🧢 Save the date for the Stoke-on-Trent Centenary Celebration Weekend
Stoke-on-Trent is inviting residents and visitors alike to ‘save the date’ for its Centenary Celebration Weekend. When King George V declared Stoke-on-Trent a city on 5 June 1925, it was a move that helped to make Stoke-on-Trent a global name. Honouring the city’s rich history, vibrant culture and identity, for three days in June 2025 the city council is calling on everyone to celebrate a city built on clay and coal. The celebrations will begin on Thursday 5; and reach a peak over the weekend of 7 and 8 June - with Saturday 7 June earmarked as a day of celebration, processions, and street theatre.
🧢 Derby: all wrapped-up in one Pioneering City
Derby has a long history of ‘firsts’ powered by trailblazers. From global engineering technologies to inventing manufacturing processes, and from transformative arts to ground-breaking healthcare, Derby has been consistently changing the world for hundreds of years. The people of the city have never stopped dreaming…and making! They continue to forge a new path and break new ground so others can follow. Today, a vibrant collective of Derby pioneers taking the city forward in increasingly sustainable, innovative and creative ways. Coinciding with the fact that there has already been around £4.48bn of investment in the city’s infrastructure since 2011 - with a further £2.6bn already earmarked for future development - Derby is now getting ready to launch a major new “Pioneering City” marketing campaign in 2025.
🧢 This week’s ‘Top Pick’ @WeightmanPR: Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire
This iconic Tudor Manor House with wonky angles and quirky character is a true gem of a place, located on the Cheshire-Staffordshire border. This timber-framed building, curled around with a scenic moat, has defied logic for over 500 years - and today allows National Trust visitors to step back in time inside a higgledy-piggledy house and discover what everyday Tudor life tells us about the way we live today. Little Moreton Hall is closed now for Winter, but opens again from mid-February, and is a property well worth keeping in mind - especially as it’s easy to combine a visit here with nearby Rode Hall, which has one of the most spectacular snowdrop trails in north west England.
🧢 City’s Centenary Poet Laureate is announced
Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary Poet Laureate for 2025 has been announced. Nick Degg’s love of the city is reflected in many of his poems including I Come From a Town, which he read at the Stoke-on-Trent Centenary Launch event at Gladstone Pottery Museum, in July. His poems feature a range of writing styles, from bittersweet love poems, to ‘out and out’ comedic rants. He is also a multi-award-winning Poetry Slam finalist.