Residents in Urmston and the surrounding areas are being encouraged to help local traders get back on their feet by continuing to support a series of fully COVID-compliant community pop up markets.
The markets are taking place on the Market 41 site, on Railway Road in Urmston, throughout August.
The first pop-up market event took place last Saturday and was met with huge success. Showcasing a total of 15 local traders selling a mix of cakes and bakes, gifts, flowers, crafts, home décor and jewellery and complemented by a fully-licensed bar, it attracted more than 1,000 people from the local community coming out to show their support.
Further markets will follow the same format and take place from 10am-4pm on Saturday 15th, Saturday 22nd and Saturday 29th August.
Gemma Marshall, from Gems Delicious Treats, and Mark Rackham, from The Barking Dog, are the driving force pair behind the initiative. Both felt that Urmstonians would welcome the chance to support their local traders and reignite the retail and hospitality sector by attending a well organised, socially distanced and COVID-compliant market to enjoy a bite to eat and drink, and a bit of shopping during the summer months.
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Designed to provide a much-needed boost to the local economy and encourage people back out to shop and socialise in a safe, open air environment, the pop-up markets are being held in association with the Urmston Partnership, Love Urmston and Market 41.
Urmston Community Pop-Up Markets
Gemma said: “We had originally planned to host a pop up market on the Market 41 site earlier this year, but it was cancelled due to lockdown. I always have such a great response to pop up markets, both from local traders, many of whom do not have a shop front, and local residents.
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“Saturday was a huge success and it was super to see so many people enjoying the event [so] we really hope more people will come out and show their support over the next three weeks.”
Mark added: “We followed government guidelines closely in the development of the market and are confident that the format works well to ensure everyone can enjoy the event fully without any concerns about overcrowding or personal space.
“We really hope that these events enable local traders to get back up and running again in safe and well managed open air environment.”
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Urmston Commuity Pop-Up Markets
Working closely with Trafford Council, organisers have ensured that pop-ups comply fully with current COVID-19 guidelines. This means that trader stalls and gazebos are carefully positioned two metres apart, there is a two-metre distance between dining and seating areas, and a one-way system with two-metre floor markers is in operation to ensure appropriate social distancing.
Numbers in and out of the markets were also carefully managed to ensure the designated maximum capacity for the site was never exceeded and everyone had enough space to enjoy the event safely.
The McGoff Group was also happy to support the initiative by providing the Market 41 site free of charge for the events.
Paul Danks – Business Development Director at McGoff Group – said: “We are pleased to be able to provide the Market 41 site for the pop up community markets and wish the events every success. As an Urmston resident myself, I’m looking forward to dropping in.”
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Come on Urmston – Make sure you show up in style this weekend.
Are you a local trader interested in a stall at one of the forthcoming Urmston Community Pop-Up Markets? You can contact Gemma Marshall on 07873 297590 to discuss more.
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Scare City returns to abandoned theme park with eight new horror zones this Halloween
Emily Sergeant
Scare City will be back in the North West once again this Halloween, and there’s eight new chilling horror zones this year.
After having firmly cemented itself as the region‘s favourite horror event for the past five years running, Scare City has announced that it’s getting ready for ‘another year of terror’ over in Lancashire, and although it may be the middle of summer right now and spooky season is some time off, tickets are currently on sale.
Once summer is over, the nights draw in, and the temperatures begin to drop, Scare City will be taking over the grounds of the abandoned Camelot Theme Park from next month, just as it has done for the past five years.
As mentioned, this year’s event is set to feature eight terrifying new zones.
Scare City returns to an abandoned North West theme park for another year of terror this Halloween / Credit: Jason Roberts (Supplied)
There is no single story to survive this year. Instead, guests will be thrown from one nightmare into another – from a Victorian barber with blood on his hands, to a demonic orphanage, a cannibal settlement, a cursed forest, and a military bunker where the deceased are no longer dead.
One of the most sinister new additions is ‘Cutthroat & Co’, where the polished world of a Victorian barber conceals something rotten beneath the surface.
There’s also ‘The Devils Orphanage’, which brings a far more unsettling kind of terror with the sounds of children’s laughter and nursery rhymes echoing through the place.
For those who make it beyond these horrors, there is little chance of finding safety.
The ‘Correction Facility’ plunges guests into the abandoned Camelot Asylum. ‘The Settlement’ offers a glimpse into a world after civilisation has collapsed, and ‘Thornveil Coven’ takes guests into a forest controlled by an ancient circle, where paths twist, whispers follow, and the woods themselves appear determined to keep intruders trapped.
‘CarniValley’ may be the only surviving zone from previous editions of Scare City, but survival is no longer guaranteed here.
Even when guests think they have escaped the horror, ‘Rest Bite’ offers no guarantee of safety, as the new food and bar experience has been designed as a retro diner and arcade inhabited by vampires and freaks who have their own ideas about entertainment.
More information about what other horrors await will be announced very soon.
Scare City 2026 will take over Camelot Theme Park, in Charnock Richard near Chorley in Lancashire, from Saturday 26 September and run until early November.
Tickets are now on sale and you can get yours here.
Featured Image – Supplied
What's On
Manchester Museum’s iconic T-Rex Stan is moving for the first time over 20 years
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Museum’s iconic T-Rex Stan is moving locations for the first time over 20 years.
Stan, the famous Tyrannosaurus rex at the heart of Manchester Museum’s Fossils Gallery, is on the move from one historic building to another, as he leaves his home in the Museum next spring for a spectacular residency in a Grade II-listed Edwardian swimming pool.
That’s right – the famous dinosaur is heading on holiday to Victoria Baths, where he’ll be on display in the Gala Pool, marking the first time he has left Manchester Museum since arriving there in 2004.
The process of moving Stan to Victoria Baths is already being tipped as a ‘gargantuan task’.
Manchester Museum’s iconic T-Rex Stan is moving for the first time over 20 years / Credit: The Manc Group
It’s expected that the move will take a team of specialists a full week, as at 12-metres long and 3.7-metres tall, big boy Stan is roughly the size of a double decker bus and his bones must be dismantled and reassembled in a strict order to ensure counterbalance and stop him from toppling over.
During the residency at Victoria Baths, Stan will be on display to the public but will also act as the centrepiece for a full programme of events – with more details set to be announced soon.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people to experience this incredible Tyrannosaurus rex in an entirely different context,” explained Georgina Young, who is the Acting Director at Manchester Museum.
“Not only is Victoria Baths breathtakingly beautiful, but their team will bring renewed creativity to encounters with Stan.”
Anthony Baker, CEO of the Victoria Baths Trust, added: “Victoria Baths would like to state for the record that we did not invite a T-Rex skeleton into our Grade II-listed swimming pool. Stan has made his own arrangements and we are simply going along with it.
“He is insisting that we open our doors for free so that as many people can visit him as possible and it is very difficult to say no to a giant dinosaur, especially when he asked so nicely.”
Stan the T-Rex will be at Victoria Baths from 22 March to 19 April 2027, and he’ll be free to pop in and say hello to.
Emily Sergeant -
12th August 2020 
