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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
She'd probably be far too modest to mention it if she was working this week, but your usual Mancunian Way editor, Beth Abbit, won a prestigious journalism award yesterday.
Beth scooped the Feature Writer of the Year gong at the Regional Press Awards, while fellow reporter Ste Topping won Scoop of the Year for his great work on exposing the Awaab Ishak social housing scandal. Meanwhile Chief Manchester United writer Samuel Luckhurst won Sports Journalist of the Year. Well done to all!
I'm in the Mancunian Way hot seat today, with Beth still celebrating and Adam having a day off, and the first story is one extremely close to my heart.
Football's forgotten tragedy
On this day 77 years ago, 33 football fans went to watch a Bolton Wanderers match and never returned home. Hundreds more were injured and thousands who were there will never have forgotten what they witnessed and experienced.
At the time, the Burnden Park disaster was the greatest tragedy in British football history and it brought about the Moelwyn Hughes report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd size. However, outside of Bolton, the events of March 9 1946 are rarely spoken about.
So today, I think it is only right to start the Mancunian Way by taking a moment to remember the 33.
Also in today's newsletter we will be looking at the divisive way that Stockport Council have raked in almost £1 million in an eight-month period and discovering the reason that one of rock music's most famous managers ended up visiting a North Manchester day centre.
Bus gate-gate
I have a confession to make. While I’ve never been done for speeding, I have been stung by inadvertently turning into a bus lane in an unfamiliar area and been forced to cough up money as a punishment.
I’m clearly not alone as it has been revealed that almost £900,000 has been paid to Stockport Council in ‘bus gate’ fines, in an eight-month period.
Stockport reporter Chris Slater spoke to the furious motorist who submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the local authority after he was caught out, when his sat-nav sent him down the stretch of Heaton Lane that has been banned to general traffic since February of last year.
Philip Brooks, 49, accused the town hall of running a ‘cynical and calculated money-raising scam’ which ‘targets innocent motorists.’ There are two yellow signs on the A6 that say ‘no through traffic on Heaton Lane - Camera enforcement live' but one of these is partially obscured by the traffic lights and Philip said they rely on drivers, many of whom may not be from the area, knowing the name of the street.
“As a driver for over 30 years and a Stockport resident all my life, I understand road signs and I know Stockport's road layouts pretty well,” he said.
“Yet I didn't know where Heaton Lane was despite having used it for many years to access the M60, going to the mini-roundabout then up to the Pyramid roundabout. I canvassed opinion with friends and acquaintances and let me assure you, none of them knew Heaton Lane.
“How do the council expect the thousands of road users from outside the Stockport area, whose sat navs send them through the bus lane, to know Heaton Lane?
“If they think someone from outside the Stockport area should know where Heaton Lane is, on a sign 100 yards away from the junction in question, on a dark rainy morning? The answer is ‘no’.
“I was later told there was a bailout on a side street to the left, but before I knew it I was already through the bus gate, as I was totally unsuspecting of any bus lane.
“It is just absurd. An absolute nonsense. It's the main artery into Manchester, serving Stockport and Derbyshire. How could someone for example from Buxton know that Heaton Lane is situated where it is? This is a cynical and calculated money-raising scam and targets innocent motorists.”
Stockport Council refuted Philip’s complaint and a spokesman said that Heaton Lane is currently home to the town centre’s temporary bus station. They added that it will also be the key route in and out of the new multi-million-pound bus interchange when it is completed so it is ‘essential’ it is kept clear of traffic.
'A refusal to recognise the devastating consequences of abuse for some of Rochdale’s children'
A dramatic u-turn has been made in a bid to rename a street in Rochdale after a former council leader.
Richard Farnell was found to have lied under oath to the national sex abuse inquiry by claiming to have known nothing about the historic Knowl View abuse scandal.
Mr Farnell always strongly denied misleading the inquiry, until his death in 2021.
Rochdale Council put forward plans to honour his memory by naming a new street - on the site of the old Kirkholt Working Men’s Club - ‘Richard Farnell Avenue’, and a sign had already been put up.
However, this drew the ire of Richard Scorer, the specialist abuse lawyer who represented victims at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IISCA). He told local democracy reporter Nick Statham: “The fact is that Farnell lied to the inquiry in an attempt to cover up responsibility for the most appalling abuse of children.
"What this memorial request demonstrates is what I have long suspected, which is that some councillors in Rochdale simply do not understand, or refuse to recognise, the seriousness of what happened at Knowl View and the devastating consequences of abuse for some of Rochdale’s children.”
A council spokesman said the authority was aware of the ‘sensitivity around the issue’ and would now not be naming the street after the late councillor. “Over the past decade Rochdale council has done more than any other local authority in the country to detect, disrupt and prevent child sexual abuse, they said.
"For several years survivors of child sexual abuse have also been provided with ongoing support through our adult social care services in what was one of the first council programmes of its kind. This work has been praised by Richard Scorer and was strongly supported by Richard Farnell. However, we recognise the sensitivity around this issue and after some reflection have decided to remove the sign."
An X Factor judge and the King of Rock and Roll walk into a day centre...
It sounds like the start to a very surreal joke and a day centre in Crumpsall may be the last place you expect to see a former X Factor judge (or anyone resembling the long dead King of Rock and Roll) but Sharon Osbourne swapped LA for The Nicky Alliance Community Centre to help celebrate her auntie’s 100th birthday.
Sharon’s late father, the Hollywood impresario Don Arden was Eileen Summers’ brother. Eileen celebrated reaching a century in style, being entertained by an Elvis impersonator and receiving a birthday card from King Charles III.
As well as her famous niece, Eileen was also visited by The High Sheriff of Greater Manchester and the Chief Rabbi.
Taking to Twitter, Sharon shared some photographs and wrote: “Celebrating, the queen, my Aunty Eileen’s 100th Birthday!”
Lost pubs of Manchester
Nostalgia writer Lee Grimsditch has taken a walk down memory lane to remember some of Manchester’s favourite pubs from the 1980s and 90s.
Some have been taken over and remain pubs under new names – while others have been completely repurposed or even demolished.
You can see if your old favourite made his gallery here.
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Weather etc
Friday: Yellow weather warning for snow in place. 6C.
Road closures: M67 Eastbound entry slip road closed due to long-term roadworks at J2 St Annes Road (Denton). Until 1st December 2025.
A575 Walkden Road Northbound closed due to electricity work from Kingsway to Edge Fold Crescent. Until 17th March.
A669 Lees Road (Oldham) closed in both directions due to water main work between Cross Street and and Moorhey Street. Until 15th March.
Trivia question: What part of Manchester did Sharon Osbourne's famous dad Don Arden grow up in?
Manchester headlines
- Hospital forced to close theatres after ceiling collapsed: Theatres at a Manchester hospital were closed for over a month after a ceiling collapsed, an MP has said. The claims come as Afzal Khan demanded answers over the progress of an ‘urgently needed’ revamp. The government pledged to rebuild the crumbling North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) four years ago and the trust which runs it, alongside Manchester City Council have drawn up plans for a huge redevelopment but say they are still 'awaiting a decision from central government' on the scheme.
- Increased patrols around Didsbury Mosque: Police have increased patrols around Didsbury Mosque amid fear of attacks by 'right-wing elements', after it was criticised in the third and final report of the public inquiry into the bombing at Manchester Arena. Last week's third and final report of the public inquiry into the 2017 bombing, which claimed 22 lives, concluded Didsbury Mosque was not an ‘active factor or cause’ in the radicalisation of suicide bomber Salman Abedi or brother Hashem. But leaders of the Burton Road venue were guilty of ‘wilful blindness’ to highly-charged political debate at the mosque about the conflict raging in Libya before the atrocity, inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders concluded.
- Goodbye Oi Polloi: Iconic Northern quarter independent shop Oi Polloi is set to close and its owners - Bury-based retail giant JD Sports - are planning a rebrand for the premises. Click here for the full story.
Worth a read
The stretch of the Rochdale canal that goes from Aytoun Street to Dale Street is notorious due to high levels of drug dealing, ‘lewd’ behaviour and muggings in years gone by.
However the Canal and Rivers Trust have temporarily transformed the area - known officially as the undercroft - with a creative light installation.
I was lucky enough to go down with our photographer Anthony Moss, earlier this week and this gallery shows how a few lights can change the whole mood of a place.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. Adam will be back with you tomorrow. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email adam.maidment@reachplc.com.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Cheetham Hill
