On Sunday 28th February 2021, a fireball lit up the sky over the UK and Northern Europe.
It was seen by thousands of eyewitnesses, and was captured on many fireball and home surveillance cameras, and now, in what has been named a “major event in UK science”, a meteorite which fell from that fireball has been found and safely recovered.
Almost 300g of a very rare meteorite, which is known as a carbonaceous chondrite, survived its fiery passage through the Earth’s atmosphere – travelling at nearly 14km per second – to land on a driveway in the small Cotswold town of Winchcombe, and with the help of specialised cameras, its flight path has been created to allow scientists to determine exactly where in the solar system it came from, and predict where it fell.
Apparently, the meteorite was retrieved in such a good condition, so quickly after its fall, that it’s comparable to the samples returned from space missions, both in quality and quantity.
To put it into perspective of how rare this discovery is, there are approximately 65,000 known meteorites on Earth, but only 1,206 have been witnessed to fall, and of these, only 51 are carbonaceous chondrites, which means that this is the first known carbonaceous chondrite to have been found in the UK.
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It’s also the first meteorite recovered in the UK in 30 years.
— Earth and Solar System (@EarthSolarSystm) March 9, 2021
Once the meteorite was identified as genuine, plans were made for it to be safely moved to the Natural History Museum, where it will be properly cared for until it begins an official process of classification to establish its “validity and scientific significance”.
Dr Ashley King – UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum – was among the first on the scene when the meteorite was discovered and has been advising on its handling and care ever since, admitting that “the opportunity to be one of the first people to see and study a meteorite that was recovered almost immediately after falling is a dream come true”.
Researchers from the University of Manchester are among the team of specialist scientists from across the UK who have now been tasked with searching the rest of the predicted fall area for more fragments.
Dr Katherine Joy – a Royal Society University Research Fellow at The University of Manchester – said: “This is a hugely exciting scientific event as it is the first time in 30 years that a meteorite sample has fallen and been recovered in the UK.
“Normally we have to send spacecraft to collect bits of other worlds, but this time one has fallen right into our laps.
“We look forward to using our laboratories in Manchester and working with our colleagues to investigate how the newly recovered UK meteorite fall can provide insights to how planets in the early Solar System were formed”.
You can find more information via the University of Manchester website here.
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
10th March 2021 
