A local family have been “making Wythenshawe proud” this year by cleaning up their community and raising money for charity along the way.
The Brookes family may not have imagined the new year to begin this way, but they haven’t looked back since.
When Anthony and his wife Danielle by chance saw an advertisement on social media calling on volunteers to help with a Christmas clean-up event in their local area just before 2020 drew to a close, they decided to get themselves and their two young daughters, Charlotte and Toni, involved in the action as a way of creating a positive impact – having just recently “become more spiritually aware” – and starting the new year with the best intentions going forward.
And after Anthony had also recently survived a number of job cut-backs at the company he works for, and found himself furloughed with the new gig of homeschool teacher for the duration of England’s current national lockdown, he also saw it as a unique learning opportunity.
The opportunity to teach something the textbooks can’t.
After “[learning] a lot over the past couple of years”, he was keen to not only lead by example for his daughters, but also to teach them the power of contribution and carrying out good deeds from an early age.
Quite simply, they just wanted to make a difference – and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
Gearing up for the task ahead in high-vis jackets with their gloves on and litter pickers in hand, the family set out on their first clean-up trip at the start of this month, and went all the way from the Woodhouse Park to Newall Green areas of Wythenshawe, picking up as much rubbish as they could see along the way – and now they have “the [litter picking] bug”.
“Now we’ve got a bug and carry on cleaning litter on our side in Woodhouse Park,” Anthony admits.
“We have collected over 20 big bags [of rubbish] in a short period of time and you can really see the difference. We still go back to Mill Pond Fields and the nature area in Newall Green to help out in between [too]”.
But Anthony is keen “not to take all the credit” from the wider group of superstars.
Wythenshawe Waste Warriors
The Brookes’ are members of an ever-growing community clean up initiative known as the Wythenshawe Waste Warriors, and they couldn’t be prouder.
“They are doing a top job,” Anthony insists.
Founded in 2018 in a bid to transform the area’s local parks, green spaces and brooks, Wythenshawe Waste Warriors is a network of volunteers working together to make the community a cleaner place in different hubs across the south Manchester suburb.
The group believes that “together we are stronger and that all our activities are building towards a community that is sustainable – environmentally, economically, physically, mentally and spiritually for the future”.
Wythenshawe Waste Warriors was set up by Newall Green resident and Chairman John-Paul Coe after visiting his local park – Milky Button Park – with his six-year-old son Bobby and being so upset by the amount of mess and litter scattered around that they were forced to abandon their trip and return home.
Heartbroken by what he saw, John-Paul promised his son he would take control of the parks and woodlands that had been neglected in his community.
John-Paul and a small group of volunteers simply began litter picking near their homes, before deciding to launch the Wythenshawe-wide collective – which has now seen glowing support from residents, businesses, local sports teams, schools, the local council and services, outreach initiatives, local charities, and more – and going on to collect thousands of bags of litter year after year.
In the year 2020, the network set the apt target of filling 2,020 bags of litter – and they smashed that, amassing 2,406 bags and counting.
With the vital work the collective is carrying out – especially as fly-tipping rates have continued to soar across the region over lockdown – they’re really helping to make Wythenshawe a wonderful place to live, and John-Paul has nothing but positive things to say about the “amazing” Brookes family.
Anthony Brookes / Wythenshawe Waste Warriors
“We have been delighted to partner our local residents, community groups, businesses and service partners to clean up our town and green spaces, [and] during the recent lockdown, [the Brookes family] from Woodhouse Park have made a huge difference by litter picking” John-Paul said.
He continued: “It’s amazing to see the family combining outdoor exercise with making the pathways and fields safer for all to use.
“They have collected a great deal of waste, which has been removed by MCC and Biffa.”
“[Not only are they] improving wellbeing physically, both for themselves and for all who wish to access our green spaces, [but] the mental health benefits are also huge as residents are telling us they feel safer on their walks and are able to see community-spirited neighbours making a difference, [which] gives them a boost”.
And if all of this wasn’t brilliant enough as it is, the Brookes’ have inspired a number of other local families to join them in their pledge, and have been raising money for a worthy cause – St Ann’s Hospice in Heald Green – along the way as part of John-Paul and the Wythenshawe Waste Warriors’ Pound a Bag sponsorship scheme, which is really starting to take off in 2021.
With a £3,000 target to hit, the group’s JustGiving fundraiser has now accumulated an impressive £830 and counting, with the Brookes family themselves managing to raise over £100 of that figure.
“It’s just brilliant,” said Anthony, “I never thought [we’d] get that”.
Anthony Brookes / Wythenshawe Waste WarriorsWythenshawe Waste Warriors
Anthony continued: “We are happy we are inspiring other people to get out and join the big clean up and [we’d] like to thank all my family and friends for the likes, shares and support [on social media] and the sponsors.
“You are all amazing”.
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Donations to the group’s JustGiving fundraiser for St Ann’s Hospice can be made here.
You can find more information about the Wythenshawe Waste Warriors – including how to get yourself involved – via the group’s website here, and you can keep up to date with the brilliant work the group is doing on a daily basis to clean up the community via their social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter.
Feature
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | June 2025
Danny Jones
Hello there. That greeting may be giving Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars vibes, and we can’t lie, we have listened to some cantina music while working this month… but not as much as we’ve been immersing ourselves in more new Manchester artists.
You should know the drill by now, and it is very much a what-it-says-on-the-tin scenario, but every few weeks, we round up some of the music – all crucially hailing from the Greater Manchester area – that we’ve been listening to of late.
We don’t discriminate when it comes to genre either. There’s only one simple rule: if it’s good, then we listen to it and then, hopefully, so do you.
Get your playlists at the ready.
Five Manc music artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. Arkayla
First up for June are relative newcomers Arkayla, whose name is inspired by “a terrible Oasis demo” from 1991 (their words, not ours – thought it is…) of the same name, a.k.a. ‘I Will Show You’, in which describe Liam Gallagher’s now legendary as once sounding “like a dodgy Ian Brown impressionist.”
However, there’s nothing dodgy about these lot and, thankfully, they’re in an era when you don’t have to hand out tapes recorded in the Boardwalk basement on the street to be heard. The Manchester band, which only formed in 2020, may be Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, but they’ve already got a sound.
There’s an unmistakable British indie element to them and hints at everything from The Kooks to The Lathums, but most notably, there are ’60s guitar notes and some real maturity already. Standouts include ‘Ella Malone’, the acoustic version of ‘Lost In a Valentine’, where the lead singer, Cal Blakebrough, really shines, and ‘Rita’ is such an addictive track.
They don’t get more unknown, undiscovered, but sure to be up-and-coming than iNNAFIELD, who are a female-fronted psychedelia-forward five-piece with roots in Brighton but building a career in 0161. Having recently shone at The Deaf Institute playing a support slot at Academy 1, they have our interest.
If a glimpse of lead singer Jessie Amy Leask’s curly hair, 70s belts and long, flowing skirts plants Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac in your mind, you’d be right in thinking so; a listen to their other live tracks scattered across their socials confirms there’s plenty of other influences going on too, though.
Now, they’ve only got one proper recording out on Spotify called ‘Tell Me What’s On Your Mind’, but we’ve had it popping up on our algorithms everywhere, and we can see why: there’s soft, twinkly strumming, soft almost sleepy vocals before a nice big breakout at the end. Glorious stuff.
No, not that one, the Princess of Monaco isn’t back from the dead, but ‘r Grace Kelly, who is based right here in Greater Manchester, is playing her part in the ongoing country revival taking place across the music world, offering her soulful voice and faux American-folk vibes to our ears.
She may not be a Mancunian by birth, having moved from New Zealand to our shores back in 2022, and although the weather change might have been a big sea change for her, there’s no culture shock to be found in her style; from the audio to the aesthetic, it still somehow feels pretty authentic.
Uplifting acoustic guitars, drum brush strokes, solos, Southern-twang harmonies – you name it, all the ingredients are there. The thing is, if you spend enough time immersing yourself in a genre, you can still pull off tracks like ‘Carry On’, ‘San Jose’ and the intimate ‘For Us To Change’.
We’re really lane switching when it comes to genre this month; maybe it’s because festival season is in full swing and we’re just being exposed to so much different stuff in a short space of time, all we know is we’re not complaining about it.
And neither should you, especially when you’ve got names like hip-hop, grime, soul and flag-flying Afrobeats rising star, Prido, being platformed. Blending all the above with R’n’B and a sprinkling of not just Northern but easily detectable Manc slant, it makes his music stand out in the ever-thriving space.
‘Free Ur Mind’ was the first track we ever heard, so we’ve struggled to shake that as our favourite, but ‘DND’ is a supremely dancey but chill example of laid-back of the genre that you need in your mixes this summer, and we also have a soft spot for his verse on the sensual ‘Lifeboat’ by Prima.
Last but not least on our list of new Manchester artists for this June, we’ve got local DJ Josh Baker, whose name you might recognise from the headlines surrounding Parklife 2025, as his set was unfortunately cancelled due to problems out of his control.
Festival-goers flocked to The Matinee Stage for a highly anticipated back-to-back bill of Baker followed by Dutch counterpart Chris Stussy, both of whom have thrilled some of the biggest club crowds in the country – sadly, he didn’t get to do so this time. That being said, we thought we’d give him a shout-out.
We’ll confess to only having got around to his discography following this news, but ‘Back It Up’, ‘Something To Me’, and ‘You Don’t Own Me’ with Prospa and RAHH are all bangers. We’re looking forward to listening to more.
And that should just about do you; there are five artists and, at the very least, 15 new tracks for you to give a go – there should be at least of few of them you like.
But, let’s be honest: be it unheard, new, current, old or anything in between, Manchester music very rarely ends up being filed in the skippable category.
Then again, you can always check out last month’s list of Manc artists from last month and see if you get a better hit ratio.
Featured Images — Prido (via Facebook)/Arkayla (via X)/Grace Kelly (via Facebook)
Feature
You can sleep in a luxury train carriage at an old railway station in Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
There’s an Airbnb listing in Delph where you can stay in a classic converted train carriage, and it’s even situated in an old train station, so someone buy my ticket ASAP.
Get ready to have the best train experience of your life, as the only cancellation you have to worry about is booking the day off work.
The Carriage at The Old Station is a two-person character property in Delph, Saddleworth that offers you the chance to live out your vintage fantasy by stepping back in time on a luxury static train coach.
It may be situated at an old station, but the interior is refreshing and light with mint blue beams, fuchsia cushions and a royal red carpet and curtains.
As well as a majestic interior, this carriage has an equally impressive amount of amenities, including a Bluetooth sound system, board games and its own indoor fireplace.
This Airbnb is fairly new too, with only 44 reviews to its name – the first only dating back to September of last year; don’t say we don’t find you some absolute gems.
Inside the Airbnb that’s an old converted train carriage.The interior of this Airbnb listing is bold and impressive.
One user even stated, “We regularly stay in five-star locations and this surpassed five-star easily! We highly recommend a stay here.”
While another opened her review with three simple adjectives that we also feel perfectly sum up this train carriage property perfectly: “Opulent, indulgent, extravagant”.
It should come as no surprise that this place is beautiful inside and out, as in the description, host of the property Nigel states he’s a retired designer.
The train carriage stay is also close to a proper country pub, The Old Bell Inn, as well as the Diggle canal walk if you fancy a stroll and a pint before tucking into bed in your old train carriage for the night.
Even the bathroom has pops of colour throughout.You could stay in this train carriage at an old train station.
If you’re after boarding The Carriage at The Old Station and having a fabulous overnight stay or mini holiday of your own, you can find the Airbnb listing and everything you need to know HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
18th January 2021 
