Inspiring Manchester women are all around us. They are our mothers, our sisters, our friends.
International Women’s Day helps remind us of this, as well as encouraging us to think more broadly about those who’ve made a big impact on our city, our country, and the wider world.
Of course, Manchester is no stranger to inspirational women. Our history is built on them – as is our present.
From famous campaigners like Lydia Becker, Marie Stopes and Emmeline Pankhurst, to writers like Elizabeth Gaskell and Carol Anne Duffy, whether they were born here or drawn here for centuries women have been shaping the course of history for those to come long before we had the vote.
But today, we’ve taken a little time to focus on those making the city what is today – shouting out ten inspiring Manchester women from all walks of life.
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From actors and musicians to athletes, businesswomen, chefs and even local politicians, Manchester women continue to be at the forefront of history in 2022 – and we’re damn proud of them.
Figen Murray
Image: Supplied
2022 started in a big way for Figen. The inspirational campaigner and educator was named on the New Year’s Honours list and appointed OBE, recognised for her services to counter terrorism.
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The mother of Martyn Hett, who was tragically killed in the Manchester Arena at just 29 years old, Figen has chosen to honour his memory by embracing and championing peace.
Since 2017, she had been fighting tirelessly to make venues safer with her Martyn’s Law campaign whilst also completing a Master’s degree in Counter Terrorism from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Her efforts have since led to the rapid progression of the Protect Duty, a new piece of legislation that would see certain public places required to be prepared for, and protected against, terrorist attacks.
Mancunian-based marathon runner and personal trainer Amy Hughes made history in 2014 as the first woman to run 53 marathons in as many days – beating not just the women’s record, but the men’s record too.
Not content with bursting into the record books just once, the Shropshire-born athlete did it again in 2020 – raising £12,400 for NHS Charities Together by running for 26 hours straight on a treadmill. She has since founded Sculpt In Haus pilates studio, based on Lloyd street.
Karina Jadhav
Image: Karina Jadhav
The North West’s youngest independent female restaurant operator and owner, Karina Jadhav founded her current concept Menagerie in August 2016 after moving away from venues Neighbourhood, Victors Hale and Southern Eleven.
Hugely successful, over the years her venue Menagerie has become a hotspot for the city’s glitterati crowd and is a great place to visit if you’re in the mood for some celeb spotting.
DJ Paulette
Image: DJ Paulette
As the first female resident to take on the decks at The Hacienda, DJ Paulette is an icon of the city’s dance music scene.
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A familiar face around Manchester’s restaurants and bars and a key fixture at cult queer club night Homoelectric, she also has her own radio show and is currently in the process of writing a book about her experience in the music industry – due to be released next year.
A powerhouse of Manchester’s music and events scene, for years now Sophie Bee has been behind the programming at Bavarian party palace Albert’s Schloss – putting together the house band and live entertainment that has made it such a go-to-spot for anyone and everyone on a night out.
A Creative Producer for the multi-concept operator Mission Mars, she also works on events like La Discotheque, Audio Farm and Homoelectric, oversees similar programming at Escape To Freight Island and has organised stages at Glastonbury in the past.
Mary Ellen McTague
Image: Mary-Ellen McTague
As the chef-owner and The Creameries in Chorlton and co-founder of restaurant-backed charity Eat Well Manchester, Mary-Ellen is a hospitality force to be reckoned with.
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From cheffing in Michelin-starred kitchens to writing columns for The Guardian and, most recently, battling food inequality in Greater Manchester, she’s not just a great chef but a community-minded philanthropist too.
Mobilising quickly at the start of the pandemic to use restaurant food headed for the bin, alongside her partners through Eat Well MCR she’s provided over 50,000 meals to people in need since March 2020.
Julie Hesmondhalgh as Hayley Cropper in her famous red anorak, with on-screen husband David Neilson. / Image: ITV
The Corrie queen who gives back in spades, actor Julie Hesmondhalgh is known for her 15 years on-screen as Hayley Cropper – but her off-screen work makes her even more of a notable figure.
As well as making history with her groundbreaking role as the first transgender character on a British soap, she is the patron of a number of UK charities including Trans Media Watch, which is dedicated to improving media coverage of trans and intersex issues.
As the first new Manchester Council leader in for 25 years, and the first openly-gay woman to hold the position ever, Bev Craig is definitely an inspiration to many.
And whilst she hopes, in time, that these two facts will become the “the least interesting thing” about her, we still think it’s a feat that deserves celebrating.
This year, she will be launching a commission around tackling misogyny and violence against women and girls in Manchester – asking people to input their views and their feelings on the matter in light of an increase in incidents since the start of the pandemic.
An actress and narrator, today Maxine Peake is at the forefront of British acting – putting Manchester on the map with appearances in a host of mainstream TV shows and films such as The Real Anne Williams, Black Mirror, Dinner Ladies and Peterloo.
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After living in London for years, she moved up to Salford in 2009 to give herself freedom to choose more risky roles and take lower-paying jobs in theatre.
In recent years, she’s also become somewhat of an activist – using her fame to speak out at the Peterloo Memorial Peterloo Memorial march and the anti-Tory protest and calling for a coup in the Guardian.
Angela Rayner
Image: Commons Wikimedia
Stockport -born politician Angela Rayner is the current MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylsden and Failsworth and deputy leader of the Labour party. A former care worker, throughout the pandemic she was outspoken when it cam to championing the efforts of key workers.
As a key player in the Shadow Cabinet, she recently said on the record that she is “doing the groundwork now: to make sure that the party’s next leader is a woman.
She recently told Times Radio: “I think the Labour party is ready and I’m doing the groundwork now to make sure it’s ready by supporting other women and saying you can achieve whatever you want to achieve.
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Inside Sifters Records, the time capsule record shop that inspired Oasis
Harry Quick
The date the world never thought was coming is set. Manchester’s most famous brothers have against all the odds put their differences aside for music’s greater good. Oasis are BACK.
I suppose it is only good news at the moment if you were one of the lucky few who managed to secure a ticket to one of the 17 gigs (actually, now 19 with two new dates added) in the Oasis 25′ Tour. If you didn’t – hard luck – but there is arguably one shop owner who deserves one more than most.
Fans of our most iconic band from all around the world should show their gratitude to a little record store in Burnage for helping to make that happen. Some might say, Sifters Records is the home of the Gallaghers’ love for music. The two brothers were brought up just a stone’s throw away from here on Cranwell Drive and were regular visitors of Sifters throughout their teenage years.
Noel has previously mentioned how he used to stroll around to Sifters on Fog Lane and pick up records by the likes of The Smiths, Joy Division and The Happy Mondays, which would help inspire some of the world-renowned anthems Oasis would later go on to create. The relationship between the Gallaghers and Sifters Records is emblematic of their deep roots in Manchester’s music scene.
If you feel like you’ve heard the name before, you probably have as Liam mentions the store in the song ‘Shakermaker’. In the final verse of the song – before the closing Shake Along with Me / Them interlude – he gets his special mention.
The lyrics “Mr Sifter sold me songs when I was just sixteen, now he stops at traffic lights but only when they’re green” pay homage to its main road location and the lads’ musical upbringing before the international stardom.
Sifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc GroupSifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc Group
If the lyrics alone don’t put an image in your head, the official music video for the song pictures Liam stereotypically swaggering towards the shop front in a parka and shades on the hunt for some new music. After flicking through a few 12″ vinyls he shows Red Rose Speedway to the camera by Paul McCartney’s – Wings. I wonder if he bought it that day or could it still be in there?
In a brand new 30-minute interview filmed ahead of the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Noel revealed how he wrote the infamous lyric in an off-the-cuff moment directly outside the shop.
“I have to say this shop has not changed a bit. I bought a lot of my records in here, it’s where I discovered my love of ‘best of’ albums.
“Every time I hear Shakermaker I remember pulling up in that car and looking over and seeing the song.”
It’s no wonder this was Noel’s favourite place to scope out new tunes growing up. It’s still one of Manchester’s most impressive collections with hundreds, if not thousands of vintage LPs.
Most of these are from the personal collection of ‘Mr Sifter’ himself Pete Howard who has run this musical mecca since 1977. The building itself has an unchanged charm – a time capsule of fading band posters, windows of unrelated local advertisements and well-trodden carpet from the thousands of feet on a pilgrimage from far and wide.
Fans from across the globe have rocked up for a word with Pete and the admiration for his store only keeps growing, which he sometimes struggles to believe how fortunate he got. If you pop in looking for any Oasis discography, good luck, it doesn’t stick around long.
When ‘Definitely Maybe’ dropped in ’94 he said he recognised the members of the band straight just from the album cover.
Now, with a deluxe edition re-release 30 years later, and a reunion tour around the corner, it’s undeniable that the whole world does – let’s just hope they stay mates this time!
Blossoms’ wonderful Wythenshawe Park show proved they’re ready to headline the big leagues
Danny Jones
Ok, full disclosure: as a fellow Stopfordian, this review was always going to be heavily biased, but I still wholeheartedly believe that Blossoms are some the best performers on the British music scene right now and, as far I’m concerned, their Wythenshawe Park gig was yet more proof of that.
The landmark show was their biggest to date with roughly 30,000 people packed into a Greater Manchester field for what was just the second year of the Wythenshawe Park gigs which looks destined to be a must-visit annual Manchester music event.
For starters, not only is being the second name chosen to headline this still relatively new event after Noel bloody Gallagher quite the achievement, but playing to what felt like an entire town full of people on your home turf is the kind of stuff usually reserved for, you know, GOATs…
Now, we’re not going to be so bold as to claim they’re at that point in their careers already, however, when you’re collecting the kind of support acts they are, playing to crowds this big and making music lovers of all ages sing about a giant fibreglass gorilla called Gary, you’re clearly doing something right.
🚨 Be advised: GMP are on the lookout for an eight-foot fibreglass Gorilla – first name Gary, second name trouble. 🦍
He was last spotted on stage as @BlossomsBand were playing absolute bangers at Wythenshawe Park.
Let’s kick off with the supports, shall we? That’s one of the best things about this Live From Wythenshawe Park series: these dates are closer to mini-Manc festivals than they are standalone gigs, and with such an impressive roster of so-called ‘warm-up’ acts, we were truly spoiled rotten.
From more fledgling artists like The Guestlist and Ttrruuces, fast-rising up-and-comers like Seb Lowe and The K’s, to UK veterans like Shed Seven and the always sensational indie stars Inhaler, it was a stacked lineup spanning several generations.
Before Inhaler got the crowd bouncing and ready from Blossoms, we even got special appearances from two incredible female voices during Shed Seven’s set as Issy Ferris and fellow Manc music royalty Rowetta took the stage for some supreme harmonies and what felt like a bit of a Sunday service moment.
But then it was time for the big guns and it really does feel like they’re among that calibre now. They’ve smashed Leeds, Glastonbury, Kendal – they even turned the Plaza and Edgeley Park back in Stockport into fully-fledged music venues – and they look more at home than ever on the big stages.
Blossoms’ Wythenshawe Park gig felt almost like a coming-of-age gig. (Credit: The Manc Group)
It feels mad to think that these lot have been going for 11 years when you first think about it, but when you actually sit back and look at the regular stream of top-quality indie bangers they’ve been putting out every couple of years, it starts to click into place.
Perhaps it’s because they’re still young men and have decades of releasing new music to come but they’re no longer the new kids and they haven’t been for ages – in fact, they’ve released some of the most popular contemporary releases in the genre consistently for a long time now.
Even in the final promo for their now landmark Wythenshawe Park concert, they did a spoof version of ‘Gary’ where one of the lines simply said ‘Honey Sweet’s a tune’ and, you know what, they’re right but the list goes much further than that.
‘Getaway’, ‘There’s A Reason Why’, ‘I Can’t Stand It’, ‘Your Girlfriend’, ‘What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?’ and on and on it goes. We heard them all in their very best iterations, with the band’s on-stage production now at a new level and Tom Ogden’s frontman chops up their with the best right now.
One thing we really enjoyed as a group of old mates from SK was that the set wasn’t the hits either; we got to roll back the years and enjoy the tracks from that debut album when we first started getting excited about a new band coming out of our hometown.
The big extended versions of ‘Blow’ and ‘Cut Me and I’ll Bleed’, in particular, felt rather special.
Blossoms also treated Wythenshawe to some seriously good solos and breakout instrumentals. (Credit: The Manc Group)
But then you look at where the style has gone since then and you genuinely have to just step back and applaud their evolution since that breakout record.
It’s very hard for any band to find that balance of developing their sound and actually changing whilst still managing to nail that instantly recognisable feeling that lets you know it’s one of their songs but they always seem to manage.
Whether it’s those surviving 80s influences that have stood them in good stead since the start, those poppy keyboard riffs from Myles that help keep every tune as catchy as the last, they can collaborate with the likes of Jungle and CMAT whilst still sounding unmistakably like themselves. It’s quite the skill.
That’s why they very quickly went from the one current band from Stockport that people could name to one of the most recognisable modern names in British music with hordes of fans all over, not just Greater Manchester. Just look at the energy coming off that crowd, not to mention the sheer size of it:
Now, all that is simply to say that, at this point, if you’re still someone who only knows ‘that first one’ and is under the presumption that Blossoms are another indie band who fell into that trap of all their songs sounding pretty similar, you’re wrong and the sea of fans at Wythenshawe Park will tell you the same.
Whether you’ve been there from day one and have watched these lads, well, blossom into fully graduated performers and festival-toppers like this currently very sappy Stopfordian, or you got hooked after dozenth irresistible indie anthem, we’re sure you’re all in agreement: they’re proper headliners.
‘Charlemagne’ will forever be a favourite but make no mistake, they’ve come on leaps and bounds in every department since it helped launch their career, and even if it is still their biggest song when they’re headlining the likes of Glasto one day (you heard us), it’ll still sound incredible.
In fact, who cares: here it is from another angle – we’re off to do a bit of research about some reunion people are talking about…