FUTURE FEATURES

ON THIS INDEX PAGE I present photo-articles and feature articles in planning. Not all of them will reach your computer screen, though some of the material will appear bit by bit in my regular photo updates. Material is presented in the form of individual photo items and mini-articles which are selected and recombined to form extended photo article selections on the various topics. Initially I will do this manually, but in future a database system will compile photo-article selections, including the latest additions, automatically.

PHOTO UPDATES

PHOTO UPDATES present the photos I take when I'm out and about with my camera. Photos may feature any place, person or theme and are presented together with mini-articles to explain and provide information.

FEATURE ARTICLES

NOSTALGIA - sentimental ailment of homesick expats or a driving force of photography? In this feature article I examine nostalgia, what it is, what it means to us and how nostaligia manifests itself in our minds eye, and in the photographs we enjoy looking at.

THE DESTRUCTION OF MANCHESTER - It's been going on for years, Victorian builders, the Blitz, post war planning, local authority lunacy and current development have all left their mark. But destruction for some is progress for others. Who's right, what has been destroyed, and is the Manchester of today better or worse than the Manchester that was, or that might have been?

TIMESLIP - In the first fictional piece to be included in Eyewitness in Manchester, a returning expat visiting his home district makes a journey back in time, rediscovering the lost sights, sounds and music of his childhood. But the idyllic mood turns sombre, leading to a tantalising conclusion, and a jolt back into the present...

PHOTO ARTICLE SELECTIONS ON VARIOUS THEMES

THEN AND NOW SELECTION - Using archive photographs and my contemporary pictures placed side by side, I compare old with new, and document the changes which have taken place over the years.

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LOCAL PERSONALITIES REVEAL "THEIR" MANCHESTER - Discover Manchester through the eyes of a selection of local personalities - It's amazing how, though we live in the same place, each one of us sees things differently...

FEATURED PEOPLE - I photograph and present key information on some of the interesting people - both famous and not-so-famous, who I come into contact with in the course of my work. I also include some famous people from the past, imagining what it would be like to meet them today.

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FEATURED WEBSITES - I showcase a selection of websites of interest to Manchester residents, expats, visitors or fans. I feature the ones I like best, particularly if they have a photographic or local interest slant. Some are by friends & associates, some are by people who've contacted me and some are by me.

FEATURED BOOKS - Local interest books are growing in popularity - I spend some enjoyable hours browsing through a selection of them, and provide details of where you can buy them.

FEATURED FILMS AND TV PROGRAMMES - To see Manchester as portrayed on the small or big screen what should you watch? I select some of the most enjoyable Manchester-based tv programmes and films, including my all-time Manchester favourites, 'A Taste of Honey', 'Hell Is A City', 'Drug Abuse', 'The Van Boys' and of course, 'Daddy Fox'

CITY CENTRE DEVELOPMENT UPDATES spring, summer, autumn 2001 document the continuing development (or degradation, depending on your point of view) of Manchester city centre.

MANCHESTER MUSIC LOCATIONS - The Haçienda (left) is already history, but plenty of other places are still there to be seen. Where did Morrissey hang out, on which Collyhurst street was the Electric Circus, and at which venues can you see the musical acts of today and tomorrow?

LOCAL ROUTES OF INTEREST

ROUND THE CITY OF MANCHESTER BORDER - I continue my journey round the City of Manchester's absurd local authority border. Should the territory controlled by Town Hall Manchester be expanded outwards, gobbling up the outer districts, or how about expanding the outer districts inwards and abolishing the City of Manchester to form a new and better mega-Manchester?

FROM BOWDON TO PRESTBURY - A ley line of affluent residential districts roughly following the the course of the River Bollin. Bowdon, Hale, Halebarns and past the airport to Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Prestbury - the so-called "gin & tonic belt" is home of millionaires, pop stars, footballers and the well-heeled. EWM also spent some time here during the 70's and 80's.

FROM LONGDENDALE TO NEW BRIGHTON - Along the ancient Lancashire Cheshire border - once the border between two English kingdoms - In 1974 legislators scrapped centuries of history, though they didn't mean to: Cheshire was topped and tailed, south Lancs was lopped off and Warrington joined Cheshire. Here we journey along the Tame, the Mersey, and the Liverpool and Wirral waterfronts, rediscovering geo-historical realities.

ROUND THE M60 ORBITAL MOTORWAY in an hour - The motorway round Manchester was finally completed in 2000, four years late. We drive along this state-of-the-art highway and discover some interesting nearby places. And we find out why on the orbital motorway made up out of bits of other motorways, some of the junctions don't take you where you want to go...

THE EWM PUB AND CAFE BAR CRAWL has been in planning for some time, and there have been many preliminary research visits. Accompanied by my team of dedicated assistants, I journey along the main artery of city centre Manchester's night life - from Canal St to Castlefield via Whitworth St, taking photos along the way, and ask the question: "Which is better, cool chic cafe bars or cheap traditional ale houses?"

GREATER MANCHESTER LOCAL AUTHORITY DISTRICTS

STOCKPORT MBC - Merseyway, Heaton Norris, Great Moor, Edgeley, the Heatons, Reddish, Romiley, Marple, Bramhall, Cheadle, Gatley, Heald Green - Key locations from the south east Greater Manchester borough which straddles the ancient border of Lancashire and Cheshire.

TRAFFORD MBC Stretching from inner city Manchester across the Mersey into leafy Cheshire, the 1974 local authority creation of Trafford MBC takes in many disparate areas to the south west of Manchester, including MUFC, Stretford, Trafford Park, the Trafford Centre, Urmston, Sale, Altrincham, Timperley, Dunham, Bowdon, Hale, Halebarns and more.

CITY OF SALFORD - At the heart of Greater Manchester, but with its own identity, Salford comprises many disparate areas including Broughton, Pendleton, Pendlebury, Langworthy, Worsley, Irlam, Eccles, Swinton, Walkden and Salford Quays. Is Salford really the twin city of Manchester or just an extension of it?

WIGAN MBC - Wigan town centre is 18 miles (30km) west of Manchester - the local authority area takes in the neighbouring towns of Leigh, Hindley, Ince, Ashton-in-Makerfield and others. Does the westernmost Greater Manchester authority really have that much in common with inner city Manchester?

BOLTON MBC - The north-west Greater Manchester local authority district includes Bolton itself, plus Farnworth, Westhoughton, Radcliffe, Clifton, Horwich, Egerton, and Tottington extending high into the west Pennines. On which television programme's opening credits can you see stills of Bolton?

BURY MBC - In 1974, the south Lancashire county borough became a north Greater Manchester Metropolitan borough, taking in Prestwich, Whitefield, Ramsbottom, Clifden and the East Lancs Railway. We visit the town centre, the market and some interesting local heritage sites.

ROCHDALE MBC - Rochdale's boundaries include Middleton, just five miles north of Manchester, as well as Heywood, Whitworth, Littleborough and Milnrow. We look at the town hall - smaller but perhaps more impressive than Manchester's and visit the home of the Co-operative movement.

OLDHAM MBC - Sitting high on a hill to the north east of Manchester, Oldham includes Royton, Chadderton, Failsworth, Shaw, and the district of Saddleworth, historically part of Yorkshire.

TAMESIDE MBC - I revisit the eastern Greater Manchester borough and experience some new locations. The 1974 local authority creation unites the Lancashire towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylsden, Denton with the Cheshire towns of Hyde, Dukinfield, Mottram, and Stalybridge.

CITY OF MANCHESTER - We visit locations inside the boundaries of the City of Manchester - the central local authority district of Greater Manchester. From Heaton Park in the north to Manchester Airport in the south, we select those scenes which are quintessentially Manchester

PLACES IN AND AROUND MANCHESTER

CHEETHAM & CHEETHAM HILL- Full of historical associations, these north Manchester suburbs have seen better days. But regeneration is taking place - slowly. Visit Cheetham Hill Road, Queen's Road, Chapetown and Cheetham Hill areas with their strong Jewish, Irish and Asian connections.

CHORLTON - Rival to Didsbury, also by the Mersey, bohemian, fashionable, with many bars, second hand furniture stores and wholefood shops, Chorlton is home to the Bee Gees and many present day musical wannabes. We visit Chorlton Park, Chorlton Green, Wilbraham Road, Barlow Moor Road and some of the area's pubs and bars.

SADDLEWORTH, though close to Oldham and now part of that borough, Saddleworth has a distinct identity based on centuries of being part of Yorkshire. Picturesque Saddleworth villages include Delph, Dobcross, Uppermill, Diggle and Greenfield. And do the locals still consider themselves to be part of Yorkshire?

ECCLES - The church after which Eccles was named has long since gone, a town famed for its currant cake is now linked to Manchester city centre via a Metrolink extension. We take a walk around the town, visiting the old and the new Eccles.

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SALFORD QUAYS - The Manchester Docks were a wonder of their age when they opened in 1894. Containerisation and the supertanker led to their demise in the 70's. Now Salford Quays is a showcase district of office blocks, apartments and cultural amenities, foremost among them, the Lowry. But is Salford Quays, from an architectural point of view, an inferior version of the London Docklands, or can Salford tell London where to go?

MANCHESTER AIRPORT - Since 5 Feb 2001 with its second runways Ringway has grown over half a century from an airfield with a just a handful of flights into a major national air terminal handling many millions of passengers. We visit familiar locations in and around the terminal buildings, find some of the best spectator locations and look back at the actions of the anti-runway protestors.

EASTLANDS - Once an engineering powerhouse, the east Manchester suburbs of Beswick, Bradford and Openshaw became wastelands when much of their industry collapsed in the seventies. We see how the area is being transformed by the Commonwealth Games, but can sport provide a new economic basis for the area?

THE TRIPE COLONY - this area of housing in the Beswick area of east Manchester was closely connected with UCP - United Cattle Products - who once ran thousands of tripe houses all over the north. Through old photos and reminiscences of former residents, I attempt to recreate a sense of this quintessentially Manchester place, now almost forgotten.

RUSHOLME'S CURRY MILE - Starting from just one Indian Deli in the fifties, Rusholme has developed into a major UK centre for Asian cuisine and culture. It's busy, it's noisy, it's dirty, it's traffic-clogged, it's colourful with the bright neon signs of competing restaurants, the smell of spicy curry and the sound of Asian music...

LEVENSHULME - Bohemian, scruffy, a bit rough, but with a strong sense of community, Levenshulme is loved by many and feared by some. We visit its terraced streets, attractive parks, Irish pubs, and the second hand furniture shops which line the busy A6 Stockport Road.

CENTRAL MANCHESTER PLACES

THE KING STREET AREA has seen a gradual shift away from banking, with upmarket fashion boutiques extending their presence from south King St to the northern part. Fabulous buildings, characterful bars and trendy boutiques are a feature of Manchester's most fashionable street...

THE NORTHERN QUARTER refers to the area north and east of Piccadilly - The former shopping heart of Manchester was decimated by the Arndale Centre - but in recent years the area has taken on an off-beat, Bohemian character. Home to Affleck's Palace, the Big Issue in the North, the Manchester Buddhist Centre, Band On The Wall, many clubs, bars and record shops and private dwellings, is this really the 'Left Bank' of Manchester?

THE GAY VILLAGE - One of the city centre's most famous - and infamous - areas, seedy back streets and prostitution co-exist with glamorous nightlife and cafe-bar culture. This once deserted warehouse district developed over 20 years into a place where you'll experience the bold, the brash and the bizarre...

PETERS FIELDS - New to appear on city centre signs, the name is based on early 19th century events, most notably the Peterloo Massacre. GMEX, the Bridgewater Hall, the Free Trade Hall, the Great Northern, the Midland Hotel and St Peters square are located in or around this area, now a cultural, conference and hotel district.

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THE NEW CITY CENTRE arose from the debris left after the IRA bomb of 15 June 1996. It includes the renovated south west corner of the Arndale Centre, the new M&S Building, the Corn Exchange (alias the Triangle), Exchange Square, the Printworks and the Urbis Centre.

MANCHESTER STATIONS - Railways have been at the centre of Manchester's prosperity since the opening in 1830 of Liverpool Road, the world's first passenger railway station. Using a mixture of old and new photos, we visit the lost stations of Central, Exchange, Mayfield and the good stations of Oldham Road and Ancoats, then fast forward to contemporary developments at Oxford Road, Victoria and Piccadilly. Is it 'the age of the train' in Manchester?

CHAPEL STREET has seen much decline and demolition, but the area along Salford's main thoroughfare is set to join the city centre across the Irwell as a prime residential and entertainment quarter - That's if the regeneration plans for Chapel Street are successful.

HULME - Few other city districts have seen more changes than Hulme - The Victorian working class suburb was razed to the ground in the 1960's to be replaced by new houses and the infamous Crescents, which turned out to be a disaster. These too were swept away to be replaced by the district of neat, well-designed brick-built houses and apartments we see today.

ANGEL MEADOW - It's one of central Manchester's most historic but least known areas. Once, the picturesque and rural Irk Valley was so pretty, they gave it a heavenly name. After industrialisation it turned into a polluted hell-hole of factories and slum dwellings. Nowadays the area round St Michael's Flags is a forgotten backwater, and by early 2001 the flagstones (seen right in 1997) had disappeared. Find out why EWM thinks this area should be designated as a national heritage site...

UNIVERSITY DISTRICT - An extended central city campus with three universities, scores of mostly dull and scruffy post-war blocks and thousands of students (some would say equally dull and scruffy!), we visit the key places and buildings which comprise Manchester University (left), MMU and UMIST.

PICCADILLY - By 2002, 150 years of history will have been erased by Manchester City Council's ill-conceived redevelopment plan, which places an office block on part of Piccadilly Gardens, and subjects the remaining part of the gardens to a 'new millennium style' makeover. I return three years after my first article to assess the changes and lament the Piccadilly that might have been.

CASTLEFIELD - Once a no-go area of wharves, derelict warehouses, murky canal waters and rats, and not just of the rodent variety, I'm told, Castlefield is now an attractive canalside district of offices, cafe bars and upmarket apartments. But has Castlefield been over-developed at the expense of other areas, such as Ancoats?