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Oldham volunteer gets prestigious award after over 60 years helping good causes

Barbara Heywood has been given a Platinum Champions award by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) for her volunteering excellence.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 1st July 2022

A volunteer from Oldham who has given her time and skills to good causes for more than 60 years has received a prestigious award.

Barbara Heywood has been given a Platinum Champions award by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) for her volunteering excellence after she started lending a hand at homeless charity Emmaus back in 2011, and has been offering her services each week within the charity’s social enterprise and community since then.

Barbara has mostly given her time to Emmaus Mossley in Ashton-under-Lyne.

Emmaus Mossley is just one local branch of the charity across Greater Manchester, and it supports 26 formerly-homeless people by providing them with a home, work, companionship, and individual support.

Barbara was awarded her RVS Platinum Champions award as par of an official Jubilee project to celebrate outstanding volunteers across the country who are making a difference every day.

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Thousands of people from all over the UK who volunteer for a range of causes were nominated for the RVS Platinum Champions award, and from these nominations, 490 volunteers were hand-picked by a judging panel presided over by The Duchess of Cornwall – one of which was Barbara.

Read more: Street homelessness figures in Greater Manchester reduced by over 50%

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“This award was a lovely surprise and really, I receive it on behalf of all the dedicated volunteers who see a job and get it done,” Barbara said.

Barbara has volunteered her time at Emmaus Mossley in Ashton-under-Lyne since 2011 / Credit: Emmaus Mossley

“I don’t think I’m exceptional and know a lot of other people who do amazing work for good causes. I get as much from volunteering at Emmaus than I give, if not more.

“It’s my happy place.”

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Before helping out at Emmaus Mossley, Barbara started volunteering in her teens and has supported various organisations over the past 60 years – including as a guide commissioner with the Girl Guides, a Duke of Edinburgh Award officer for North West England, and at Oldham LEA.

Alongside volunteering at Emmaus Mossley, Barbara also currently volunteers at Oldham Baptist Church as a church deacon.

Featured Image – Emmaus Mossley

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Rúben Amorim outlines the three key things Manchester United need to work on

Danny Jones Danny Jones Ruben Amorim first pre-match press conference Man United

Rúben Amorim has conducted his first full press conference as Manchester United manager and has outlined the three key things he wants to address when it comes to his new team.

Amorim officially joined Man United on Monday, 11 November after being given a ‘now or never’ which meant he had to leave his former club Sporting CP in the middle of the season.

Replacing Erik ten Hag, who was sacked less than 24 hours after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham and had overseen a run of bad results, the contract extension he was given in the summer ultimately proved obsolete and now the Portuguese head coach must lift his new side from a measly 13th in the table.

That being said, speaking to the media in his first full pre-match presser ahead of his maiden Premier League outing against Ipswich Town this weekend, Amorim has already highlighted three key areas in which he wants United to improve as a matter of priority.

What did Amorim say in his first full Man United press conference?

Although the 39-year-old coach – who is only three years older than resurgent centre-back Johnny Evans – started off by assuring that his main focus at its core is to win the next match (and the one after that, as the football cliché goes), he boiled the current squad issues down to a troublesome trio.

In his eyes, a lot of it just comes down to pure physical effort.

Improve possession

First and foremost, Amorim was quick to point out that United “lose the ball too often” and simply have to retain it more throughout the 90 minutes.

Although they have enjoyed spells of greater control in games, their average possessions stats in the Premier League not only under ten Hag but Ole Gunnar Solskjær and even short-lived interim boss Ralf Rangnick never flirted too far above 50-53%.

While that might sound like the signs of nothing more than a well-contested game, the club need to be looking at much higher numbers if they want to start being a dominant force again.

Track back more

The second area he said that the team desperately needs to improve in is the distances covered per match, especially when it comes to running back towards their own goal and tracking back during defensive phases.

Addressing it in a rather matter-of-fact manner, he told reporters: “We have to be better at running back, I think that is clear for everybody [to see].” He told Gary Neville something very similar in his other recent interview with Sky Sports.

He said it with a smile on his face but it’s clear that he knows there is a narrative surrounding United in recent years that they just don’t work hard enough, both on and off the ball. Having played mainly in the middle of the park for Belenenses, Benfica and SC Braga, running is a non-negotiable.

Focus on the ‘details’ first

Lastly, Amorim said he believes one of the big things he can do for these players is to help them fine-tune the small things. He added that although there is a feeling that fans want there to be “a lot of change” and pressure to make “big” decisions, he reiterated that “it’s the small things.”

The former utility player knows a thing or two about playing in lots of positions and going back to the opening point of his press conference in which he discussed getting the team to believe in “one thing”, he believes that the minute differences can contribute to changing how they approach the game.

There is understandably lots of talk surrounding his trademark 3-4-3 formation and whether these details refer to tactical tweaks, we will see, but he insists that so long as they put in the effort and pay attention to the little stuff, those on the pitch will start to play in the same way that he wants them to.

You can watch his press conference ahead of the Ipswich away this Sunday in full down below:

Amorim was also happy to casually call out those who ‘don’t believe in’ his new players in his first press conference as Man United coach.

Read more:

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Featured Images — BeanymanSports (via YouTube screenshot)

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Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025

Danny Jones Danny Jones Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025 rumours

Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…

Feel free to lose your bratting minds.

A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.

Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).

@the.manc Posters have appeared all over Manchester and it looks like a @Charli XCX headline slot at @Parklife Festival is coming. SCREAMING. #themanc #manchester #charlixcx #parklife #mcr #brat ♬ original sound – Saturday Night Live – SNL

Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.

Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.

Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.

Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.

It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…

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Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.

Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.

Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.

Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images – The Manc Group

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