Cheshire’s boutique Hide and Seek festival has announced its lineup for 2022 and there are some big names on the bill this year.
This September, the festival will return to the beautiful grounds of Capesthorne Hall with a new ‘ethereal’ theme and an expanded line-up of emerging talents and enduring legends, split across five stages.
Organisers announced this morning that this year’s event will feature performances from Todd Terje, Priku, Zip, Apollonia, Sonja Moonear, Fumiya, Tanaka, Raresh and loads more.
This year marks the third edition of the festival, which has already made a huge impact on the underground festival circuit – quickly becoming synonymous with authentic electronic sounds from the worlds of house, techno, disco and minimal.
Image: Hannah Metcalfe
A host of Manchester brands like You&Me, Animal Crossing, Surco, Arcadia, Tranquil and God Made Me Funky are all set to appear, as well as a host of tastemakers from further afield.
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This include Paris’s Automatic Writing, Liverpool’s MODU:LAR and Zuku, London’s Bizarre Trax and Beeyou, SetOneTwenty and Magnetic from Leeds and Real Gang from Ibiza.
Last year’s show was so widely loved that organisers were left with no other choice than to expand the offer to a two-day format and to create space for extended set times and a growing list of talent.
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Importantly, the focus remains firmly on careful curation and coherent programming to maintain Hide&Seek’s well-deserved reputation as a festival by and for serious music lovers.
Image: Hannah Metcalfe
Just announced debutants includeTraumer, Gene on Earth b2b The Ghost, Binh b2b DJ Masda, Chris Stussy, Dungeon Meat and Jamie 3:26.
They will join a host of returning favourites including Josh Baker, Spokenn, Sugar Free, Sweely, Voigtmann and many more.
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This year’s festival concept is Electric Dreams, promising revellers a sure-fire trip to the ethereal.
The grounds of Capesthorne Hall will once again be transformed into an adult wonderland with crystal clear sound and immersive production, with luscious woodland, lakes and landscaped gardens all open to explore.
Festival co-founder Josh Baker said: “As we enter year 3, we couldn’t be more excited to showcase what’s in store. We are taking huge steps to continue to both entertain and educate the dance floor.
Image: Supplied
“We have spent endless hours considering the programme to offer an optimal experience over two days which allows ravers to discover new names whilst being blown away by legends of the scene. For 2022, our mission is to offer an experience you never knew you needed. Electric Dreams.”
Fellow co-founder Kurt Hurst added: “The development from our first edition in 2019 to the 2021 festival was clearly a huge step up, and as per our marketing and messaging this was always part of the vision.
“However there is still further room for growth and this will be evident on arrival to Capesthorne Hall on September 3rd/4th.
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“After 2021 we received such incredibly overwhelming feedback in regards to stage concepts, entertainment, audio & production, but we can assure that all of these elements will continue to evolve and allow us to deliver an even better ‘dreamlike’ experience.”
Tickets are on sale now via the Hide and Seek website, with payment plans starting from just £15.
Feature image – Supplied
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Derelict Manchester office block to become ‘vital’ accommodation for homeless families
Emily Sergeant
A derelict former office block in Manchester is set to become vital accommodation for homeless families in the region.
Manchester City Council has announced that, subject to planning approval, new temporary accommodation for dozens of homeless families will be created on the site of a derelict former office block in south Manchester, off Nell Lane in Chorlton.
The Council acquired the 1.1 acre site last month with the support of the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund.
The initiative – which is part of wider plans to boost the city’s stock of quality temporary accommodation – will see self-contained two-bedroom accommodation created for around 55 homeless families built where former NHS offices, Mauldeth House, currently stand.
Mauldeth House has been empty for several years now at this point, and had become somewhat of a ‘blight’ on the neighbourhood, attracting anti-social behaviour along the way and being targeted by squatters – but with the plans for the new accommodation, this could change for the better.
The site, and therefore the new accommodation, is said to be ‘ideally located’ for families, as it’s close to shops, schools, public transport, leisure facilities, and Chorlton Park.
The new accommodation will see families supported by a specialist team based on site to help them move on as quickly as possible into permanent settled tenancies, which is, of course, the long-term goal for many.
The Mauldeth House initiative is cited as being one example of the Council’s drive to increase its temporary accommodation stock across the city to reduce the number of out-of-area placements.
Other successful examples of this initiative include Mariana House in Whalley Range, and The Poplars in Rusholme.
It also comes after it was announced last month that homeless children in Greater Manchester, particularly those who are placed in temporary accommodation out of area for their school, will now get free bus travel to and from school.
“Mauldeth House is a great example of how we can put derelict properties to good use to benefit those experiencing homelessness, as well as making our neighbourhood look better,” explained Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Joanna Midgley.
“We are tackling homelessness on many fronts, the most important one being prevention, but we also need an increased supply of good quality temporary accommodation within the city so that if people do become homeless they are not uprooted from their social support networks.
“One of the ways we are doing this is through the innovative use of existing sites whether they are council owned or we are able to acquire them, as in the case of Mauldeth House.”
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Bolton woman who falsely accused 10 men of raping her has been jailed
Emily Sergeant
A woman from Bolton who falsely accused 10 different men of raping her over a six-year period has now been jailed.
Stacey Sharples, 31 from Farnworth in Bolton, pleaded guilty of 10 counts of perverting the course of justice in relation to reports against 10 separate men at Bolton Crown Court earlier last month (2 February 2026), before appearing in court again this week to be sentenced.
The investigation into Sharples was launched after the arrests and questioning of almost all these men, and following the pursuing of all relevant lines of enquiry, which consistently revealed evidence contrary to what had been disclosed by Sharples.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says investigations of this nature are ‘extremely rare’ and the decision to pursue Sharples as a suspect was ‘not one taken lightly’.
“However, it is our duty to act in the public interest and on the evidence and information we uncover and receive, which in this case demonstrated a continuous, wilful making of false allegations, knowing full well the consequences for each of the men involved,” GMP said in a statement following Sharples’ sentencing.
Of the allegations Sharples pleaded guilty to – of which were made over a six-year period between 2013 and 2019 – most of the men were arrested and spent time in custody, with some also undertaking intimate examinations, and almost all spending periods of time on police bail or released under investigation.
Statements from the men accused by Stacey Sharples / Credit: GMP
GMP says there’s ‘no doubt’ the reports and arrests have had an impact on these men, their sense of self and relationships, their wider networks, and how they move forward with their lives.
False accounts also undermine those who have genuinely experienced sexual violence.
Police say it also affects the confidence in the criminal justice system, and that the time spent investigating Sharples’ reports could have been put towards investigating ‘genuine reports of sexual offences’ instead.
Sharples has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison this week after pleading guilty to making false rape allegations.
Speaking following Sharples’ sentencing this week, Detective Sergeant Steven Gilliland, who investigated this case, said: “We took the allegations made by Stacey Sharples seriously, explored all lines of enquiry and swiftly made arrests or interviewed of all the men she accused.
“We gave her multiple opportunities to provide further explanation or information to us, after interviews with the men and subsequent evidence uncovered didn’t align with her first recollection, as we understand that trauma can impact how victims and survivors recount their experiences.
“Ultimately, as the evidence continued to demonstrate that the reports were untrue, coupled with the desire for justice from some of the men who had been falsely accused, it was right that we followed the evidence and pursued the individual who had actually committed a criminal offence.”
Georgina Pellant -
1st March 2022 
