A pioneering new cancer research study has been launched in Manchester in the memory of the late Sarah Harding.
The BCAN-RAY (Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Young Women) has been set up following the former Girls Aloud star’s dying wish to find new ways to spot the signs of the disease earlier, and stop it cutting lives like hers short.
Sarah Harding sadly passed away from breast cancer aged 39 back in September 2021, just over a year after publicly announcing her diagnosis was terminal.
The innovative study has been made possible through funding from The Christie Charity, Cancer Research UK, and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal with support from Sarah’s family, friends and Girls Aloud bandmates – who, through various fundraising initiatives, have together raised over £1 million to date.
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Research @TheChristieNHS aims to identify the factors that make some young women more at risk from breast cancer than others.
This research is funded in memory of Girls Aloud star #SarahHarding, who was treated at The Christie.
“Research is incredibly important in the fight against cancer,” Harding said before her death in 2021.
“Although this research may not be in time to help me, this project is incredibly close to my heart as it may help women like me in the future.”
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BCAN-RAY will be one of the first research studies in the world to identify new ways to predict the risk of younger women getting breast cancer, and it’s being launched right here in Greater Manchester – with its first participant being local healthcare assistant, 33-year-old Catherine Craven-Howe, who is from Hale in Trafford.
The new study has been launched as it’s revealed that more than 150 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day in the UK, and nearly a fifth of all cases are women who are under 50, and most of who don’t have a family history of the disease.
The Christie in Manchester, where Sarah Harding was treated / Credit: The Christie
Despite it being the most common cause of death in women aged 30-55 years, there is currently no routine screening programme for early breast cancer in younger women who don’t have family history of the disease.
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BCAN-RAY – which is taking place at The Nightingale Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital – will look at risk factors that are most commonly found in women diagnosed with breast cancer in their 30s.
Based on those risk factors, scientists will build a model that can identify which women are most at risk in the hopes that their findings will enable all women to have a risk assessment for breast cancer when they reach the age of 30.
Those women identified as high risk could then have access to early screening and opportunities for prevention, to reduce the chances of them developing and potentially dying from the disease.
The study involves recruiting 1,000 women aged between 30 and 39 years old.
250 will be women diagnosed with breast cancer with no family history of the disease, who will be studied alongside 750 women in the same age group who have not had breast cancer, and who also have no family history of the disease.
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 -
27th June 2023 
