Tag: Manchester

I visited the loneliest railway station in Britain. Here’s what I found.

All alone at Denton Station; image: Paul Cooper Photography WWW.PCOOPERPHOTO.COM.

To Denton, Greater Manchester, to ride the ghost train.

The station, located on the Stalybridge-Stockport line in Greater Manchester was last week named as the loneliest railway station in Britain — there’s just one return service per week.

I joined a handful of rail enthusiasts and insouciant day-trippers at the weekend to ride the cult service.

Here’s a taster of my feature.

The weekly train is known as a parliamentary service, a statutory requirement to avoid official procedures to terminate the service.

The line, dating from the mid 1800s, survived the Beeching Report of 1963, a series of cuts to restructure the then nationalised railway system.

But it was shunted into a railway siding after the re-routing of TransPennine Express in 1989.

All aboard the ghost train; image: Paul Cooper Photography WWW.PCOOPERPHOTO.COM.

“It provokes a lot of interest for railway nostalgia,” explains train guard Stephen Hughes.

“Passenger numbers are often boosted by regular rail-heritage events along the line.”

The next service departs in one week’s time.

Read the full article via Telegraph Travel, My trip to Denton, Britain’s loneliest railway station.

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Jodrell Bank: travel content for the Boundless magazine centenary issue

Boundless is the magazine for nearly a quarter of a million members of Boundless, the travel, motoring and leisure club for the public sector.

The latest issue celebrated the centenary of the organisation and I contributed some travel features, exploring sites of major events over the decades — now turned tourist attractions.

One of them was Jodrell Bank [pictured above]. Read more …

When the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik One satellite in 1957, it lit the blue touchpaper for the international space race.

This paved the way for America’s Apollo space programme and fuelled cold-war tensions between Russia and the West.

But the new world order also made an unlikely hero of a science-loving boffin at a rural Cheshire outpost.

Sir Bernard Lovell founded Jodrell Bank after WWII to pioneer work on radar.

By 1950, his team had detected the nebula in Andromeda and, as the space race intensified, Jodrell’s landmark Lovell Telescope was charged with tracking Russian cosmonauts.

Today that Grade I-listed telescope sits at the heart of the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, the observatory and science park set amid Cheshire farmland.

Jodrell Bank has come a long way since its post-war origins, earning a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list and hosting the annual Bluedot music festival, but it remains true to Sir Bernard’s space-race vision.

Read more at Boundless, March/April 2023.

How to discover hidden Manchester on an alternative city tour

I’m always on the look out for an alternative city walking tour.

It’s a great way to see a city in a new light and gives me with inspiration to help design my own themed tours of my home city of Chester.

I was introduced recently to Hayley Flynn, whose Skyliner alternative walking tours of Manchester are inspired by the city’s hidden heritage.

My interview with Hayley is in today’s Guardian Saturday magazine as part of the Locals Guide To … series.

It coincides with the 30-year anniversary this year of the renaissance of city’s Northern Quarter, stretching between Piccadilly and Victoria trains stations.

The council first commissioned the artist-in-residence, Liam Curtin, in 1992 to create art to trigger organic growth in the area.

The tour includes the Tib Street public-art trail with the poem Flags by Lemn Sissay set into the pavement, and the wall murals telling stories of the traders from the old Smithfield Market.

Hayley says:

“I also keep uncovering snapshots of leftover history around here, such as the original mosaic-tile sign of the old ice-cream parlour on Port Street.”

I also asked Hayley about her favourite nightlife spots and she recommends the bar YES on Charles Street for its alternative karaoke night in the downstairs karaoke dungeon.

“My go-to karaoke tune? Jesus, He Knows Me by Genesis.”

Read the full feature here: A Local’s Guide to Manchester.

More about Sykliner.

How to spend a weekend in Manchester for the International Festival

*Map via The i Paper

The Manchester International Festival is now under way across the northern-powerhouse city.

If you’re planning a visit, then you might just find my guide to what’s new and interesting around Manchester useful.

Amongst the highlights is the exhibition Use Hearing Protection: the early years of Factory Records at The Science and Industry Museum.

It celebrates the pioneering record label, home to Joy Division and a catalyst for Manchester’s cultural renaissance.

Plus there’s a new afternoon tea at The Refuge, attached to the new Kimpton Clocktower Hotel.

It’s a spoil-yourself end to a Live Forever weekend in Manchester.

Read the full story in this weekend’s i Paper, Manchester travel guide.