Manchester Proud

“This is the place in the North West of England 

It’s ace, it’s the best and the songs that we sing

From the stands, from our bands set the whole planet shaking 

Our inventions are legends! There’s nowt we can’t make” 

I really didn’t know what to expect when I signed up for a week-long housesit in Manchester. I knew it was a big industrial centre, but that was it. What I discovered was a bustling city proud of its past, present, and future. I came across a poem, This is the Place, written by Tony Walsh, that encapsulates much of what I learned and felt when I was in Manchester so I’m including some quotations.

Industrial City

“And we make summat happen, we can’t seem to help it 

And if you’re looking for history then yes, we’ve a wealth 

But the Manchester way is to make it yourself” 

Visit the Museum of Industry and Science and you discover that Manchester was the home of the first railway station, first computer, first television, the textile industry, the Industrial Revolution, and much, much more.

Fortunately, they didn’t tear down all the red brick warehouses so you can still admire the architecture and get a sense of the immense activity that took place in these buildings. It’s still a happening city. On a short bus ride into the town centre, I passed an enormous Heineken brewery and the high-rise buildings of the University of Manchester, the UK’s second largest university and its largest single-site university.

Multicultural City

“And so this is the place to do business, then dance 

Where go-getters and goal setters know they’ve a chance” 

Manchester’s industrial drive was built on the backs of the slave trade and the rotten working conditions in the textile mills. I suspect that today’s immigrants also face many struggles as they try to establish themselves and make a home. And yet, there were signs of successful integration. I visited Alexandra Park, a very Victorian park, but also the original home of the city’s longstanding Caribbean Festival.

Manchester’s Chinatown is the second largest in the United Kingdom and there were New Year’s celebrations wherever I went in the city.

Creative City

“they’ve covered the cobbles, but they’ll never defeat 

All the dreamers and schemers who still teem through these streets” 

I visited two art galleries and was impressed by the innovative and inclusive programming. The Whitworth Gallery had an exhibit of Islamic textiles that included pieces donated by local residents as well as an exhibit demonstrating the stereotypes in wallpaper design. The gallery was packed with children. School kids were watching a New Year’s Day performance in one gallery; there was a group of mothers and babies who couldn’t yet walk enjoying sensory art experiences, while older children were busy in another gallery. There were wicker picnic baskets full of interesting objects for kids to play with while their family enjoyed a meal in the restaurant.

I participated in a 30-minute guided meditation seated in front of an abstract painting in the Manchester Art Gallery and gained a far greater appreciation for a painting I wouldn’t have bothered to stop and look at if I’d been on my own. Armchairs had been placed in front of all the paintings in this particular exhibit to encourage people to take the time to really explore the artworks.

Both galleries have excellent restaurants, but my favourite was the one at the Whitworth Gallery – a glass box with views over a park in all directions.

The Northern Quarter was filled with street art and an ever-changing display of graffiti.

Strong City

“And that this the place where a Manchester girl 

Name of Emmeline Pankhurst from the streets of Moss Side 

Led a Suffragette City with sisterhood pride” 

There’s a huge shopping centre in the middle of downtown Manchester that was built on the site of an IRA bombing in 1996. 21 years later, 22 people died and over 500 were injured in an ISIS attack on an Ariana Grande concert.

But there is strength in the face of diversity – from Emmeline Pankhurst who helped women win the right to vote, to Enriqueta Rylands who donated a public library to the people of Manchester, deliberately placing it in the centre of the warehouse district and opening it to all, to today’s unsung heroes and heroines.

I really hope I have an opportunity to return to Manchester.