Wigan is set to stage its own mini-Glastonbury next month. The Haigh Music Festival will take place on Sunday June 17 at Haigh Hall and Country Park and will feature unsigned bands from the town. The event runs from 12 – 8 pm and is being organised by the Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust and the Wigan Music Collective. Admission is free.
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities have proposed a road pricing scheme that will see motorists charged for travelling on the busiest roads at peak times.
Under the scheme, which could be introduced by 2012, motorists would be charged £2 to enter the area enclosed by the M60, and a further £1 to enter Manchester city centre. £1 would be charged on leaving each of the zones. The charges would apply on weekdays between 7 – 9.30 am and 4 – 6.30 pm.
All the money raised would be used to fund £3 billion of improvements to the region’s public transport system. This would include new Metrolink lines to the Trafford Centre and Stockport, a dedicated bus lane between Manchester and Bolton, and improvements to bus and rail interchanges in Altrincham, Bolton, Manchester, Rochdale, and Wigan.
Manchester City have fired manager Stuart Pearce after a disastrous 2006-07 season in which the club only managed to score 10 goals at home. City chairman John Wardle made the decision just 24 hours after their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
Over at Wigan Athletic, boss Paul Jewell has resigned for personal health reasons after leading the club to Premiership safety. Cynics are linking him to the Manchester City vacancy but Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has stated that Jewell gave him assurances he had not been approached by any other club.
In other news, Newcastle United has just confirmed that they have recruited former Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce as manager. Allardyce quit the Lancashire club at the end of April after 8 successful years.
Eccleston’s C’est Tous Theatre Company will be touring some of the North West’s most exquisite locations this summer with their production of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Venues and dates are:
Saturday 23rd June Kingswood Scarisbrick Hall Southport
Friday 29th June Kendal Castle
Saturday 30th June Kendal Castle
Saturday 7th July Haighton Manor, Preston
Saturday 14th July Carlisle Castle
Sunday 15th July Pennington Park, Wigan
Friday 20th July Beeston Castle, Cheshire
Saturday 21st July Chester Amphitheatre
Saturday 28th July Chester Amphitheatre
Friday 10th August Brougham Hall, Penrith
All performances start at 7pm. Don’t forget to bring a picnic! For booking/info please call 01257 453956.
The Grand Arcade, a new shopping centre in Wigan, opened for business on March 22. The new development is situated on the site of the former Wigan Casino took 2 years to build and cost £120 million. Stores already open include Debenhams, HMV, Waterstones, Marks & Spencer, River Island, TK Maxx, Monsoon, Next, Bhs and Boots.
Wigan’s Bickershaw Festival has been cancelled. Organiser Chris Hewitt says this is due to his son’s ill health and local opposition. He is hopeful that the event will be held next year.
Wigan’s legendary Bickershaw Festival is to be resurrected later this year. The original festival took place in 1972 and attracted famous bands such as The Grateful Dead, Captain Beefheart, Hawkwind, The Kinks, Donovan and Wishbone Ash.
The festival will take place on the original site at Heron Lodge Farm on Bickershaw Lane on the weekend beginning Friday June 29 2007. The line-up has yet to be finalised but organiser Chris Hewitt is hopeful that it will include top acts such as The Fratellis, The Kooks, Badly Drawn Boy, Doves and Johnny Vegas. Ticket prices and availability will be announced in the near future.
Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan is selling around £50m of shares in JJB Sports in a bid to help the Premiership club avoid relegation. The club are currently in 17th place and just two points above the relegation zone.
The World Pie Eating Championships will take place at Harry’s Bar in Wigan on December 13. For the first time, the annual event includes a vegetarian category. Wigan is widely recognised as the world capital of pies and pie eating.
A Birmingham couple were ejected from the JJB Stadium after being caught having sex in the disabled toilets during the game between Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa. The Wigan Observer reports that staff became suspicious after noticing that the door had been locked for a prolonged period and heard moaning sounds coming from within. The newspaper reports an onlooker as saying ‘It was quite obvious they weren’t disabled’. The game itself ended scoreless.