Like a lot of us over this past year, Becky Kay had celebrations planned for her birthday that sadly had to be put on hold.
She usually likes to spend her special day relaxing with an overnight stay at a spa hotel.
Free bubbly on arrival, complementary chocolates on the pillows, a wealth of treatments and massages available to choose from, all followed by a three-course meal and room service throughout her entire stay, is something she was understandably looking forward to – especially as an NHS staff member, who has worked throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
But with England firmly within its third national lockdown, the public advised to “stay at home”, and spa facilities told to close their doors because of this, that unfortunately couldn’t be her reality this year.
So her three daughters hatched a plan instead.
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In a bid to make sure her birthday didn’t pass by unmarked, Becky’s daughters – Molly, Lola, and Scarlet – decided to secretly transform their Salford home into ‘The Kay Hotel & Spa’ as a surprise, so Becky could still celebrate her big day in the way she knows best.
And judging by the photos shared by the girls’ father, Stevie, to social media yesterday, they really put a lot of time and hard work into bringing it all together.
“[The girls] have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks, as we usually spend a night at a spa hotel every year for Becky’s birthday.
“[And] our eldest, Molly, did most of the planning over the last week.
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“She wrote me a list of everything we needed, and I sneaked out to get it all the day before”.
The Costa del Salford’s aptly-named ‘The Kay Hotel & Spa’ – which we have also been told has an impressive “5* rating on TripAdvisor” – is home to everything you could ask for from a spa getaway, with its very own reception area, room key cards, hospitality menus, complementary room service, massage and facial facilities, candle-lit bathtubs, and more.
Becky and Stevie didn’t even have to move a muscle either, as the three sisters were happy to wait on them hand and foot throughout their ‘stay’.
He continued: “It [certainly] made my life planning Becky’s birthday very easy”.
How brilliant is all of this?
While you unfortunately won’t be able to make reservations for your own stay at the exclusive ‘The Kay Hotel & Spa’ any time soon, you can still check out all the photos of the venue on Facebook here.
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Social media unite in search for ‘crazed’ fan who stole drum from AO Arena gig last night
Thomas Melia
This past weekend, people online began pulling together to try and find a fan after they stole a drum from a major music artist’s concert at the AO Arena on Sunday night.
When you say the words, “I’ll never forget that gig”, it usually means you had a really great night and, for this fan in particular, we think it’s fair to say that they be forgetting this night anytime soon – you know, many because they took a piece of the set home with them.
That’s right, following Twenty One Pilots’ massive Manc gig at AO Arena as part of their ongoing world tour, some fans were practically frothing at the mouth as the alternative duo did what they do best.
In fact, one individual clearly loved the concert so much that they just had to claim a keepsake, to such an extent that they want as far as steal band member Josh Dun’s drum directly from the stage.
As far as merch and memorabilia go, that might just be the biggest souvenir we’ve ever seen someone swipe from a rock show.
In terms of the night itself, the highly anticipated return to Manchester was a huge success, with the band playing out to flurries of red, orange, yellow and black, thanks to fans sporting the same colours as Twenty One Pilots‘ latest album cover, Clancy.
In the video, the drum – which features the band’s logo on a red-splattered drumhead in the Clancy aesthetic – can be seen being carried out of the venue by a fan from the general standing floor area.
As a result, not only did people on social media quickly begin sleuthing and trying to find the drum thief, but they’re also questioning why fans near the culprit weren’t doing more to get it back to the band.
One user wrote, “Ok but like I would have stopped her?” while another commented, “So I was scared to even take too much confetti with me and she casually STOLE THE DRUM??”
The fan who originally uploaded the video online aid in a subsequent post, “Guys, please, don’t put us to blame for not stopping her, we did all we could but literally no one around us cared about it.” They went on to add: “You’re not putting the blame of her stealing the drum on us, I’m sorry but I’m not having it.”
As you can see, the instrument was eventually located, with Twenty One Pilots’ videographer Sax uploaded a picture to his Instagram profile along with the caption, “We have the drum”, thanking fans for all their efforts in helping track down its whereabouts.
Featured Image –Ashley Osborn (publicity picture /@tillitaint (via X)
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Life-sized animal puppets to be paraded through Greater Manchester this summer
Emily Sergeant
Dozens of life-sized puppet animals are to embark on a journey through Greater Manchester this summer.
From the team behind The Walk with Little Amal – the Syrian refugee child puppet who made the journey across the world, and our borough, back in 2021 – comes a new life-sized spectacle called THE HERDS, which will visit Manchester as part of the opening of this summer’s Manchester International Festival (MIF).
The hugely-ambitious new public artwork is set to transform Greater Manchester into a ‘breathtaking untamed spectacle’ as a way of vividly dramatising the climate crisis.
Life-sized animal puppets travel will be travelling through the city centre, Heywood in Rochdale, and Pennington Flash in Wigan this July as part of their 20,000km journey from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle.
This is a public artwork on a scale never attempted before.
The animals are visiting Manchester as part of an epic journey – which began on 9 April from Kinshasa in the Congo – and as they cross different continents, the herd will grow in numbers and species including elephants, giraffes, antelope, lions, and others local to the area they are travelling through.
To help further highlight the scale of the climate crisis and the collective effort needed to fight it, the puppets are set to operated by local participants in each city – including in Manchester.
Because of this, Factory International and The Walk Productions are looking for amateur makers and DIY enthusiasts to join the puppet build, as well as 100 local people to help operate the puppets in Manchester, Heywood, and Wigan.
Life-sized animal puppets are being paraded through Greater Manchester this summer / Credit: Ant Strack
For the opening event of MIF25 on Thursday 3 July, THE HERDS first arrives in Manchester city centre and will scatter through the city’s main streets, so if you happen to find yourself between Cathedral Gardens and Market Street on the day, then you might just stumble upon them.
After opening MIF25, the animals are then abandoning the bustling city for the residential streets of Heywood in Rochdale on Friday (4 July).
For the final stop on their Greater Manchester journey, THE HERDS find a fleeting refuge in the wild beauty of Pennington Flash Country Park in Wigan on Saturday 5 July, and visitors are invited to explore the park’s winding trails and quietly observe as 70 life-sized puppets appear amid the trees and wetlands.
Amir Nizar Zuabi, who is the Artistic Director of THE HERDS, calls it a ‘a living breathing call to action that stampedes across continents’.
“THE HERDS is an urgent artistic response to the climate crisis,” he added. “Through the beauty and ferocity of these life-size creatures, we aim to spark dialogue, provoke thought, encourage engagement and inspire real change.”
You can see THE HERDS in Greater Manchester from Thursday 4 – Saturday 5 July.
Featured Image – Berclaire (for The Walk Productions)