The mural was subsequently restored by the original artist the following day – but the messages kept on coming.
While the glorious sunshine over the last week or so has meant that the messages have remained mostly unharmed since the original incident, Manchester City Council has now confirmed that it will begin the process of carefully removing them this Friday ahead of a forecasted change in the weather at the weekend.
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There are fears that the messages will disintegrate and be lost forever if they aren’t removed in advance of the prolonged spells of rain expected in the area from Saturday.
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) July 13, 2021
To ensure this doesn’t happen, every message and tribute that has been left at the mural will be collected before the rain comes by a team of professional staff from Manchester Art Gallery and Central Library Archives+.
MA students from the Institute of Cultural Practices at the University of Manchester are also standing by, ready to help with collecting the messages and documenting the process.
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Wherever possible, messages will be removed individually, but due to the amount of adhesive tape that has been used to fix tributes to the mural, it is more likely that whole sections will have to be lifted and packed on site, and then carefully separated later.
After their removal, all the messages will transported to Central Library’s archives department for safe-keeping.
All partners involved will then decide how best to make them more widely available.
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Manchester Art Gallery, Central Library’s Archives department, the People’s History Museum, the National Football Museum, the University of Manchester, and the Withington Walls project- who first commissioned the mural – have all been involved in discussions on how best to preserve the tributes.
The messages will be carefully removed ahead of a forecasted change in the weather. / Credit: Twitter (@MarcusRashford)
Once at the library, a team of professionals will set about the delicate process of separating each of the messages, recording, and photographing them – and while no decisions have yet been made on where the messages will eventually be kept, the current priority is preserving and protecting them from the weather.
It is hoped that by preserving the messages, they can be made available for education and public display in the future as an important and permanent reminder of just what a significant moment in the city and country’s cultural history this has been.
Marcus Rashford himself is also to be asked what he would like to happen to the messages, and how he would like them to be used.
“The support and respect shown for Marcus and his teammates over the last week through the thousands of tributes left at his mural has been amazing and wonderful to see,” said Councillor Luthfur Rahman OBE – Deputy Leader at Manchester City Council.
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“The actions of all those who have turned up in solidarity to see his mural and leave their own messages of love and support for him has ‘Manchester’ stamped all the way through it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRQ1DceoBVC/
He continued: “We think it’s important this shared moment of solidarity – that started with the placing of just one small message of love on the mural after it was defaced – an action that spoke to the whole country and not just Manchester, is remembered and preserved for future generations.
“We’re reaching out to Marcus with some thoughts on how this could be achieved and to ask what he would like to happen to the tributes to help create a lasting legacy of tolerance, love, and solidarity for future generations to learn from.”
‘Significant risk’ of UK gas shortages this winter, regulator warns
Georgina Pellant
Energy regulator Ofgem has warned that the UK faces a ‘significant risk’ of gas shortages this winter.
According to reports in The Times, the regulator has unveiled concerns that the country could face blackouts over the coming months thanks to an undersupply of gas to Europe caused by Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Warning that a “gas supply emergency” could be looming ahead, the energy regulator has said that some gas-fired power plants could see their supplies cut off, which in turn would stop generators from producing electricity.
The alert comes just days before an expected update from the National Grid on the likelihood of countrywide power cuts this winter.
Responsing to arequest from SSE, which owns several gas power stations, Ofgem outlined what is set to be a huge issue of concern given that the UK relies on large gas plants to produce the biggest share of its electricity supply.
The regulator also pointed to rules that could see power plants penalised as a result of shortages, warning of a worst-case scenario that would see the “potential insolvency of gas-fired generators” caused by rules that require plants to pay huge charges if they fail to deliver on promised quotas.
A letter from Ofgem has revealed the energy regulator is concerned about a "gas supply emergency" this year.
The letter said the war in Ukraine and gas shortages in Europe had led to a "significant risk that gas shortages could occur" this winter in the UK.
Adding that the issue must be addressed to prevent a “significant impact on the safety and security of the electricity and/or gas systems”, the regulator echoed concerns now widespread in Europe as its comments followed a similar statement made by the International Energy Agency (IEA) this morning.
Europeans are already being told they must lower their thermostats and boilers in preparation in case gas supplies are cut off, with Paris-based agency IEA warning today that the EU must focus on getting underground gas reserve levels to 90% of capacity in case of a complete Russian supply shut-off.
Preparation are already being made in Europe with the German government having approved a set of energy-saving measures for the winter to limit use in public buildings. In France, meanwhile, companies have already been warned they may face energy rationing this winter.
Whilst the UK government is yet to announce any energey saving measures, Ofgem has said that it expect s“this winter to be more challenging than last year” and that it is taking “reasonable regulatory steps to mitigate and reduce the risks”.
However, there are concerns that if gas-fired power plants incur costs these could, in turn, lead to energy bills rising for consumers once again.
SSE estimated that it could be fined as much as £276 million for every day it is unable to generate power, rising to £475 million for its largest plants.
This risk, it said, will force generators to reduce their advance sales and could end up “raising costs for electricity consumers” in the long run.
Passenger killed as car fails to stop for police and smashes into parked vehicles
Daisy Jackson
A man has died after a car failed to stop for police and crashed into two parked vehicles in Bolton.
The man, who was in his 30s, was the front-seat passenger in the Nissan that was involved in the incident.
A woman in her 30s, also a passenger in the vehicle, has also been taken to hospital with serious injuries, which aren’t thought to be life-threatening.
The incident occurred on Lever Edge Lane in Bolton, shortly after 2am on Sunday 2 October.
The driver of the vehicle has been arrested for causing death by dangerous driving and remains in hospital with serious injuries.
It has now been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, in line with standard procedure.
GMP are appealing for anyone with information to come forward, particularly dashcam footage of the collision.
A statement said: “Anyone with information or dashcam footage of the collision should call GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 0161 8564741 quoting log number 0334 of 02/10/22.
“Information can also be reported online or by using the LiveChat function at www.gmp.police.uk. If you can’t report online, call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
The Manc -
21st July 2021 
