With a new month now underway, many of us are reflecting back on what felt like one of the longest and dreariest Januarys on record.
Ongoing restrictions, school closures, and non-essential retail and hospitality shut-downs have meant that England’s third national lockdown amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hasn’t exactly given us much to cheer about.
But all of the doom and gloom of the past year is what prompted one mother-daughter duo to take their love for all things Christmas and “have a bit of fun while things are crazy”.
Charlotte Barker, 25, and her mum Sharon, 50, – both from Manchester, and both nurses at Manchester Royal Infirmary – are clinging onto the festive season and combatting the new year blues with a project that will see them keep their beloved Christmas tree up all year round, but with a twist.
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Instead of the traditional decorations you’d expect to see at Christmas, their tree will take on a new, seasonal theme each month.
The two “tree fairies” have even started an Instagram account – @notjustforchristmas_ – to lift spirits by documenting the beautifully-decorated trees each month, and it’s already picking up new fans from throughout the local community and across the country each day.
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While Charlotte and Sharon have plans to continue decorating their tree right through to December of this year, the pair actually got a head-start in 2020 by kicking things off at Halloween.
“We love doing our Christmas tree,” Charlotte told us.
“[We usually] start planning our colours for them six months before Christmas, and we made a Halloween tree for the first time [last year], which we loved”.
February’s themed tree has, of course, taken inspiration from the celebration of love itself, Valentine’s Day – with the tree covered head to toe in love hearts, tinsel, and plenty of other themed pink and red decorations – but with another 10 months of the year left to go, what else do they have in store?
“So we have a few ideas lined up,” Charlotte admitted.
“Such as St Patrick’s Day [for March], Easter [for April], and a summer holiday theme [too, but we are] still planning other themes.
“We want to try and do a nurse themed one for National Nurses Day in May too”.
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While the pair seem to have plenty of ideas in the pipeline to give their increasing fanbase something to look forward to, they’re always on the look-out for inspiration, with Charlotte adding: “If anyone has ideas for themes, please let us know”.
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To take a look at all of the trees so far, show your support, and follow along with Charlotte and Sharon’s journey, head on over to their Instagram here.
And don’t forget to suggest some future themes for them too.
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Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
Review | Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Emily Sergeant -
3rd February 2021 
