Bury

Man finds flock of sheep in his garden after crazy weather in Greater Manchester from Storm Jocelyn

He thinks there were 12 but 'fell asleep counting'...

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 26th January 2024

Storm Jocelyn battered the region earlier this week, sending wheelie bins flying, knocking down fences, and… depositing sheep in people’s driveways?

There really is never a dull day in Greater Manchester, as one man’s security footage will demonstrate.

Clips taken from a five hour span in the middle of the night earlier this week captured a flock of sheep taking refuge from the weather in someone’s garden.

The woolly creatures strolled casually onto the property of Mark Howarth, who lives on a normal residential street in Edenfield near Ramsbottom.

After making their way up his driveway, they huddled together in his garden and stayed put until the following morning.

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Mark says there were around 12 of the cloud-like beasts outside his house, though added that he: “Fell asleep after counting 12..!”, which is a joke that makes Mark our favourite man of the week.

He told the Manchester Evening News that the sheep helped themselves to some of his grass and weeds while they were waiting for the storm to pass.

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Watch the sheep hiding from Storm Jocelyn here:

Mark’s Ring doorbell system normally only picks up neighbourhood cats, so to find a flock of sheep must’ve been quite a surprise.

While storms that batter Greater Manchester can be devastating, us Mancs often find a way to make the best of the situatio

Who could forget the man who went swimming in his back garden, complete with armbands, when Storm Franklin flooded his land?

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Or when people were running around Parklife with cardboard boxes for heads when the festival got hit with a huge thunderstorm?

Anyway, hopefully Mark’s sheep visitors have safely found their way back home post-Storm Jocelyn.

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Featured image: Mark Howarth

Bury

Huge bakery chain Gail’s confirms move to Prestwich – but spells village’s name wrong in signs

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Huge bakery chain Gail's confirms move to Prestwich - but spells village's name wrong in signage

After months of swirling rumours, bakery group Gail’s has finally confirmed it’s moving to Prestwich – but locals have spotted a glaring error at the first hurdle.

The popular artisan bakery will be moving onto Bury New Road, right in the heart of the suburb and directly opposite the new Rudy’s pizzeria.

Prestwich locals have been hearing whispers of a Gail’s arriving for a few months, and finally the London-founded cafe has stuck up signs to confirm it’s on the way.

But the sign contains one crucial mistake – it’s spelled Prestwich wrong.

The red window displays now read ‘Hello Preswich. We’ll be baking here soon’.

One local messaged Gail’s to point out the error and to say it’s ‘not a great first impression for the locals…’.

Gail’s has since confirmed it’s in the process of fixing the signs.

The arrival of both Gail’s and Rudy’s has already caused a stir in Prestwich, which has always been fiercely independent and has only a handful of chains within it (Greggs and Costa are perched by the tram stop).

In fact, one local business-owner shared a moving statement about his concerns for the future of local businesses just a few weeks ago.

Gail's has confirmed it's opening a bakery in Prestwich
Gail's has confirmed it's opening a bakery in Prestwich
Gail’s has confirmed it’s opening a bakery in Prestwich. Credit: The Manc Group

First formed in the early 1990s as a wholesale-only operation, Gail’s opened its first cafe on Hampstead High Street in 2005.

Today the brand has more than 100 sites spread across London, Oxford, Brighton and further afield, and is known more as a customer-facing cafe and bakery.

It’s famed for its freshly-baked loaves, cinnamon buns, ham and cheese croissants and coffees, and is likely to go down a storm in Prestwich.

But the signs have been causing a bit of a stir in the wrong way this weekend – in a local Facebook group, one person commented: “Not locals who own it then.”

Another described it as an ‘epic fail’.

And one person said: “Oh the DRAMA of it all.”

Someone else joked: “I cannot wait for Gais to come to Preswich.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Bury

The CEO of Bury FC has officially resigned after two key board members step down

Danny Jones Danny Jones

The CEO and Club Secretary of Bury Football Club, Niel Sears, has officially resigned just hours after two other key board members also stepped down.

Fan-owned Bury FC has weathered a difficult few years after slipping into administration back in 2020, splintering into two teams and eventually reforming with its phoenix club in July 2023.

A return to Gigg Lane, a significant investment in the women’s team and a new financial strategy looked to signal the start of a new chapter for the Greater Manchester side, but after a backlash in response to an impending ‘review’ of their volunteering practices, it looks like drama is returning.

Sharing merely two sentences on Friday evening, a statement on the Bury FC website simply read: “We can confirm the resignation of CEO & Club Secretary, Neil Sears. Further comment will be released in due course.

As alluded to in the update, there is little detail at this time and with the weekend’s football to tend with first, the club are unlikely to address the situation until sometime next week.

Having previously worked with Burnley FC and retrained to specialise in sports business and law, Sears was appointed CEO and club sec back in February after having been deemed to have successfully fulfilled the position on a part-time basis since October last year.

A seemingly popular appointment, the only issue of note between Sear and the club was an incident this past summer after he called out some “absolutely disgraceful behaviour from a certain fraction of Bury fans” during a visit to Blackpool this past summer.

However, with the Football Supporters’ Society of Bury (FSSB) chair Phil Young and the club’s football chair Marcel De Matas – both fellow board members and important figures around the club – having also stepped down earlier this week, there looks to have been a clear walkout among the higher-ups.

While there are almost certainly multiple vying factors, the recent review of the volunteer framework and, more specifically, the dismissal of loyal club servant John Rafferty has no doubt been influential.

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On Wednesday, 6 November, Rafferty was told his services were no longer required and despite assurance that he was welcome to come back to Gigg Lane once he has taken time to look over their latest offer, he has been relieved of his current duties after a number of years.

Contextualising the series of events, Bury explained in another lengthy statement this week: “We have been in regular contact with John since Wednesday, both offering apologies for the upset caused and working on the solution to move forward.

“A conversation was had between a member of the board and CEO Neil Sears regarding John’s role. This led to confusion, and miscommunication and caused unnecessary stress on a volunteer. We greatly regret this action.”

Unsurprisingly, there has been an outpouring of support for Rafferty and frustration towards the NWCL (North West Counties League) team online.

“John Rafferty, one of the nicest people you could wish to meet and one of the biggest Bury fans you can speak to removed with no justification as to why. What possible reason can be given?” one person wrote. Another person added: “Whoever is behind this decision should hold their heads in shame – I have never seen a man put so much effort into a [football] club. Absolutely shocking.”

Only time will tell as to why these numerous and clearly seismic decisions have been made and we won’t be surprised if more don’t join the exodus.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Mylo Kaye (via Pexels)/Bury FC (vis YouTube screenshot)

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