The bride's ride

At this time of year it is hard to move on a Saturday in the city centre without encountering a wedding or two. This car turned a few heads, hopefully the bride and groom did too.

Old Fire Station, London Road

The old fire station on London Road is the turreted building in this photo. Built in 1906 but derelict for the past 25 years, the City council are trying to break the deadlock with Britannia Hotels who bought it but have failed to do anything with it, in order to put this wonderful building to some dignified use. It even has its own Facebook group of concerned followers: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hpskip#!/group.php?gid=206716881309  

July jazz

Clarke-Thorne-Fell performing at the Manchester Jazz festival (22-30 July).
Videos at the YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Manchesterjazzfest

“Graham Clark on violin, Jon Thorne on double bass and Milo Fell on drums. Specially reconvened for this year by Graham, who has arguably pioneered the language of the violin in contemporary jazz, this trio - first formed in 1997 – takes freely-improvised but highly melodic themes and weaves them into a patchwork of evolving lines and grooves, creating a surprisingly majestic and muscular sound.” www.manchesterjazz.com

Norwegian thoughts

A book of condolence has been opened in Manchester's Town Hall. Anyone who can't make it into the city centre but wishes to express their sympathy can leave messages at: www.manchester.gov.uk/norway

Councillor Harry Lyons, Lord Mayor of Manchester, said: "The horrific events in Norway have touched us all. The loss of life is on a scale that is barely imaginable, particularly as many of the victims were so young.

"Manchester reaches out in solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Norway. You have our thoughts, our sympathies, and our condolences. These are small words in such awful circumstances but we offer them with all our hearts. I would urge all Mancunians to take the opportunity, if they can, to sign the book of condolence or leave messages of sympathy online. We cannot take away the pain of the families affected, but we can lend our support in the hope it offers strength."

Edward Tjørn Bootland, Honorary Norwegian Consul for Manchester, said: "Along with all the consulate and members of the Norwegian community in Greater Manchester, I have been shocked by the tragic events of July 22, and we send our sympathies to the bereaved and the injured. The city of Manchester and the citizens of Norway have long enjoyed close social and business ties and I know that Norwegians everywhere are aware of and grateful for the support, sympathy and goodwill shown them by the residents of this city."

Life on the ledge

Living in a city centre you learn to treat window frames and window sills 

as washing lines and flowerbeds. 

Big wheel turning

The Wheel of Manchester on a perfect summer's night, at about 22.45 p.m.

Flower powered?

The Mini was a popular British car at the height of flower power in the Swinging Sixties.

This one, at the RHS Flower show at Tatton this week, 

would probably have been as equally well-received back in 1967.

The North’s great garden party

The 5 day long RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park is known as The North’s great garden party. Flowers are only a part of it though. Here are some gold medal winning vegetables from Medwyns of Anglesey, (an island off of north Wales).
I still cannot believe the size of those giant leeks!

RHS at Tatton: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Shows-Events/RHS-Show-Tatton-Park/2011 
Medwyn's blog: http://www.medwynsofanglesey.co.uk/blog/

The rockery road to success

My first offering from the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Flower Show at Tatton Park in Cheshire this week is a modern, bright  rockery. Just in shot on the right is a BBC TV camera on a pole, for those sweeping aerial shots you often see at coverage of events like these.

Watch out for this display, and more, on BBC 1's North West Tonight and BBC 2's coverage via: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tattonpark/ 
Or on BBC i-player if you missed them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

School's out for summer

Many schools in England break up for the long summer holidays today, heralding six weeks or more of well-deserved fun for many. All that will be heard in this school playground until early September is the sound of silence.