A couple from Droylsden have raised thousands of pounds for charity after turning their home and garden into a Christmas wonderland.
Sue Farkas and her partner John Charlesworth originally decided to transform their back garden into a grotto simply for their grandchildren, but after putting so much hard work and love into creating the festive experience, they thought they would extend the invitation to children right across the local community.
And after a helping hand from family, friends and members of the public, the community heroes managed to welcome over 450 children to the event.
Each child lucky enough to visit the event was warmly welcomed by Mrs Claus, before being taken to the grotto to hear a stories from Father Christmas himself, getting the chance chat about the year that they’ve had, and finally receiving a small gift to take away with them.
The entire makeover – which took the couple three weeks to complete – saw lights, trees and characters all transform the exterior of their home and back garden into the winter wonderland.
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Speaking to the Tameside Reporter ahead of the grotto opening earlier this month, Sue said: “We’ve put up lights around the trees, put up Christmas trees, reindeer and snowmen, everything really.
“It was just an empty garden before we started.
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“There are [hundreds of] children booked in total [and] I’m just hoping they’re gobsmacked – we just wanted to make them smile.
“They’ve had a rough year and it’s been hard, so we just want to bring a bit of cheer.”
Sue Farkas
What’s more is that on top of spreading some much-needed seasonal cheer, Sue and John also decided that all of the money raised from the event would be donated to a charity of importance to them – children’s cancer research charity Kidscan – with the public also welcome to make additional contributions.
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The pair chose to set up a GoFundMe page to accompany the funds raised throughout the event.
“It is close to our family because we’ve lost quite a few members of our family to cancer. It is a good cause and they really need all the money they can get this year,” Sue explained.
“They’ve lost so much money due to the pandemic over the last couple of months and it’s a good cause.”
Alison England – Community Fundraising Manager at Kidscan – has commended the couple for their fundraising efforts at such a crucial time, adding: “I saw a post on the Droylsden Facebook group as I live in Droylsden myself, and saw that John and Sue were going to do a Santa’s grotto all in aid of charity.
“I contacted them to ask whether they would consider raising money for Kidscan Children’s Cancer Research and they agreed. Having had family experiences of cancer they jumped at the chance to support our charity.
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“I went along and had a chat with them about their plans and they explained that they will be giving each child a selection box and offering parents mince pies and mulled wine.”
“[so] I set about contacting local businesses for donations of these items.”
Sue Farkas
Alison continued: “Iceland, Quality Save, Spar, Tesco amongst others, all gave generously. Local people have also donated trees, decorations and lights.
“Sue and John have gone to great expense to decorate their entire house – front and back and turn it into something truly magical.
“They have ensured they are following all government guidelines and ensuring social distancing at all times.”
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As a result of all the hard work gone into the event, Sue and John have managed to raise a whopping £2,612.54 and counting, with Alison adding that the money raised will go towards vital research into finding new and improved treatments for children with cancer.
Currently, children are receiving a watered-down version of adult chemotherapy, and even though 60% of children diagnosed with cancer survive, sadly 60-70% of those children go on to have life limiting, life-altering side effects including learning difficulties, mobility issues and infertility.
“We want to change this and with the help of people like John and Sue, we can do just that,” Alison concluded.
How brilliant is this?
If you would like to support Sue, John and Kidscan, you can donate via the GoFundMe page here.
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Rúben Amorim outlines the three key things Manchester United need to work on
Danny Jones
Rúben Amorim has conducted his first full press conference as Manchester United manager and has outlined the three key things he wants to address when it comes to his new team.
Amorim officially joined Man United on Monday, 11 November after being given a ‘now or never’ which meant he had to leave his former club Sporting CP in the middle of the season.
Replacing Erik ten Hag, who was sacked less than 24 hours after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham and had overseen a run of bad results, the contract extension he was given in the summer ultimately proved obsolete and now the Portuguese head coach must lift his new side from a measly 13th in the table.
That being said, speaking to the media in his first full pre-match presser ahead of his maiden Premier League outing against Ipswich Town this weekend, Amorim has already highlighted three key areas in which he wants United to improve as a matter of priority.
"I truly believe that I'm the right guy in the right moment" 👊
Ruben Amorim says he does not think managing Manchester United is the impossible job.#MUFC#bbcfootball 🇵🇹
What did Amorim say in his first full Man United press conference?
Although the 39-year-old coach – who is only three years older than resurgent centre-back Johnny Evans – started off by assuring that his main focus at its core is to win the next match (and the one after that, as the football cliché goes), he boiled the current squad issues down to a troublesome trio.
In his eyes, a lot of it just comes down to pure physical effort.
Improve possession
First and foremost, Amorim was quick to point out that United “lose the ball too often” and simply have to retain it more throughout the 90 minutes.
Although they have enjoyed spells of greater control in games, their average possessions stats in the Premier League not only under ten Hag but Ole Gunnar Solskjær and even short-lived interim boss Ralf Rangnick never flirted too far above 50-53%.
While that might sound like the signs of nothing more than a well-contested game, the club need to be looking at much higher numbers if they want to start being a dominant force again.
Track back more
The second area he said that the team desperately needs to improve in is the distances covered per match, especially when it comes to running back towards their own goal and tracking back during defensive phases.
Addressing it in a rather matter-of-fact manner, he told reporters: “We have to be better at running back, I think that is clear for everybody [to see].” He told Gary Neville something very similar in his other recent interview with Sky Sports.
"This is my place" ❤️
The smile on both Gary Neville and Ruben Amorim's face when the Manchester United head coach said this ☺ pic.twitter.com/dpKnnE69Nm
He said it with a smile on his face but it’s clear that he knows there is a narrative surrounding United in recent years that they just don’t work hard enough, both on and off the ball. Having played mainly in the middle of the park for Belenenses, Benfica and SC Braga, running is a non-negotiable.
Focus on the ‘details’ first
Lastly, Amorim said he believes one of the big things he can do for these players is to help them fine-tune the small things. He added that although there is a feeling that fans want there to be “a lot of change” and pressure to make “big” decisions, he reiterated that “it’s the small things.”
The former utility player knows a thing or two about playing in lots of positions and going back to the opening point of his press conference in which he discussed getting the team to believe in “one thing”, he believes that the minute differences can contribute to changing how they approach the game.
There is understandably lots of talk surrounding his trademark 3-4-3 formation and whether these details refer to tactical tweaks, we will see, but he insists that so long as they put in the effort and pay attention to the little stuff, those on the pitch will start to play in the same way that he wants them to.
You can watch his press conference ahead of the Ipswich away this Sunday in full down below:
Amorim was also happy to casually call out those who ‘don’t believe in’ his new players in his first press conference as Man United coach.
Featured Images — BeanymanSports (via YouTube screenshot)
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Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025
Danny Jones
Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…
Feel free to lose your bratting minds.
A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.
Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).
Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.
Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.
Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.
It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…
Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.
Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.
Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.
Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?
Emily Sergeant -
21st December 2020 
