Chetham's Library

Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education alongside specialist group and individual music tuition. Chetham's offers a year-round programme of concerts at the school, Manchester Cathedral, the Royal Northern College of Music, Band on the Wall and Bridgewater Hall. Recitals also take place in churches and community spaces, at festivals and internationally. Its senior ensembles, Chetham's Symphony Orchestra and Big Band, alongside many individual students, have won awards for their music, and many alumni have progressed to highly successful careers as professional musicians or in other sectors. The music school was established in 1969 from Chetham's Hospital School, founded as a charity school by Humphrey Chetham in 1653. After becoming a boys' grammar school in 1952, the school turned to music as its speciality, at the same time becoming a private school and accepting its first female students. There are approximately 300 students on roll, including a large sixth form making up around half of the school. Approximately two-thirds of students board on site, with others travelling in as day students from around Greater Manchester. The oldest parts of the school date to the 1420s, when the building was constructed as a residence for priests of the church which is now Manchester Cathedral. These parts are listed buildings housing Chetham's Library, the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world. Academic and music teaching moved into a new, purpose-designed building in 2012; this replaced the Victorian Palatine building and allowed easier access for concert visitors. A 482-seat concert hall, Stoller Hall, opened within the New School Building in 2017 as a home for both school and professional music and other genres of performance.

The Glade of Light is a memorial in Manchester, England, that commemorates the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017. It opened to the public on 5 January 2022 and an official opening event took place 10 May 2022. The memorial is in the form of a garden with a stone centrepiece inscribed with the names of the 22 victims. Individual 'memory capsules' commemorating each victim have been included in the memorial and are situated within the stone centrepiece.It was designed by landscape architects BCA Landscape and graphic designers Smiling Wolf on behalf of Galliford Try who completed the construction in 2021.The memorial is located between Chetham's School of Music and Manchester Cathedral. It is to be part of a series of improvements to Manchester's Medieval Quarter. The former leader of Manchester City Council, Richard Leese, said that the memorial "promises to be a beautiful tribute" and the memories of the victims "will endure and Manchester will never forget them". The council had described the memorial as "a tranquil garden space for remembrance and reflection".In December 2021, it was reported that the site for the memorial had been trespassed over after security barriers were removed. Reports of vandalism were passed to Greater Manchester Police.The memorial was vandalised on 9 February 2022, causing £10,000 of damage. A 24-year-old man admitted to the offence in April and was given a two-year community order on 22 June 2022.

The River Irk is a river in the historic county of Lancashire in the North West England that flows through the northern most Lancastrian towns of the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester. It rises to the east of Royton and runs west past Chadderton, Middleton and Blackley before merging with the River Irwell in the centre of Manchester.

Palatine Bridge is a wrought-iron road bridge in Greater Manchester. Opened in 1864 and rebuilt in 1911, it crosses the River Irwell between Salford and Manchester.

Manchester Arena (currently known as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons), is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. The arena has the highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, and the fifth-largest in Europe with a capacity of 21,000. The arena is one of the world's busiest indoor arenas, hosting music and sporting events such as boxing and swimming. The arena was a key part of Manchester's bids to host the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000 and was eventually used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The arena was temporarily closed following a terror attack on 22 May 2017, in which suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people, and injured 500 more, at the end of an Ariana Grande concert during her Dangerous Woman Tour. Shows and events that were scheduled to take place at the arena were either moved to alternative venues, or cancelled completely. The arena was reopened on 9 September with a special benefit concert headlined by Manchester-born singer Noel Gallagher.

The Manchester Arena bombing, or Manchester Arena attack, was an Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande. Perpetrated by Islamic extremist Salman Abedi and aided by his brother, Hashem Abedi, the bombing occurred at 10:31 p.m. and killed 22 people, injured 1,017, and destroyed the arena's foyer. It was the deadliest act of terrorism and the first suicide bombing in the United Kingdom since the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The perpetrator was motivated by the deaths of Muslim children resulting from the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War. Carrying a large backpack, he detonated an improvised explosive device containing triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and nuts and bolts serving as shrapnel. After initial suspicions of a terrorist network, police later said they believed Abedi had largely acted alone, but that others had been aware of his plans. In 2020, Hashem Abedi was tried and convicted for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2020 with a minimum term of 55 years, the longest ever imposed by a British court. A public inquiry released in 2021 found that "more should have been done" by British police to stop the attack, while MI5 admitted it acted "too slowly" in dealing with Abedi. Grande hosted a benefit concert on 4 June entitled One Love Manchester, raising a total of £17 million towards victims of the bombing, and she briefly suspended her tour. Anti-Muslim hate crimes increased in the Greater Manchester area following the attack, according to police. Prime Minister Theresa May formed the Commission for Countering Extremism in response to the bombing.

Cathedral Gardens is an open space in Manchester city centre, in North West England. It is bounded by Victoria railway station to the north, Chetham's School of Music to the west, the perimeter of Manchester Cathedral and the Corn Exchange on Fennel Street to the south and Urbis to the east. Cathedral Gardens comprises wide areas of grassy plots, surrounded by paved walking areas and stylised concrete sitting areas. On the west side, is a short water feature.

Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the city's parish church. It is on Victoria Street in Manchester city centre and is a grade I listed building. The former parish church was rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style in the years following the foundation of the collegiate body in 1421. Then at the end of the 15th century, James Stanley II (warden 1485–1506 and later Bishop of Ely 1506–1515) was responsible for rebuilding the nave and collegiate choir with high clerestory windows; also commissioning the late-medieval wooden internal furnishings, including the pulpitum, choir stalls and the nave roof supported by angels with gilded instruments. The collegiate church became the cathedral of the new Diocese of Manchester in 1847. It was extensively refaced, restored and extended in the Victorian period, and again following bomb damage during World War II. It is one of fifteen Grade I listed buildings in Manchester.

Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England, is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was constructed on part of the former station site in the 1990s. Opened in 1844 and part of the Manchester station group, Victoria is Manchester's third busiest railway station after Piccadilly and Oxford Road and the second busiest station managed by Northern after Oxford Road. The station hosts local and regional services to destinations in Northern England, such as Blackburn, Rochdale, Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Halifax, Wigan, Southport, Blackpool (Sundays only) and Liverpool using the original Liverpool to Manchester line. Most trains calling at Victoria are operated by Northern. TransPennine Express services call at the station from Liverpool to Newcastle/Scarborough and services towards Manchester Airport (via the Ordsall Chord) from Middlesbrough/Redcar/Newcastle. Manchester Victoria is a major interchange for the Metrolink light rail system. Two former railway lines into the station have been converted to tram operations: the line to Bury was converted in the early 1990s, in the first phase of Metrolink construction, and the line through Oldham to Rochdale was converted during 2009–2014. In the other direction, trams switch to on-street running when they emerge from Victoria Station and continue southwards through the city centre to Piccadilly or Deansgate-Castlefield. In 2009, Victoria was voted the worst category B interchange station in the United Kingdom. The station underwent a two-year £44 million modernisation programme which was completed in August 2015. Renovation entailed electrification of lines through the station, renewed Metrolink stop with an additional platform, restoration of listed features, upgraded retail units, and a new roof. The Ordsall Chord directly linking Victoria to Oxford Road and Piccadilly was completed in December 2017.

The Corn Exchange, Manchester is a shopping centre in Exchange Square, Manchester, England. The building was originally used as a corn exchange and was previously named the Corn & Produce Exchange, and subsequently The Triangle. Following an IRA bomb attack on central Manchester in 1996, it was renovated and was a modern shopping centre until 2014. The building was sold to investors and has been re-developed into a number of food outlets. It is a grade II listed building.

The Old Wellington Inn is a half-timbered pub in Manchester city centre, England. It is part of Shambles Square, which was created in 1999, and is near Manchester Cathedral. It is a Grade II listed building.

The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and managers who have become significant figures in the history of the English game. New members are added each year, with an induction ceremony held in the autumn, formerly at varying locations, but exclusively at the Museum itself following its move to Manchester's Urbis building in 2012. The Hall is on permanent display at the Museum. An accompanying book, The Football Hall of Fame: The Official Guide to the Greatest Footballing Legends of All Time, was first published in October 2005 by Robson Books. Authored by football historian Rob Galvin and the Museum's founding curator Mark Bushell, it is updated every year with the newest inductees, containing an in-depth profile about the career and reputation of each one, along with a select exhibit from the Museum which relates to their achievements.