty years since an Asian boy was stabbed to death by his white classmate in Burnage A £1.95m valuation has been placed on a former business centre in Burnage The former Kingsway Business Centre will be included in the online property auction held by Pugh The vacant former business centre’s one-acre site includes a pair of 18,000 sq ft two-storey buildings as well as warehouse space offices and four car parks accessible from Kingsway said: “There’s certainly a great deal of redevelopment potential for this prime site “It’s situated right next to Mauldeth Road train station and it’s also located right on Kingsway a main arterial route in and out of Manchester city centre as well as being well placed for the airport and motorway network.” He added: “The area is largely residential And he highlighted the potential of the area saying: “Developer Triple Jersey’s revised plans for a residential scheme on the site of the nearby former B&M store on Mauldeth Road have just been given the green light by Manchester City Council despite some proposed projects initially being knocked back by the local authority for both the B&M site and the Kingsway Business Centre site the planning committee does look favourably on schemes that fulfil its criteria Kingsway Business Centre is being sold in partnership with property agent Aubrey Lee & Co The scheme has been tweaked to address Manchester City Council's concerns Revised plans for a residential scheme on a site off Mauldeth Road currently occupied by a B&M Bargains store have been submitted following the withdrawal of a similar scheme earlier this year St Helier-based Triple Jersey has lodged plans for a 115-home build-to-rent development in Burnage The first iteration of the development was due to be considered by the authority’s planning committee in February and was recommended for refusal by officers due to the perceived “poor quality” of its design and a lack of affordable homes Leader of Manchester City Council and ward councillor for Burnage was among those to voice objections over the project search for reference number 141306/FO/2024 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal DPP is advising on planning and Sten Architecture is leading on design Hope this bonkers scheme is refused on basis of economic argument alone Demolish a discount chain store with loss of jobs in what is a some what deprived local community with a scheme that has little to no affordable housing and no homes to buy They are all private Build to Rent in a suburban area (which is a recipe for disaster) At least partner up with a local RSL to deliver them if there really was a need for local housing here an RSL would be all over it Next to a regular bus route and railway station It would be good to have some commercial units mixed in somehow but I’m the whole will be a much better use of the site Absolutely useless building plans again leave B&M what it is stop trying to build unaffordable housing in a rough area that will not bring any benefits to Burnage at all asides more cars,pollution congestion and more housing for non residents it’s not going to make it any better and we need the store not the housing think of the jobs alone that will be lost noting alot of the staff LIVE in burnage and then the elderly who don’t all have cars or family to take them to the Denton store why can’t housing be applied for a bit further up where there is a unused car park and also an unused building right next to the petrol station there are plenty of bargain shops around Burnage it’s an ugly huge car park with litter everywhere it’s not a thriving store barely any staff always big queues Stop building houses without thinking about the traffic that comes with it. What a ridiculous proposal getting rid of b&q was bad enough so let’s get rid of b&m and leave expensive tesco standing Some strange comments here the area is not that rough! B&M is a great store and that’s what local people need for employment & bargains on their door step Can’t believe this is even being considered it’s always busy when I go in and it’s my go to for toiletries/presents/diy Doesn’t make sense why anyone would be wanting to get rid There’s plenty of places I’m sure they can build on rather than knocking down a well used and needed building Trying to get past there on a Friday because of the mosque is bad enough never mind hundreds of new homes Summary of the comments on here: “other people can’t have new homes because it might take me an extra 2 minutes to drive in my car” My main concern is knock on impact on schools dentists and also pollution in a ever congested area Mauldeth road school is next door and there already parking issues around the vicinity I can not see any positives from this BTR development with minimal “affordable housing” can the developers publish what they plan to rent these for I guess the story in Burnage is that bits suburban Manchester with rail links can’t thicken up to provide more housing instead we have to preserve discount stores with car parks The knock on is that elsewhere we have build at even higher density Only shame is that some of the houses turn their back on Kingsway Currently one of the grimmest stretches of road in Manchester If there were proper flats fronting onto it the flats should be car-free or low car as it’s on a bus route and next to a train Burnage is a very nice place to live with a lot of green spaces and very good primary and secondary schools It has good public transport links to both the city centre and the airport and beyond.It was affordable but now young local people are being priced out of their own area Can’t understand the negative “it’s a rough area” comments The site has not been used as a cricket ground since 2011 The developer has submitted plans to Manchester City Council that could see the former Burnage Cricket Club redeveloped into 53 houses and two small blocks of apartments The housing mix consists of seven three- and 46 four-bed houses The two apartment blocks would contain 13 single-bedroom flats Each home would have a private rear garden and a street-facing single-car driveway Views’ scheme would sit off the corner of Mauldeth Road Architect Oliver Smurthwaite Architects has taken design inspiration from the century-old Burnage Garden Village concept A consultation was run on the scheme in May which Views said received positive local feedback said: “Our plans will breathe new life into the former Burnage Cricket Club ground and provide much-needed new family homes to the area “We are especially pleased to be able to facilitate the provision of a replacement cricket pitch nearby.” The site hasn’t been used for the sport since 2011 but the conditions of the application will ensure the developer provides a replacement cricket ground The planning application submitted by consultant Asteer Planning has yet to be validated by Manchester City Council I think the developer is trying to maximize their return and profit Which buyer is the developer targeting to buy those 46 Most houses need to be 3 or 4 bed minimum nowadays Similar to what Views have proposed elsewhere Seem to get nice schemes approved but no progress on the developments approved in Levenshulme 18 SEP 2024BookmarkYoung people leave Burnage Academy ambitious for themselves and their community (Image: Burnage Academy for Boys)Burnage Academy for Boys in Manchester has been named UK Secondary School of the Year at the prestigious 2024 Tes Schools Awards in London The Tes Schools Awards celebrate the very best teachers and schools across the UK recognising outstanding achievement in education Awards judge Dame Christine Gilbert said: “Burnage Academy is an inspiring and inclusive school where families are supported well and students thrive love learning and achieve exceptionally well “Staff are passionate about their work and determined to ensure the boys are the best they can be “Young people leave Burnage Academy ambitious for themselves and their community with the confidence and skills that enable them to make a real difference in life.” You can see for yourself what makes Burnage Academy for Boys stand out at their Open Evening on Wednesday Burnage Academy for Boys has been educating boys in Manchester for almost a century pupils at the school have achieved exam grades that are among the very best in the country and the school has been rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted in both 2018 and 2024 you’d be sure to reach your potential as a Burnage boy independence and care underpin the ethos of the school as 'an inclusive school community where students staff and families all work together to ensure that boys will be the best they can be' This includes the curriculum designed specifically for the needs of boys the extra-curricular offer which broadens horizons and the caring nature of their award-winning staff team Ensuring that school is enriching is a priority and Burnage continues to seek new opportunities for boys The school is the first in Manchester to join the prestigious MiSST programme ensuring all Year 7 pupils are given a free musical instrument and expert tuition Pupils can also visit the school’s rural site in Buxworth or tend the on-site allotment all GCSE French pupils have the chance to spend time with their partner school in France and hosts exceptional sports coaching from Lancashire Cricket and the Burnage Community Wrestling Club The 2024 Educate North Awards acknowledged the fantastic support given to all naming Burnage as the winner of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Award The bespoke personal development curriculum allows pupils to develop their own wellbeing toolkit and a strong and experienced pastoral team ensures that both pupils and families have access to support in their wellbeing All pupils receive a free blazer and tie and the beginning of their journey feeling part of the community from day one The Burnage Academy for Boys Open Evening is on Wednesday, September 25, from 4pm to 7pm. For further information, see burnage.manchester.sch.uk Triple Jersey’s Build to Rent scheme in Burnage secures planning permission following revisions to its plans. © 2025 BTR News. All Rights Reserved. Credit: Greater Manchester PoliceA man has been arrested after wielding a knife in south Manchester The incident happened on Kingsway in Didsbury at around 1am on Friday 13 September Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have taped off multiple roads this morning following the incident which left a man in hospital Armed officers responded and a 26-year-old man was taken to hospital for treatment nearby Lane End Road and Burnage lane as investigations continue Police said the same 26-year-old man was later arrested on suspicion of affray In a statement, GMP said: "Just before 1am this morning (13 September 2024) we were called to reports of a man with a knife on Kingsway in Didsbury "Armed police deployed to the area and a 26-year-old man was taken to hospital for treatment but thankfully his injuries aren’t considered to be life-changing or life-threatening." GMP added: "A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of affray An investigation has been launched and officers are continuing to follow several lines of enquiry to understand the circumstances of what happened this morning."Several roads have been closed along Kingsway whilst officers remain at the two scenes on Lane End Road We apologise for the disruption this may cause this morning and thank the public for their understanding."Anyone with information or who witnessed this incident or has dashcam/CCTV footage from the moments prior or in the aftermath are being urged to to contact police: call 101 quoting incident 96 of 13/09/2024 contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 Ollier Smurthwaite Architects designed the proposals for Views Developer Views has visions of transforming the former Burnage Cricket Club site on the corner of Kingsway and Mauldeth Road in Manchester into a neighbourhood Initial designs by Ollier Smuthwaite Architects call for constructing 11 three-bed houses and 47 four-bed ones while also redeveloping existing buildings on the site into approximately 10 apartments Each of the houses would have its own private back garden and front driveway for the parking of one car The proposals also include EV charging infrastructure and secure cycle parking for the properties Asteer Planning is drawing up the application for the scheme for Views Views senior development manager Patrick Sheridan said: “Our plans will breathe new life into the former Burnage Cricket Club ground and provide much-needed new family homes to the area “We are working closely with Manchester City Council and would now like to put our proposals to the local community for their feedback Views is also looking for alternative cricket locations to replace the playing field that would be lost due to its development plans – even though the Burnage Cricket Club has been closed since around 2011 You can access the consultation starting 9am 31 May on at views.co.uk/projects/former-burnage-cricket-club It was a well-maintained cricket club until 10 years ago when some dodgy dealings happened and the council became completely absent It’s local knowledge the land was bequeathed to the city and community for amenity use only I’d suggest the local community have the right to ask for that back The new estate will be a great asset to our local community My only worry is of the council and tenants ability to maintain the the cleanliness and harmony of this asset by stricter vetting of new tenants I honestly am worried and concerned for the area Coming from the city center when new developments began took over the whole area There is limited green space now with buildings to close to each other I do hope this doesn’t happen in burnage I honestly after speaking to residents of hulme deansgate etc nobody really had an impact on new developments or even listened to Why not 47 – 3 Bed Houses and 11 – 4 bed houses Our area has been changed out of all recognition Avenues of semi detached houses are now rows of terraced houses All joined together or the smallest gap between each house Don’t think there is any intention for this to be social housing Also don’t think the Welsh Estate deserves the rep It’s not good idea somebody building houses on green area The borough claims it has a “disproportionately high number of HMOs” and is to pursuing the introduction of measures to wrestle back control Triple Jersey’s revised Build to Rent scheme in Burnage is now set for approval with design updates and affordable housing “The world is excited to see this” he says Tony McCarroll, the original drummer with Oasis has broken cover and penned a message to the band on Instagram he isn’t begging for his old job back It’s a bit more considered and thoughtful than that Complete with a pic of himself back in his younger days McCarroll wrote: “Almost a lifetime ago a few Burnage lads got together and created something special the start of a wave that’s evidently still rolling with the last real band before the world changed.” A post shared by Tony McCarroll (@tonymccarroll1) “Oasis captured the time and minds of the people; we were the same as them I've noticed something new in the gig and QnA crowds... A new generation ready to start a journey of listening.” A new generation ready to start a journey of listening,” he said I’m a bit jealous of that blank canvas they’re about to start on.” I can’t wait to see how it all goes down,” he expressed (I better stop there as I’m not sure who else) Good luck with everything and don’t forget to stop and take it in If the drummer fancies a stage partner for Supersonic at Heaton Park reputedly on the day the last Oasis recording he featured on In 1999 he sued the band for unpaid royalties Originally McCarroll claimed £18 million a fifth of what the band had earned up to that point but in the end he reached an out of court settlement for a mere £550,000 Since then the drummer has set up a studio in Denton helping young bands take their first steps in recording as well as publishing a memoir of his Oasis days called Oasis: The Truth in 2010 There’s no news yet on who will behind the kit come July and the Oasis reunion shows The likelihood of it being McCarroll is virtually nil Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. “Miles runs into the studio with his horn and shouts ‘hit the record button,’ and we were recording. We wrapped that album up by midday”: Billy Cobham on Miles Davis’s agile approach to recording Zak Starkey is back in The Who. “I take responsibility for some of the confusion… Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologised”, says Pete Townshend "This is a guitar that proves affordability can still bring looks that stun": Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Sparkle Jet FT review Win HappyPremiumSearch Rayohits radiomanchesternewsMan arrested following knife attack in BurnageA 26-year-old man is in hospital A man has been arrested following a knife attack near Burnage train station Armed police were called to Kingsway at around 01:00BST on Friday (13 September) A 26-year-old man was taken to hospital with injuries not thought to be life-changing or life-threatening Another 26 year old man was arrested on suspicion of affray Greater Manchester Police said: "Several roads have been closed along Kingsway whilst officers remain at the two scenes on Lane End Road "We apologise for the disruption this may cause this morning and thank the public for their understanding." First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app. Company number 01176085; Bauer Radio Limited Company number: 1394141Registered office: Media House Peterborough PE2 6EA and H Bauer Publishing Company number: LP003328; Registered office: The Lantern London NW1 2PL All registered in England and Wales VAT no 918 5617 01H Bauer Publishing are authorised and regulated for credit broking by the FCA (Ref No: 845898) As fans up and down the UK – and around the world – get excited for the band’s 2025 reunion where new street art immortalises the Gallagher brothers and residents are “emotional” about the big comeback as Motown classics like Mary Wells’ ‘My Guy’ play through the speakers Howard – aka Mister Sifter – explains that Noel and Liam’s rapprochement after 15 years of fraternal feuding blindsided him ‘Do you think they’ll get back together?’ but I’ve always said it’ll be further down the line because they’re both successful solo I thought they’d wait until that success stopped,” he says Although other Oasis totems have fallen by the wayside (all that remains of the Boardwalk, the Manchester city centre site of their first gig, for example, is a blue plaque), Sifters has stood proudly here since 1983. Serving a customer a faded copy of Wham!’s ‘Fantastic!’ vinyl 76-year-old Howard says: “It’s been embarrassing because I haven’t got a lot of Oasis stuff there’s not a lot of people coming down trading in a job-lot of Oasis albums in Burnage!” Despite there being an Oasis mural around the corner of the shop there is only a smattering of posters of the hometown heroes that hint at its storied past it remains largely unchanged since Noel and Liam used to buy the records here that would act as the building blocks of their future sound Oasis’ Noel and Liam Gallagher CREDIT: Simon Emmett fans have made reverential pilgrimages here from the Netherlands Since ‘Shakermaker’ was released in 1994 (“When the namecheck happened but unfortunately it was a bit of an average song,” he reflects) Howard has become accustomed to signing autographs as “Mr Sifter” and fielding questions about the group “They never argued in here ‘cause they never came in as a duo,” he responds “They did all their fighting in hotel rooms – usually just before the release of an album!” he chuckles “They might have lost their front teeth in the process He wouldn’t take any banter about the band But I can’t believe I’m still answering questions about them 30 years on ‘What records were they buying?’ I used to make the answers up!” 29-year-old Oasis enthusiast and Manchester-based sports writer Razz Ashraf remembers how he had set his alarm for 7:30am for the momentous August 27 announcement that signalled an end to the brothers’ Cain-and-Abel-with-parkas bickering so that he could pay a commemorative visit to the shuttered Sifters before work “All I wanted to do was come down here and touch the sign and be where it all started,” he explains I’ve been fantasising about this moment for so many years.” His father would play Oasis around the house they started meaning more to me.” Having been to both brothers’ solo gigs separately and although he didn’t manage to acquire tickets giving up on the Ticketmaster scrum earlier in the day he’s hoping to use his contacts within the city to somehow get in 21-year-old Mancunian Asha is taking a selfie in front of the painting of a classic sunglasses-clad shot of Noel and Liam to celebrate having nabbed tickets to see one of the five Heaton Park homecoming dates after eight hours of trying Although Manchester is a city that tends to eschew easy ‘Mad Fer It’ media narratives about what it is, there’s no question that Oasis is coded within the city’s DNA. In the wake of the Manchester bombing in 2017, it was ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ that became a symbol of the city’s defiance unity and resilience when a crowd of Mancunians spontaneously erupted into song after a minute’s silence for the attack victims; its lyrics somehow filling the deficit when politicians’ words fell short As one insider who witnessed Oasis’ first gig at The Boardwalk tells NME of the city’s presence in their genetic code: “It was obvious they were going to be massive They had everything and stood out – the swagger And the thing Manchester enjoyed was turning around and sticking two fingers up at London because their scene felt manufactured and they never quite ‘got it’ There’s no way you could replicate Oasis in London.” On King Street in Manchester city centre lies Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green and Microdot the gallery/store owned by famed Oasis graphic designer Brian Cannon explains that there’s been an influx of customers and an uptick of sales on their website since the reunion I was listening to grunge and hip-hop and all of a sudden ‘Definitely Maybe’ came out when I was 12 years old That was my band then – and a hell of a lot of other people had that same epiphany “There’s no underestimating how important they are to Manchester. I just wish a few more of us had been successful in getting tickets,” he adds, referencing the widely-criticised Ticketmaster farrago, which left many fans feeling exploited by site errors and a controversial demand-based ‘dynamic pricing’ system “I tried for eight and a half hours before being kicked off and accused of being a bot.” “So did we!” pipes up a 14-year-old excitedly taking a selfie next to the fireplace from the ‘Definitely Maybe’ album cover, on loan to the shop by Oasis guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs “As happy as we are that the reunion’s happening I hope they put some extra dates on ‘cause there’s some disappointed people in the city,” adds Aherne the Coach & Horses pub – located a mere 20-minute walk from Heaton Park where Oasis’ blockbuster gigs will take place – became a viral focal point for fans when a new eye-catching mural of Liam and Noel appeared on its wall Landlady Sue Hawley commissioned artist Snow Graffiti at 8am as soon as the news appeared; it took nine hours to finish and now stands proudly next to images of footballers including Colin Bell We’ve had a constant stream of people popping by for selfies,” she says “One guy took a long green coat out of the boot of his car Snow Graffiti’s Oasis mural at Manchester’s Coach & Horses pub CREDIT: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images “A lot of the excitement is about nostalgia,” she surmises “Oasis were just one of those phenomenal bands who gave us Mancunians some pride.” Behind the bar, 22-year-old Alex has been an Oasis fan since aged 11; his first record purchase was a Beady Eye vinyl As ‘Definitely Maybe’ booms through the boozer If you’re abroad and say you’re from Manchester people will immediately mention [football teams Manchester] City or Oasis.” He woke up early on Saturday morning to procure tickets – to no avail following a five-hour wait bringing attention to Burnage and Greater Manchester more widely.” “Greater Manchester is in a different moment now with a thriving economy and Oasis returning and playing these shows in their home city will only boost this Manchester often has a tendency to talk about past glories But I think this is a fantastic opportunity for a new generation of Greater Mancunians to celebrate some of its most famous sons.” “It very much feels like the city is having another big moment who will get to see her sons perform live again There has been a palpable buzz in the city since the news broke.” The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952 About  Advertise  Contact In the busy corridors of Burnage Academy for Boys there’s one figure who stands out not just for his impressive physical presence but for his dedication to helping wayward students the school’s Pastoral Support Mentor and an Olympic wrestler has become an irreplaceable part of the school’s fabric Recently honoured with the Pearson Silver Award for being an Unsung Hero Mo’s impact extends far beyond the classroom as he uses his unique background to connect with students and inspire them to achieve their best Mo Osman’s journey to becoming a top figure at Burnage Academy is as compelling as it is inspiring and the importance of setting goals,” he says These lessons became the cornerstone of his philosophy one that he now imparts to the young minds at Burnage Academy the school was facing a significant challenge: connecting with students who were disengaged and struggling academically “If any student is struggling or makes a mistake myself and the team are not there to sanction them; we’re there to educate them always giving them a chance,” said Mo Recognising the potential of sports as a powerful engagement tool Mo proposed the idea of starting a wrestling club eager to explore new avenues for student engagement the Burnage Community Wrestling Club was born What started as a small group of curious students has now flourished into a thriving community with participants from all grades eagerly attending sessions “It’s not just about the sport,” Mo explains how to get back up when you’re knocked down.” Mo’s coaching style is a blend of rigour and empathy pushing his students to their limits and beyond His genuine interest in the student’s well-being is palpable “I want them to know that someone believes in them,” he says “Many of these kids come from tough backgrounds all they need is a little push and a lot of belief.” Mo’s influence extends beyond the school gates His work with the Burnage Community Wrestling Club has garnered national attention earning him the title of British Wrestling Coach of the Year The club has become a centre of the community The principles of wrestling are deeply embedded in Mo’s mentoring philosophy “Wrestling is about facing your fears,” he says “It’s you against your opponent “The biggest battles are always internal I teach my students that if they can overcome their own doubts and fears on the mat “My experience coming from a war zone taught me to be kind I had to learn a different language and culture He understands that academic success and personal development are intertwined His sessions often begin with discussions on goal setting “Wrestling is a tool,” he explains “I think this experience from my wrestling background being part of the national GB team for 12 years representing England in the Commonwealth Games and World Championships I’m a national coach with GB under-20s who need the right people around them to show them the right direction we had a student from Year Seven who left two years ago due to family issues “Despite his initial anger and conflicts he managed to come out with top GCSE grades This achievement isn’t just mine; it’s the students’ and the staff’s I’m grateful for their support.” That confidence spills over into their studies and their personal lives The impact of Mo’s work is evident in the school’s performance metrics and there’s a renewed sense of school pride Many students credit their turnaround to Mo’s influence In recognition of his extraordinary contributions Mo Osman was awarded the Silver Award for Unsung Hero the greatest reward is the success and happiness of his students “Awards are nice,” he says with a modest smile “but seeing a kid turn their life around Mo Osman’s journey from Olympic wrestler to pastoral mentor is a testament to the power of sports as a transformative force he teaches his students invaluable life lessons helping them navigate challenges both on and off the mat You can find out more about Burnage Community Wrestling Club by clicking here Did we miss something? Let us know: [email protected] Want to be the first to receive all the latest news stories, what’s on and events from the heart of Manchester? Sign up here I Love Manchester helps raise awareness and funds to help improve the lives and prospects of people across Greater Manchester – and we can’t do it without your help So please support us with what you can so we can continue to spread the love Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest news stories delivered direct to your inbox What’s the story? We are all ears when it comes to positive news and inspiring stories. You can send story ideas to [email protected] While we can’t guarantee to publish everything we will always consider any enquiry or idea that promotes: For anything else, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us about advertorials (from £350+VAT) and advertising opportunities: [email protected] For the love of Manchester, don’t miss out on events and what’s new across the city region. Subscribe to our newsletter now We respect your privacy Have your visit to the website make a difference in Greater Manchester… The I Love MCR Foundation raises vital funds to help improve the lives and prospects of people across Greater Manchester – and we can’t do it without your help The official I Love MCR Shop not only spreads Manchester love across the world but it also helps keeps the lights on so we can support the city region Taking on a challenge? Why not fundraise for our Foundation. We’ll even throw in some merchandise to wear Raising funds for great causes is priceless Advertise online to reach millions of inspired people who are subscribed engaged and use our channels on a daily basis Regional out-of-home media makes advertising on digital billboard screens across Greater Manchester affordable Join the mobile Manchester community… iPhone Android DiscoverNews StoriesShopSubscribe Licensing Information Terms and ConditionsPrivacy PolicyMake An Editorial Complaint Charity FoundationDonateFundraise AdvertiseOut-of-Home MediaAdd a ListingAdvertising Terms and Conditions Environmental PolicyEthical PolicyPrinting MethodDelivery InformationFAQs Copyright © 2009 – 2024 I Love MCR® All Rights Reserved About  Advertise  Contact Douglas look to have turned a corner with back to back home wins in Regional 2 North West however they have a tougher task this week with a visit to fourth-placed Burnage. Burnage have won four from six including a win away at Sandbach where Douglas lost out a fortnight ago.  They have however lost their last two which could give Douglas a chance to keep them in a bit of a rut - historically the teams have met seven times with Burnage just ahead four-three on the scoreboard and last season it was all square with Douglas winning at Port-e-Chee but losing away. The squad was especially efficient last week against Altrincham Kersal - new scrum half Nathan Robson picked up a man of the match from his team, Liam Kirkpatrick was particularly destructive in the back row and Bryn Snellgrove pulled the strings perfectly in the ten jersey.  It’ll be a step up for them to win at Burnage but a step they need to make if they have top four ambition. Ramsey’s reward for a Cheshire Plate win last season was promotion to the Vase, this week they have a pool game against New Brighton to look forward to and some interesting permutations.  The top two will qualify for the final in this four-team pool and a Prenton win at Wallasey on 5 October has opened it right out.  A win for Ramsey in this game after beating Prenton 53-19 in the opening round will put them in a very strong position ahead of their final game away at Wallasey next month. The squad has lost scrum half Nathan Robson to Douglas but Danny Howard’s recent try-out worked well and they also have Sam Corlett as an option too.  Kieran Kneale is likely to miss out with a wrist injury but twin brother Steve will be available and Jake Richmond at centre is in tip-top form and Ramsey will no doubt be trying to move the New Brighton pack around and play a fast paced back line game which could just do the job. New Brighton play in Counties 1 ADM Lancs/Cheshire and on paper are a cut above Ramsey.  Their season however isn’t going so well and they’ve lost four from seven, have a leaky defence and a blunt attack, New Brighton have to start as favourites but this could be Ramsey’s chance. Southern Nomads travel to Peel in the Cheshire Bowl knowing that a win will almost guarantee a spot in the final, they will however have a trip to Oldershaw next month for confirmation. These two haven’t yet met in the Manx Shield however Nomads’ win away at Port Sunlight in this competition is a good basis for assessing their form.  They also had a solid win against a fairly sturdy Douglas Casual side last week so should be in excellent nick, Nomads also gave Ramsey a scare in an earlier Shield match whereas Vikings struggled a little at the Mooragh losing out in a fifty point game. A few Vikings have had league run outs for Vagas as Tom Randall, Harvey Callister and Ed Knight have all appeared on the team sheet and this additional game time could assist.  The rest of the squad however hasn’t had enough game time. Nomads look good from one through to fifteen - the Craine brothers in the back line are creative, Mark Young and George Callister at half back are settled and experienced and led by Finn McGregor at centre, Nomads look much the stronger of the two. New Brighton v Ramsey @ New Brighton (2.30pm KO) Western Vikings v PDMS Southern Nomads @ QE2 (2.15pm KO) Manx side stay eighth after rare home defeat Douglas Rugby Club trod water in Regional Two North West on Saturday when visitors Burnage edged a tough encounter at Port-e-Chee and denied the hosts a losing bonus point. Two players down overnight with flu forced a re-shuffle and, despite making a strong start, Douglas never quite got out of sight on the scoreboard. Harry Hewson darted over for a 12th-minute try, with fullback Jonty Cope utilising his counter-attacking skills to good effect. The Manx scrum had an edge in the tight, the lineout with Liam Kirkpatrick reigning was secure, but with 25 minutes on the clock Burnage struck back when number eight Charles Bray rumbled over. Douglas responded with Kyle Martin racing in from scrum-half and Josh Duncan converted for 12-7 at the break, soon to be 12-10 when Burnage number 10 James Clarke kicked a 50th-minute penalty. Richard Bell, on for Owen Carvin in the Douglas front row, marked his arrival with a thundering run, but when Grant Connon splintered the Douglas defence, his try and Clarke’s conversion gave the Manchester side a 12-17 lead. Douglas hooker Gihard Visagie was yellow-carded and Burnage put winger Will Graham over in the corner to stretch the advantage to 10 points. John Dutnall returned to action off the bench, with Conor Garland more than earning a respite as Duncan pinned Burnage back with lengthy touch-finders. Hewson and Cope continued to probe the tight Burnage defence, but Douglas went further behind when Clarke stroked over a 66th-minute penalty. Home captain Blake Snell led from the front and another typical surge put them on the front foot. Kirkpatrick, Blake Everson and Harry Cartwright carried forward and Martin capped a man of the match performance with his second score in the 78th minute and 17-25. Douglas finished strongly, with James Ross and Cal Dentith testing Burnage resolve in pursuit of the losing bonus, but were still one point shy at the whistle and stay eighth. Comments Tel: 01624 695695[email protected]Follow us Further Links Owned or licensed to Tindle Newspapers Ltd | Independent Family-Owned Newspapers | Copyright & Trade Mark Notice & 2013 - 2025 The community was built on utopian principles and has a long waiting list Good morning - today’s story is about Burnage Garden Village an interesting neighbourhood in South Manchester that operates like a co-operative who grew up in Manchester and has spent the last seven years living and working as a journalist in Berlin and Leipzig She writes about culture for publications like The Washington Post and The New York Times It started out in September as a piece about the interesting history of a radical experiment in urban housing but ended up morphing into something more complex to remember why I wanted to write about Burnage Garden Village in the first place but I think I wanted to write about utopias “Utopian” was the word often used to describe “garden cities” — the concept that spawned Burnage Garden Village but a shorthand reporter in the London law courts with a passion for social issues he published To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform in which he proposed that “Town and Country must be married and out of this joyous union will spring a new hope Instead of having to choose between life working on a farm or living in squalor in a slum Howard wanted workers to enjoy a blend of countryside and city in his garden cities where they would benefit from healthier surroundings (public parks spacious boulevards) and live close to their place of work he wanted each garden city to have its own industry so it would be entirely self-sufficient Howard’s ideas were translated from the page to reality in the Edwardian period when Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City were built Following Howard coming to Manchester to address a group of clerks on the topic a committee was formed “to investigate the possibility of building a garden suburb in Manchester.” Construction work on Burnage Garden Village began in 1907 and 136 houses were built as well as a bowling green and tennis courts An early prospectus described the project aiming “to do something to meet the housing problem by placing within the reach of working people the opportunity of taking a house or cottage with a garden at a moderate rate.” A street in Burnage Garden Village today. Present-day photographs by Dani Cole/The Mill Housing for many Mancunians was so poor that when 11,000 volunteers from the city put themselves forward to fight in the Boer War 8,000 were turned away on account of their poor physical condition The academic Michael Harrison quotes a housing reformer writing at the time: “Although coal smoke drinking and licentiousness are among the factors which produce this physical deterioration Burnage Garden Village isn’t a garden city because it doesn’t have any industry author of Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing explains that it was actually set up along the lines of a co-partnership society — where members buy shares in the society and pay rent for their home If you want to live in the village you have to buy two shares and then join the waiting list it’s a model that demands a certain engagement from its residents which might explain why it didn’t win out in the subsequent decades of council house building I was initially drawn to writing about Burnage Garden Village because of its past as a hotbed of left-wing activism a topic which feminist historian Ali Ronan has researched extensively Ronan notes that amongst “the great and the good” who contributed to the initial capital raised to start building work was one Margaret Ashton the first female city councillor for Manchester.   This would be par for the course for Burnage Garden Village which went on to house multiple suffragists who were members of the Women’s Freedom League Ronan also observed that the village was a magnet for conscientious objectors In his study on the Labour party in Manchester Declan McHugh notes that the village had an “unusual concentration” of Labour activists in the 1930s — six of these activists became Labour councillors and one became a Labour MP while living there responded: “It really was a socialist ideal It was to be a community of everyone loving you and being kind.” Former resident Toni Hunter tells me what a privilege it was to grow up there and sends me photos of the same events that keep cropping up in stories when I interview residents: how the roads were closed off for the sports days that used to take place for the children A current resident mentions a senior citizen party each year wrote that these communal events were “conducive to more than a warm and friendly neighbourliness,” — they created “a true spirit of being one family.” According to a current tenant who wishes to remain anonymous the same community spirit is flourishing under Covid-19 They describe a red card being delivered with a note inside allowing residents to notify the community if they are struggling they are to place the red card on their windowsill so people can see it and check in The same person describes the support from their neighbours during the pandemic as “absolutely wonderful” and says that residents have been phoning up the most vulnerable members of the community asking them what food they require then dropping it off at their doorsteps I’m almost ready to sign up for a place on the waiting list. Almost who moved to Burnage — round the corner from the garden village — when he was nine years old He waxes lyrical about the architecture of the village but seems less taken with the model it runs under But the thing that’s always got me,” he says carefully Utopias don’t always feel like places of great individual freedoms.” I took a walk through the village last month The houses are designed according to Arts and Crafts principles arranged much like a residential London square around a central focal point (in this case I’m a sucker for old houses and tree-lined avenues but on climbing out of the car I wonder if it’s the signs — PLEASE DRIVE SLOW a sign screams at you as you drive into the village — and from this point onwards practically every sign seems to scold you as you pass.Or perhaps it’s simply the absence of people which gives the village a curiously static quality There’s nothing to suggest anyone lives there — no bikes chained up or washing on lines or children playing on the green swivel in my direction and watch as I leave.  A current resident tells me that in order to get a place on the waiting list you first have to do an interview in person with members of “the committee” you are shown a rule book for the village and are asked if you will abide by the rules The rules include agreeing to maintain your gardens and they dictate where you should park your car The anonymous resident says that up until the 1970s you weren’t admissible for a house until you were married That children who grew up there had to move out and only on showing a wedding certificate would they then be eligible to be placed on the waiting list for a house and could hopefully move back in (We offered the committee an opportunity to comment on the claims in this story Some of the older rules seem stranger than this A former resident who lived there on and off between the ‘70s and the ‘00s tells me about a rule that used to exist: you weren’t allowed to hang up your washing in your backyard on a Sunday “Perhaps because people would be using the tennis court on Sundays and didn’t want to see everyone’s smalls hanging up?” they say Now it’s a bit of an odd place,” the former resident tells me They note without commentary that they only knew one person of colour who lived in the village and that this man moved in as the husband of a white woman who was already living there That they never heard of an openly gay person living in the village That the committee (made up of shareholders and tenants) choose who is eligible to live there I very much want to speak to Manchester Tenants Limited the organisation behind Burnage Garden Village I want to know what sort of criteria the committee look for in prospective tenants how long the waiting list is for a house (according to the rumours those on the list currently wait between seven and ten years for a place) and I also just want to fact-check some of the claims I have heard from current and former residents I get a series of curt but polite email responses But I want to report on the present-day situation Then they change tack: the information I’m looking for is confidential they tell me they’ve seen me using the Burnage Garden Village Facebook group “to gather information directly with tenants which you are more than welcome to do.”  Is this why so many tenants and former tenants don’t comment under my Facebook posts reaching out for help but send me a direct message instead Phil Griffin says of the village: “You don’t at all get the feeling that you’re allowed to go to the shops in your pyjamas on a Saturday morning for a pint of milk it just doesn’t feel like that kind of gig.” Suddenly I see what he means.  I’m at home thinking about how this piece feels like an uphill struggle when I get a phone call A former resident — who has asked to remain anonymous has seen my appeals for interviewees on the Facebook group and is feeling sorry for me They suggest it might be a tricky time to find people willing to talk about the village.  hints at something going on in the village It’s not exactly a climate in which anyone wants to talk to a journalist they don’t want to talk about it but they might be able to connect me with a current resident — who I’ll call B at a specific time on a specific day.  is having second thoughts about talking to me thinks I might be working undercover for the village I send links to some articles I’ve written for newspapers and magazines think writing long cultural essays would be a disproportionately time-consuming way of winning their confidence if I was a double agent working for the committee after we’ve exhausted all possible small talk in a careful tone that they need to talk to someone else and that they will be in touch soon I ask a former committee chairperson for contact details for the current chairperson saying it’s a “delicate time for the committee,” but won’t expand on this. I slash my expectations I’ll establish the bare bones of how the village is run: how much rent does everyone pay One current resident tells me that as a tenant Another group of residents gives me a response I’ve come to recognise as typically Burnage Garden Village in tonality: “All the houses and everything else here are owned by our cooperative and how much rent is our business.” As a Society registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 the village has to file accounts each year They show the village has assets of £6 million and brought in £438,000 from rents last year That would mean on average each member paid £3,318 rent or £276 per month A rough estimate is about as close as I'm able to get Another resident I speak to refuses to reveal their own rent but says “things have changed a great deal over that time for the worst [sic].” At this point in the story you may not be terribly surprised to learn that they do not respond to my follow-up questions I went through a phase where I read a lot of anti-detective fiction — novels that presented the reader with a mystery but offered no solution which details a woman plunged into a conspiracy who sees signs everywhere: “There had hung the sense of buffering that the projectionist refused to fix.” I’m submerged in this sensation all the time That the truth is blurred but maybe I can make it out it’s difficult to decipher what any of this means and maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all one of my contacts in the village mentions committee elections being delayed due to the restrictions on meetings because of Covid-19 the alleged wrongdoing that’s too controversial to be discussed via phone — some microscopic bureaucratic upheaval that seems important inside the community but trivial to an outsider The Burnage Garden Village Facebook group spills over with heartwarming messages One resident posts photos of some stunning flowers that have been delivered to them an accompanying note: “Just to cheer you up — from a neighbour,” thanks “Whoever’s responsible”; another resident asks for floorboards to make mounts for his paintings and others write their addresses in the comments tell him to call round to see if their floorboards are any good for his purposes.  although far from unique to this community The upsurge in neighbourly sentiment during the pandemic has been one of Covid-19’s very few silver linings neighbours have joined group chats to offer each other help and organised shopping trips for people who are shielding the place where we live and the people we live close to matter so much more glancing up from where I now work at my kitchen table I see my neighbour through the window and grow self-conscious: do they think I’m a slob I’ve recently heard about someone leaving their street’s WhatsApp group after a conversation about clapping for carers turned into a tense exchange about politics and whether people on the road were pulling their weight to fight societal injustice Knowing your neighbours better can also mean knowing they are more likely to be judging you The negative side-effects of close-knit communities have been picked up by researchers in the social sciences for decades “There was no golden age of community,” University of Exeter historian Professor Jon Lawrence was quoted saying last year as he launched a new book about how we have lived since the 1940s close-knit community we mythologize today never existed,” he explained poverty and close proximity obliged neighbours to look out for one another relations with neighbours were often fraught Burnage Garden Village makes me think of Sinclair Lewis’ satirical novel Main Street in which a librarian called Carol moves from the big city to a small prairie town following her marriage to the doctor there but she becomes increasingly tortured by what she calls “a rigid ruling of the spirit by the desire to appear respectable” Do the residents ever really do anything so terrible to Carol They attend her parties and make the odd catty comment But Carol’s internalised sense of surveillance slowly tears her apart — as do her failed attempts to reform the community for the better almost everyone I speak to seems anxious about the potential for surveillance and what everyone else might think about them A friendly resident declines to be interviewed but also: they’ve only lived there for a few years so they are aware that they are perceived as being a relative newcomer A resident who has nothing but good things to say about the village is emphatic about wanting to only be cited anonymously about wanting me to obscure any details at all which could lead to their identification who lives in a village they trust so little that they’re concerned they’re being lured into making disclosures to a double agent ask them if they’re sure they don’t want to talk to me They write they don’t know what I’ve been told but they’ve heard that “the ongoing problems are being dealt with.” To speak to us about this story, send Sophie a Direct Message on Twitter or email joshi@manchestermill.co.uk. Before you go: To receive The Mill’s in-depth journalism about Greater Manchester in your inbox five days a week, join us as a member today for £7 a month now. If you were forwarded this story or found it online, you can join The Mill’s email list using the button above. Members of our free mailing list get The Mill Weekly — including a news briefing on Mondays and one long-form story, usually on the weekend. If you want to get The Mill Daily, which includes extra members-only political analysis, business reporting and history posts every week, join our 500+ paying members using the same button and choose to pay monthly or annually. The community was built on utopian principles and has a long waiting list. But it doesn't welcome prying eyes. A spirited Douglas peformance in the Regional 2 North West wasn't enough as the Island side slipped to a 42-27 defeat to Burnage this afternoon (26 October). The loss sees Douglas - who picked up a try bonus point today - ninth in the league standings with two wins from their first seven matches with a home tie with Northwich next on the cards in two weeks time on Saturday, 9 November. Elsewhere, Ramsey were unable to build on their opening Cheshire Vase competition victory in August earlier as they went down 36-12 at the hands of Counties 1 ADM Lancs/Cheshire outfit New Brighton on the Wirral. Meanwhile, the local derby this afternoon in the Cheshire Bowl competition, last year's finalists Southern Nomads managed to eek out a 24-33 victory in Peel against a valiant Western Vikings. A win for the Manx side could take them to sixth Douglas Rugby Club welcome Burnage to Port-e-Chee in Regional Two North West this Saturday afternoon. A losing bonus point in Greater Manchester against the same side earlier in the season back in October, despite missing six players from the win over Altrincham Kersal a week earlier, was a pointer towards better things for the Manx side. The return match on home soil this Saturday afternoon against the fifth-placed Stockport side may be very different, but coach Phil Cringle keeps feet firmly on the ground where touchline expectations are concerned and his focus will be on getting his side off to a strong start at Port-e-Chee. There’s plenty of motivation to do so, as Altrincham Kersal and Widnes are both one point ahead of Douglas and have tough assignments against effectively the top two. A win for the Manx side could take them to sixth and potentially on the heels of Burnage themselves in fifth. There’s no doubt Douglas are a handful in the tight with a front five to challenge the best, and last week the entire pack of forwards was commended by spectator John Garland for their overpowering of the Winnington Park unit. The squad is strengthened further with Liam Kirkpatrick available this weekend, a key man in the lineout as well as marauding in the loose, and out wide the form of Jonty Cope is a welcome boost. If Harry Hewson returns in the centre and Kyle Martin, who made such a mark last week in midfield, moves out to the wing again, Douglas should be a handful all over the paddock. Tel: 01624 695695[email protected]Follow us I started working on a story that would be fun and simple to wrap up I wanted to write about the fact that South Manchester is home to one of the country’s oldest garden suburbs — a housing model blending the urban and the rural where residents buy shares in the society and pay a vastly reduced rent for their home.  I would interview Manchester Tenants Limited the housing association behind this idealistic community upbeat quotes that I could weave into a story about a historic housing co-operative thriving in a country better known for private property and profit I was a freelance journalist at the time and my first piece for The Mill would be a thoughtful feature that would only take me a few days work The housing association seemed evasive for reasons I couldn’t put my finger on they wrote — why not interview a historian instead When I pointed out I already had plenty of history and wanted a present-day account of the village they said they’d seen me asking for interviews in the Facebook group dedicated to Burnage Garden Village The message had the flavour of a brisk scolding but I couldn’t quite understand what I’d done wrong residents preferred to message me privately rather than comment below my post and seemed anxious about having their real name attached to their comments even if they were sending me the most faultlessly positive stories about living there Those who I approached for interviews seemed tortured about whether they were sufficiently well-qualified to be an interviewee — one resident declined a chat telling me: “Im still looked on as a new comer after 5yrs lol”.  I was struggling to make much headway when one night I received an anonymous phone call from someone who told me that it might be a difficult time to find people willing to talk about the village; there was some sort of issue but told me they would connect me with someone who could tell me more After fleeting contact with the second person After weeks of this kind of very low-level journalistic carry-on I called my editor Joshi and told him we didn’t really have a story There was something going on in Burnage Garden Village And the positive story I had set out to tell was impossible to pull off because everyone in the village was on edge — perhaps they suspected that I did know what was going on and might be on the brink of exposing it.  I’ve been working with Joshi for two years — as The Mill’s senior editor I sit opposite him in our newsroom in the Royal Exchange building three days a week and I had no idea that the impasse in my first Mill story was exactly what made it right up his street He loved the weirdness; the sense — as I put it in my eventual piece that we were dealing with a story that read like “anti-detective fiction” — novels that present the reader with a mystery but offer no solution.  “This sounds amazing,” he said over the phone and asked me to bash out 5,000 words That’s when I got my second taste of what it’s like to work on stories with The Mill: everything — for some reason — has to happen incredibly late at night Joshi largely ignored my draft until we met in person in Manchester and then that night he started sending me dozens of questions edits and suggestions until we had a piece the piece I had in mind when I first pitched the idea but something we both felt was insightful about the dynamics of communities and the tradeoffs between privacy and community in how people choose to live.  That long read was published in November 2020 under the headline: “Idealism secrets and paranoia in Burnage Garden Village.” The subheadline captured the original premise of my reporting and also the sense that this was a place that didn’t welcome scrutiny It read: “The community was built on utopian principles and has a long waiting list But it doesn't welcome prying eyes.” It quickly became one of The Mill’s early hits — one of the stories that established us as an organisation that was going to publish local journalism that didn’t feel anything like local journalism (it was also probably the reason I ended up working for this company) I’ve been wondering what on earth I had missed in Burnage Garden Village Burnage Garden Village is smaller than you’d think: just 144 houses (or 136 — records vary) visiting the handful of streets it’s composed of (largely a road that forms a loop but is divided up into compass points — North with the sort of features you’d associate with the arts and crafts movement like catslide roofs (a roof that extends closer to the ground on one side) Honestly — as exciting as I find the idea behind the village the homes themselves are only remarkable in how unremarkable they look to my untrained eye designed them following the ideals of Edwardian suburban housing I have fielded intermittent messages from those who either lived in the village or used to live there since those making them tended to abort messaging so quickly I gathered little-to-no evidence for the stories they told The messengers seemed to share a common concern: that life would be unbearable if anyone knew they were saying anything negative about the village — that is I gave up on ever writing on the subject again since everyone seemed too antsy on the subject it was one of those tight-knit communities where “tight” meant suffocating Joshi received a phone call on his mobile: two villagers wanted to meet me They explained that someone had given them a print edition of The Mill — a one-off edition we published as a marketing push in late 2021 — in which my long read about the village appeared it wasn’t online that they had come across my article but via a print edition delivered by someone from the outside world They had found Joshi’s contacts from there The two villagers asked me not to identify them or even say their gender and they wanted to meet at a place where they wouldn’t be seen by anyone they knew they started talking and didn’t stop for an hour — I frantically made notes and recorded the meeting but there were so many different names and plot points and nuances they would connect me with a third villager who became my main point of contact for this story.  Unlike the other messengers over the years screenshots of Facebook group posts and comments below it and more the clearer it seemed that they wanted someone who was not involved in the village to act as a sort of neutral arbitrator of what had gone on there so those in the village could decide for themselves who had been in the wrong and who had been in the right But what had taken place in Burnage Garden Village around the time I was reporting — was it an act of violence Was the village in thrall to some sort of cult or harbouring an organised crime ring far smaller and more sprawling than I had ever imagined but larger since it sounded like virtually everyone who lived there was involved Emotions had reached an operatic frequency The village was in the grip of an ideological civil war She’s a secretary who has worked for the elected committee that runs the village for approximately 15 years she had claimed she was being bullied by the chairman of the committee This claim was repeated by two other employees after the fact — a second secretary X was sceptical about these claims — it seemed convenient that they coincided with a significantly higher workload due to new health and safety requirements the same committee led by Cyril had introduced (I wanted to put these allegations to Alison over the phone but she declined to be interviewed.)  X said there was a protocol for how Alison should have reported this — there was a protocol for almost everything in the village on reading the rulebook I’d been supplied with along with the dossier — but instead of raising it in her yearly review There was also (naturally) a protocol for how John should have investigated these claims but he had jumped ship on the rules and taken it upon himself to investigate the bullying claims on his own.  John was kicked off the committee for disregarding procedures (ironically he countered by saying the way he’d been kicked off the committee contravened procedure — too long to go into) and rumours began to spread about the committee in power.  Some of the committee subsequently felt bullied by the rest of the village — and there are a number of painful emails in the dossier recounting various circumstances that sound unpleasant if you’ve ever lived in a claustrophobically small location: people hurling nasty remarks at one another over fences — some of which are expressed in language that feels distinctively archaic (“Are you not speaking to me?” — and in response: “I don’t talk to tripe”); accusations of committee family members getting special treatment compared to non-elected plebs; an email from the former chairman reporting his family life was being eroded by the situation — he was under pressure and suffering sleepless nights but he wasn’t able to talk to them about what was happening due to a confidentiality agreement that all committee members have to sign; screenshots of tense Facebook exchanges (with some attempt at diluting the tension via generous sprinklings of the crying-laughing emoji).  An insurgent group calling themselves “the Undersigned” started trying to wrestle power off the committee The Undersigned illegally held a meeting during lockdown in the village hall and the official committee reported them to the police The Undersigned demanded an election; the committee countered by proposing a postal vote given the constraints of Covid-19; the Undersigned argued this was a ploy to hold onto power.  and eventually the Undersigned manage to get elected allegedly due to some clever manoeuvring — strategic resignations by the part of their allies Then there were claims of fairly low-level financial corruption (£300 which the original committee claimed was stolen to pay for the considerable printing costs of sending endless passive-aggressive letters protesting the original committee’s behaviour to the entire village — one can’t help but wonder what will happen to the paper industry when the village learns about the pioneering new technology that is email) This claim was investigated and debunked by an accountant though he quit the account a few months later which felt fishy to the source we are calling X — the accountant had been responsible for that account for at least 15 years.  After spending days reading through the dossier a couple of times and shooting off emails and phone calls and questions to X I started to feel less preoccupied with making sense of what had gone on — incident A leading to incident B — and more preoccupied with a sort of creeping disillusionment I’ve never lived in a proper co-operative as such (to qualify argues one report by a housing non-profit: “firstly that such homes cannot be purchased or sold on the free market”) but I’ve lived in a couple of housing schemes which had elements of cooperativism woven into them — where permanent residents voted on some changes carried out simple repairs themselves and paid rent that was much lower than the average for the area it had been difficult to earn enough money to make a living I would have had to have quit and turned my hand to a more profitable occupation if it hadn’t been for such schemes I’d been comforted to read about Burnage Garden Village who came up with the idea of garden cities wanted people to be able to live in a place where “Town and Country must be married a new civilization.” As I found out from X the rent in Burnage Garden Village was extraordinarily low — a little over £200 a month for an entire house for those who have been there a while (however there is a two-tier system with newcomers paying approximately £360 a month which X acknowledges is still “nothing like the world outside”) The average house has three bedrooms (two-bedroom houses are the second most common The village seemed designed with an eye to community: every six weeks or so money was set aside for the villagers to go on day trips together to places like Southport and Castleton and there was money for a Christmas party and plants for the village hall an interviewee had told me about a red card being delivered during Covid-19 which residents were encouraged to place on their windowsill if they were struggling so their neighbours could see it and check in The same person described residents phoning up vulnerable members of the community asking them what food they needed and dropping it off at their doorsteps Burnage Garden Village had been designed around a principle I fundamentally agree with: that we need other people Instead of residing in isolated luxury shoeboxes the villagers were encouraged to be part of each other’s lives It suggested that bricks and mortar was only one small part of housing — that a real community would be exactly that But it was hard to believe that the reality had lived up to the blueprint enraged and at each other’s throats.  It would be easy to make fun of a lot of this There’s a contrast between the telenovela emotions expressed by the villagers and the annoyances that provoke them: somebody investigating a bullying allegation but not following protocol; the proposal of a postal vote rather than the in-person variety; someone shouting something mildly insulting over a fence But the reality of this is that the wider context has created a torturous situation.  If these villagers lived in a different European country there might have been fights and bickering but they wouldn’t have resigned themselves to this situation for the rest of their lives A report from 2010 claimed that approximately 10% of Europeans live in housing cooperatives meaning that it’s easier to leave and find a different one if things don't work out I get the sense that the low rent has become a poisoned chalice they don’t have the money to move to non-cooperative accommodation Imagine the last person you had any sort of low-level tension with Now imagine living on the same street as them for 20 rumours spread about you and someone is cold to you in the street for reasons you can’t put your finger on and you suspect this enemy of yours is the source of this pervasive chill directed at you by those around you.  this scenario wouldn’t happen — they would probably disappear out of your lives after a few years to move up the property ladder I imagine you’d eventually grow to detest each other This is the problem the villagers face — and I can understand why they sound so desperate I reached out to the secretaries and to John and I asked them for interviews My emails were discussed at a management meeting and I received an email from Lee-Anne asking “if correspondence can please be sent through the Manchester Tenant Limited office only and not to private individuals.” They asked me to detail the allegations I asked them about the fact that the current chairperson has been declared bankrupt (something I checked is correct via the insolvency register) and yet according to the village rule book you cannot stand on the committee if you have ever been bankrupt.  I asked about the allegation that the current committee uses the pettiest mistakes to reject housing applications of those they dislike — for example demanding that applications be entirely completely in caps locks and then rejecting an application because an email address was listed in lower case (as email addresses are generally formatted!) That the second elections were strategically rushed through so the Undersigned could get elected That the same accountant who explored the allegation of financial foul play resigned from the Burnage Garden Village account (the same account he’d worked on for more than 20 years) a few months after exonerating the Undersigned That a solicitor had expressed anxiety that someone was trying to tamper with the election in the first election After seeking legal counsel to respond to my questions I received either “Untrue” or “Factually incorrect” as a response to all of my allegations with the exception of the caps lock controversy which their solicitor clearly believed — unlike allegations of financial foul play or election tampering — merited a fuller response: “Factually incorrect We always have an overwhelming response when the housing list opens. The Housing Committee have a strict regime to adhere to The application process is carried out in a fair and professional manner.” I wanted to unpick the logic behind their choice of wording: did they mean something different when they responded with “factually incorrect” to an allegation than when they wrote “untrue” I also put it to the committee that they might want to explain why a point was untrue and to provide some evidence From the perspective of the average reader just answering “untrue” might not be terribly persuasive the committee had clearly had enough of swapping emails stating: “The Committee do not wish to make any further comment as we will not be discussing private matters with anyone other than our Shareholders.” I’m struck by how granular many of the details are There is no territory which remains uncharted by regulations; the authors have thought of everything: “There will be a £10 charge for a first letter sent regarding rent arrears and any further letters will incur a charge of £15.” As if the secretaries were governing a sprawling metropolis rather than being able to walk a few minutes down the road knock on the guilty party’s door and ask them about it face to face writer Jo Freeman critiques the power inequalities in rule-free feminist groups: "Contrary to what we would like to believe there is no such thing as a structureless group Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion." She argues that striving for a structureless group and as deceptive" as aiming for an "'objective' news story or a 'free' economy." The essay goes on to argue that structurelessness becomes a way of masking power and that for everyone to be able to participate equally you need rules to be open and available to everyone something which can only happen if they are formalised I wonder if there is such a thing as over-democratisation — where there is so much focus on fairness that the original goal of the community is left by the wayside I was a member of a feminist performance art group for a total of six weeks The group was extremely preoccupied with functioning democratically not only could each person propose a name for the group but they were also entitled to give a speech explaining their thinking behind the name and why it was such a good idea and each speech might last 10 or 15 minutes When a few people in the group made slight amendments to their name suggestions they also demanded opportunities to give new speeches This meant that those who had proposed names already also demanded new opportunities to give speeches afraid that their rationale would be half-forgotten by the time it came to voting for the name Multiple votes were held and everything got so technical that I stopped understanding what we were even doing There was no indication that we would ever reach the reason I'd come along — the performance art part There feels like a similar pattern at play here While there are logical reasons why you might want to have a structure for an organisation (especially one where newcomers might feel at a disadvantage) Burnage Garden Village's fixation on rules seems to have led the community to stray away from its purpose Sophie Atkinson is The Mill’s senior editor and culture critic. Her email is sophie@manchestermill.co.uk I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments — what’s the best way to organise a residential community Can we live more cooperatively without the kinds of issues suggested by Burnage Garden Village Community Integrated Care is delighted to welcome Jemima Burnage as our charity’s new Chief Quality & Risk Officer where she held the role of Deputy Director of Mental Health in England Jemima’s previous experience includes working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and roles at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust where she developed expertise across a wide range of service types and provision Jemima takes the reins from Carolyn McConnell who will be retiring in February after five years with Community Integrated Care Jim Kane said: “We’re thrilled with Jemima’s appointment and look forward to the breadth and depth of expertise she will bring to the role and drive to make a positive difference shine through She’s demonstrated a deep understanding of who we are and what makes us special and I’m confident this she’ll make a huge impact at Community Integrated Care.” Jemima shared: “Throughout the past nine years at the Care Quality Commission I’ve witnessed the incredible impact that good regulation can have within social care; improving the lives of people supported I’m now looking forward to a new challenge where I can combine my passion for continuously improving the quality of services with my experience of working with frontline teams to deliver the very best outcomes.” with a vision aligned so closely to my own – enabling people with care needs to lead independent So much great work has already been achieved by the charity’s Quality team including amplifying the voice of people supported and I’m looking forward to building on this momentum and playing my part in truly enabling people to live their best lives possible.” Find out more about our charity’s Executive Team here. The 202 runners / joggers / jeffers / walkers set off in great weather for the event - not too cold not too windy and not raining- you can’t ask for much more than that in the North West in November The out and back section was quite congested but not dangerous nor frustratingly slow There were two turns on this section (one right angled and one u turn) We then ran back to and past the start line to commence our two laps and were greeted by more encouragement from the volunteers waiting to spring into action at the finish in 4km-ish time The two laps were exactly as both Lindsey and Mel had explained in their briefings: some puddles fallen leaves making some areas slippy and some narrow sections but overall a lovely course with plenty of nature to admire to take your mind off any burning in lungs The steps were a key part of the two laps and proved a very interesting element one I’d not experienced on a parkrun before Whilst they understandably slowed most down a tad there was a downhill section immediately after which quickly helped to get some momentum back one nice part of a two lapper is that you know broadly where the finish line will appear so it helps with timing the sprint (or in my case marginally less slow) finish The finishing straight at Burnage though is further helped by being on the banks of the river it's inspiring sight helped to take the edge off the tired last few paces Thanks to all the volunteers for making the event so enjoyable and special thanks to both Mel and Lindsey from me for being so welcoming and friendly of whom 41 were first timers and 13 recorded new Personal Bests Representatives of 25 different clubs took part The event was made possible by 24 volunteers: Robin BENSTEAD • Jane CLARKE • Calum BURRELL • Claire WILLIS • Mel JOHNSON • Michael CURRY • Lynsey BURRELL • Lindsey FARRELLY • Dawn BOWES • Shariq ABBAS • Jacqueline PANTELI • John HUMPHREYS • George PANTELI • Bev SHAWCROSS • Joanna GREAVES • Cathy WHITTINGHAM • Martin JONES • Anne RAE • Dave MCCREADY • Mark LUCKHAM • Ralph FARTHING • James COLEMAN • James ROBB • Alfie DILLON Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Burnage parkrun Results Page Since then 9,772 participants have completed 57,277 parkruns covering a total distance of 286,385 km A total of 1,018 individuals have volunteered 8,420 times © parkrun Limited (Company Number: 07289574) No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner as I was staying with friends in Didsbury on Friday night They live right next to Fletcher Moss Park so made the short 1.6-mile car journey to Burnage Manchester is blessed with loads of parkruns The start is a short walk from the Rugby club past the tree lined rugby pitch and next to the river Mersey It was fast flowing today and a very picturesque setting The tarmac path forks where the start sign is providing a natural platform for the RD to give her address It was another perfect day weather-wise as we set off with the river to the left of us on National Cycle Network (NCN) 62 circling the golf course and the rugby club The elevation over a whole lap is only six metres And there’s a set of steep stairs to negotiate with woodland and river views to keep spirits going Steve Tappenden took the bronze position in 19.35 Aeronwy Craig was the fastest female with a time of 22.15; she was also the person with the most parkruns under her belt which is almost ten years straight of Saturday morning 5ks Maggie Jones and Sheila Jones came next in the number of parkruns league table The man with the most being Gary Rostron with 467 There were some big hitters here today with no less than 20 runners clocking more than 250 5ks each came top in age grade with a stonking 90.03%; the 65–69-year-old achieving a 23.34 time a time many people half her age would be envious of also in the 65-69 category with a time of 26.21 got an age grading of 76.04% with his whirlwind 18.47 29 people achieved personal bests including Alexander Smith two of which were father and daughter Andrew and Izzy Forbes; hopefully the start of a Saturday morning routine for them Just the one person completed the palindrome challenge which is to record a time that reads the same backwards – well done to Angela Wood and her 30.03 finish RD addition: "Thank you for a lovely run report David Poole We're glad you enjoyed it and are welcome back any time" Well done to the all the volunteers today who gave up their time to put on a seamless event who were cheerful and supportive throughout Mark FEARNLEY • Karen CHARTERS • Hazel BEE • Stefan SCHUMACHER • Beatriz PETKOS • Mel JOHNSON • Andy CRAIG • Rebecca PANTELI • Shariq ABBAS • Jacqueline PANTELI • David POOLE • John KENNEDY • Susan COULSON • Noah MERRELL • Paula PARAMOR • Finley STAFFORD-STOCK • William LYONS • Isabel WILLIAMSON • Harry ROBERTS • Luca YOUNG • Charlie COTTON • Aaron PATEL • Zach BENN-WALSH • Anna WARD • George BOWYER • Alfie BARKER • George PETKOS The run report was brought to you by Parkrunner Shariq Abbas Our apologies to Shariq that it has taken us a while to publish this Gooooooooood morning Burnage Park runner was the voice in my head as I dragged myself out of the house Have to make a mental note to myself that “voice in my head number 32” needs to calm down he can normally keep everyone in there in order But enough about us this is about Burnage Parkrun 431 It was a beautiful sunny day as the dynamic team of volunteers set up the course The Setup team met Rachel Gaunt a fellow parkrunner from Skipton who was down for a 60th birthday party but could not participate this morning but was still out for an early morning run However it is in her diary now to come back and join us or as I like to call them Athletes to the Burnage parkrun Well done to the lot of you for getting up first thing and completing the 5K course Also well done to those volunteers in not letting any of them escape No sorry I meant supporting and encouraging the runners around the course This week our first male finisher was Vic Walsh and our first female finisher was Aeronwy Craig We had a outstanding effort from everyone with 20 runners in achieving new PBs We also welcomed 23 runners for the first time to Burnage The only but greatest milestone this week and every week was for the 115 runners who fought that voice in their head that tells us to stay in our nice warm relaxing bed for another hour or five Well done the lot of you and good luck for the battle next Saturday morning And finally to our volunteers listed below without your service none of this would be possible We are very grateful to the volunteers who made this event happen: Shariq ABBAS The full results and a complete event history can be found on the Burnage parkrun Results Page The scheme would see the existing B&M store on the site demolished St Helier-based Triple Jersey has lodged plans for a 112-home scheme on a four-acre site next to Mauldeth Road train station that is currently occupied by a B&M store The developer plans to demolish the 30,000 sq ft shop and build 34 apartments and 78 houses on the Kingsway site search for application reference number 138712/FO/2023 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal DPP Planning is advising the applicant on the proposals and Sten Architecture is leading on design The plot immediately south of Triple Jersey’s application site has twice been the subject of proposals for residential but has met with rejection four times – twice at the hands of Manchester City Council and twice at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate Developer Superstan Property originally planned to build 147 apartments before scaling back its scheme to 90 Nice big balconies to add articulation to the facades Shame it’s not “build to buy” Leave well alone already a parking issue where is everyone going to park Also that shop (b&m) serves all the local community and would be greatly missed we have heard the silly idea that all these residents are going to use the trains which they won’t be able to park so will clogg the local roads or sorry are these just more housing for students via the back door Demolishing the b&m isn’t a good idea why not demolish where blockbuster used to be and do it there make more sense as Iceland is literally the only shop open there could easily work around it… disturbing the peace of the community and the convenience of b&m just to make the place look fancy is only going to cause more issues Unless it’s affordable housing our buy to own keep it.Too many BTR apartments in our cities housing shouldn’t be looked at as a investment but as a right to shelter B&am is the only place local where we can purchase diy products as well as affordable toys The next nearest is Stockport or Hyde road way too far for the elderly or if you don’t drive And what provisions will be built for these 112 homes to add to the hundreds already spread across the vicinity 😞 This should not be allowed removing a essential store that is used by many for a private company to make a massive profit and the local people to lost out unless they relocate and build a new b+m close to the location first locals are losing their amenities for more flats Where on earth will the Didsbury folk procure extremely reasonably priced washing detergent and conditioner We have a chronic housing crisis with homelessness at a record high and yet motorists are (typically) only thinking about themselves No new homes allowed if it inconveniences any car drivers anywhere Here’s an idea: get on your bike or on a bus and stop clogging the roads with your own cars I have nothing against the redevelopment of this land but the scheme does not appear to be “tested” market wise instead basing its tenures on lazy and unproven assumptions In the case of the last point the layouts actually scream “student housing by the back door” to me and nothing really adds up – certainly not “high quality family housing” We’ll see if the applicant adapts the scheme If not hope MCC reject and why for a better proposal to come along This would be fine if they are going to be affordable homes and not just for the well off We need social housing in Manchester the weather is bad and the buses are unreliable if you live in Worsley for example driving is the only way more lycra clad warriors pretending they are Lance Armstrong Mother can sit on the handlebars…Yes it’s clogged around here but bikes are not definitely not the answer for everyone Selfish and patronising to think otherwise but I never suggested getting everybody on a bike The roads are clogged because too many people drive – no other reason getting more people out of their cars and onto bikes or public transport is the way to reduce traffic They also don’t need to be ‘lycra clad’ If you want less traffic then you need fewer cars Gilly you’re the one who’s always saying everybody should drive If that’s the case then enjoy wasting your life paying to be stuck in traffic while someone on a bike speeds past Hey folks – I believe points have been made on both sides re: cars v too many local decrying lack of housing one moment then decrying lack of throwaway tat afterwards You mean recycling old ground Julia …ok Wheel stop now..😁 So will insufficient parking lead to a free for all on local streets that are already jam-packed Affordable housing is not needed as the average salary is between 27k and 39k so people can afford housing just fine Please leave B&M it’s a local friendly store for local residents The area will have traffic issues if this project goes ahead They have no consideration for the local residents the site is only available if they don’t see a viable future for it and the company themselves are happy to cash in the value of the site I agree with the obsession with BTR though and the restructure of University accommodation in recent years and the drive to push students out of Fallowfield makes this site an attractive (if somewhat subversive) proposition An interesting detail to this story is Triple Jersey is owned by the Arora brothers who built the B&M chain – Simon has left but his brother Bobby is still involved They’ve made hundreds of millions and now seem to want to focus on property It’d be interesting to find out if they acquired other B&M sites perhaps under a sale and leaseback deal at some point If you get rid of b&m you you would kill burnage it soon be a ghost town They want to kill Burnage like they want to kill Regent Road Big box retail is low-value and car-centric land use If we have any aspiration to be a more prosperous place then more of them will get developed into alternative and more valuable uses Why on earth demolish B&M to build yet more apartments that no doubt won’t be affordable for people in the area? B&M has been great for the local area since it opened hope planners listen to the people who live here and opt for common sense instead of money Also am confused as to why the planning team would consider building more houses here when they have just granted planning permission to demolish the local doctors surgery (Hawthorn Medical Centre) with no thought or plan for their patients the last thing the area needs is more social housing More of this please so we can rent in decent homes We need new homes and this seems like a decent place to have them Your right next to a train station and on a major bus route as well as being a 2 minute ride from the f’loop They’ll be a brand new Lidl round in a few years in one direction and ladybarn village is 6-7 minutes the other way Ladybarn park is 2 minutes away and we’re told that our lowering fertility rates has started to ease the pressure on school places for which this aria is very well served I just wish the developers would restrict the parking and maybe facilitate some nabourhood car share skeems And the aria could do with a new doctor’s surgery or 2 238 runners attended Burnage parkrun's 528th event Congratulations to Mel Walls was the first female runner with an impressive time of 20.17 First male runner was William Smith with a time of 18.37 A large group of runners from Poynton Runners joined us today They have Lyme parkrun penciled in for next month Notable milestones included former Event Director Katherine Cole (also known as the Queen of Burnage) who today celebrated her 400th parkrun Katherine who runs with Running Bear and Davenport Runners also hit 300 volunteer credits earlier on this year (now on 319) Katherine who did today’s first time briefing also regularly volunteers at Wilmslow Junior parkrun Congratulations also goes to Aaron Madiot and Tarunya A who both did their first parkruns today Last but not least thanks to this week's amazing volunteers Please offer to volunteer if able to in future weeks as parkrun would not take place without volunteers It’s an absolute pleasure to write this report as I came along to Burnage this morning as it was a milestone for two very special volunteers as without the help of volunteers parkrun would not take place As we set off from home we checked the weather and were told to prepare for rain so waterproofs in situ and off we went Although thankfully the rain held off for most of the run the three essential attributes of a fantastic parkrun There was the usual buzz around the park on arrival and I managed to get a picture of the milestone volunteers before heading for the start line for the briefing The Core Team at Burnage are an absolutely awesome bunch of folks nothing is too much trouble and the event itself runs like clockwork With the megaphone doing its stuff and thankfully drowning out an over enthusiastic dog Run Director Mark Fearnley welcomed the 186 athletes He gave a special hello to the ”Queen of Burnage” Katherine Cole returning for a volunteering stint as a timekeeper following injury Katherine was the Event Director for Burnage parkrun for many years and is always welcomed as one of Burnage Parkruns’ special guests So on to the milestones Mark and the entire running community cheered as he hailed the milestone volunteers Joanna and Dawn more about them shortly The remaining milestones were celebrated by Joanna Greaves although she particularly enjoys Barcode scanning as she has done this 84 times out of the 100 occasions The second volunteering milestone this morning went to my very good friend Dawn Bowes I am a little bit biased about this milestone because Dawn is a good friend of mine as we sometimes run together In addition to her 50th volunteering today Dawn has completed 56 parkruns as well over eleven different locations of the 50 volunteering stints she has completed 36 of them have been as a car park marshall This is her favourite spot as she particularly enjoys stopping the traffic as it seems to run in the family her aunt was a traffic warden and her dad a policeman! She also baked some lovely cakes the Malteser one was delish A big thank you to you both and all the other volunteers today for your service and commitment to parkrun from the entire parkrun community As we set off I noticed ground conditions were excellent for the course although it was had rained considerably so there were muddy bits in the meadow area at the large loop the works that the committed team had done to upgrading the paths beside the rugby club and through the woods have made a considerable difference to the course on days like this as both of those paths were passable with relative ease As I am a slower runner I get plenty of time during the run to enjoy the course I have now retuned to run it 39 times out of the 109 run I have completed This week probably because I knew Dawns cakes were at the finish line I managed to achieve a seasons best of a respectable 38.36 Well done to all the participants especially :- If course none of this would be possible without the amazing volunteers who all had a massive shout out from me on my way past Whilst typing this report my fingers keep changing parkrun to parkfun and do you know what that’s what I love about Parkrun its fun Congratulations to everyone today and thanks Burnage for another lovely morning I am used to writing run reports for a younger audience If you’ve never volunteered before and would like to give it a try sometime I guarantee you will leave feeling fabulous email or speak to the Run Director on any Saturday morning if you’d like to give us your time one week The parkrun at Burnage on September 10th was significant and different in lots of ways It was the first parkrun event at Burnage to take place since the United Kingdom lost it’s longest serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II – and therefore the first to take place under the reign of King Charles III It was therefore only right and respectful that during the run brief delivered sensitively by the Run Director that we paid our respects to our recently departed Queen with a 1-minute applause Event 450 was not only to be a celebration of the life and achievements of the Queen but also the milestones of several of our participants Folk at the event perhaps couldn’t have failed to notice that there were people going round with rainbow balloons or had nods to rainbows and rainbow colours on their parkrun outfits Well the reason for this was that the community were given the heads up a few weeks in advance that due to a certain joint milestone celebration Given rainbows appeared in the sky over certain well known royal landmarks on the day of the Queen’s passing it seemed even more apt that we had this as a theme myself and my wife Lynsey had co-ordinated being able to celebrate 2 milestone completions on the same day – my 250th run and Lynsey would do her 250th volunteering stint Lynsey and Calum celebrating their respective 250 milestones The Burnage parkrun community will also know us from being on the core volunteer team as we both share Run Directing duties when we are on that role with Lynsey being a regular Barcode Scanner at Burnage Both Lynsey and myself like to tour at parkrun and as Lindsey Farrelly pointed out in her run brief Lynsey regularly volunteers at other parkrun locations across the country (currently on 79 venues!) cake and capes that were brought along on the day TeamBurrelli celebration cake (courtesy of 'Kylies Cakes for Occasion' in Edgeley) Laura and Ray Robinson's celebration cake for Calum and Lynsey Along with TeamBurrelli (our self-appointed nickname for ourselves) doing a joint celebration on the day the celebration also encouraged other participants to join in with their milestones to Known to the parkrunning family in Bramhall Brian Griffiths also came along to do his 250th parkrun milestone at Burnage Burnage regular Michael Curry did his 100th milestone and Hyde regular Chris Harries did his 50th parkrun Congratulations to all achieving milestones we had 210 people go through our finish funnel – the most we have had since the Covid pandemic-pause for parkrun (part of the reason for this increase in numbers was down to certain events cancelling locally for different reasons 38 participants did our course for the first time Phil Corker being a VI-guide for Nazia Parveen There was representatives from 35 clubs - the most significant being Davenport Runners - the club that both Calum and Lynsey belong to (with 36 representatives logging times and also pushing their club run count over the 1,000 run count for the first time – only the 5th club to reach that milestone at Burnage) Calum and Lynsey with some of our Davenport Runner club members Well done to the 2 participants that did parkrun for the first time – these were Christina McNally and Owen Tregarskis Owen was also our only participant in the 80-84 age category – which goes to show that you are never too old to do your first parkrun We also had 41 volunteers on the day – the 2nd biggest volunteer count in the 10 years Burnage has been going Each parkrun event relies on the volunteers and we were grateful for the team that came together this weekend If ever you are in a position where you would like to volunteer it is well worth looking at our volunteer roster – which shows where we have spaces for the next few weeks: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/burnage/futureroster/ This brings me nicely to those that volunteered for the first time Hoping you all enjoyed your volunteering experience and will do this again at some point Well done to those that reached the podium I can only say that I was completely overwhelmed – not only by the kind words and generosity from people there on the day (some coming quite some distance to be there from Merseyside and Humberside!) but especially Lindsey Farrelly and the volunteer team on the day that were able to put the event together Lynsey and everyone who took part were extremely thankful and blessed to be able to continue with their weekly Saturday morning parkrun journey Calum with parkrun Uber-tourist Graham Holland and September 10th was my 46th occasion my barcode has been scanned at Burnage So what other achievements should I focus on now Well I’m only 3 volunteer stints away from doing my 100th Burnage volunteer stint I have some way to go before achieving my next major official parkrun milestone What is more achievable soon is reaching 100 different parkrun events for participation (being on 86 parkrun venues) I want to help Lynsey get to 100 volunteering locations A massive thank you for everyone who made it on Saturday and thank you to all who have become a part of mine and Lynsey’s parkrun journey along the way The event was made possible by 41 volunteers: Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Burnage parkrun Results Page Since then 7,908 participants have completed 47,664 parkruns covering a total distance of 238,320 km A total of 875 individuals have volunteered 6,855 times my son and I are experienced tourists and have visited over 150 different parkrun venues over the years we've been parkrunning and today we received a lovely warm welcome from the community at Burnage Stockport for what can be described as a chilly and for the recent weather nip in the air on a Saturday morning that the volunteer team experienced (more on them later) We drove from Nottingham this morning to experience this lovely parkrun venue Some of you reading this will probably be thinking why this venue we were completing one of the running achievement challenges today which is completing 20 venues beginning with a 'B' and one venue with a 'Q' As the symbol of Manchester is a bee it seemed only appropriate to choose this city Our choice was also made even easier by knowing TeamBurrelli and thus their home run became the de facto number one it's always great to state some history of the parkrun and the surrounding area Stockport is on the south bank of the river Mersey and is famous for hat production The current course iteration was designed by a non-runner and let me tell you they did a grand job it started with an out and back along the river Mersey on a tarmac path before doing two large laps through a wooded area on trail there is a little sting in the tail with a set of steps which I had a funny thought on the second time my thighs were literally burning with lactic acid maybe that's why it's called Burnage There was also plenty of room to overtake other participants on your second lap We both really enjoyed our visit and the course was very much to our liking I would like to give a big thank you to the amazing volunteer team of 30 today without them these events wouldn't go ahead and both myself and my son were tourist volunteers today Just a thought for any first time readers and regulars of the run report It took me a year and a half after my first run before I volunteered and I've returned many times since as I've enjoyed so often being a high viz hero For me I love giving something back to parkrun that has given me so much over the last decade We received a fabulous welcome from today's RDs Toni Slater gave us a very informative first timers welcome The marshals were fab every one of them offering supportive cheer as we made our way around the course – which is always great to see and whilst panting my way around I tried to reciprocate with a thank you If you would like to join the team for a stint the core team would love to welcome a few more faces to complete the team If you've never volunteered before all the roles are easy training is provided and more importantly I can speak from experience it is great fun!! So onto the results stats – Today there were 202 finishers' today There were 2 participants who were brand new to parkrun welcome and Burnage would love to see you again in the future take it from me your Saturday mornings will never be the same again We are regular tourists and it was great to see some other Cowell club members wearing their cow buffs milestone shirts with the many venues they've visited printed on We had visitors from a few other places we came from Nottingham and others were from Huddersfield This is for us another fantastic part of parkrun the chance to visit other parts of the UK and have a great time in a park with other like minded people A look around Burnage today it was noticeable that other sporting events take place around parkrun as Rugby was about to start It's been a great morning and this is an event that you should definitely visit if you get the chance Also it would be remiss of us not to mention that one of the core features of parkrun is participation and during my run today with my son it was really nice to see such a spread of ages taking part all parkrun age ranges were represented up to and including 75-79 after being First Finisher for the first time Another key feature of a parkrun morning for the authors is the parkrunfaff and what a lovely café in the rugby club a few minutes walk from the finish please remember to hand your finish token back in after its been scanned as a few went awry today and they are needed for subsequent events were not going to pass up the chance to have a brew and a catch up with TeamBurrelli Until the next time we visit the fabulous Burnage parkrun many thanks for allowing us to join the volunteer team today and for making us most welcome it was great to chat with the volunteer team before and after the parkrun one of the authors has been grinning from ear to ear all day as he ran his fastest ever parkrun and collected his first ever first finish position See you at the start for Event #524 and DFYB The 90-home scheme was a scaled back version of a larger proposal refused in 2020 The proposed redevelopment of the former Kingsway Business Centre into apartments has been rejected by the city council amid concerns the scheme would have a detrimental impact on the character of the area Superstan Property lodged plans to build three blocks on the 2.7-acre site off Kingsway in Burnage last year The scheme was a scaled-back version of an earlier application for 147 flats in a building that reached 10 storeys at its highest point was refused by Manchester City Council and then dismissed at appeal Superstan’s revised scheme has met refusal despite being four storeys shorter at its highest point and comprising a third of the number of flats As well as claiming the scheme amounted to “overdevelopment” Manchester City Council cited a lack of off-street parking as a reason for refusal The application’s reference number with Manchester City Council is 130098/OO/2021 Manchester City Council are stuck in the past with their suburban planning decisions “Harm the character of the area” It’s a dual carriageway with a petrol station attached “Lack of parking?” Is this 1972 Manchester’s suburbs and outer towns are beginning to look like another continent to the city centre For Manchester to thrive it needs to interact with its hinterland in the way London does New housing will spoil the character of the area but an ugly piece of brownfield doesn’t The scheme doesn’t look great but I think the refusal points are weak The whole area between the Mauldeth Road Rail Station and Kingsway could do with high density regeneration and creation of a local centre – maybe not enough vision shown with this scheme The council thinks a medium density housing development has no place next to a train station despite this being urban planning rule 101 The same council thinks this housing development would be detrimental to the character of the area – hell would that be to the industrial and commercial buildings or the busy highway It’s not like this is a quiet country village “Anonymous” – No where has the council said no to higher density in fact the previous appeal dismissal (which no doubt you have digested at great length) says this site can accommodate it and that is recognised That does not mean that the people of Burnage have to put up with a 6 storey building with sub-standard parking If the refusal points are weak then the developer will be successful at appeal If the developer had listened to the Council and stuck to 3 or 4 storeys then he’d be straddling his JCB right now having a whale of a time Shame you didn’t actually use the right drawings @TC – these are the visuals included in the planning application Which ones do you think we should have used Who has to “put up” with a 6 storey building It’s just a building – what’s the worst it can do to you The best it can do is offer plenty of much-needed homes within a short walk of a train station Surely that’s a much better outcome than some self-interested NIMBYs worrying about the view from their porch I live 5 mins walk away from this location and I’d have supported the revised application The original application was a silly height but the new one is acceptable and will vastly improve the site and surrounding area Being right next to Maudelth Rd Station (trains take 8mins to reach Mcr Picc from here) lots of people will forgo cars Just across kingsway there is vacant burnage cricket ground Lack of adequate parking would be a major issue I so wish that the first hurdle a developer had to clear was to produce something that was attractive I don’t care how ugly the current site is any proposed building should inject some beauty into an area This proposal is so bog standard and lacking in architectural merit that it is quite an insult to the people of Burnage @Julia – perhaps try using the revised ones Hi TC! I’ve gone into planning application 130098/OO/2021 and these are the visuals included and there are no revised plans mentioned. If there is a revised image that you have acccess to, please send it to me at julia@placenorthwest.co.uk I’m always happy to make the images in our stories as accurate as possible just not one that allows developers to get away with overdevelopment and mediocrity Yesterday saw 182 participants and 29 hi-vis heroes We welcomed 8 brand new parkrunners and 31 tourists Richard Ingram and Jacqueline Cheetham joined the 25 club and Jonathan Barrett ran his 50th parkrun Not an official milestone but worthy of a mention as she's a Burnage legend Milestones are a great way to show your progress at parkrun and there are opportunities to purchase commemorative kit when you hit 25 This works in exactly the same way for volunteers and we were delighted that regular volunteer Anne has volunteered in a variety of roles at Burnage and is always willing to come and lend a hand shout support and always has a massive smile her dog Marin who was rocking her custom made hi-vis I love reflecting on the stats which demonstrate just how many people have experienced the joy of Burnage parkrun Nearly 9,500 people have participated at Burnage and nearly 1000 people have volunteered there since we started in 2012 So pop 9th September in your diaries for our 500th event celebrations - more details over the coming weeks As Sir Richard Leese stands down as leader we reveal more about the infighting that led to Monday's exclusive about a suspended councillor Already have an account? 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Sign In As Sir Richard Leese stands down as leader, we reveal more about the infighting that led to Monday's exclusive about a suspended councillor legendary SES member retires after 40 yearsLara Leahy Inspector Gerry Burnage had his last day at the Ballina SES on Saturday after 40 years of service to the region 36 of which he served as the Unit Commander Insp Burnage said he started at the SES in 1983 to help the Commander at the time out he says the biggest events were the Lennox Tornado in 2010 which was very lucky and due to the time of day there would have been people on the streets making a different story.” He was also involved in many SES lead developments “I was involved in the design of all the SES vehicles I worked on the general land Rescue Committee “Tsunami planning and developing plans and education for the public.” I asked what happens in the event of a Tsunami There's quite a few people living in that footprint along the east coast.” Scott McLennan provided a more comprehensive list of the inspectors incredible list of achievements in an address to his farewell “It is with a mix of gratitude and admiration that we announce the retirement of Inspector Gerry Burnage Unit Commander of the Ballina NSW SES Unit after an extraordinary 40 years of dedicated service Gerry has been a pillar of strength and resilience consistently demonstrating an unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of our community and Incident Management Team (IMT) operations has been invaluable to the greater Ballina “Gerry's exemplary service has been recognised with numerous prestigious awards “These accolades are a testament to Gerry's exceptional skills and the high regard in which he is held by his peers and the community we extend our deepest appreciation for his tireless service and leadership His legacy will continue to inspire future generations of volunteers We wish Gerry all the best in his well-deserved retirement and future endeavours for your outstanding contribution and unwavering commitment to the NSW SES and the community.” Burnage did point out one fond memory that will endure “I'm very proud of what I started and achieved in the youth cadet program quite a few years ago where we got the school to nominate two students in Years 9 and 10 to participate in the 10-week program Many of those who went through the program took on roles in service to the community “We've had three of them become paramedics a police officer and quite a few went into the services They have all done very well for themselves.” Life after the SES will include “Family time We've got plenty of places we want to go to.” Burnage is looking forward to “going to bed for uninterrupted sleep ‘Because I've been doing road crash rescue for the last 41 years as well It will be nice not to have to worry about going out in the pouring rain in the middle of the night I'll have to get used to sleeping without one eye open and one ear open.” Insp Burnage leaves people with these final words Listen to any advice you get or no storms or floods And clean the gutters out because that's caused a lot of water going into houses!” but like many of us I was feeling the effects of a full working week after the luxury of two Bank Holiday Mondays in a row so this was for sure a tough one to get out of bed for Glorious sunshine beamed through the Rugby Club as all the volunteers gathered he regularly volunteers in a variety of roles at Burnage parkrun We headed down to the start line where we had the privilege of walking along the new path As I walked down the path I thought to myself this path signifies parkrun community spirit It just shows what can be achieved when communities/organisations come together This week 175 people gathered along the start point We hope you enjoyed your 1st run and will be back for more The 1st one is always the hardest but you did it Alongside them representatives of 20 different clubs took part The first finisher this week was Andy Norman in 16:37 and the final person to cross the finish line was tailwalker I love the fact it doesn’t matter whether you have come first or last You have got yourself out of bed and completed a 5k the token sorters who stepped up at the last minute in true parkrun spirit were busy sorting tokens By the end of every event I always think there’s no better way to start the weekend It’s so much more than just a run/jog/walk Not only does it improve overall fitness in the long term but the wonders it does for an individual's mental health confidence and inclusivity is truly priceless We are truly privileged to have such an amazing core team who give up their free time to enable this event to happen as well as all the hi-vis heroes who volunteer week after week where I’m told there will be some big celebrations and reliably informed that there will be cake We are very grateful to the volunteers who made this event happen: Beautiful Burnage parkrun Event number 483 Well this week has certainly kept me on my toes and after a slightly delayed start due to a necessary reshuffle of volunteers (thank you for changing at the last minute those that were affected) of whom 36 were first timers and 37 recorded new Personal Bests Representatives of 27 different clubs took part Arbitrary congratulations to Alasdair McDonald who ran his 300th today and congratulations and thanks to Katherine Cole who completed her 200th Burnage parkrun volunteer today Katherine has now volunteered a staggering 254 times at various parkruns and is well known at Burnage having previously been our Event Director for many years It was lovely to have her back volunteering with us this morning giving our first timers welcome Katherine COLE • Stephen COLE • Gary SIDGWICK • Jane CLARKE • Tony CHAPPELL • Lynsey BURRELL • Martin FORMBY • Mike MARTIN • Bren CHAPPELL • Dawn BOWES • Andy MORGAN • Laura PARKIN • Shariq ABBAS • Jacqueline PANTELI • Lawrie GLOSTER • John HUMPHREYS • George PANTELI • Bev SHAWCROSS • Kathryn GEORGE • Susan COULSON • Joanna GREAVES • John CHEETHAM • Steven TOWNLEY • Richard GARDNER • Adam SMITH • James COLEMAN • Luca WILSON • Wu Hoi CHAN If you'd like to volunteer on Tuesday 16th May between 10am-2pm we are finalising the path improvement works by spreading 20 tonnes of dust on our new path We could really do with some extra hands so if you're free as it's the Great Manchester Run on Sunday Despite the weather forecasters warning us to expect rain and thunderstorms all week we were delighted to be welcomed by sunshine and warm temperatures We are finalising the path improvement works on Tuesday 16 May by spreading 20 tonnes of dust on the new stone path to create a smoother surface This is a task day led by Stockport Council we'll be on site from 10am until 2pm - drop us an email if you require more details A number of parkruns have had their Facebook pages suspended Please therefore opt in to get volunteer emails from us so we can communicate with you if our event facebook page gets suspended If you are thinking about volunteering soon We have been struggling to fill the rota and we are relying heavily on our DofE volunteers to get us through so it would be great to welcome a few new faces Our DofE superstars were brilliant again today - all 9 of them These youngsters get up early and volunteer for us without complaint pleasant and have mastered every role we have asked them to do Oliver and Rohit who have all completed their 13 weeks volunteering with us I am lucky that I get to write their DofE report which allows me to celebrate what wonderful youngsters these guys are We welcomed Charlie who started his DofE journey with us today It was also lovely to welcome some first time adult volunteers as well as some regular faces too Every single volunteer helped facilitate 190 people to participate in Burnage parkrun today Of those 190 we welcomed 4 people who were doing their first ever parkun and 22 visitors who were running at Burnage for the first time Ollie was our first male finisher and Lucy was our first female finisher 28 people were celebrating achieving a new personal best - well done Alexander and Quentin joined the junior 10 club and John was running his 350th run - brilliant effort We love our parkrun community and the atmosphere this morning was brilliant - we hope you all enjoyed it. Full results are available here