I love Manchester and I am a born and bred Mancunian. I’m now approaching 60 and have seen so many changes to the City in my life. The main one is possibly the fact that it has grown in stature and popularity amongst UK cities.
This is gong to be a short and sweet post about 5 things I love about my beloved city, there are obviously more but if I really got started I will bore you, hoping that I’m not already! I could talk for hours about my home.
So let’s get started:
I love Manchester City
- Football – I am a passionate Manchester City fan and after my lovely husband and family it is the biggest passion in my life. I can honestly say I love Manchester City. I bought my first season ticket when I started work and earning for myself in 1977. I’ve seen all the lows and now enjoying the highs. I was first taken to football from a very young age by my dad as my mum worked on a Saturday. He used to take me to watch the lower league teams Bury, Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale. Teams I still have a fondness for today. Obviously there is another big team in the City who play in red. It is fabulous that the city is known world wide for its magnificent teams.
- The accent – it’s not everybody’s cup of tea and for a long time I refused to believe I had an accent at all. Since the rise to fame of the Manchester bands such as The Happy Monday’s and of course the brilliant Oasis and the Gallagher brothers, the accent has been brought more into the public eye and replicated. I love hearing it on TV, but strangely enough ‘scally’s’ on TV always have a Mancunian accent! Of course, the twang of the Gallagher brothers is the extreme version of it, with the flattening of the vowels and words like ‘sorted’. The funniest take on this has to go to Kathy Burke in Kevin and Perry when Perry returns from a weekend in Manchester. Never fails to make me smile
- Architecture – there are some fabulous buildings in Manchester not least being the Town Hall – an amazing building – outside and in. It is currently closed to the public for refurbishment. My nephew and his wife held one of the last weddings to be held there before this current closure. I was in awe at the magnificent setting. It is such a stately building. Others are the Hidden Gem Church, tucked a way close to the Town Hall and Victoria Baths. Victoria Baths is featured as a location in so many TV dramas. There are many more but these are just a taster. I love so many buildings and hope to feature them individually in future posts.
- The part it played in The Suffragette movement – Emmaline Pankhurst was born in Manchester and it is well documented how she led the fight to obtain votes for women. Possibly one of the most influential women ever. I love the part our great City has played in such a vital part of History. She now has a fabulous statue in her honour.
- Theatres – We are very lucky in Manchester to have some marvellous theatres, in my opinion second only to London’s West End. To many people a visit to the theatre is a real treat and often means theatregoers have to travel and book an overnight stay. We have fabulous large name theatres and many smaller ones in the suburbs. Often productions make their debuts in Manchester before touring around the country. I love them all but my favourite has to be The Royal Exchange. This is such a unique setting – a capsule within the fabulous historic building. The theatre is set in the round and stages magnificent productions and where I am gradually working my way through productions of Shakespeare plays.
Pin for Later
Manchester Town Hall – own photo
Manchester statue Emmaline Pankhurst
Editor’s Note – This post was originally published in Sept 2018 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness
Do you have any favourite things about Manchester? Or if you are planning a visit what is it you want to see? Leave me a comment and let me know or email me – I love to hear from you
Elaine
Leave a Reply