Manchester Day ............ catching the attractions

Yesterday was a great day to be in town.  

The sun shone, the city was buzzing and of course there was so much to see.

Now given that there will be lots of photographs of the parade I shall just feature some from St Ann’s Square.

Amongst the magic show, the singers and fast food, there was the Dante Society’s stall.

I have written about the Societa’ Dante Alighieri already.*

We joined a few months ago and have been impressed by the range of activities on offer.

And yesterday they were offering to teach people how to make pasta.

What I liked, was the large number of children who were engaged in the rolling and cutting of the pasta.

Our friend Bob Amato was there with other members of the society engaged in the fun and amongst the helpers was Bill with his fine pasta hat.

At which point I could slide into the story of Little Italy and the contribution made by the Italian community to Manchester, but then to be fair I would also want to mention the Jewish, Asian, Irish and Chinese communities along with plenty of others, all of whom have brought something unique to the city.

And after all that was the point of the day.

According to the Guardian,  "about 100,000 people gathered to watch the annual Manchester Day parade, which had taken on a special significance in light of last month’s terror attack on the city’s arena.

The 22,000-strong procession was fronted by 22 young people, each bearing a balloon representing one of the 22 victims of the bombing. 

The group held a banner reading 'Manchester remembers 22.05.17' and were followed by uniformed members of the city’s emergency services, honouring their response to the attack.

The parade featured 80 community groups, ranging from the Manchester Chinese Centre to the trans youth group Afternoon Tea and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service. It was watched by the biggest crowd in the event’s history"*

My old friend Sally Dervan was there with the Crossacres Shakers and ttere were groups from Oldham and all over.

All of which made it a good day to remember.

And of course there is still the The Manchester Caribbean Carnival.

"This year’s carnival is again at it’s spiritual home of Alexandra Park, Manchester on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of August 2017.

In 1972 a group of mostly St Kits & Nevis and Trinidadian Eastern Caribbean immigrants decided to throw an impromptu carnival procession through the streets of their Manchester neighbourhood. This is recognised as the first Manchester Caribbean Carnival.

Less than a hundred people were present; but, although small in scale the first ever Manchester carnival was an important moment in the history of black britons and Mancunians.

Manchester carnival has brought caribbean culture to the forefront annually for over 40 years and is the north west’s largest celebration of caribbean music and carnival arts. The carnival is a vibrant celebration of caribbean music, dance, theatre and costume."***

So one down another to come ...... what a wonderful place to live.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; St Ann’s Square, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* Societa’ Dante Alighieri https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Societa%E2%80%99%20Dante%20Alighier

**Manchester Day: 100,000 gather in city centre for parade, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/18/manchester-day-100000-gather-in-city-centre-for-parade

***The Manchester Caribbean Carnival, http://themanchestercarnival.com/ 

Manchester Day June 2016 ............... with a trip into Salford and a night in Chorlton

The procession arrives

Now if you want to show the city off to a friend over from Canada, then you can’t do better than choose Manchester Day.

Susan was keen to see all that Manchester both old and new had to offer.

Not that it stopped there.  

On the Friday night we had brought her back from the city centre to Chorlton and showed her the Horse & Jockey which has been a pub since 1800 and was still brand new when Henry V111 fell in love with Ann Boleyn.

The following day we headed out to Media City, saw the Imperial War Museum from a distance and took in the Lowry.

After all despite Salford being a separate city it shares much of what is a common history with Manchester and has lots to see.

While some still march

From there it was Victoria Station, the Rylands, and Town Hall and of course the procession celebrating Manchester Day.

The bonus was I caught my friend Sally and the Crossacres Shakers doing their bit.

Sadly we missed Castlefield, and Spinnyfields and the Northern Quarter, but ate in Mr Thomas’s on Cross Street.

I rather think Susan might have thought I had set up the whole day's activities in her honour.

I did toy with a fib but in the end decided to be honest and if I am really being totally honest I had forgotten it was on.

In my defence I had been very busy in the week before it happened and on the day was more interested in to trying to pack as much of the "see Manchester & Salford Experience" as I could organise.

Another new Salford Bridge

Time will tell which bit Susan liked most had how the sights matched those of London, the south west and Scotland.

Only today she posted some pictures from across the Scottish border with more of Stonehenge, bits of London and other places still to come.

And on reflection I think the Twin cities did us proud.Not bad for one full day

Location; Manchester.

Pictures; from the day we went into Manchester and Salford, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson