The first Community Fridge in Manchester was officially unveiled today as part of a new network scheme from environmental charity Hubbub.
The Wythenshawe Community Fridge – which is located at Ken Collis Court – is one of 100 new community fridges that will be opened over the next year in partnership with Co-op, which are expected to save 6.8 million meals from going to waste.
Community fridges are open to everyone – with fresh food donated by businesses and Co-op itself.
As well as improving access to food, the fridges go beyond this by “empowering communities to connect with each other” and learn new skills through activities such as cookery sessions and workshops on how to grow your own fruit and veg.
We are delighted to be taking part in this partnership with @coopuk and @hubbubUK!
Our Community Fridge across the road at our Sports Centre will be run by our students for our community. https://t.co/XJGsRBM6i6
— Co-op Academy Failsworth (@coopfailsworth) May 19, 2021
The Wythenshawe Community Fridge will be run by Know Africa – a charity dedicated to supporting, empowering, and celebrating the wide cultural diaspora of African people living in Manchester and beyond.
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The group will welcome donations of unopened, packaged foods within their use-by date and raw fruit or vegetables, which will then be available to anyone in the community.
The fridge will also be used to strengthen community bonds – with a nearby kitchen functioning as a hub for food education.
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The initiative has been endorsed by local hero Marcus Rashford, who has championed its ability to support local communities access food and skill.
The footballer stated: “The Co-op is a valuable founding member of the Child Food Poverty Taskforce and has consistently stepped up to the plate throughout the global pandemic to support our most vulnerable families.
“They have demonstrated how community action can make real sustainable change and just how powerful we can be when we come together.
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“Together with Hubbub, the Co-op has developed a programme that spans far beyond access to food and I’m so excited to see that my own community in Wythenshawe will benefit”.
The Wythenshawe Community Fridge is one of 100 set to open in the UK / Image: Dave Phillips via PinPepCommunity fridges can be accessed by everyone / Image: Dave Phillips via PinPep
The Wythenshawe fridge is one of several community fridges coming to Greater Manchester, with others opening at Co-op Academy in Failsworth and Crumpsall Community Hall.
Speaking on the launch of the first Manchester fridge, Steve Murrells – Group Chief Executive Officer at Co-op - said: ”Thanks to our members and customers, we’re delighted to be partnering with Hubbub to expand its community fridge network into Wythenshawe.
“It’s an innovative scheme to bring communities together, empowering people towards community-led food solutions that will help to build community resilience.
“As a co-operative, we recognise our responsibility to make a genuine difference and have already made a number of interventions to help tackle food poverty and create fairer access to food, through our food share partnerships and our donations to FareShare, however, our work in our local communities has shown us that to really make a sustainable difference we need to co-operate with others to build the resilience needed for the future”.
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You can find out more about Community Fridges and the new partnership here.
Featured Image – Dave Phillips / PinPep
News
Coronation Street and Emmerdale set for special crossover episode
Danny Jones
Two of Britain’s most legendary TV shows are set to collide as Coronation Street and Emmerdale prepare for an unforgettable crossover.
It’s the sort of thing we’ve imagined plenty of times before, but if we’re being honest, we never actually thought it would come to fruition.
For the first time ever, the iconic Northern soaps will be teaming up to release a special crossover episode early next year.
‘Coronationdale’? ‘Emmerdale Street’? All we know is we’re excited.
Announced on Tuesday, 13 May, ITV confirmed that work on the first-ever Coronation Street and Emmerdale collaboration is now underway.
The flagship serial franchises both have huge nationwide followings in their own right, attracting more than 8 million viewers every week.
Moreover, with both Manc’s much-loved Corrie and its Yorkshire counterpart having faced financial struggles in recent months, this announcement couldn’t have come at a better time.
Writing in an official joint press release, the two shows revealed they will “join forces in an unprecedented, one-off special episode to launch the broadcaster’s new power hour of soap, which begins on ITV1 and STV in January 2026.”
The ‘power hour’ is part of the channel’s plans to readjust its approach to its regular programming laid out earlier this year, with this serving as an eye-catching way to promote the new schedule.
Put it this way, provided they keep the crossovers up North and avoid you know where, this is the kind of thing we can get behind…
Corrie characters reacting to the mere thought of heading to London 🤝 Manc parents whenever one of their kids mentions leaving 0161. 😂
The statement goes on to read: “The distinctive worlds of Emmerdale and Coronation Street will merge for one night only in a ‘mash-up’ of our two favourite communities.”
ITV believe they have come up with an “ingenious way of linking the two universes” before having them return to Greater Manchester and the Dales, respectively.
The episode will be a self-contained one-off special, but one that sees them canonically grounded in the same entertainment world forever and, you never know, if the idea is a hit then it could be the first of many to come.
As if that wasn’t enough, to make the prospect even more interesting, the producers are inviting members of the audience to choose which two characters they would like to meet and interact with in the scene – keep your eyes peeled on their social media for more information.
Coming in January 2026 (specific release date yet to be confirmed), this is not one you want to miss.
We’re also glad to see the pair of long-standing soaps and institutions of British telly have got off to a strong start this year, raking in 124 million streams on ITVX with each episode now available on the streaming platform ahead of each night’s episode.
You can expect a big viewer spike when this one goes out, that’s for sure.
The reason behind the ‘mini Manc tornado’ that blew through Ancoats this month
Danny Jones
If you saw footage of a ‘mini tornado’ ripping through Manchester online this past weekend, no, your eyes weren’t deceiving you: it did happen and, turns out, it’s a pretty strange and rare phenomenon– at least in this part of the world.
They say 0161 has everything but a beach, and now we seemingly have little twisters of our own, they might just have a point.
In all seriousness, footage went viral on social media, being met with equal surprise and alarm as most were understandably confused at how this could even happen in the UK, given our climate isn’t typically used to these kinds of weather events.
For those of you who haven’t seen it already, here’s what it looked like…
Did you see the mini Manc tornado that passed through Ancoats last weekend? 🌪️
We’ll admit that when first heard a so-called tornado had been spotted in Manchester, we pictured a little spiral of leaves and crisps packets in a supermarket car park, but as you can see, it really was much more significant than that.
Reported as having towered as high as 30 metres along Great Ancoats Street, various people saw the startling city centre sight and quickly began querying what the hell they were seeing online.
Despite many dubbing it a tornado, we can confirm it was something slightly different.
What caused the ‘Manchester tornado’?
What you’re looking at is what is colloquially known as a ‘dust devil’; put simply, these are small, rotating columns of air that pick up dust and debris from the ground and obviously resemble a tornado at times, especially when they manage to become as wide and tall as this one did.
As explained by the Met Office, “A dust devil forms due to irregularities caused by temperature contrasts on different surfaces, which then causes rotation of the air and, when there’s dust and debris, you can get these columns of air.”
Here’s another angle:
WATCH: MASSIVE Dust Devil in Manchester, England yesterday!#tornado
We don’t need to tell you that it’s been pretty warm of late (bloody gorgeous, in fact) and, as a result, the chances of creating a proper dust devil are much greater than usual.
The Met Office went on to add: “Unlike tornadoes, dust devils grow upwards from the ground, rather than down from clouds. In the stronger dust devils, a cumulus cloud can be seen at the top of the rising column of warm air.
“They only last a few minutes because cool air is sucked into the base of the rising vortex, cooling the ground and cutting off its heat supply.”
It’s not the only strange meteorological event seen around Greater Manchester recently, either. From the likes of ‘supercell thunderstorm’ and the eerily silent ‘heat lightning’ in late 2023, to the UFO-like swirl seen across various parts of the globe earlier this year.
Emily Sergeant -
19th May 2021 
