Thousands of families across Stockport are set to receive vital support from the local council this Christmas to cover the cost of their food and utility bills.
Stockport Council confirmed that ‘families of 7,5000 school age children, who are eligible for income-based Free School Meals, will receive a £30 voucher per eligible child’ to help with essential costs over Christmas.
A further payment will also follow in the New Year.
The council has said that eligible families do not need to apply and will be contacted by email and post over the coming days and weeks.
The Council also revealed it is working with local schools and colleges to identify the vulnerable families in the area and will distribute vouchers accordingly.
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Cllr Tom McGee, Deputy Leader of Stockport Council, said: “Funding secured from central Government has enabled us to offer this vital support to families and we want to help as many households as possible. We know that many of our generous businesses and residents will want to play their part in addition to what we are doing.
“The community response through COVID-19 has been amazing. Our communities have come together as One Stockport to support those most affected by the pandemic.
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“In addition, our partners at Stockport County Football Club are working with Stockport’s voluntary, community and social enterprise support agency, Sector 3, to raise vital funds and this is just one of the ways people can help those who may be in need this Christmas.”
The town’s local football club launched their Food for Christmas campaign back in November – helping to provide meals for children in the Stockport area over the Christmas holidays.
The campaign has raised more than £192,000 so far.
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Mark Stott, owner of Stockport County Football Club, added: “We are delighted to be working in partnership to support our community and we are asking that people can give what they can, to ensure no child goes hungry this Christmas.”
Read more about Stockport County’s Christmas campaign here.
For more information about the support being provided by Stockport Council, visit the official website.
News
Travel warning issued as tens of thousands to descend for Manchester Half Marathon
Daisy Jackson
A travel warning has been issued ahead of the Manchester Half Marathon this weekend, with tens of thousands of runners and spectators expected to arrive in the city.
People are being urged to plan their journeys ahead of time, with significant road closures in place from the city centre as far out as Sale.
Road closures – and subsequent bus diversions – will also affect parts of Stretford, Chorlton, Trafford, and surrounding areas.
Around 32,000 people are expected to take part in the Manchester Half Marathon this Sunday, with thousands more coming out to cheer the runners on.
Transport for Greater Manchester is advising people that the Bee Network trams will be the best way to get around over the weekend.
Extra trams will be operating to provide as much capacity as possible.
Road closures and bus diversions will start on Saturday 3 October and continue until the actual race day on Sunday 4 October, lifting fully by 8.30pm.
Tens of thousands of runners and spectators will descend on Manchester for the half marathon
Earlier this year, the Manchester Marathon led to a record-breaking day for Metrolink trams, with the highest number of passengers ever recorded on a single day in the network’s history.
Whether running or cheering, people are advised to use the Bee Network app to plan their journeys and are strongly encouraged not to drive within the affected areas.
Steve Gilholme, Head of Events at Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “The Manchester Half Marathon is another one of those special occasions where the people of Greater Manchester and beyond come together, with thousands of people taking on the challenge and raising money for good causes, while many more will line the route to cheer them on.
“This does mean the city centre and especially trams will be incredibly busy so please plan ahead and give yourself extra time to make journeys.
“The Bee Network app and website will be the best places to get the latest travel information and tap and go contactless payments are the quickest and easiest way to pay.”
You can see all the road closures for the Manchester Half Marathon HERE.
Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the 14 national museums of the UK are all located in England – including the Imperial War Museum North, and the Science and Industry Museum in our region – and free entry to was first introduced all the way back in 2001, with millions of visitors having benefitted since.
National museums are said to add more than £1 billion a year to the economy, and bring in visitors from all over the world.
In fact, seven of the UK’s 10 most visited museums are national museums, and 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum and 6.4 million visited the British Museum in 2025 alone.
The Government has announced that all national museums in the UK will remain free for everyone to visit / Credit: Science Museum Group | Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this year though, the Government committed to working with local leaders and the museum and tourism sectors to explore whether charging overseas visitors could help museums’ finances.
But following this, it’s now believed that charging could deter visitors, and that the impacts and benefits would ‘not be felt equally’ across the sector.
Instead, the free entry will be funded by the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund – which is providing £760 million for museums – while £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting national museums and DCMS-sponsored cultural organisations.
The latter funding will be used to address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable institutions to deliver on their commitments to share collections with visitors from around the world.
The Manc -
15th December 2020 
