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Keely Hodgkinson and Sarah Lancashire among famous Greater Manchester names on 2025’s New Year Honours list

Flying the flag for our region.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 2nd January 2025

Keely Hodgkinson and Sarah Lancashire are among famous Greater Manchester names on 2025’s New Year Honours list.

A new year is here, and that means 2025’s New Year Honours list is out.

This year’s coveted list of names – which is published annually ahead of New Year’s Day, and is used to recognise a person’s merit in terms of achievement and service – has everything from community champions and impressive young people, to sporting stars, acting greats, and major public figures being a part of it.

More than 1,200 recipients are receiving honours this year across all sectors, and two of those famous recipients are two of Greater Manchester‘s most impressive talents from 2024 – Olympian Keely Hodginkson and actor Sarah Lancashire.

Hodgkinson appears for the first time on an Honours list this year, being awarded an MBE for services to Athletics.

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The Atherton-born middle-distance runner was already an Olympic medallist prior to heading into Paris 2024, having taken home a silver in the 800m in Tokyo back in 2020, but it was last year’s competition that saw her become an Olympic champion – bagging the gold in that same event.

The MBE honour comes merely weeks after she was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

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While 2023 may have been the year that Sarah Lancashire was at the forefront of the public’s praise, most-notably during the final season of ITV’s Happy Valley which got the whole nation talking, it’s hard to deny that she deserves an Honour this year.

Sarah Lancashire as Sergeant Catherine Cawood in ITV’s Happy Valley / Credit: ITV

Lancashire – who was born in Urmston, before spending the majority of her upbringing in Oldham – has been named an CBE in 2025.

In releasing this year’s recipients, the Government in a statement: “The Government is committed to ensuring that honours are awarded to outstanding people from across the whole of the UK and the system reflects the best of society.

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“The list ensures that people from underrepresented communities and a wide variety of types of work are rewarded, to celebrate the fantastic contribution of people throughout the country.”

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer added: “[Those honoured] represent the very best of the UK and that core value of service which I put at the centre of everything this Government does.”

Featured Image – British Athletics (via Twitter) / Keely Hodgkinson (via Instagram)

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Neil Young U-turns on Glastonbury drop-out after being confirmed as festival headliner

Danny Jones Danny Jones Neil Young now headlining Glastonbury Festival 2025 after pulling out

Barely a beat or two after having seemingly dropped out of the festival, Neil Young has now U-turned on Glastonbury 2025 and now looks set to be headlining it.

The legendary musician called out the world-renowned music festival for being under “corporate” control at the whim of the BBC (its official media and broadcasting partner for nearly 30 years) and said he would no longer be playing his slot.

Young went so far as to call it a “corporate turn-off”, claiming the event is “not how I remember it” in a message on his website.

However, just a few days after posting the news, it now appears as though the Canadian singer-songwriter will still be playing Glastonbury – and not just as one of the multiple legends lined up for 2025 either, but as a headliner.

Neil Young is now seemingly headlining Glastonbury 2025. (Credit: Screenshot via Neil Young Archives)

As you can see in the update shared on Friday, 3 January, the 79-year-old now claims there was an “error” in the information he received regarding his performance at the festival.

Having now cleared up whatever confusion occurred, he and his band the Chrome Hearts will in fact be playing the festival as planned, reiterating his long-lasting love for the festival.

Quite a far cry from the sentiment he seemed to be getting across in his previous post, but make of that what you will.

Furthermore, chief organiser Emily Eavis – whose parents Michael and Jean Eavis set up the first ever Glastonbury music festival back in 1970 – not only hopped on social media to confirm that ‘Shakey’ will be performing but that he will be headline the main Pyramid Stage.

“Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury”, she wrote, adding: “He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.”

So has he been given a slot upgrade of sorts or what? It still remains a little unclear.

At present, Rod Stewart is set to play the iconic and outright ‘Legends’ slot during Sunday teatime this June. We likely won’t hear much else about the rest of the lineup until sometime in spring.

This, of course, isn’t the first time Neil Young has done a 180 following a well-publicised decision in protest against a big media company.

The music veteran famously removed all of his discography from Spotify for two years before it eventually reappeared back in March 2024.

As for whatever happened between him and the festival or whether this was some gamesmanship from the influential music icon, at the end of the day, he’s heading to Worthy Farm after all.

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Featured Images — Per Ole Hagen/Rachel D/Ross Belot (via Flickr)

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Met Office issues double Amber weather warning for snow in Greater Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Met Office issues double Amber weather warning for snow in Greater Manchester

The Met Office has slapped TWO Amber weather warnings across Greater Manchester with snow and ice forecast to be on the way.

The weather service said predicted that snow and freezing rain over the weekend are likely to lead to disruption, including possible power cuts, transport delays and road closures.

There is currently an Amber weather warning for snow covering an area from Newcastle all the way down to Greater Manchester.

And there’s a separate Amber warning for snow and ice which covers everywhere from Cardiff up to Greater Manchester.

It means that our city is currently under three separate weather warnings across the UK, according to the Met Office.

The warnings for snow and ice are in place from 6pm on Saturday until midday on Sunday, while the warning for just snow begins on Saturday at 9pm and doesn’t end until Sunday at midnight.

According to the Greater Manchester weather forecast, we are likely to see heavy snow showers overnight on Saturday and into Sunday morning.

Though in typical Manchester fashion, there’s then heavy rain forecast on Sunday afternoon which may melt any snow that does fall.

Check the latest forecast before you travel HERE.

The Met Office said: “Snow will become persistent and locally heavy as it pushes south to north across the warning area. As well as snow, a period of freezing rain is also likely bringing some hazardous travel conditions, before milder air follows across all areas by Sunday morning.

“Whilst there is some uncertainty in details, 3-7 cm of snow is likely for much of the warning area, with locally 15-30 cm for the higher ground of Wales and the southern Pennines. Freezing rain could lead to ice accretion in places, especially parts of Wales, before the milder air leads to a rapid thaw of snow and ice in the south of the warning area through Sunday.

“It is safer not to drive in these conditions, but if you need to make an essential journey, consider alternative forms of transport, to keep you and others safe. If you must drive, do this more safely by: using dipped headlights; accelerating gently, using low revs and changing to higher gears as quickly as possible; starting in second gear to help with wheel slip; maintaining a safe and steady speed, keeping distance from other vehicles; using a low gear to go downhill, avoiding braking unless necessary; steering into skids, not taking your hands of the wheel, and avoiding slamming on brakes.

“People cope better with power cuts when they have prepared for them in advance. It’s easy to do; consider gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items.

“If isolated due to snow or ice, follow these simple steps to keep safe and well: keep the thermostat set to the same temperature both during the day and at night; turn off electrical heaters and put out your fire before going to bed; ensure pets are safe by keeping them warm and comfortable; prevent frozen pipes by opening kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing; stay indoors, wrap up warm and close internal doors to keep the heat in; and, if you need support call the British Red Cross Support Line on 0808 196 3651.

“Help to protect vulnerable people that you know including older people, those with underlying conditions and those who live alone; they may need support with food and medical supplies. If you are worried about your health or that of somebody you know, ring NHS 111.”

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Featured image: Unsplash, Dylan4photography

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