Did you know you can go on a walking tour around Manchester, learning fascinating facts about our city’s rich history, where every tour guide has previously experienced homelessness?
Invisible Cities is a brilliant social enterprise that trains former homeless people to become tour guides in their own city, right across the UK.
As well as supporting people into new opportunities and breaking down the stigma around homelessness, these walking tours are just genuinely great fun – even if you already live here and think you know Manchester pretty well.
From past and present pubs to potted histories, each tour is led by someone with first-hand experience of homelessness who has gone on to retrain as a tour guide.
Invisible Cities first started in Edinburgh but has operated walking tours here in Manchester since 2018.
ADVERTISEMENT
Everyone who is taken on by the organisation is supported (and paid a living wage), whether they choose to become a tour guide, take on other projects, or get referred on to other organisations.
They hope that the funds will allow them to target groups that are harder to reach, including women, and people who have newly arrived in the UK, with a plan to offer them training and transferable skills.
And there’s never been a better time to donate, with Aviva promising to match donations (up to a max match of £250).
Invisible Cities is a walking tour in Manchester led by people who have experienced homelessness. Credit: Supplied, Invisible Cities
As for the walking tours themselves, there are so many new ways to explore Manchester with Invisible Cities.
ADVERTISEMENT
For example, you could spend an afternoon looping around the city centre learning about Manchester’s brilliant pubs (including the Old Nag’s Head, The Briton’s Protection, and the Peveril of the Peak) and the role they’ve played in shaping the city’s history.
That particular tour is Andy, who retraces his own steps from the 1980s, when he was busy falling in love with the bustling nightlife and rock music scene the area is so famed for.
During Ales & Alleyways: Andy’s Stories of Pubs, you’ll learn about music, the suffragettes, football, Peterloo, Little Ireland and art in Manchester, and reflect back on how different the city used to look.
While the tour is a celebration of the great British pub, there’s no drinking on the tour – instead, it’s a chance to spread awareness about the links between alcoholism and homelessness.
Other Invisible Cities tours in Manchester include Wonderwalk, where Nic will make you fall in love with the music of the city by delving right back in time to the beginnings of the city’s illustrious history of music and art.
ADVERTISEMENT
Wonderwalk will whisk you from venues like Bridgewater Hall and the Royal Northern College of Music to the legendary music venues like Big Hands and The Deaf Institute.
Invisible Cities says: “The tour champions the legacy of Madchester that will never be lost, but also supports and empowers our smaller venues (which is now more important than ever) who play a huge part in the city’s never-ending, unique music scene.
Invisible Cities is a walking tour in Manchester led by people who have experienced homelessness. Credit: Supplied, Invisible Cities
“Nic strongly believes music is for everyone. Within the tour he takes you to corners of the city’s community that inspire and introduce music, art and dance to those who are isolated or anxious.
“Nic lives his life by these words: music is medicine, music lifts your spirit, softens your heart and brings people together.”
Then there’s We Built This City From Depression, which uncovers the less glamorous side of Manchester’s history, from the industrial revolution to the IRA bombing that led to the regeneration of the city centre.
ADVERTISEMENT
This Invisible Cities tour is led by Stephen, who’ll unveil the cobbled streets and working people that made Manchester what it is today, plus all the hurdles the city has overcome to end up such a vibrant place to live and visit.
This tour includes visits to the C.S.W Tobacco Factory, Angel Meadows, the Corn Exchange and more.
Find out more about Invisible Cities and book a tour here, or head here to donate.
Bruce Springsteen’s unforgettable final night at Co-op Live in Manchester – just wow…
Danny Jones
It’s rare you get to see legends in real life, especially this up close and personal, but there’s still just one key word that keeps coming to mind when we think of seeing Bruce Springsteen in Manchester at the Co-op Live last night: surreal.
We still can’t quite believe that he was here in Manchester, in the flesh, for three separate nights, but we do intend to replay it in our heads over and over again until it fully sinks in.
Springsteen, ‘The Boss’, Brucey, whatever you want to call him, there really is something to be said for someone who’s been going this long and still exerts so much energy at 75.
That goes for his desperately loyal and dedicated crowds, too. The legions that marched down ‘Thunder Road’ and back down the CityLink walking route and the Ashton canal in supreme spirits after all was said and done gave as good as they got.
We can only assume Springsteen was as incredible on the first night at Co-op Live as he was on the last. (Credit: Audio North)
From singing back every chorus to the chants of “Bruuuuuuuce!” between every single song, it was more apparent than ever that being a Springsteen fan is quite literally a way of life for these people; they know every line, every call and response, every micro-dance move and regular on-stage ritual.
Each show is roughly three hours long, by the way – he does have an absolute treasure trove of discography to work through, in fairness.
Put simply, there’s no messing about, just non-stop rock and roll of the highest order. Well, there are some brief pauses, but for good reason…
As a passionate political and philanthropic person throughout a career which spans more than six decades, he took the time to talk about America and the turbulent times they are once again facing.
He spoke about the craven billionaire class, poverty, uniting through art and, just as he did on night one in Manchester, Springsteen railed against a particular tyrant who happens to have found himself in the seat of power yet again back over in the States. He made sure to do this every single night.
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ (which he did decide to play, along with a plethora of the other biggest hits) now feels more like a protest song than ever. The war may no longer be in Vietnam, but there is one raging back home, and he’s even more wary of it than before.
He thanked those in the pit and the stands for indulging him, as well as the “wonderful space” of the Co-op and its “beautiful sound” for hosting him, but we have a feeling the New Jersey poet could have said just about anything and he’d still have 23,500+ in the palm of his hands.
All that being said, it wasn’t like this was a pseudo-rally or anything like that, nor was anything of this being foisted upon the audience, but there was a real sense of a congregation gathering in the church of Bruce to take in his sermon.
His followers have often been referred to in this way, and despite only previously considering ourselves a very casual Springsteen enthusiast, having now been to a sell-out arena gig with one of the biggest Boss fans we know, we can understand why millions of people around the world idolise this absolute icon.
It goes without saying that a huge amount of applause must go to The E Street Band themselves, who are just as much a part of what makes Springsteen sets so special as he is.
From the ever-charismatic Steven Van Zandt (still hard not to see him as ‘Sil’ from The Sopranos) to Jake Clemons on sax – who has been part of the group since 2012 and shared a touching embrace with Bruce as tributes to his predecessor and uncle, Clarence, played behind them – these lot are a family.
Our only minor gripe is that we sorely missed hearing ‘Atlantic City’, but what the concert did confirm is that much like the effect the recent Bob Dylan biopic had on us, we’re now more committed than ever to working through the Springsteen back catalogue from start to finish and seeing how obsessed we get.
To end on one final thought and echo the words of the man himself: “peace, love and freedom.”
The 81-year-old Red being forced to give up his seat after nearly half a cenutry
Danny Jones
We recently had a touching, albeit heartbreaking chat with one Michael Carney: the 81-year-old Manchester United fan who is being forced to give up his current seat after nearly half a century.
The lifelong Man United supporter has been going to Old Trafford since he was seven years old, meaning he’s spent nearly that same number in decades going to the iconic footballing arena, longer than most who currently attend the ground have been on thre planet.
Put simply, Michael has regularly attended matches for pretty much as long as he can remember and held a season ticket for the bulk of his adult life. His current seat in the old south end, now known as the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, has been in his name for over 45 years – but not for much longer.
The die-hard Red was recently told that his particular part of the stand would be sacrificed to make way for new hospitality seats, a decision that supporters aren’t taking lightly. Some of you may have witnessed the protests in his section with your own eyes; even if not, millions have since seen this image:
This is Mike Carney. I know him well. He’s never felt entitled to anything. But he was at Benfica in 66 & Madrid in 68. Now #MUFC Directors think it’s a good idea to take his seat off him for ‘corporate’ fans next year. Support the protests Reds. It matters! @The__1958@TraMufchttps://t.co/fK5r2kl7bF
Holding up the modest but emphatic sign, the message was clear: the current administration is favouring tourists and casual visitors over the so-called ‘legacy’ fans who have devoted their time and money to the club for generations.
The reverse of Michael’s sign read: “I was sat here before you were born”. Having moved from the old Cantilever Stand, a.k.a. ‘United Road’ (now where the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand is situated) to this particular seat back in 1979, that’s true for the majority of the INEOS Group now at the helm of the club.
Met with cheers from those sitting around him, especially those facing the same eviction, as well as countless others around the stadium when he held the sign aloft during the most recent Manchester Derby, his vocal but peaceful protest saw just as much coverage as any organised fan march.
Looking up to co-owner Jim Ratcliffe (who still wouldn’t fit into the same ticket age category as Carney, even at 72) and other members of the administration in the moment, Michael told us that those sitting in the executive seats refused to even acknowledge him and his peers.
Revealing that failed to offer so much as a glance down, merely making their “glum faces” very plain to see, he said his immediate feeling was one which many have echoed since they arrived: “They’re just puppets for the Glazers.”
Long before the days of wealthy billionaires and entire nation states splurging their cash on football clubs, Michael still remembers the simpler times in football; a time when players like Charlton, Law, Best and, most poignantly for him, often overlooked legends like Duncan Edwards were the story.
He still has a newspaper clipping from the Munich Disaster.Been there, got the shirt…Back in those days, “you could smell the liniment and the red was so vivid” that you couldn’t help but pick United. (Credit: Supplied)
As most fans do, he still remembers his first game: it was a Saturday on 29 September 1951, when Matt Busby’s side took on Preston North End at Old Trafford and went on to lose 2-1.
Although he “cut [his] teeth” watching local non-league clubs around Cheshire back then, enjoying the likes of derbies between Northwich Victoria and Witton Albion, the joy of going to watch United for nine old pence as a junior with his uncle is a feeling that has stuck with him.
That being said, it’s fair to say he has little trouble recollecting even more recent history and big turning points, such as that first buyout back in 2005, pretty well.
Few could have predicted just quite how turbulent things would gradually become in the time since, but some certainly feared as much, and Carney isn’t the only one who now considers those same people as “visionaries” doing their best to warn their fellow supporters of a growing spectre.
Not only were they applauded by purists for splintering off and starting their own grassroots phoenix club, FC United of Manchester, but they also helped ward off the possibility of the leveraged buyout model as a threat to other teams in the future, as the attached controversy and debt only grew greater.
In short, as Michael summed it up, “I don’t think people realised just how bad it was going to get – they knew it was coming. Fergie hid it with results on the pitch, but with a lack of success even from last year, it’s increasingly evident how big a mess they’re in.”
The next generation of matchgoing Carneys and fans, full stop – quite literally awe-inspired. (Credit: Ben Carney)
One of the biggest concerns, as he and many others see it, is the crowd itself and how decisions such as these imminent hospitality seats continue to chip away at the spirit within the stands.
Fast forward some seven decades later, however, and when asked point blank if he felt the atmosphere had changed in the modern era, he couldn’t have answered quicker: “Oh yes, I think so – definitely.”
Touching on the ‘forwarding membership’ debacle brought in for the 23/24 season, he carried on: “They’re trying to force people to refund their ticket so they can resell it [at an inflated price]; they’re just making it so difficult. They want the end-of-season ticket holders over 65, full stop, I believe.”
Perhaps the hardest thing for us to hear was when Michael told us: “I don’t feel part of the club at all, and I haven’t for a long time. It’s that feeling of not belonging and loss of feeling like part of a family – they’ve got to get that back.
“How they’re going to do that, I have no idea. I think they’re rotten from top to bottom.”
This becomes an even more bitter pill to swallow when you consider how football can play a part in local communities and families like the Carneys; for instance, without Michael, his grandson Ben may never have enjoyed truly unforgettable moments like these:
Conveying a genuine feeling of heartbreak behind his treatment, in one exasperated moment, he could only utter, “It used to be so simple…”, before going on to joke that if things keep going as poorly as they are on the pitch, they won’t have as many tourists to attract and “they’ll want people like me back.”
ADVERTISEMENT
We had the pleasure of speaking to Ben himself too, a fellow lifelong Red and now aspiring sports writer studying at UA92 (the further education facility set up by United legends) and he had no reservations in admitting that he owes his love the club, the sport and the magic of watching it live to Michael.
“To me, supporting United is a religion — a way of life”, he says. “It’s in my blood, and that’s all thanks to my grandad. This season, the troubling trends of the past decade have continued, both on and off the pitch, but never underestimate the stoic spirit that runs through Manchester United.
“Even in the bad times, we do it differently, and the chaotic win against Lyon was proof of that. As the chant goes: ‘Ruben Amorim, he’ll bring the glory days again.'”
Unfortunately, many well-meaning Reds, who also expressed their frustration with the club during that frankly bonkers game, have seen their memories of the night somewhat sullied.
Michael might be the oldest fan having to advocate for his own seat but he’s from the only United supporter holding up homemade signs.
Neverthless, without him, treasured memories in Ben’s life like Lyon, that PSG game in 2018/19, derbies both here in Manchester and when the Irwell flows into Merseyside – not to mention core, life-affirming experiences like ones seen above – may never have happened.
ADVERTISEMENT
He’s been here through the ups and downs and brought the next line of his kin, friends and numerous others along with him; he’s also stuck with the club through the big periods of transition in the past too.
Each time a new chapter has been turned, he’s refused to be left behind and still has all the passion to witness whatever comes on the next page, but its the club that seems to be trying to obfuscate that as they prepare to ultimately leave the Theatre of Dreams after more than 115 years.
The Northwich-born fan says that he understands the need for a new stadium, even though he believes “renovating would’ve been alright” – admittedly quipping that it’s already a bit like Trigger’s brush from Only Fools given how many different iterations of Old Trafford he’s already lived through.
He pointed out that “people probably said the same” back when the club then known as Newton Heath left Clayton’s Bank Street back in 1910, but did admit he wasn’t the biggest fan of the bold and controversial vision for it, which has been said to resemble a circus top by more than a few.
Being perceived as a somewhat fitting metaphor for modern-day Man United by fans, rivals and neutrals alike, “it was ready-made for the p***-takes”, says Michael, but you can gurantee that he’d be going their in full faith and getting behind his team – only the problem is it isn’t exactly up to him anymore.
Michael text me not long after the full-time whistle following the incredible comeback against Lyon last month to joke, “Forget everything I said about them not being entertaining!”, even going on to rather sincerely apologise for what he feared was “too much ‘fings aren’t what they used to be’ chat.”
Like any truly loyal fan of a club, it doesn’t take much for him to be sucked back in and football cannot, under any circumstances, afford to take undying levels of support like this for granted. Without veterans like this, nights like the one now being set up against Spurs for the Europa League final just don’t exist.
When you factor in how much time, money and energy he’s sunk into travelling for games both home and away – getting trains from Northwich to Alty, then buses to the ground, coaches all over the country and even abroad to see his team play – circumstances like his imminent ousting feel all the more unjust.
He admitted himself that while he might not be around much longer to see the likes of the new stadium and maybe see finally win another league; to cheer on that next generation of youngsters onto the pitch and see a United reborn, he’s more than earned the right to spend every second he can at that ground.
Ruben’s reds might be going to Bilbao and, who knows, maybe they’ll even be back on track from next season, but one things for sure, they won’t get anywhere without true fans like Michael.
Daisy Jackson -
10th August 2024 
