Quays Life A lifestyle webzine based-in Salford Quays

MBE Insignia Photo courtesy of Elaine Edwards

People

Bolton mum’s MBE journey: how Families and Babies grew from one woman’s struggle into a national charity

If someone had told Elaine Edwards back in 2004 — during the sleepless nights and uncertainty of new motherhood — that one day she would receive an MBE at Windsor Castle from HRH The Prince of Wales...

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Original Wadsworth Monastery Organ. Photo courtesy of The Monastery

Greater Manchester To do & see

The Monastery’s Victorian organ sings again as Manchester venue marks 30th anniversary

It is a well-known saying that good things come to those who wait and those words are none truer than for the custodians of The Monastery, Manchester. In 2022 I wrote in Quays Life about the amazing...

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Travel

An emotional journey aboard the Titanic Experience Belfast

Since Titanic Belfast reopened its doors in 2023 following a multi-million-pound refurbishment programme, the museum has been on my ‘to-do’ list. So, what better excuse to pop across the sea to...

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DUMBO, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, New York, USA Photo by Garin Chadwick on Unsplash

Travel

How to experience a city like a local

Travelling to a new city is always exciting, but it’s easy to fall into the tourist trap of only seeing the famous landmarks and eating at overpriced restaurants. To truly understand a place...

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Reviews

L-to-R Harriet O'Shea as Small Alison and Alex Young as Helen Bechdel in Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Credit: Johan Persson

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Reviews Theatre

Fun Home: Review

Dave PorterAdd comment

The Fun Home is not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, sometimes it’s not funny at all, what with marital discord, hidden secrets and suicide to contend with. The reason partly may be because the fun home is short for the funeral home, the family...

Sewing a Button. Part of Ai Weiwei Button Up at Aviva Studios. Photo credit Hugo Glendinning

Art Reviews

Ai Weiwei: Sewing A Button – Review

Dave Porter

Twelfth Night HER Productions. Photo Credit Kelsea Knox

Reviews Theatre

Twelfth Night HER Productions: Review

Steve Timms

To do & see

Nya, TPE's Pets as Therapy Dog. Photo courtesy of Transpennine Express

Dog's Life People

The dog taking the stress out of train journeys

Lorraine Worsley-Carter

One of my dear friends is Chaplain, Reverend Mike Roberts, Rail Industry and British Transport Police Chaplain whom I have featured in QuaysLife in the past. Earlier in the year, Mike included me in the following email. “Hi Lorraine Meet Steve...

Dean Kirby's walking tour of Angel Meadow. Photo by Dave Porter

To do & see

Angel Meadow walking tour: Manchester’s forgotten slum where kids played football with skulls

Dave Porter

Think you know Manchester pretty well? It may be time to have a rethink. On hand to help adjust your frame of reference is former journalist Dean Kirby and his walking tours of Angel Meadow. Now a local historian and author, Dean’s tours poke around...

To do & see Travel

The only swing bridge aqueduct in the world

Lorraine Worsley-Carter

Lorraine Worsley-Carter stumbles upon a unique wonder of the canal age in Salford After taking a short cut to our favourite Trafford DIY store, our sat-nav suggested a route which took us over an old bridge which we had not traversed before...

Art Reviews

Ai Weiwei: Sewing A Button – Review

Dave Porter

If art is a weapon, then the corollary of such a statement is that it is also a weapon which can be used against the artist. Such was the case with Ai Weiwei who was imprisoned by the Chinese authorities for 81 days 15 years ago. He recreates the...

People

(L-R) Matt Freeman, Al Dunn, Nick Bunt in Oh Zeus! (Le Navet Bete) - photo credit Mark Senior Photography

People To do & see

Le Navet Bete’s Nick Bunt on bringing the Greek gods down to earth

Carmel Thomason

Le Navet Bete is back with another larger-than-life comedy, this time taking on the wildly dysfunctional world of Greek mythology. When the stability of Olympus is threatened by the marriage of Zeus’ daughter Hebe to a mere mortal, the King of the...

Christine Mackie in IRON Pic credit James Mackie

People To do & see

Christine and Lois Mackie on bringing IRON’s powerful mother-daughter story to life

Carmel Thomason

For the first time, real-life mother and daughter Christine and Lois Mackie will share the stage in Rona Munro’s intense psychological prison drama ‘IRON’. Touring the North West with Best Girl Productions, the play explores the...