Tag: Macclesfield

How to spend a weekend in the Cheshire town of Macclesfield, home of Joy Division

To east Cheshire for a travel guide to Macclesfield, the market town with a musical heritage.

My favourite part of my journey was a tour of sites associated with the singer and lyricist, Ian Curtis, of the band Joy Division.

Read this extract as a taster of the feature:

Macclesfield has become a pilgrimage for music fans and the mural of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, painted by the Manchester-based artist Akse [pictured above], has firmly put Macclesfield on the tourism map.

Curtis lived in the town and died by suicide at his home on Barton Street in 1980. Local independent tourist guide, Trevor Stokes (email [email protected], or call 07446 771752) runs a tour of associated sites.

Throughout the two-hour tour (by donation), Trevor interweaves the narrative about Curtis’ life with his own family story, both growing up on local estates in the Seventies.

The most moving stop is Curtis’ simple grave beside Macclesfield Crematorium, one of the locations featured in Anton Corbijn’s 2007 film Control.

The tour ends at Proper Sound, a record store and cafe with a collection of Joy Division memorabilia.

Read the full story via the iNewspaper: Macclesfield: the market town with a community pub and musical pedigree

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The best places to celebrate Cheshire Day across my home region

To mark Cheshire Day, I was commissioned by Marketing Cheshire to write a guest blog post for their public-facing website for visitors.

The blog includes references to some of the attractions across the region from Chester via Crewe to Macclesfield with its former Art Deco cinema turned food court [pictured above].

Here’s a taster of the text:

March 30 marks the date the county was given its own Charter of Liberties by King Edward I in 1300 — in effect its very own Magna Carta.

Wiley Cheshire had managed to agree its own, separate charter to the 1215 document, designed to prevent the king from exploiting his power, thanks to Ranulf le Meschin, the hard-bargaining, third Earl of Chester.

And, while the exact date is subject to some debate, it reflects the long history of Cheshire as a place of national status.

Read the full post via the Marketing Cheshire blog

I’m available for content writing and gust blog posts.