Backblip


It was a very busy day and we did not return to daughter A’s till nearly 11 after watching I perform with the Halle Youth Choir at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.  Opposite the hall is the Tower of Light which provides a sustainable heat and power system to the Town Hall, Central Library and Convention Centre, and the Bridgewater Hall.  The Tower
consists of a power and heat generation room enclosed within a 63-meter-long curved wall (named the Wall of Energy) with a large tower containing the flues from the generators extending upwards 40 m from the structure. The exterior of the tower is made of a set of specially constructed white steel sheets that form, in the words of the architect, a “Shell Lace Structure.”
After taking granddaughter I for a rehearsal in the morning,  S, A and I wandered round the area just north of Manchester city centre as I tried to locate places familiar from my first professional job there.  It is almost unrecognisable now between the Rochdale and Ashton Canals apart from some locks, the Lock Keeper’s house, canal bridges and the old Ancoats Dispensary. 
During the 1960s the decrepit Victorian slums of Ancoats were demolished together with most of the factories and warehouses between the Rochdale and Ashton canals.  After its attempted regeneration in the 1970s it had gained a reputation for antisocial behaviour but since the millennium it has been redeveloped with a new marina and park and the canals have been cleaned up.  Interesting buildings have been constructed and adjacent mills have been converted into apartments with trendy eateries located nearby. The walkways beside the water were full of people enjoying the sunshine. The area has been renamed New Islington and after being an area of multiple deprivation it is now considered to be a very desirable area and “the 13th coolest neighbourhood in the world” according to Time Out magazine.
We then went down to the Bridgwater Canal and walked along the disused Castlefield Viaduct which has been transformed into a temporary green ‘sky garden’ by the National Trust and later met the rest of the family for the evening performance.