News

Blackpool Pleasure Beach to reopen in April

The theme park posted a video of staff testing the rides on Thursday morning (February 25), with an accompanying message stating the venue was preparing to welcome back customers from April 12.

The Manc The Manc - 25th February 2021
Image: PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay

Blackpool Pleasure Beach is set to reopen in April, owners have confirmed.

The theme park posted a video of staff testing the rides on Thursday (February 25), with an accompanying message stating the venue was preparing to welcome back customers from April 12.

A statement on social media said: “In line with Government guidelines, we plan to re-open COVID secure and ‘Good To Go’ on Monday 12th April.

“We look forward to welcoming you back to share in our 125th year.”

https://www.facebook.com/blackpoolpleasurebeach/posts/10159086576822365

Blackpool Pleasure Beach – which is home to rides such as The Big One, The Grand National and Ice Blast – has been closed for several weeks due to the latest national lockdown.

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But under current government plans to ease restrictions, theme parks will be allowed to reopen at Stage Two of the roadmap.

Blackpool Illuminations are also set to be extended in 2021 – running for an extra two months for the second successive year.

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The official light switch-on will take place on Friday 3 September.

More information on the reopening of Blackpool Pleasure Beach is available online.

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Manchester band Westside Cowboy release ‘thrilling’ debut album that critics are calling one of the year’s best

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

One of the UK’s best rising bands have released their debut album today to glowing reviews from critics and fans alike.

AND they’re from Manchester… sort of.

Jimmy Bradbury, Reuben Haycocks, Aoife Anson O’Connell, and Paddy Murphy – better known together as Westside Cowboy – formed back in 2023 when they were students at the Royal Northern College of Music, so while they may not all be from Manchester, they definitely have the spirit of our city at the heart of everything they do.

After playing in different bands across the city throughout their student years, the four-piece joined forces to create Westside Cowboy – an indie rock collective credited with self-coining the genre of ‘Britainicana’.

Put simply, Britainicana is a cultural concept that mixes the hazy, mythic feel of American country and folk, with the sound of raw British punk, indie rock, and small-town life.

Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On / Credit: Clementine Schniedermann (Press Shots – Supplied)

If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On, to the world today (21 August).

And the reception from critics, arguably, couldn’t be better.

We’re talking four-star and five-star reviews from some major music publications, including the likes of heavy-hitters Rolling Stone UK, NME, Clash Magazine, DIY Magazine, Far Out Magazine, and Stereogum, among plenty others.

Prior to the release of their debut album, the band had released two EPs, including So Much Country ‘Till We Get There in January earlier this year, and had started to make a name for themselves with their popular debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ in 2024.

They went onto make even further waves when they supported equally-rising American rock band Geese on their UK and Irish tour back in March – with many fans calling it one of the best support and main act combinations in some time.

Three singles from their debut album were shared with the world ahead of its release – ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ came first, followed by ‘Pin Up Boys’ and ‘Dobro’.

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So, it’s fair to say the anticipation for album was high… and if the reviews are anything to go by (which we think they are), it looks like the band has very much delivered what they set out to achieve.

Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On is now available to stream, or you can purchase a physical copy in a range of formats from their website here.

Take a listen👇

Featured Image – Press Shot (Supplied)

News

UK set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Man walking in rain

The UK is being told to brace for a series of storms this autumn when the ‘unprecedented’ El Niño weather event arrives.

It’s already been a summer of extremes for the country, with multiple heatwaves over the past couple of months, but now it appears that autumn and winter are set to have some extremes of their own, as the Met Office is warning that this upcoming El Niño could be one of the most significant in recent memory.

El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the long-term average, which therefore impacts global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.

The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, according to the Met Office, making this year’s weather event have the potential to be ‘the largest since the 19th century’.

Thunderstorm sky
The UK is set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn / Credit: Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)

El Niño will create a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa, and north eastern Australia, but over in north western Europe – including the UK – it means we are likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions.

The UK, and of course Greater Manchester, is absolutely no stranger to a storm around this time of year, but forecasters say this could be an entirely different beast.

“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” warned Professor Adam Scaife, who is the Head of Long Range Forecasting at the Met Office.

“I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”

Professor Scaife concluded: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2°C, with 2°C being a really big event. This implies that, if the forecast is accurate, and other forecast systems show similar extreme values, then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences.’

Forecasters and officials, however, have warned that it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs, and groundwaters are ‘completely replenished’ – which is when a drought can officially be declared as over.

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It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Niño, as current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall needed to drive recovery.

Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons

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