Eleanor Taylor

Mancunian Matters • 28th June 2023

"There’s something beautiful about the community protecting the community": Volunteering with Canal Street's Village Angels

Pride month is one of the busiest times of the year for Manchester’s Gay Village – the Village Angels volunteer every weekend to make sure everyone gets home safe.

At about 1am on a Friday night, people outside the bars on Canal Street started to notice that there was a man in a hospital gown sitting on the pavement near the bridge. He had no shoes on and still had part of an IV cannula in his hand.

The group of Village Angels I was with approached the man and started talking to him, asking ca

Mancunian Matters • 3rd June 2023

WATCH: Manchester City Council elects new Lord Mayor

Councillor Yasmine Dar has been elected as the Lord Mayor by Manchester City Council.

She is the 125th Lord Mayor of the city and the first South Asian woman and first Muslim to hold the role.

Dar said: “I am humbled and honoured to be elected as your Lord Mayor.

“I can’t help but ask myself ‘How did I get here?’ – me, from an inner city area and working class background.”

Dar was elected by a unanimous vote from her fellow councillors at the Annual Council Meeting on 17th May.

25th May 2023

Long live the Kings

Seb formed the Drag Kings of Manchester in October 2022 when he (as Sadie, she/her out of drag) put out a call for any young people who were interested in kinging.

"I wasn’t aware that drag kings even existed, which is quite ironic! It was only when I started the group that I found out about the pre-existing drag world, it was like a gold mine," Sadie explains.

"I had been dressing as a man at any point I could myself, for parties/Halloween etc- I just found it fun and I wasn’t aware that it w

Mancunian Matters • 13th May 2023

How foraging is helping Mancunians connect with nature

Workshops teaching people how to find edible plants are surging in popularity across the UK, including in Manchester.

ForageBox is an online food shop that sells products made only with wild ingredients, and also runs foraging workshops to teach people how to find their own greens, fruit, and mushrooms.

Mancunian Matters attended one of these workshops in Chorlton Water Park and Kenworthy Wood on May 7th.

The session was led by Ibrahim Ahmed, an experienced forager with a PhD in cancer biolog

Mancunian Matters • 31st January 2023

Manchester has worst rate of homelessness in the North West, new report reveals

A report by housing charity Shelter has revealed that Manchester has the highest rate of homelessness in the North West, with one in 74 people being homeless.

Shelter’s Homelessness in England report was published on 11 January 2023 and the data was accurate as of 30 June 2022.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter said: “With private rents and living costs continuing to soar, thousands of people are not just facing a winter of worry, they are at risk of losing the roof over their head. At S

Mancunian Matters • 7th January 2023

Manchester housing charity for LGBT young people is ‘at capacity’ due to cost of living crisis

An LGBT youth homelessness charity is seeing increased demand for its services because of the rising cost of housing – in Manchester most of all.

Tongue Tied Magazine • 6th November 2021

Interview: Eraste —

Eraste hopes that telling her own story of moving on from unhealthy or unhelpful relationships can empower her fans to make the same choices. Making music was her way of processing the emotions of that journey, and now she’s bringing that music to other people. ‘habits’ is the first time we’ve really heard Eraste express that deeper, more mature side of her songwriting.

Another way this single differs from her previous music is the team of writers who worked on it: there isn’t one. Eraste recog

PATCH POCKETS • 18th October 2021

On witches and bone-eating demons: RAT BATH introduce their debut album

Something spooky is brewing in deepest, darkest Milwaukee…

RAT BATH, the one and only ‘country core’ band, are gearing up for the release of their ambitious debut record. Rat From Hell, out February 2022, promises to be a truly unique offering that draws inspiration from both folklore and the band members’ real-life experiences.

The record’s protagonist is a young witch who must defeat a demon that plagues their home. Over the course of the album, we hear the witch’s relationship with the demo

PATCH POCKETS • 2nd February 2021

FEATURE: Where do zines fit in a world of Instagram and TikTok?

Zines: anyone can make them and they can be about pretty much anything. But in a world of social media and non-stop content, why keep making zines? Surely if you wanted to spread the word about your favourite thing you’d just set up an Instagram fanpage or a stan Twitter? People do that too, of course, but zines and the culture around them are still very much around. But with the massive changes in how we consume media and form communities it’s interesting to look at why zines have persisted.

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