A new neighbourhood restaurant in Prestwich is giving one lucky person ‘food for life’ as it celebrates hitting its Crowdfunder target.
The Pearl, a new 24-cover restaurant being opened inside Bury New Road’s old computer shop by an ex-office worker turned restauranteur, has been raising funds through Crowdfunder and has just exceeded its £28,000 target.
Having ‘begged and borrowed from friends, family and banks’ to get to the point of nearly opening, owners Sam Taylor and Melissa Gage managed to get the rest they needed by offering locals the chance to buy a snack or meal in advance of its September opening.
Having hit their target, however, there are still a few great prizes up for grabs that could get them over the £30,000 mark – including two main meals (£40), dinner for two (£100), Sunday dinner for four (£200), and the incredible reward of ‘food for life’ (£5000).
For those after a seat at the bar for life, the reward offers you the chance to get a three-course meal from the a la carte menu once a month for the next decade.
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Described as a “crazy pledge for someone that lives life to the fullest”, the description continues: “Pledger will no doubt become part of the family, a regular face who may one day have a portrait on the wall!”
Prior to launching The Pearl, co-owner Sam launched the successful sandwich delivery service SanSan during the Covid lockdowns.
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Speaking to The Manc, Melissa Gage, co-owner of The Pearl, said: “Two weeks into the campaign with 10.5k in pledges, we thought that was it, we felt like we’d had so much support but that it still wasn’t enough. But the momentum over the past week has been incredible.
“This is everyone’s win as far as we’re concerned, if it wasn’t for our community sharing and coming together to get our message out, we wouldn’t have reached our target.
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“It’s been so wholesome connecting with everyone over this shared experience, our future patrons have been along for the journey. We’re beyond grateful to all of our backers and I can’t wait to thank them in person.”
Having now hit its fundraising target, when the restaurant opens in Prestwich in September it will serve classic European dishes using ingredients that champion the best produce from across the UK.
Marcus Rashford pays heartwarming surprise visit to Manchester school
Danny Jones
Manchester United star Marcus Rashford is backing warming hearts and bringing smiles to young faces once again after he paid a surprise visit to a local school.
The Man United forward and England international emerged as a national hero during the lockdown through his support for the free school meals campaign, even earning an MBE for his services to charity, and has continued to offer his services outside of football ever since.
Club members regularly engage in community outreach through official United Foundation events, but this time Rashford decided to team up with fellow non-profit Football Beyond Borders (FBB) – an education and social inclusion charity he’s worked with for some time – to make some kids very happy.
During a recent session at The Barlow RC High School in Didsbury, children in the classroom were caught off-guard when the 27-year-old footballer popped his head around the door and came to sit in on a session. Here’s their reaction.
Just look at their faces – we’ll never get over the wide-eyed stares clips like produce. The week in and week out of actual game day aside, this is what football’s all about.
Although one particular pupil had sniffed a surprise in their midst, excitedly repeating, “I told you, what did I say?!”, it’s fair to say that the entire room was still stunned to see the United number 10 just casually walk into the room.
We especially like the moment when Rashford sits down next to one of the unsuspecting students and can’t stop double-taking to his friend, all the while grinning his head off – well, him and everyone else in attendance at the school for the surprise visit, adults included.
Taking place before this past weekend’s Premier League fixtures, the Wythenshawe winger then proceeds to join the aspiring young players out on the school pitch along with the other FBB ambassadors, who recently celebrated 10 years of vital work,
Naturally, the responses underneath videos have been as equally wholesome as you would expect; one person commented, “Forget the football, Marcus Rashford is a top, top man. Nothing but respect”, while another said, “I respect the leadership and the guy really cares. Rare…”
A third went on to write: “A very grounded footballer. Remembers and knows what it’s like to be at the bottom and work your way up. Has done more for people in this country than people running this country! Respect.”
While his performances may not have been their best, both in his eyes and that of the fans at this present moment, many more simply went on to add that it “was nice to see him smiling” and when you’re doing important and inspiring work like this in your hometown, you can only admire and applaud.
As is the nature of the beautiful game, the goals will no doubt start flowing again eventually but in the meantime, well done to Rashford for continuing to be a legend on and off the pitch.
Chester Zoo opens new ‘cutting-edge’ science centre to help fight global extinction crisis
Emily Sergeant
Chester Zoo has opened a new science centre which is set to play a “significant role” in the conservation of the world’s most-threatened species.
The new cutting-edge facility, formally named the International Centre for Zoo Science, will enable researchers to study some of species most at-threat across the globe, as well as support conservationists and scientists to fight the ongoing global extinction crisis.
The specialised centre is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to assess the health of plants and animals, Chester Zoo has revealed.
Inside is a demonstration lab to help train future conservationists, as well as a special cryo-conservation unit where genetics from endangered species will be preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196°C, and the new facility also houses Europe’s largest dedicated wildlife endocrinology lab, giving scientists the chance to study and track hormone levels in animals to further understand their reproductive biology.
In case you didn’t know, Chester Zoo is already at the forefront of vital research to protect a wide range of different species from extinction, with it being home to 37,000 animals from more than 500 species – but this new centre will take things one step further.
Scientists at the UK’s biggest charity zoo say the new centre – which is triple the size of the zoo’s previous lab facilities – will enable them to attempt to “unlock the secrets” of different species which have, so far, remained “unstudied” and a therefore a “mystery to science”.
It will also help the zoo significantly expand its scientific capacity, and boost its conservation training programme.
“Our new International Centre for Zoo Science will help us to play an even more significant role in the conservation of some of the world’s most endangered species,” explained Dr Sue Walker, who is the Head of Science at Chester Zoo.
“At a time when species face extinction on an unimaginable scale, we’re already making a substantial contribution to the task of preventing extinction and restoring biodiversity… and now our new science centre will enable us to grow our research, not only in wildlife reproduction, but also in terms of innovating within our other areas of expertise.”
Dr Walker added that this will also be the first time the Zoo is able to accommodate training courses for visiting researchers from all over the world.