Mulching has many benefits, including saving water, suppressing weeds, and improving soil. According to the Royal ...

The Hallé Orchestra opened its new season last week with a moving and magnificent performance at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Although the orchestra has played a handful of concerts over the summer, ...

Talking to Anna Appleby, the creative force behind Norrisette, is a giddy delight. Arguably Manchester’s most distinctive electronic pop artist, her conversational synapses trigger firework ...

Here at OperaWatch offices in Northern Soul Towers, the staff are giddy with excitement. After a surreal visitation by the spirits of past, present and future, I have granted them a few extra days off ...

There was genuine excitement in the OperaWatch office at Northern Soul Towers when a missive arrived from English National Opera. ENO was announcing its big move to Greater Manchester at MMU’s Holden ...

Since publication in 1952, when it won the Carnegie Medal for outstanding children’s book by a British author, Mary Norton’s The Borrowers has been constantly in print. Its popularity has spawned ...

As we approach the end of 2024, we’re looking back at the things that have brought us immense comfort during the year. For the team at Northern Soul, books were once again a source of great joy, and ...

When chatting to Frank Skinner, it’s impossible to resist the topic of football. I skirt the issue of whether it will ever come home for England, turning instead to his beloved West Bromwich Albion ...

In a girl in a blue dress, Rachel Burns charts the struggles, traumas and adventures of her girlhood and motherhood. Her world is one of wonder and curiosities juxtaposed with the realities of working ...

If Channel 5’s Friday music documentaries are to be believed, the 80s was the best decade for music. Many from the class of ’81 to ’84 are particularly feted, and few more so than Clare Grogan. In ...