THING OF THE WEEK
SUFFRAGETTE CITY… It’s 100 years since (some) women got to vote for the first time in a UK General Election, and Greater Manchester is celebrating with the unveiling of not one, but two, statues of suffragettes who led the Votes for Women movement. In St Peter’s Square, thousands of people gathered as a larger-than-life statue of Emmeline Pankhurst was revealed, while in Oldham, local woman Annie Kenney is being memorialised. For those caught unawares in the city centre this morning it may have felt like they’d stepped into a time machine, as part of the statue celebrations saw hundreds march through Manchester recreating the historic Votes for Women protest.
Image by @Frances552 on Twitter
FESTIVE SINGING… In a quest for a paperless world, companies are finding increasingly varied ways to share their festive cheer with clients and contacts. Top marks for effort go to Civic Engineers, for these daily installments of their very own version of The 12 Days of Christmas. It’s no mean feat getting all your staff on board for a singalong (not everyone can be expected to be as enthusiastic as the rabble-rousers at the Norfox Christmas do), so well done and Merry Christmas!
ROW, ROW, ROW… The future of one of Liverpool’s most significant historic vessels has been safeguarded for the next three years thanks to a £75,000 donation from Peel Ports. The Daniel Adamson Preservation Society, a volunteer group which led the £5m restoration project of the ‘Daniel Adamson’ Steam tug-tender will use the money for a long-term legacy project committed to teaching others about the vessel and its ties to the area. Known as the ‘Danny’, the vessel is the oldest surviving steam-powered tug to be built on the Mersey, and was designed to tow long strings of barges from the inland towns of Cheshire and convey cargo to and from the Potteries to the Port of Liverpool.
METROLINK MADNESS PART II… Last week saw videos of a tram bulging at the seams given a push by onlookers when it got wedged on the platform at Brooklands. Even once under way on the Metrolink, there’s no guarantee you’ll get very far. The festive period can be a fraught time for all, and perhaps this driver was following their SatNav a little too diligently when they ended up on tramlines rather than tarmac.
