THING OF THE WEEK

ANIMAL MAGIC… Much-loved Chester Zoo, consistently rated the best zoo in Britain, raised £1m in 24 hours after it issued a statement claiming it faced extinction due to lost revenue from the lockdown. There will be readers familiar with the after-hours tours of Chester Zoo that followed the annual Hill Dickinson Developers Conference in summers past. Here’s to hoping it can happen again. Meanwhile, other wildlife attractions have reopened around the North West such as Tatton Park in Knutsford and Martin Mere Wetland Centre in Burscough.

MESSAGE… A week of protest in the face of racist violence by police in the US was met with deep sympathy across the world. In Manchester’s Northern Quarter, a tribute to George Floyd appeared in Stevenson Square, created by street artist Akse. In Liverpool, the council lit civic buildings in purple and is hosting an online vigil on Saturday afternoon, the city no stranger to fighting for justice, said Mayor Anderson.

SLIPPED MOORINGS… There was an almost audible sigh of frustration from Stephen Young, executive director of environment at Lancashire County Council, as he shared a picture of a boat discarded by a fly tipper on a bridleway. Council workers “have better things to do right now”. Quite.

CRACK ON… Never one to lack drive and determination, Mike Ingall’s Allied London has been busy cracking the whip on the next stages of the developments at the former ITV Granada site next to Allied’s Spinningfields. There are 200 construction workers on site and activity is back to pre-March levels at Manchester Goods Yard, the 400,000 sq ft office that Lendlease is delivering for Allied which Booking.com will occupy at Enterprise City, due for completion in 2021. Ingall said the “ability to make the façade and other elements…off-site” and “contingency planning for a no-deal Brexit meant 80% of the materials had been stored in the UK” which “allowed us to increase the speed of construction as many others fall behind.”

MAPPING CHANGE… Liberal Democrat candidate for Ancoats & Beswick, Alan Good, has created an extensive map of his proposed changes to road layout for social distancing around the narrow cobbled streets of Ancoats. When elections return in 2021, having been delayed a year due to the virus, it will be interesting to see if the safer streets movement is still deemed a vote-winner on the campaign trail. Here’s hoping.

FAREWELL… Never become the story. So the journalism and PR adage goes. Well if we can have a PR’s kittens in THING last week we can find space to bid a heartfelt farewell and happy pasturing to SKV Communications. Erstwhile supporters of media folk and friends of Place from our inception, we wish Andy Spinoza and all his staff the best for the future when the company ceases trading at the end of this month.