Bolton 6th Form Students Bridge the Gap between A-Level and Degree at MMU

Left to right: Mark Goodwin, Maajid Jamil, Sadia Khan and Dr. Sam Edwards 

On Tuesday 22nd July, students from Bolton Sixth Form College came to the Humanities Faculty at MMU for an Academic Skills session, designed to bridge the gap between A-Level and university, with History lecturer, Dr Sam Edwards. In the morning, English Librarian, Rachel Fell, gave the students a whistle stop tour of MMU’s enormous online digital resources.  Each year MMU Spends approximately £3m on its academic resources and allows its students access to over 250 academic databases, 150,000 e-books and 60,000 e-journals.

In the afternoon, the history buffs were given the task of exploring MMU’s online archives to develop a presentation based on the origins of the First World War. This was presented to a panel of experts from the faculty who were mightily impressed with the confidence and depth of knowledge that the students displayed.

Teacher, Mark Goodwin found the day ‘very enjoyable and imaginative’. Mark said, “The students and myself learnt a lot from the session! The staff proved really helpful and we were all impressed with the array of resources on offer to students at MMU.”

Year 12 student, Maajid Jamil, said, “The day gave me a great insight into what university life will be like and the level of research I will be expected to undertake. I feel confident now that I can meet the demands of undergraduate level and look forward to the future.”

The Schools’ Liaison team in the Humanities Faculty at MMU will be inviting all students in year 12 and 13 to come to a special event in early September where they too will receive vital advice and guidance as to how they can become successful undergraduates.

For further details please contact hlssschools@mmu.ac.uk

People Power Set To Take Over Northern Quarter

Words by Neil Harrison

The first time Manchester's Northern Quarter hosted The People's Assembly Against Austerity, back in May of this year, resulted in not only the largest regional turnout since the movement's inception, but also ‘the largest political meeting in the city since the miner's strike.’ Now it's back, and, buoyed by the success of the huge national meeting in Westminster last month, it is set to be bolder and brighter than before. 

This Saturday (27th July) will see a range of venues across the Northern Quarter, including Oldham Street's Central Hall, Matt And Phred's and Nexus Art Cafe become platforms for speeches, discussions, art installations and workshops- all designed to unify a broad spectrum of anti-austerity campaigns.

Owen Jones speaks at the first Manchester People's Assembly

Among the attendees will be writer, Owen Jones, who, as well as speaking, will also welcome a large number of protesters against bedroom tax to the event, who themselves will have completed a march in the city earlier in the day. 

  



Also speaking will be Ismail Ertuk of Manchester Business School, Annette Wright of the Public and Commercial Services Union and representatives from Show Racism The Red Card—an anti-racism educational charity.

The overall aim of this latest People's Assembly meeting is to confront, and to challenge, what many recognise to be a socially damaging agenda –by which austerity is the prime motivator—in a lively and engaging manner. Therefore, inclusive workshops which will tackle education reforms, NHS privatisation and a range of other subjects, will run throughout the day giving everyone a chance to have their say. 

Alongside all of this there will be poetry from Birmingham's exciting young poet laureate, Stephen Morrison-Burke and an 'interactive art project' by local artist and animator, Anna Morris, who explained, “What we are planning to do is to use the idea of the People's Assembly logo, the red and green speech bubbles, and get the people there to write down their most personal and important reasons for being part of the day. Then we are going to photograph those people... and create displays which will initially go up in Nexus Art Café, then hopefully in different places all over Manchester.”

 

June's National People's Assembly meeting which was attended by over four thousand

“Once each person has written down their reason for being there, they will eventually take home another person's. We hope that this will help to get everyone thinking about the importance of the People's Assembly to others. So, even though there may be differing political opinions between individuals, it will help to reinforce the idea we are all there for the same reason.” 

The organisers of the Manchester People's Assembly say they are keen to welcome any individual, group or organisation with opinions, ideas or practical help to share and contribute to the event and to the organisation as a whole. For now, the important thing is that people attend on Saturday, get involved and enjoy all the things this promising—and free!—day has to offer.

To register for the event please visit: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/6958588325/eorg 

You can follow Manchester People's Assembly on Facebook and Twitter @PplsAssemblyMcr

Neil Harrison is studying Social History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is an aspiring journalist and a terrible guitar player. Read his blog LooseRiverand follow him on Twitter @LooseRiver
 

Manchester Writer Spies Literary Stardom

Words By Neil Harrison
Photographs courtesy of Graeme Shimmin

A MANCHESTER AUTHOR is set to rub shoulders with giants of literary fiction, after seeing his debut novel get snapped up by the international publishing house behind best sellers such as The Da Vinci Code and the Discworldseries.

Graeme Shimmin, who has a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University, was offered the book deal with Transworldafter his novel, A Kill in the Morning, was shortlisted for the Terry Pratchett First Novel Award earlier this year. Speaking to Humanity Hallows Graeme explained,

“This is the second time they have run the award. I almost entered an earlier draft a couple of years ago but I decided it wasn't quite ready for it, so I left it. This time I put it in around Christmas, around six months ago now, and didn't really hear anything for about three months until the shortlist was announced at the end of March.”

“A woman from the publishers phoned me and told me I was on the shortlist. As soon as that happened, I could see this was going to be my big break. Straight away I thought, This is going to get the book published, probably. Four out of the six books on the shortlist for the previous award had been published, so I knew there was a good chance.”

That chance, and the ultimate goal of becoming a published writer, took a long and, as becomes apparent, unconventional path. Graeme originally left his home town of Manchester to study at Durham University.

“I studied physics, but that was a long time ago and I never really did anything with that. Then I worked in I.T. for a long time. That was very lucrative, but a bit soul destroying. To be honest, I could sort of afford to 'pursue my dream' out of that job, but when I worked in I.T. I think every single thing I ever worked on was cancelled, in ten years! So it gets really difficult to motivate yourself when you are just thinking, I could work really hard on this... but it's almost certainly going to be cancelled. It does become a bit difficult to keep going. You end up just thinking of the money.”

This lucrative, but not very fulfilling, work was followed by what Graeme calls “the classic writer's dream” of an island cottage off the Irish coast.

“I had a girlfriend in London who's from Donegal and we bought a derelict old cottage on an island off the coast of there. But it's a hard job living somewhere like that. It's just a completely different world. I'm not sorry I did it, because it was interesting, but yes, it's a different world.”

 

Perhaps as unpredictable as Graeme's career trajectory is the plot of A Kill in the Morning, which is set during an alternative mid-20^thcentury, in which World War II  ended in 1941. The author describes the book as ‘an alternate history spy thriller’, before providing a brief but intriguing synopsis:

“It opens with a guy who is an assassin for the British Secret Service. He's in Germany, because there is now a 'cold war' with Germany, and the story of his past unfolds to reveal how he was involved in an attack on Germany's nuclear program, during which his friends were captured and tortured. So, now he is basically going around eliminating Nazi and SS guys who were involved in that.”

“He meets a girl out there called Kitty, who is in the German resistance, which is based on a real organisation—a group called the White Rose that was crushed in real life. But in this scenario, the British and Russians have sort of supported it a bit and they have survived. From here on the plot becomes thick with twists and intrigue which take place against a backdrop of recognisable European history. Actual events, locations, even historical figures (the principal 'bad guy', for example, is Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi officer who in reality was assassinated in 1942) are employed in a process of plot development which Graeme admits ‘took a hell of a lot of research’.

Transworld Publishers plan to release A Kill in the Morning in the Spring of next year. However, the author is keen to point out that for those unable to wait, he releases monthly, free short stories for anyone willing to sign up to his mailing list. For more information on this and all of Graeme Shimmin's work visit graemeshimmin.com  

Neil Harrison is studying Social History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is an aspiring journalist and a terrible guitar player. Read his blog LooseRiverand follow him on Twitter @LooseRiver

Graduates Enjoy Their Day In The Sun

Words & Videos By Neil Harrison

Photographs By Jason Cooke & Bethan Grant

Manchester's latest graduates celebrated in the sunshine - following their end of year ceremony at a packed Bridgewater Hall.

In spite of the heat, humanities students from Manchester Metropolitan University wore caps and gowns to receive their accolades in front of proud family and friends, before heading back to MMU's Business School for a well-deserved champagne reception and prize-giving ceremony.

Video: James Draper, of MMU's English Department, congratulates recent Humanities graduates and explains the importance of the work done by the faculty.

Dr. Aidan Arrowsmith, also of the university's English department, addressed the successful graduates in attendance directly, adding,

“I wanted to say how hugely impressed myself and my colleagues are with how hard you have all worked to get to where you are today. Some of you have put in super-human efforts, it's really quite inspiring for us.”

The day also saw veteran journalist and T.V. Presenter, Dame Joan Bakewell, return to her home town to receive an honorary Doctorate of Letters from MMU. She said,

“I have great memories of catching the bus into Manchester form Stockport to visit the Central Library or the Free Trade Hall. To see, today, one of the great cities of 19th Century Europe flourishing once again is wonderful.”

Video: Photographs from MMU's Humanities Class of 2013 Graduation

For more information visit mmu.ac.uk

Neil Harrison is studying Social History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is an aspiring journalist and a terrible guitar player. Read his blog LooseRiver and follow him on Twitter @LooseRiver

Mega Mela: Mega Success

Words and photographs by Lisa Burns

Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry reading.

A COLOURFUL EXPLOSION OF SOUTH ASIAN CULTURE descended on Manchester last weekend in the form of the long-running Manchester Mega Mela Festival. Held on the 6^th- 7^th July at Platt Fields Park, this free annual event proved to be a success yet again. The festival drew in thousands of people from all over the country to enjoy two days of glorious sunshine, top-notch Asian entertainment; music, dance, food and culture.

The Mega Mela, running since 1989, has long been an opportunity for Manchester residents to sample the sights, tastes and sounds of various South Asian countries in a fun, family environment. This year’s event boasted a Main Stage hosting various entertaining acts streaming live to the BBC Asian Network. Visitors could also lose themselves amidst a bazaar of market stalls selling clothes, jewellery and Asian cuisine (cooked before the paying customer’s very eyes!). Children (and the young at heart) could also enjoy themselves at the funfair which ran alongside the Main Stage. 

Alongside all of this, Manchester Metropolitan University set up camp in the Arts and Crafts marquee in their ‘Arabian Nights’ themed tent. Staff were on hand to read stories to children while poetry readings were given to promote the Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry competition. MMU’s presence at the Mela existed to highlight the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, a community literature project which takes place every two years. The project features high-profile authors, such as Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson, at regional events and in classrooms throughout Manchester. MMU were also highlighting their Routes Into Languages programme, an initiative that facilitates the teaching and learning of lesser- taught languages in schools in the North West.

Families, teenagers, couples, students – in fact, people from all walks of life, were to be found at the two-day event. Many were attending for the first time, while others made a habit of returning every year to enjoy the vibrant party atmosphere. One such repeat festival-goer was Ali from Wigan, who enthused, “I’ve been to this event before - I always really enjoy it. It’s got a great atmosphere and we always have beautiful weather and beautiful people!”

As well as being an excuse for a great party, the Mela has a more serious purpose. It was established as a means to promote social cohesion and inter-faith harmony in a city that is increasingly multi-faith and multicultural. Last year, around 27% of the people attending the Mela were from a non-Asian background.

Indeed, many of the visitors to the festival were experiencing South Asian culture for the first time at the Mela. Paula from Manchester said, “We came because we live locally, it was a beautiful day and we thought we’d try something new. It’s nice to see a different culture and listen to different music – I’d never normally listen to this sort of music. It’s nice to experience something different”.

Other attendees had travelled from far and wide to see what the Mela had to offer, such as Mohammed from Birmingham: “I’ve met a lot of new people here, the music’s great and I’d definitely come again”. Even some of the performers had travelled from afar - the Jaipur Kaura Brass Bandhad flown over from India to showcase their brand of Rajasthani folk music exclusively at two events – Glastonbury Festival and Manchester Mega Mela!

Dignitaries from all over the North of England were also in attendance, including former Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Afzal Khan. Taking to the stage to welcome the crowds to the event, he swept aside formalities, noting that, ‘a Mela is no place for formal speeches’, encouraging crowds to join him in getting into the festival spirit!

All in all, this year’s Mela was bigger and better than ever before, and looks set to keep expanding. Manchester Mega Mela will return next year – and it’s sure to be a success as ever! Don’t miss it!

Lisa Burns studies History and English at MMU. When she's not got her nose in a book, she loves having adventures in the great outdoors! Follow her on Twitter: @LittleRobin09

TV's Debra Stephenson Hosts University Awards

Article by Lisa Burns and Neil Harrison

Debra Stephenson and Vice-Chancellor John Brooks present the
Outstanding Contribution Award to Rebecca Lawthom.

TV STAR DEBRA STEPHENSON HAS MADE a very welcome return appearance at her alma mater, to present the inaugural Manchester Metropolitan University Staff Awards.

The Bad Girls and Coronation Street actress and star of The Impressions Show treated the crowd, gathered in MMU's Oxford Road Business School, to a masterclass in comedy and impersonation. She 'introduced' a host of well-known names, including: Miranda Hart, Julie Walters, Anne Robinson and her hilarious trademark Davina McCall, before the serious business of announcing the winners began.

Debra, co-hosting the event with MMU Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Brooks, said ahead of the awards:

“I have a lot of history with this place and a lot of fond memories of Manchester Metropolitan University. I always say to young, aspiring actors who ask me what to do: “Head up to Manchester! It's the best place to be!”

Audience gathers to enjoy the TV star's impressions.

The successful evening, which sought to recognise staff's contributions to the university's values, included the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution, won by Rebecca Lawthom, plus many other categories, including Outstanding Teacher and Rising Star.

Upon picking up the Service Excellence award, Paul Walsh said, “It's amazing to have won, I'm so pleased that somebody took the opportunity to nominate me, it's lovely to be recognised for it. I'm really pleased.”

Similarly pleased was fellow winner, Edward Wastnidge, who received the Exceptional Contribution to the Student Experience award, saying, “It feels wonderful, it's a real honour. This is very much a reward for the rest of my colleagues as well, who do the same job as me in the rest of the Humanities, Language and Social Science faculty. It's Great!”

To round off proceedings, vice-chancellor Brooks thanked Debra Stephenson and praised each of the winners and nominees, hailing the event - the first of its kind - as hugely successful, before inviting those in attendance to a post-ceremony cocktail party at MMU's newly opened School of Art building.   

For more information on the MMU Staff Awards and for full details of the winners please visit: http://www.mmu.ac.uk/staff/awards/

Lisa Burns studies History and English at MMU. When she's not got her nose in a book, she loves having adventures in the great outdoors! Follow her on Twitter: @LittleRobin09

Neil Harrison is studying Social History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is an aspiring journalist and a terrible guitar player. Read his blog LooseRiver and follow him on Twitter @LooseRiver