Now that it’s been confirmed Greater Manchester will enter Tier 3 restrictions once lockdown ends on 2nd December, we’d be willing to bet one of your plans is watching a festive flick or two.
Most of us rush to pop on Christmas film as soon as we start to feel festive anyway and try to cram as many of the classics into December as is possible, right? And during a year like 2020, when we’ve become more accustomed to the ‘stay home’ culture than ever before thanks to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it stands to reason that Christmas films will be our best friends next month.
So, how you would like to get paid to do something you were already planning on doing anyway then?
We know it sounds a bit too good to be true, but online review website reviews.org is currently recruiting a ‘Chief Holiday Cheermeister’ to join its team, and all successful applicants will have to do is watch 25 Christmas movies in a month and fill out a questionnaire on each providing feedback.
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You’ll then be asked to rank each film you have watched in order, picking the ones you think are the best, and you’ll then be paid a total of £1,800 for your time.
That’s an impressive £72 a movie.
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If that wasn’t enough, the chosen movie lover will also get a subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, and Apple TV+ for free, so they can binge every movie on the list, and even after they’ve finished up the job, the subscriptions will still be valid for a full year.
Studio Canal
Films the lucky applicant will be expected to watch over the next month include Elf, Home Alone, Polar Express and It’s A Wonderful Life.
The job description for the ‘Chief Holiday Cheermeister’ reads: “Does the sound of jingle bells warm your heart? Have you always wanted a ticket to the Polar Express? Did you start celebrating Christmas on November 1 (or, let’s be real, probably before that)?
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“If you’re the type of person who watches holiday movies year-round, we want to hire you,
“As our Chief Holiday Cheermeister (put this prestigious title on your resume), you’re going to get £1,800 of cold hard cash (well… probably a direct deposit). And that’s not all, we’ll [also] give you gift cards to cover a one-year subscription to the streaming services.
“And you get unlimited hot cocoa breaks and a fast-tracked application to the “nice” list.”
If reading this sounds like you might have found your calling this Christmas, you can apply for the Chief Holiday Cheermeister role via the reviews.org website here.
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Stockport County defender Brad Hills ruled out for the rest of the season
Danny Jones
In a big blow to their promotion push, Stockport County have been hit with a major injury and loss to their first-team squad, as defender Brad Hills has been ruled out for what looks to be the remainder of the season and then some.
Not what Hatters will want to hear with crunch-time in and around the playoffs now well underway.
Having emerged as even more of a starring centre-back this year, following his initial loan spell with the club during the previous campaign, Brad Hills has arguably been one of Stockport’s best and most reliable players in 2025/26 thus far – but not County will have to do without him.
Although the exact severity is yet to be fully revealed, the former Norwich City youth academy graduate is said to have hurt his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Confirming the news on social media, the Greater Manchester side stated: “We regret to inform supporters that Brad Hills sustained an ACL injury in Saturday’s draw at Luton Town that will rule him out for the foreseeable future.
“Our full focus is on supporting Brad throughout his recovery – we know he’ll come back stronger”
For anyone unaware, ACL tears/ruptures are among some of the worst injuries in football, and depending on the extent of the damage, it can take anywhere between six months and a full year to bounce back.
Safe to say, therefore, that supporters have been left gutted by the update, with one commenting, “Awful, awful news”; another simply wrote, “FFS”.
After typing a very long expletive following the show news, fan podcast The Scarf Bergara Wore wrote: “Wishing Bradley Hills a speedy recovery – come back stronger!
Since becoming a permanent signing back in August, he’s earned multiple man-of-the-match awards in blue and white, not to mention contributed to a decent number of clean sheets. He’ll be a big miss in their backline.
While it’s no doubt a big setback as the League One team looks to get promoted into the Championship, the absence could see manager Dave Challinor reshuffle the pack and perhaps even the formation for the remaining fixtures.
One option is Louie Barry, who – depending on the setup – could finally be set for a return to the pitch after he was signed on a third loan deal this past January, but is still continuing his own rehab following a knee operation.
Put it this way, with not many games left, lots of County fans are probably wishing that the pending and potential further changes in the EFL could have come sooner…
Embrace announce intimate live show in beloved Bury music venue
Danny Jones
British alternative veterans Embrace have announced another intimate show here in Greater Manchester, only this time it’s over in Bury at a stunning small-cap arts venue.
It’s not often you get to see such a long-standing band play outside of the city centre so far into their career, especially in gorgeous grassroots spaces like this one.
A fellow Northern outfit, they’ve often been lumped in with that ‘post-Britpop’ era of music, and plenty throw around the so-called ‘dad rock’ label, but honestly, we couldn’t care either way: they remain among the UK’s perennially underappreciated underdogs that never get old, as far as we’re concerned.
Revealing a handful of new live dates for their album launch this summer, they’ll be making just two appearances in the North West on the run.
Writing in the post, the group said: “We’ve lined up a run of exclusive UK dates in venues that are some of the smallest we’ve played in years. It’s going to be special, but capacity is extremely limited.”
As you can see, besides the Jacaranda Baltic in Liverpool, the only other place in this region where they’re set to play for this mini tour is The Met over in Bury.
One of the most beautiful gig spots, not just in the town but in all the 10 boroughs, for our money, the room only holds around 400 standing and roughly 250 seats.
For seasoned artists like this lot, who are more used to playing big festival stages and big domestic headline tours – which they’re also doing later this year – it’s sure to be a special night.
Toasting the release of their ninth studio LP, Avalanche, this spin-off on the tried and tested in-store format wouldn’t be possible without the help of local record store, Wax and Beans, who are promoting and hosting the show.
But we can’t lie, there’s something about the idea of seeing them decades on from when they first tightly-packed out crowds of this size.
If you want to be part of the Embrace album launch tour, you can get ready to grab your tickets at 10am this Friday, 27 March, right HERE. And speaking of great record shops…
Emily Sergeant -
27th November 2020 
