Cheshire

New mural of Joy Division icon Ian Curtis unveiled in his hometown

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 25th March 2022

A mural of Joy Division legend Ian Curtis has been unveiled in Macclesfield.

His former bandmate Peter Hook has said that he’s waited ‘a long time’ to see a tribute to his late friend in his hometown.

The mural has been created by street art legend Akse-P19, who was also behind the Marcus Rashford mural in Withington and Sir Captain Tom Moore in the Northern Quarter.

The hyper-realistic black and white art piece has been painstakingly painted onto the side of a building on Mill Street in the town centre.

It’s been fully funded by Cheshire East Council, who say it’s been ‘worth the wait’.

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Councillor Nick Mannion, chair of Cheshire East Council’s economy and growth committee, said: “Before today, I spoke about how perhaps this beautiful mural has been somewhat overdue but now that I’m here seeing it for myself for the first time, I can say without any doubt that it has truly been worth the wait.

“As I’ve said previously, I am a huge fan of Joy Division – the cultural significance of the band and Ian stretches well beyond my home town of Macclesfield. This is such a proud moment, I’m feeling very emotional about it right now.”

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Akse-P19 working on the mural of Ian Curtis in Macclesfield. Credit: Cheshire East Council

Ian Curtis was the frontman of Joy Division, who were behind the huge song Love Will Tear Us Apart.

The Macclesfield-raised musician tragically took his own life at just 23 years of age.

There’s another mural of him in Manchester, on Port Street, which promotes the mental health charity Shout.

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Read more: Mancs Max George and Ryan Thomas among celebs to compete in new ITV show The Games

On completion of his latest project, Akse said: “Although I’ve been working on murals most of my life, it’s still always an incredible feeling to get to the end of the journey – well the end of my journey at least. Now it’s time for the people of Macclesfield to enjoy the mural, as I know how much Ian meant to so many of them.”

Peter Hook wrote on Twitter: “Great to visit this wonderful new mural of Ian today by @Akse_P19, now almost finished on Mill St in Macclesfield.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time to see a tribute to Ian in his hometown.”

Featured image: Cheshire East Council

Cheshire

Neighbourhood Weekender returns after hiatus with incredible first wave lineup for 2025

Danny Jones Danny Jones Neighbourhood Weekender back with 2025 lineup

After a year out to help fine-tweak what is already one of the best festivals in the North West, Neighbourhood Weekender returns for 2025 with a simply incredible first-wave lineup.

The Warrington-based music festival spread across two fantastic days and jam-packed with some of the best talent from all over the UK is officially back after its short hiatus and buzzing is an understatement.

Neighbourhood will no doubt be a familiar name to many of you who have attended the city centre day festival that first started back in 2016, but the full weekender which began a couple of years later has become a giant in its own right, welcoming some huge acts to the stage in the past.

Spoiler alert: there are some pretty bloody big ones this year too.

Credit: Tom Martin (supplied)

With the likes of Pulp, James, Shed Seven, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Blossoms, Sam Fender, Lewis Capaldi, Inhaler and countless other big names having come through taken the NBHD rite of passage in previous editions, it’s fair to say the lineup also sees both established and up-and-coming names.

Another thing it can take as a compliment is that many of these bands are artists keeping coming back every year or two – in fact, there are a fair few returning customers in 2025 and we’re sure that same goes for the crowd too.

Boasting a daily capacity of around 25,000, make no mistake, this thing is massive and if you’ve never been before, we can’t think of a better time than next summer for their comeback festival now that we’ve seen who’ll be playing.

NBHD Weekender 2025 will not only see headline performances from Manc rock and indie legends, James, as well as fellow veterans and the veritable pride of Wales, Stereophonics, but other huge names include The Wombats, Inhaler, The Lathums, Dizzee Rascal, Ocean Colour Scene and SO many more.

Drum roll, please…

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The names we’re excited to see a virtually endless and this is just the first wave, mind you.

We’re especially excited to see the likes of Wunderhorse, CMAT, overpass, Sigrid, as well as returning favourites The Lathums, The Reytons, The Snuts, The Lottery Winners, The K’s and we simply must stop there otherwise we’ll just end up listing the whole lineup.

Set to take place on the bank holiday weekend of 24-25 May, tickets for Neighbourhood Weekender go live at 9:30am on Friday, 22 November via www.gigsandtours.com, Ticketmaster and the NBHD website.

Residents in postcodes WA1 – WA5 will have access to a local presale, which also opens from 9:30am on Wednesday, 20 November.

See you at the park!

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Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)

Cheshire

Chester Zoo opens new ‘cutting-edge’ science centre to help fight global extinction crisis

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Chester Zoo has opened a new science centre which is set to play a “significant role” in the conservation of the world’s most-threatened species.

The new cutting-edge facility, formally named the International Centre for Zoo Science, will enable researchers to study some of species most at-threat across the globe, as well as support conservationists and scientists to fight the ongoing global extinction crisis.

The specialised centre is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to assess the health of plants and animals, Chester Zoo has revealed.

Inside is a demonstration lab to help train future conservationists, as well as a special cryo-conservation unit where genetics from endangered species will be preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196°C, and the new facility also houses Europe’s largest dedicated wildlife endocrinology lab, giving scientists the chance to study and track hormone levels in animals to further understand their reproductive biology.

Chester Zoo has opened a new ‘cutting-edge’ science centre to help fight the global extinction crisis / Credit: Chester Zoo

In case you didn’t know, Chester Zoo is already at the forefront of vital research to protect a wide range of different species from extinction, with it being home to 37,000 animals from more than 500 species – but this new centre will take things one step further.

Scientists at the UK’s biggest charity zoo say the new centre – which is triple the size of the zoo’s previous lab facilities – will enable them to attempt to “unlock the secrets” of different species which have, so far, remained “unstudied” and a therefore a “mystery to science”.

It will also help the zoo significantly expand its scientific capacity, and boost its conservation training programme.

“Our new International Centre for Zoo Science will help us to play an even more significant role in the conservation of some of the world’s most endangered species,” explained Dr Sue Walker, who is the Head of Science at Chester Zoo.

“At a time when species face extinction on an unimaginable scale, we’re already making a substantial contribution to the task of preventing extinction and restoring biodiversity… and now our new science centre will enable us to grow our research, not only in wildlife reproduction, but also in terms of innovating within our other areas of expertise.”

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Dr Walker added that this will also be the first time the Zoo is able to accommodate training courses for visiting researchers from all over the world.

Featured Image – Chester Zoo

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