The people of East Manchester have come together to shower a “much-loved” care home resident with hundreds of cards and gifts to help celebrate her 100th birthday this past weekend.
Marjorie Burke marked her 100th year on Sunday 4th April.
For many of us, the prospect of making it to 100 really does seem like a lifetime away, but for “big character” Marjorie – a resident at Averill House Care Home in Newton Heath, which offers residential memory and nursing memory care for those living with dementia – this milestone age was only around the corner when her carers decided to appeal to the public for a helping hand last month.
To help celebrate Marjorie’s special day in the most special way, Averill House’s team of dedicated Wellbeing Coordinators asked members of the local community to send her cards in the hopes of receiving 100 cards for her 100th birthday.
“All of our staff really want to make this a special occasion,” Jodie Yates told us last month.
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“It’s not every day you turn 100, [and] this is why we’re asking for 100 birthday cards – one for every year of her life in celebration of this milestone”.
And what a celebration it was.
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Averill House Care Home / Jodie Yates
After word of the public appeal began to successfully circulate around Greater Manchester on social media, not only did people rush to send Marjorie over 200 handwritten birthday cards, but many local primary schools, residents and businesses also pulled out all the stops to make sure it was a day she’ll never forget.
“She started her celebrations with us singing happy birthday and by opening her cards at 9am,” Jodie Yates – Wellbeing Coordinator at Averill House – told us, as she relived the special day.
“Marjorie was so overwhelmed and kept saying ‘are all these cards and present for me?’.
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“We had roughly over 200 cards sent and are still receiving them, along with hampers from local supermarkets, over 70 afternoon teas, and gifts from local schools including St Herbert’s RC Primary School in Chadderton, St John’s C of E Primary School in Failsworth, South Failsworth Primary School and more”.
After a special birthday breakfast, Jodie explained that the team lead Marjorie into the home’s gardens to take the COVID-safe celebrations up a notch.
Jodie continued: “A local lady and her friends who all have 1940s war vehicles and full uniforms from the war era kindly offered to drive up to the home and they presented Marjorie with a beautiful bunch of flowers.
“She had a sit on the bike and there was also an impromptu dance to ‘We’ll Meet Again'”.
Averill House Care Home / Jodie YatesParties to Perfection NWE
Now that lockdown restrictions permit it, members of Marjorie’s “loving family” then visited the home to wish her a socially-distanced happy birthday and to sing-along to ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ – which Jodie admits was “very emotional”.
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They also all watched on as she opened her 100th birthday card from Queen Elizabeth II.
After a whole host of celebrations “fit for a queen”, the day then drew to a close after Marjorie was joined by her fellow Averill House residents, alongside staff members, for afternoon tea and a glass of bubbly inside a purpose-built and specially-decorated dome – “kindly donated for free” by East Manchester-based events company, Parties to Perfection NWE – which was installed in the garden.
“Marjorie said it was best day she had ever had”.
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Flashbacks: The timelapse of the Trafford Centre construction that’s gone viral
Danny Jones
The Trafford Centre might look like some decadent Roman emperor’s palace or as if it was plucked from the heart of Ancient Grecian city, but as anyone old enough to remember it’s opening and/or construction will tell you, it seems strange to think its not even been around for three decades yet.
As Greater Manchester’s and one of the North West’s most famous shopping centres full stop, the iconic attraction first began being built back in 1996, when John Major was Prime Minister, Manchester United were still Premier League champions, Britpop was at its peak and George Michael was number one.
It’s fair to say that a lot has changed since then and although Oasis might be back come 2025, The Trafford Centre and surrounding area are pretty unrecgonisable compared to nearly 30 years ago.
All told, it took approximately 27 months to erect the neo-classical epicentre of all things shopping, leisure, food and fanciness – and here’s what the process looked like:
With the initial 14 million sq ft shopping centre being completed in September 1998 following approximately 810 days of work, The Trafford Centre debuted to the Manc public and beyond.
It took more than 3,000 builders to bring the 60 hectare site to life at the peak of construction and since then the plot has only grown bigger, bolder and more ambitious over time.
Present day, it has everything from cinema screens and a mini Legoland to a Sea Life location, multiple bowling alleys and countless other forms of entertainment beyond just rows of shops and restaurants – hence why it remains busy pretty much year-round.
Back then, British celebrities, popular local names of note, politicians, dignitaries and prominent figures from the retail industry got to visit as part of exclusive preview events in the days before its launch date.
You can see the spectacle and fascination surrounding the official opening event here:
Seems surreal watching this today but the construction of the Trafford Centre was a huge moment not just for 0161 but all of the North.
But of course, the entire complex itself has seen multiple extensions over the years, including massive developments such as Barton Square and The Great Hall.
At the outset, it cost more than £600 million to build The Trafford Centre; the major renovations mentioned above which took place in 2008 cost another £100m and the Trafford Palazzo revamp around a decade later came in at around £75m.
There has and always will be lots of money put behind this intruguing monument to modern consumerism, and big brands will continue to flock to open units within the huge expanse whenever they can: some of the most recent being Archie’s, Flying Tiger, Sephora, Tiffany, Gymshark and more.
We’ll admit the aesthetic still makes us double-take from time to time (though not as much as confused Londoners visiting for the first time), but it’s not like this part of the world hasn’t boasted plenty of other curiosities in the past…
Featured Images — Charles Bowring (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group
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‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Emily Sergeant -
7th April 2021 
