THING OF THE WEEK
COLYMPIAN… Last weekend, Colin Sinclair completed a double marathon in the name of charity. The Sciontec chief executive is one of the best-known faces in the Liverpool development community and took time out from the day job to raise more than ÂŁ5,000 for six children’s charities, one in each of the city region’s six boroughs. Sinclair’s run took him from Liverpool to Wirral, Halton, St Helens, Sefton, and Knowsley along a 52-mile route, which took in some of the area’s most notable structures including Anfield, Shakespeare North, and The Dream. The route ended back in Liverpool, mercifully close to the city’s largest hospital. Well done Colin!
Part of the town hall will soon be revealed once more. Credit: via MCC
ROOF… Normally when a roof comes off something we are talking literally in the context of a named storm or a figuratively, when England score in a major tournament.
This week, the roof came off Manchester Town Hall but the weather was quite mild and England’s 5-0 stroll past a meek Serbia hardly got the pulse racing.
But the removal of the temporary scaffold roof from the town hall is arguably a more seismic event than Storm Whoever decapitating a house or Jude Bellingham scoring an overhead kick to save the Three Lions from embarrassment at the most recent Euros. It marks a significant step towards the finish line for a project whose cost and duration have, at times, defied credulity. We will all be happy when the town hall – a magnificent asset to the city – is open again and we can all stop talking about it.
Credit: Flickr user Elliot Brown https://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/ via CC BY 2.0, bit.ly/48DrpiO
NO WAY… Bury Council has bowed to local pressure and rowed back on plans to introduce a one-way system in affluent Ramsbottom. Residents opposed en masse plans that they said would increase traffic in the town and reduce footfall from visitors due to the “complexity and hassle of the one-way system”.
A petition opposing the scheme gathered 1,400 signatures, which is about 8% of the population of Ramsbottom. Leader Cllr Eamonn O’Brien said the council had listened to the strength of feeling that the plans sparked. You could say the plans are now dead and Buryed.
How the Upside Down House might look. Credit: Elliot Voilmy via Unsplash
UPSIDE DOWN… Blackpool is set to become the latest location to get an Upside Down House. The attraction, which does pretty much exactly what is says on the tin, can already be found in 20 UK locations including Liverpool and Newcastle and will be arriving on Blackpool Prom soon. The inverted abode will be located in the gap between the Sandcastle indoor waterpark and South Pier. The upturned dwelling will serve as an apt metaphor for the council’s work around Central Drive where, armed with ÂŁ90m from government, the plan is to turn the housing market on its head.
Not a flight of fancy if its flights you fancy. Credit: PNW
ON TARGET… Oasis-mania this summer saw the former Iberica unit in Spinningfields transformed into a merchandise Mecca for lovers of the Manchester band. Now that the bucket hats have all been sold and Oasis embarks on the Central and South American leg of its reunion tour, a new use for the unit is required. Step forward… darts.
Target, which makes equipment for the sport that has been reenergised of late by a teenager from Warrington, is taking over the unit for a limited time only this month offering “an immersive darts experience” that will presumably involve being shouted at by a crowd of drunkards from the Oast House next door.
