A local kickboxing champion has successfully completed a marathon whilst pulling a 1.25 tonne airplane all to raise money for charity.
Carl Thomas, 35 and hailing from Stockport, began the marathon dragging the Cessna Aircraft up and down the airfield at Elvington, near York, on Wednesday evening and managed to reach a top speed of around 2mph.
All funds raised from the challenge will go to Ollie’s Army Battling Against Battens.
Carl has set the target of raising a total of £250,000 to help fund a clinical trial at Great Ormond Street Hospital to prevent the loss of vision in children with CNL2 Batten Disease. Batten disease is an incurable illness which affects the nervous system, causing seizures, visual impairment, mobility loss and early death, and there is currently no cure or life-extending treatments for the disease.
Only symptom relief and supportive care is available at present.
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Mike Carroll – whose children Ollie and Amelia both have the condition – said it was unbelievable to watch Mr Thomas complete the marathon on Thursday and added that it had been quite emotional to see him push himself to the absolute limit for children with the disease.
Ollie, nine, was diagnosed with the condition in 2015 and his sister Amelia, now seven, was diagnosed a month later.
He said: “It was unbelievable to watch but also quite hard to watch because we were watching a man push himself to the absolute limit. It was very touching, near the end I felt quite emotional, to be honest.
“To think someone has pushed their body to the limit for my children, not just my children but all the children with Batten’s disease.”
Mr Thomas had hoped to use a lighter plane, but that became unavailable so he had to use a 1,250kg Cessna Aircraft and completed two-mile loops of the airfield without any assistance at the turns. Before the attempt, he said: “You cannot really train for this, but I have been pulling my car up and down in an empty car park.
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“I’ve got to do it in 24 hours so I cannot take a break, I’ll not be sleeping so I will be pretty rough.”
He continued: “I’ll have a crazy level of exhaustion, but I’ve got a good support team and they will keep me going.”
You can find more information and donate to Carl Thomas’ fundraising efforts here.
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UK’s most popular commuter towns named and four are in Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The UK’s most popular commuter towns have been named, and four of them are here in Greater Manchester.
Where are the most popular commuter towns in the UK right now?
Well, new data collated based on the number of people enquiring about available properties on Rightmove has revealed the locations where buyer demand is highest, and with Manchester being one of the largest cities in the country, of course there’s some Greater Manchester towns on the list.
Rightmove says that choosing the best commuter town requires buyers to balance a number of factors – including property prices, travel times, and local lifestyle
To narrow it down, the property platform has chosen to focus on commuter towns within a 45-minute rail journey to the target city, and with at least 20,000 people living there.
For Manchester, it’s Stockport that’s taken the title as the city’s most popular commuter town, as amazinly, it generated 70% more enquiries per listing than Manchester itself.
The UK’s most popular commuter towns have been named / Credit: James Feaver (via Unsplash) | Manchester City Council
Being just an eight-minute journey from Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport has an average property price of £308,299.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, the picturesque Stockport town of Marple takes second spot on the list, while the Tameside town of Stalybridge comes in third place, and Rochdale also features in the top five, alongside Warrington – which is just outside of our region’s borders, but is only a short 22-minute train journey into the city centre.
Transport options is obviously one of the most important factors in what makes a town a so-called ‘commuter town’.
Stockport benefits from around six fast trains per hour, while Stalybridge and Rochdale offer four per hour. Marple is less frequent at two per hour but still attracts strong interest, likely due to its lifestyle appeal and stunning setting on the edge of the Peak District.
Price growth has been strong across most of the Manchester commuter towns, with Stalybridge (+6.1%) and Rochdale (+5.8%) seeing notable increases year-on-year.
However, average prices for four out of the five commuter locations on the list were higher than the average Manchester property price (£261,891), suggesting that lifestyle factors were a stronger draw for Manchester’s surrounding towns.
Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
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Noah Kahan begs fans to ‘just go to the bathroom’ ahead of Manchester shows
Daisy Jackson
Noah Kahan has had to issue a bizarre warning on concert etiquette ahead of his UK tour, after a fan apparently defecated on the floor at his show.
The Stick Season singer-songwriter, who will headline two massive gigs in Manchester this year, has begged his fans to ‘just go to the bathroom lmao’.
He’s had to speak out after videos circulated online that appeared to show human faeces beneath a chair and in the walkway at one of his US gigs.
According to witnesses at his Philadelphia show, one concert-goer relieved themselves onto the floor, then tried to kick the faeces under the seat in front.
Noah Kahan has now released a statement online that says: “If you have to poop at a show please dear god just go to the bathroom lmao.
“I’ve pooped my pants as much as the next 29 year old but you guys gotta understand there’s a venue worker out there with a 1000 yard stare after dealing with that.”
The star has since gone one step further, and addressed the poop incident on stage in Toronto.
He told fans inside the venue: “This is awkward. When you enter this building, you enter a social contract, right?
“And rule number two besides ‘don’t literally f**king kill each other’, is ‘don’t s**t on the floor’.
“So we’re gonna do some therapy type thing where we all repeat after me, okay?”
He then led the crowd to repeat the following chant: “I solemnly swear, I will not s**t my pants, and if I do, I won’t take it from my pants and put it on the floor.”
Emily Sergeant -
18th September 2020 
