Is 2022 the year you’re planning to take on a new challenge?
For many of us, the start of a new year often brings with it some motivation to make a few resolutions or set about achieving some goals we’ve been meaning to for a while, or, for the more daring among us, to get stuck into a challenge you’ve never tried before – but for those of us who aren’t really the adventurous type, who’s to say we can’t have a hand in picking out a daredevil task for others to try instead?
Well, that’s exactly what one of Manchester’s most iconic charities, We Love MCR Charity, had in mind when they asked us to give them a helping hand in deciding on its official fundraising challenge for 2022.
This new and yet-to-be-decided fundraising experience will form part of the ongoing ‘We Love MCR Charity Challenge Event Series’, which sees the charity put daredevil Mancunians’ mettle to the test.
The people over at We Love MCR Charity got the ball rolling by picking out a selection of four challenge ideas, and it was then left down to you – our loyal audience of over 200,000 Mancs on our Instagram – to pick which one would be chosen as the first instalment of the series this year by casting your votes on three head-to-head polls shared to our Instagram stories earlier this week.
ADVERTISEMENT
The four challenge ideas battling it out were:
A Valentine’s Day dip in Debdale Park Reservoir
An abseil off a city centre high-rise tower
A skinny dip at dawn on the Autumn Equinox at Druridge Bay beach
A jump off a 10m diving board
.@TheMancUK are running a poll to help us choose our big mind-over-matter challenge in 2022! Check their Insta Story: https://t.co/mHwMwrHGkY to vote in the poll now!
It's currently between abseiling off a M'cr tower block, or a mass Skinny Dip in the sea.. Bucket list time?? 👀 pic.twitter.com/aUOlc11KHL
Round 1 of voting on Monday saw a Valentine’s Day dip in Debdale ReseRvoir go up against an abseil off a Manchester city centre tower block, with the abseil taking the win in a close call with 57% of the vote, all before round 2 got underway on Tuesday and saw a skinny dip at dawn on the Autumn Equinox at Druridge Bay beach clinch the win with 56% of the vote over a jump off a 10m diving board.
ADVERTISEMENT
It was then left to the winners of the first two rounds to go head-to-head with each other – and it was eventually revealed, after hundreds of Mancunians got their votes in, that an abseil off a Manchester city centre tower block was the pick of the bunch in another close call, grabbing 54% of the vote.
But will it actually be crowned the winner? That’s down to We Love MCR Charity to make the final call in an announcement that’s coming next week.
The 2022 challenge comes after the success of the charity’s first – and probably the last – sponsored ‘firewalk’ event, which made history as 50 “brave soles” raised over £18,000 and counting by walking over 700-degree hot coals in St Peter’s Square in the heart of Manchester city centre last October.
Against a backdrop of Manchester’s Central Library and with a massive crowd cheering them on, each of the participants conquered their fears and completed what they previously thought was impossible.
The We Love MCR Charity sponsored ‘firewalk’ in October 2021 / Credit: We Love MCR Charity
We Love MCR Charity said that fundraising events like this are vital for its ongoing mission of supporting the city.
All sponsorship money raised by those undertaking the soon-to-be-announced 2022 challenge, or indeed any sponsored event across the city-region throughout the year, will go directly to We Love MCR Charity’s two current grant programmes – the ‘Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund’, and the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’ – which both support local communities and ambitious young Mancunians to overcome the barriers in their way and recover from the problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you fancy taking on a more personal challenge this year though, then did you know that the charity is also providing The Manc’s readers and followers with an exclusive opportunity to get £25-worth of entry fees to any sponsored event refunded if they choose to commit to raising some worthy funds in its name?
But for now, all that’s left to do is wait and see which challenge idea comes out on top for 2022.
“Well The Manc’s supporters really have helped to shape our thinking,” said Ged Carter – Development Manager at We Love MCR Charity.
“A ‘win’ for a breathtaking abseil, but who knew a seaside skinny dip would make it such a close-run poll? We’re excited to announce our Challenge plans very shortly.”
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
Ruben Amorim reacts as Manchester United are booed off after Malaysia friendly
Danny Jones
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has delivered a fairly brutal response after his club were booed off by supporters during a friendly in Malaysia.
The Red Devils recently embarked on a post-season tour following a calamitous 2024/25 campaign, both domestically and continentally, with that limp loss in the Europa League final, but have already resumed what has become alarmingly normal service with yet another defeat.
Finding themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur – a squad comprised of various talents from around the region who had never played together before and were only founded as an actual team back in 2014 – it was all far from clean slates and fresh starts.
In the wake of the shock result, Man United were booed off by the Malaysian and other international fans inside the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, which saw more than 70,000 in attendance.
It’s the end and that’s it. Man United got boo’ed by the fans after the final whistle.
They got beaten by non-full team Asean All-Star who just trained together as a group few days before the match. pic.twitter.com/fBxnMiZPN8
For context, the ASEAN All-Stars had only trained together for the first time just days before the game itself, but the de facto exhibition outfit still managed to break the deadlock in the 71st minute against a United side that rarely looked like scoring.
All that being said, Amorim had some choice words for his own players in his post-match duties after their first post-season tour fixture, insisting that while he always remains accountable, those out on the pitch perhaps received somewhat of a deserved reckoning too.
He began by stating, “I’m always guilty of the performance of the team, no matter what. [I have been responsible] since the first day”, but went on to argue: “The boos from the fans, I think it something that we need, maybe.”
Citing that the Old Trafford faithful and die-hard away fans have always been loyal and supportive despite frustration in the league, he suggested that “maybe they will change the way they behave” following this latest reality check.
Despite adding that he has seen reasons for optimism in performances against Man City and Liverpool, for instance, where he felt he saw “belief” and seeds of what’s to come, he’s made very few excuses for the poor displays up to now.
United face the Hong Kong national team in their next friendly on Friday, 29 May, and it’s fair to say anything less than a win would be beyond bad for the predictably unpredictable Premier League club.
You can see his full post-match press conference down below.
Emily Sergeant -
13th January 2022 
