Bury Light Night

If you’re anywhere near Bury on Friday 14th October, you have to check out Bury Light Night. This new event sounds fantastic, with masses going on around the town centre. Personally, I’ll be heading to Kay Gardens to look at the lanterns and listen to some acoustic tunes, then on to Crompton Street for the promise of wild street performers and a candle lit labyrinth.

Alas, I won’t be there in time, but if you get into Bury by 6pm, get your pencils out and join Becca Smith’s urban drawing tour. If all that hasn’t taken up my entire evening, I’ll be popping into the Art Museum to listen to Black Jack Barnet’s specialy written songs and then calling in at the Teepee in Library Gardens.

If it happens to rain on friday, there’s plenty to do indoors, but of course the outdoor fun is the priority for Parklover so it’s wellies, raincoat and brolly for me.

Check out the details of all events on friday night on Bury Light Night’s webpage.

 

 

Northern Quarter hearts U, Manchester

What could be better on a sunny sunday afternoon than some al fresco beats, beers and bunting?

We stumbled upon this fab street festival today in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The action is going on in and around Edge Street, Thomas Street and Tib Street until 9 tonight, entry is free, and there is outdoor eating and drinking aplenty.

If you can’t get down to the Northern Quarter tonight but like what you see, pay this area a visit soon for vintage boutiques, independent bars and tasty tea and cakes.

Queens Park, Bolton

Clearly benefiting from a lot of recent work and investment, Queen’s Park is a mere skip from the centre of Bolton.

A great playground for the kids, some lovely flowerbeds and some very steep hills for those of you who like to keep yourselves fit.

MAP

 

Springwater Park: The clear up

Well, this poor blog has been much neglected of late. A combination of factors has led to my lack of action, not least of which has been preparing myself for a new job which starts imminently.

I’ve been at the park just as often as usual though, and have a huge backlog of photos to get through, so any posts I manage at the moment are likely to be more photos than word.

I thought I’d mark my return with an update on Springwater Park, one of the most commented on parks featured on this blog. The pipeline works which have prevented access to some parts of the park are happily now complete, so I thought it was time to check out how the park is looking now the lorries have gone.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to find little trace of the work. The scenes above are from the affected area on the path down from the entrance on Radcliffe New Road – apart from the butterfly which was spotted down nearer the river.

Has anyone else visited this area of Springwater Park since the works have finished? What do you think of the clear up?

Good beach guide

The Marine Conservation Society has today launched its latest guide to the best UK beaches in terms of water quality.

I’m delighted to see that Formby, our local favourite gets the thumbs up from the MCS. There’s a great search facility on their website and I found some other north west beaches that I may well check out if it ever stops raining around here. Not only is there information on water quality, but lots of other useful stuff, such as nearby facilities, accessibility and what activities the beach is suitable for.

A brilliant resource for lovers of the outdoors.