A care home for Greater Manchester’s military veterans has welcomed its residents back after a £12.5 million redevelopment.
Broughton House in Salford has cared for more than 8,000 veterans since it opened to the ex-service community over 100 years ago back in 1916, but the original home was demolished in 2020 to make way for the site to be transformed into the UK’s first-ever veteran care village.
And that impressive £12.5 million project has now officially been completed.
Following the demolition of the original home, the Broughton House site has now been transformed into a modern complex that features a 64-bed care home and six retirement apartments, with photos of the impressive revamp shared online.
Not only that, but the Stoller Wing of the newly-built care home – which has been named in honour of north west businessman and philanthropist Sir Norman Stoller, who donated £4 million to the project – also has a wide array of new facilities, including a gym, a hairdressing and barber’s salon, and a restaurant and bar for the residents.
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The new wing is said to pay homage to Broughton House’s rich history.
Broughton House has cared for more than 8,000 veterans since opening back in 1916 / Credit: Broughton HouseThe Stoller Wing also has a museum that’s filled with memorabilia / Credit: Broughton House (via Lee Boswell Photography)
Within the new Stoller Wing, there is also a dedicated museum that’s filled with fascinating stories of former residents, rare war medals, and historic memorabilia, which is all designed to “keep the memories of the fallen well and truly alive”.
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Refurbishments have also happened in the Jellicoe Wing – which is named after WWI hero Viscount Sir John Jellicoe, who opened the original Broughton House building – and it now has two 16-bedroom households.
The wing also houses our Armed Forces Support Hub, and the six retirement apartments.
Broughton House says the Armed Forces Support Hub focuses on providing welfare support and counselling for ex-service people of all ages living in the local community, as many veterans see their mental health deteriorate during their transition back to civilian life.
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The care village has now welcomed its residents back after the £12.5 million redevelopment / Credit: Broughton HouseThe site has now been transformed into the UK’s first-ever veteran care village / Credit: Broughton House (via Lee Boswell Photography)
Derrick Corfield – a WWII veteran and Broughton House resident – said: “The new care village is ideal for people like myself who have been living alone, as it puts us back into that bigger family again [and] it’s a place that celebrates our history, and understands the things we have done in our lives and been a part of.
“I’m really enjoying the activities, especially the history club, so it will be nice to welcome more veterans to the new care village.”
Broughton House says the new complex has been designed with the purpose of “offering trailblazing provision” for the north west’s ageing armed forces community.
Chief executive Karen Miller said the new amenities provide residents with greater opportunities to be more active and sociable than what many other traditional care homes offer, and helps them to “reignite the camaraderie” they became accustomed to during their time in the armed forces.
“It is immensely pleasing to reach the milestone of seeing our new Veteran Care Village completed,” Karen concluded.
Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
Emily Sergeant -
4th May 2022 
