The mother of a little boy who sadly died after a collision with a tractor on a farm in Bury over the weekend has paid an emotional tribute to him.
Three-year-old Albie Speakman suffered fatal injuries following the incident off of Bentley Hall Road in the Tottington area of Bury on the afternoon of Saturday 16 July, and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has confirmed that enquiries from Bury CID, alongside colleagues at the Health and Safety Executive, are still ongoing.
Albie’s mother Leah has now paid an emotional tribute to her “sunshine boy” following his devastating death.
“Albie was an incredibly loving, affectionate and caring boy who just wanted everyone to be happy.
“He was so sensitive and wanted everyone to be ok, especially the people that he loved.
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“He loved to play, whether it be with his family or friends at nursery, he would always look for little round things wherever he went, stones, polystyrene balls, bouncy balls, beads – I’m not sure why but he just loved anything round, he would just hold onto them.”
Albie Speakman with his mother Leah / Credit: GMP
Her tribute continued: “His favourite memories are at Cleethorpes beach, with his bucket and spade and his ball. His happiest days were on that beach, we were so free and didn’t have any cares in the world. It was just me and Albie and nothing else mattered. Whenever I’d ask him what he wanted to do, he’d want to go on holiday to the beach again; that’s how I know he was truly happy there.
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“We all love Albie so much more than we can ever put into words – especially his Nan and his ‘Nanny-Nanny’, as he would always call her.
“I will miss absolutely everything about Albie, his voice, his smile, the smell of his skin and the feel of his little hands on my face when he would say ‘I love you mummy girl’.
“I’ll especially miss going on adventures with him, anywhere and everywhere we could have fun, nothing will ever fill the whole that he has left in our hearts, we are broken beyond repair.
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“I always call him my little sunshine boy because he has brought so much light into my life and he is my little ray of sunshine, and I don’t want his life to end here, I need to carry on living for him and take him with me wherever I go.
“We still have so many more memories to make, Albie.
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
18th July 2022 
