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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello and Eid Mubarak,
After weeks of fasting and reflection many Muslims will mark the end of Ramadan today and celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
Platt Fields Park was filled with people for the annual Eid in The Park prayers this morning. Rami Mwamba was there to see it and reports ‘lots of happy and excited faces’, hugs and selfie sticks emerged after prayers were finished.
On to the rest of the news. We'll be looking at the tenants battling mould and damp, learning about Manchester's oldest area and looking forward to Record Store Day in today's newsletter.
But first, some news from Westminster.
Raab C. Exit
Angela Rayner says, perhaps with a degree of sarcasm, that she’s ‘looking forward’ to going head-to-head with the new Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden in the Commons.
“Looking forward to the next Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions, assuming he gets that far. The track record’s not exactly been great,” she tweeted this afternoon.
The Deputy Labour leader faced off against the now former deputy Dominic Raab a few times, including on an infamous occasion when he winked at her.
And the Asthon-under-Lyne MP certainly didn’t hold back when speaking about his resignation to BBC News today. She told BBC News Mr Raab should ‘never have been put in a position of leadership where he could bully staff who are trying to do their best by our country’.
Mr Raab’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary today follows a damning bullying inquiry that found he acted in an intimidating and aggressive way with officials.
Adam Tolley KC’s investigation published on Friday also concluded Mr Raab engaged in an ‘abuse or misuse of power’ that ‘undermines or humiliates’ while foreign secretary. Mr Raab’s conduct in the department had a “significant adverse effect” on one colleague and he was also found to have been ‘intimidating’ to staff by criticising ‘utterly useless’ work while he was justice secretary.
In his less than contrite resignation letter, Mr Raab criticised the official report into bullying allegations made against him claiming that ‘setting the threshold for bullying so low’ creates a ‘dangerous precedent’. He also accused ‘committed officials’ of trying to force him out of the Cabinet.
After spending the night agonising over whether to sack his key ally, Rishi Sunak accepted Mr Raab’s resignation with ‘great sadness’.
Plans to transform 'unloved' historic city centre site
Do you know the most historic part of Manchester? It is of course Castlefield, in a spot off Liverpool Road, where you can find the remains of a Roman fort.
As Joseph Timan reports, the historic city centre spot was home to the Roman fort of Mamucium where the settlement of Manchester was founded in AD 79. A reconstruction of the fort's North Gate now stands on the site of the original stone gateway which was uncovered during a dig in the early 1980s.
Plans for a multi-million pound transformation of the 2,000-year-old birthplace of our city have been in the works for years - but were derailed by the pandemic. Now, the Castlefield Forum has resubmitted plans to revamp the public green space, new lighting, a new pathway, replacing broken and muddy paths and removing some fencing after planning permission expired in 2020.
But hopes of a revamp come with a hefty price tag. Castlefield Forum chair Calum McGowan estimates the project will cost £3m. “Our long-term mission is to transform this space from being unloved into something everybody's really proud of. The hard work starts again now,” he says.
A masterplan for the Roman Gardens was developed by architects BDP as part of the project - which began in 2010. If the new application is approved, an archaeological survey of the site will be undertaken as soon as possible.
The Roman Road which runs through the centre of the site would be resurfaced with a 'time-line feature' created, raising awareness and educating visitors of its heritage. A community area including grow boxes, a timber stage and space for seating would also be created and managed by the Castlefield Forum. A rain garden, trees and Roman-inspired wildflowers would be planted as part of the plans.
Fundraising is taking place but the group is also seeking help, which you can offer by emailing info@ourcastlefield.co.uk.
The flat where rain comes in 'like a tap'
Reporter Stephen Topping - who was the first journalist to report on problems with damp and mould at the Rochedale estate where Awaab Ishak died - has this week been talking to housing association tenants in Tameside.
There he spoke to Karina Lowe-Hogan, who has to keep all her food in plastic bags because otherwise it will go mouldy.
She rents her one-bed flat in Hyde, from Jigsaw Homes and says she has experienced problems with damp and mould since moving in three years ago. Her GP believes mould is affecting her health and her dog's vet thinks the conditions could have contributed to her dog’s pneumonia.
“I've got nowhere else to go,” Karina says. “I've said to my sister it's at the point where I would rather just end the tenancy and have nowhere to stay. That sounds more ideal than living here.”
Stephen saw black spots of mould and brown damp marks inside the house and floorboards that appear to be damaged by moisture. Jigsaw say they have tried to access the property to carry out repairs.
Other tenants Stephen spoke to on the estate claimed water was seeping into the walls from outside and leading to harmful mould in their homes. Karina says when it rains heavily ‘it's like a tap, it just comes through’.
Karina says she has had issues with her chest, has attended A&E with a severe cough and suffers rashes on her skin. A letter from her GP, to be passed onto Jigsaw, says she 'does in fact need to move'. She now sleeps in the living room to avoid mould in the bedroom and counts the cost of replacing items due to mould at around £4,000.
Jigsaw Homes Group say the safety and health of residents is a priority and apologised to Karina. They say they are working with her to try and undertake repairs.
You can read the full piece here.
Cop facing jail for dangerous driving on 999 call which left boy paralysed
A police officer is facing a possible jail sentence after a jury convicted her of causing serious injury to a boy of 15 while driving dangerously on a 999 call. PC Sarah De Meulemeester, 26, topped 61mph on 30mph limit roads and went the wrong way round a traffic island en route to an emergency in Stockport, on Boxing Day 2020, as John Scheerhout reports.
Her patrol car crashed into Khia Whitehead, 15, on Garners Lane in Adswood, Stockport, leaving him with catastrophic brain injuries. The trial heard Khia was left in a persistent vegetative state following the smash.
Today a jury found PC De Meulemeester guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The officer, of Mill Court, Chinley, Derbyshire, had admitted her driving was careless but denied it was dangerous.
Jurors returned their verdicts after just two hours and 30 minutes of deliberation following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. PC De Meulemeester was released on bail pending her sentencing hearing next month but Judge David Aubrey KC warned her 'all options' remained open to him, including a jail sentence.
A second police officer is also facing disciplinary action over the response to the 999 call. The police watchdog which investigated the case has also probed the conduct of a second officer - believed to be in the patrol car behind PC De Meulemeester. That officer and PC Meulemeester now face a gross misconduct hearing at Greater Manchester Police, the Independent Office Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed.
Everyone is after Taylor Swift
It’s Record Store Day tomorrow and some collectors have been waiting outside their local vinyl shops since this morning to make sure they’re first in line for a series of limited edition discs released specially for the event.
Piccadilly Records tweeted this picture of shopper Alex, who has been in line since 11:44am. “Alex isn’t even after the Taylor Swift double LP. Top of his list is the @LoyleCarner debut album, ‘Yesterday’s Gone’, out on picture disc - and that’s all he wants. Good luck, man we’re sure you’ll secure your dream disk!,” they tweeted.
It’s always the busiest day of the year for the Northern Quarter’s vinyl shops. Piccadilly Records say they expect long queues and Vinyl Revival bosses have produced their own record for the event.
Richard Farnell, of Vinyl Exchange on Oldham Street, told writer Bethan Shufflebotham ordering the goods is ‘a little bit of a lottery’ but it’s always a great day. “It shines a light on independent record stores and it’s a great thing for the shops. “It would be easy to be cynical about major labels cashing in on it but at the end of the day it’s our busiest day of the year and is obviously needed,” he says.
Over at Piccadilly Records, record selector Pasta Paul says of the 300 titles they’re getting in, ‘everyone is after’ Taylor Swift’s exclusive two-disc LP of Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.
“When it first started it was definitely a reaction to the fact no-one was buying records, but in a way it’s done its job. People are buying records and they’re outselling CDs for the first time in over 30 years. We’ve seen six year olds buying picture discs to hang on their walls, with people in their 80s also enjoying the medium and without Record Store Day it would have taken a lot longer to get to this point,” he says.
Hilton Street’s Vinyl Revival run their own record label, with owner Colin White excited to have an official Record Store Day release limited to just 500 copies. They got in touch with members of former Manchester punk band The Hoax to put together the compilation of their first three EPs. All the royalties will be donated to charity.
If you’re looking for the exclusive Record Store Day releases, we’ve put together a guide to this year's event and the Manchester record shops taking part here and there’s a guide to the city’s vinyl shops here.
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Weather etc
- Saturday: Cloudy. 13C.
- Road closures: A667 Ringley Road, Whitefield, in both directions closed due to roadworks from Stand Lane to Ashbourne Grove. Until June 30.
- Trivia question: Where in Manchester did the world's first passenger railway terminate in 1830?
Manchester headlines
Special measures: A care home rated 'inadequate' last year after officials uncovered a catalogue of failings will remain in special measures. Lyndhurst Residential Care Home, in Middleton, could be shut down if it fails to make ‘significant improvements’ within the next six months, a new inspection report from the Care Quality Commission says. The home - run by Atlantis Medicare Limited - was put in special measures last August after inspectors found elderly residents were left waiting for help, not showered regularly and had their medicines ‘mixed up'. When officials returned in February this year, they found some progress had been made - staffing levels and infection control practices had improved while people ‘felt safe’ and ‘were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives’. However, the home was still in breach of a number of care regulations. More here.
Anti-ageing: The University of Manchester has been working with Boots No7 for 15 years to develop an anti-ageing cream that works. And they think they’ve cracked it using patent-pending peptide technology. Thousands of shoppers queued to get the cream, which promises to 'reverse skin damage' and 'prevent ageing' when it launched on Wednesday. Does it work? Fashion and Beauty Editor Rachel Pugh has put it to the test.
Tickets: The orange magstripe train tickets look to be going out of favour. Northern say they will use five million fewer physical tickets this year as customers switch to digital alternatives. The number of people travelling on smartcards and barcode tickets has now reached 54.8 million - up five million in the past 12 months - which represents 72.6 per cent of all Northern customers. Magstripe tickets are non-recyclable as they’re made from more than one material. The five million tickets equates to five tonnes of rubbish saved from going to ‘general waste’, the rail operator says.
Live: Tickets have gone on sale for a Jurassic Park arena tour. The 30th anniversary of the Oscar-winning film will be celebrated at a series of big-screen events in October. AEG is bringing the acclaimed blockbuster to venues around the country where the famous John Williams score will be performed live by a full orchestra. Tickets for the opening night at the Manchester AO Arena, on Wednesday October 18, went on sale today. More here.
Worth a read
In his ongoing series about excellent food in incongruous settings, food writer Ben Arnold has found ‘some of Manchester's most exciting food in a backstreet café with a wonky roof'.
He reports that the Thai food at Papa Don - which sits next to a MOT garage in Stretford - is ‘blazingly good’.
The owners are actually from Hong Kong, and also do Korean food. “Everything at this cute little café with a wonky roof is more or less the perfect example, your dream version of a dish you’ve likely had many times before,” he writes.
You can read the full review here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: At Liverpool Road railway station, in Castlefield.
