A website concerned with football, theatre and family matters, maintained by John Williams who lives near Manchester in the North West of England.
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| Commonwealth Games 2002 Logo |
Manchester, in a curious way, owes a kind of debt to the IRA bombers of 1996 in that it forced the City into a redesign of the commercial centre (obviously necessary when it lay in ruins). The rebuilding, with its pedestrian friendly emphasis, is a major success and the effect is a lively, vibrant city which is a great place to be at night.
In the 1980s Manchester submitted an unsuccessful bid for the Olympic games. Undeterred by failure a more realistic (and successful) bid was made for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. This brought world focus to the city and, at last, gave the world something to remember Manchester by, other than Manchester United.
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| City of Manchester stadium |
A particular focus was east Manchester where the "City of Manchester" stadium was built (in close proximity to the previously built Velodrome). This area of Manchester is now called "Sport City" and is a remarkable improvement on the previously run down area. (The "City of Manchester" stadium has been enlarged and has become the home of Manchester City Football Club)
It is now a matter of fact that the games were a fantastic success. From hardly being noticed by the rest of the country, the friendliness, efficiency and sheer competence of the event impressed the national (and international) consciousness and demonstrated that the UK could organise a major event given the right investment and conditions.
The success of the games has been recognised by the team that is currently submitting a bid for the 2012 Olympics in London.
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River Roche |
News of the canal restoration can be found here.
Sadly, despite the considerable investment in rebuilding, Manchester's reputation for rain and overcast weather is unfortunately accurate and visitors are highly unlikely to suffer from sunstroke.But if the 1990s proved to be a good decade for Manchester then the first decade of this century looks like being similar for Liverpool. The catalyst for change in Liverpool is a bit more gentle than a bomb - although the changes may well be as dramatic. In 2003 Liverpool was selected as European Capital of Culture, 2008. This has galvanised the city council into a major refurbishment of the city (including a £750 million regeneration of the heart of the city centre) with work already started on road and rail improvements, further pedestrianisation, expansion of Liverpool John Lennon Airport and a new light tram system. By 2008, there will also be a new cruise liner terminal at the Pier Head and a new arena and conference centre.
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| City of Culture Logo |
Longer term these improvements in Liverpool could produce superior results to Manchester simply because there are still many fine buildings that will benefit from modernisation. This is particularly evident in the conversion of the many remaining dockside buildings to apartments which, as with Manchester, is bringing back city living, the difference being that Liverpool unlike Manchester, did not suffer as much from the sixties/seventies craze of knocking down old city centre buildings and replacing them with an ugly concrete Arndale centre. Fortunately there is still plenty of the basic fabric of the city remaining to benefit from the expenditure and, of course, Liverpool already boasts a world heritage site at the Pier Head where the world famous Mersey ferries still ply their trade.
Capital of Culture details are available here.
The rest of this web site expands on issues and matters of interest that are relevant to this family.
We hope you browse and enjoy and if
any of the topics and opinions are of interest and you are sufficiently stirred by these ramblings then mail will be welcomed
| Football | Theatre |
Although this website is to do with leisure interests, the real world intruded into this family's experience in a traumatic manner. The links below describe the story from the family's point of view.
| Introduction |
| Nick | Ann | Helen + John |