After all, when more than £15,000 was raised for the charity‘s vital work supporting Manchester communities last time round, then why no go for round two?
The We Love MCR Sponsored Firewalk is part of the charity’s ongoing series of ‘mind-over-matter’ fundraising challenges.
As the flames die down on an unforgettable night in St. Ann's Square, we're thrilled to let you know that our incredible firewalkers raised a scorching £25,000! 🔥
The legendary We Love MCR Charity Firewalk returned with fire and drums, read all below 👇 https://t.co/5j3qspBw8i
And if having 50 fundraisers walk over 700-degree hot coals with dozens of spectators cheering them on wasn’t impressive enough the first time, this year, the event was even bigger and better than ever, because the charity upped the stakes by putting on not one, but two, lanes of fire for walkers to conquer.
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After being rescheduled to Thursday 25 January from its original date last November, due to adverse weather conditions, this meant that the second Firewalk was We Love MCR Charity’s first fundraising event in 2024.
70 “daredevil” Mancs took on the challenge in St Ann’s Square this time around.
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‘Daredevil’ Mancs have raised more than £25,000 for charity / Credit: Jake Lindley (via WLMC)
Firewalking expert, Cliff Mann from TIME4CHANGE, returned to Manchester to oversee the event and coach nervous participants once again.
International samba reggae band, Batala, were also there to add to the atmosphere, and made sure their ferocious drumming served as a dramatic soundtrack to the night’s events so the brave firewalkers had a beat to march to while they stepped out of their comfort zone.
Simon Wright, who is the new Head of We Love MCR Charity, was one of those who took to the coals as his first fundraising event for the charity.
“Since joining We Love MCR in September 2023, I’ve been looking forward to getting involved in some exciting fundraising events,” Simon said following the event.
“And I couldn’t have asked for a better first challenge than a trial by fire right in the heart of the city.
“We’d like to thank our brilliant participants for once again rising to the challenge and raising funds in aid of Manchester’s communities and young people, as we truly couldn’t do it without your support.”
70 fundraisers walked on fire in St Ann’s Square last week / Credit: Jake Lindley (via WLMC)
More than £25,000 was raised from the event, and that figure is climbing by the day too.
All funds raised from the Firewalk will go towards We Love MCR’s life-changing support across the city with its two main grant-giving programmes – the ‘Rising Stars Fund’, and the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’.
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 -
29th January 2024 
