Oldham

Oldham Athletic will make football history when they play in the first professional football game in England legally broadcast for free on the internet.

Their first round FA Cup tie against Leeds United at Boundary Park will be shown live on the Football Association website. Kick off is at 5.30 pm on November 7 2009.

Each team will receive payment £67,500. Latics Chief Executive Alan Hardy said, ‘We were offered a financial boost by the FA by having the game broadcast over the internet via the FA’s web site and I am pleased that negotiations with the Police went well, they have been very accommodating knowing that the broadcast fee is vital to the club and I would like to place on record my thanks to them.’

The match itself will be all ticket with no sales on the day of the game.

Heritage Open Days allow visitors free access to properties that normally charge an entrance fee or are not usually open to the public.

The event starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday September 13.

Hundreds of attractions and properties in the North West are taking part. For more details visit the official Heritage Open Days website.

Highlights include:

Barrow

Furness Abbey (more…)

Visitors looking for a cheap place to stay in North West England next year (or indeed the rest of the UK, Ireland or Spain) should take note that Travelodge today launched an amazing offer on budget rooms.

The budget hotel chain is offering 50,000 rooms at only £12. The rate applies for stays between January 1 and April 1 2010. Rooms are also available from £19 (book 21 days ahead) and from £29 (book 7 days ahead).

To take advantage of this amazing offer, visit this page on their website.

Budget hotel operator Travelodge is currently offering rooms at just £9 per night.

The offer is available on this special page on their website and is valid for bookings made now for stays between February and April 2009.

Rooms for other dates are also available from £19 and £29 provided bookings are made 7 and 21 days ahead respectively.

Travelodge has announced that it will open 22 hotels across the country between now and Christmas. New hotels in the North West will include the Travelodge Blackpool Tower and the Travelodge Blackpool Tower. Both are opening late December.

The budget hotel group is currently offering thousands of rooms at only £19 for stays in December and January. They can be booked via this special page on their website.

Tourism businesses in the North West were honoured at the Northwest Tourism Awards last week. The event was held at St George’s Hall in Liverpool on October 22 and was hosted by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Winners and finalists included:

Large Hotel of the Year

Marriott Worsley Park Hotel and Country Club, Manchester (Winner)
Cottons Hotel and Spa, Knutsford
Macdonald Old England Hotel and Spa, Bowness
Big Blue Hotel, Blackpool
Marriott Liverpool City Centre Hotel

Small Hotel of the Year

White House Manor, near Macclesfield (Winner)
Appleby Manor, Appleby
The Shireburn Arms Hotel, Clitheroe

Bed and Breakfast of the Year

Augill Castle, Kirkby Stephen (Winner)
Number One, South Beach, Blackpool (Highly Commended)
Moss Lodge, Rochdale
42 Caldy Road, West Kirby
Sand Hollow Farm, Burwardsley

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year

Manchester Art Gallery (Winner)
Ness Botanic Gardens, Neston
South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton in Furness
Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

The Quaker Tapestry Exhibition, Kendal (Winner)
Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre, Cotebrook
Farmer Ted’s Farm Park, Ormskirk
Smithills Hall, Bolton
Mersey Ferries Manchester Ship Canal Cruises

Self Catering Holiday of the Year

The Beach House, Blackpool (Winner)
Staying Cool, Manchester (Highly Commended)
Premier Apartments, Liverpool
Mellow Brook Cottage at Harrop Fold Farm, Macclesfield
The Lodge Holiday Cottage, Hayton

Holiday Park of the Year

Park Cliffe Camping and Caravan Park, Windermere (Winner)
Newton Hall Holiday Park, Blackpool
Manor Wood Country Caravan Park, Coddington

Excellence in Business Tourism

The Rheged Centre, Penrith (Winner)
Park Royal Hotel, Warrington (Highly Commended)
Barton Grange Hotel, Preston
Manchester United
The Conference Centre at LACE, Liverpool

Taste of England’s Northwest

Roses Tea Room, Heswall (Winner)
The Hollies Farm Shop, Cheshire (Highly Commended)
The Village Bakery Melmerby
Northcote Manor, Langho
Isinglass Restaurant, Urmston

Tourism Experience of the Year

Manchester International Festival (Winner)
Tate Liverpool – Turner Prize (Highly Commended)
Shacklabank Free Range Walking, Sedbergh (Highly Commended)
Byways Breaks, Cheshire
Downy Duckling Experience, WWT Martin Mere
Lancashire Food Festival, Accrington
Cholmondeley Fireworks Concert and Garden Party

Excellence in Customer Service

Gary Henshall – Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool (Winner)
Julie Lyons – De Vere Carden Park Hotel, Chester
Daniel Fairweather, Windermere Marina Village
Pam Simpson – World of Glass, St Helens
Madge Butler – Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport

Sustainable Tourism Award

Palace Hotel, Manchester (Winner)
Cote How Organic Guest House, Rydal (Highly Commended)

RSPB Leighton Moss Nature Reserve, Silverdale
Carden Park Hotel, Chester

Tourism for All Award

The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven (Winner)
The Trafford Centre, Manchester (Highly Commended)
Wyre Estuary Country Park
The National Wildflower Centre, Knowsley

Tourist Information Centre of the Year

Congleton TIC (Winner)
Fleetwood TIC (Highly Commended)
Manchester Visitor Centre
St.Helens TIC
Keswick TIC

The UK’s first Islamic pub has opened in Oldham. Local businessmen Azizur Rahman and Muzahid Khan have transformed the old Westwood Inn into the Halal Inn.

It houses all the traditional elements of a British pub, such as snooker tables and a darts board, but offers only soft drinks at the bar. Other features include prayer, study, and steam rooms.

Plans to redevelop Oldham Athletic’s Boundary Park stadium were given the go ahead by Oldham Council’s planning committee last night. In November councillors had rejected the proposals, sparking demonstrations by supporters.

Jubilant Chief Executive Alan Hardy said, ‘It’s something the fans deserve, because for years they’ve been going to other towns and seeing the benefit of rebuilt and redeveloped stadia. This is almost as good as getting to the Wembley in the League Cup Final and FA Cup semi-finals, but this redevelopment is important because it’s about the future. It’s not to do with the past, this is about looking ahead and hopefully Oldham Athletic will now have a bright future to look forward to.’

Around 2,000 Oldham Athletic fans gathered at Oldham Civic Centre today to demonstrate against Oldham Borough Council’s rejection of plans to redevelop the club’s stadium. After hearing speeches from Chief Executive Alan Hill and others, the fans marched to Boundary Park to watch their team draw 1-1 with Port Vale.

Greater Manchester galleries and museums are planning a weekend of activities 24/25 March to launch a year of activity commemorating the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.

Called Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery, the project seeks to uncover the region’s involvement in the slave trade as well as its contribution to slavery’s ultimate abolition. Eight Greater Manchester galleries and museums are taking part in Revealing Histories and events throughout 2007 include exhibitions, a walking tour, talks, public debates, online discussions, activities with young people’s groups and other participatory events.

At Gallery Oldham there will be a free drop-in event on Saturday 24 March 10am-5pm which explores the connections between cotton and slavery. A display in the entrance foyer will give visitors the chance to discuss the subject with curators, have their say and influence future events at the Gallery. There will also be talks at 11.30 and 2.30 in which Sean Baggaley, Social History Curator, will look again at the 1876 ‘Oldham Panorama’ photographs to see what they can tell us about the Lancashire Cotton Famine.

Touchstones Rochdale has an afternoon of family activities Saturday 24 March 2-4pm. For the children, there will be free workshops, including badgemaking. Curators will be on hand to talk to visitors about the Revealing Histories artefacts, including the only surviving barrel which was used to carry flour for the relief of Rochdale cotton workers during the Lancashire Cotton Famine at the time of the American Civil War.

The Manchester Museum is holding an open weekend Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 March 1-4pm with free workshops, a performance and hands-on activities. Watch and learn The Mami Dance, a tradition passed down over the years to generations of young Africans since the slave trade era and listen to traditional story telling; try out African woman’s haircraft heritage and its role as a strong means of communication; follow an object trail around the Museum and take part in object handling and art and craft activities. The open day also offers the opportunity to find out more about the year long Revealing Histories project and input into the plans for the rest of 2007.

At 12 noon, 1.30pm and 3pm on both days there will be a free promenade performance suitable for ages 8 and above. The performance travels around the Museum, exploring the issues surrounding the slave trade as seen by abolitionists and traders, slavers and slaves. Called This Accursed Thing, the performance is free, but booking is essential on 0161 275 2648.

On Saturday 24 March at 1pm, the People’s History Museum is holding a Meet the Abolitionists tour. Join Dominique Tessier for a tour of the museum focusing on the campaign for the abolition of slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries.

And the following day at 1pm then again at 2.30pm there will be a half hour living history performance called How Do You Plead?, with William Cuffay, whose father was a freed slave.

On 24 and 25 March the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester will host a free drop in event with poet Mike Garry, to discuss a cartoon and verse dating back to the American Civil War (1861), which satirises Britain’s involvement in the slave trade. Exploring the Union Envelope. 11am-1pm and 2pm-4pm.

The Remembering Slavery Manchester Tour begins and ends at Manchester Art Gallery on Sunday 25 March. Jonathan Schofield leads the tour which takes in sights including the Royal Exchange and Manchester Town Hall and explains their connection to the slave trade. He will be accompanied by poet Tina Tamsho-Thomas, who will be observing tour-goers reactions and creating a piece of poetry based on the experience. Tours are free and set off 1pm and 3pm and last one and a half hours. Booking essential on 0161 235 8888 or magevents@manchester.gov.uk.

At Manchester Art Gallery itself, there will be a slavery trail and a discussion where visitors will be invited to write their own interpretations of objects.

Bolton Museum is running a ‘meet the curator’ event on Saturday 24 March. Daniel Smith, curator of local history, will be in the gallery from 10am-4pm to chat about objects with connections to slavery, including Crompton’s spinning mule and a Barbados penny.