After an early start to the morning, (we were all awake by 6am) it took us a surprisingly long time to organise and our selves out for the day. I had sorted our map problem out the night before by downloading Google maps onto my phone for use offline. This meant we could actually have an idea where we were driving!
We drove around the outskirts of Manchester near our Air BnB first, finding some shops to wander in Chortlon and surrounds. From here we headed into Manchester City Central to find where Mother Dearest had to attend her conference for the following couple of days and to explore the city.
Wild in Art and Manchester City Council are bringing all of Manchester’s communities together for Bee in the City, one of the most spectacular public art events the city has ever seen. In total 232 large and small Bees are waiting to be discovered on this free, family-fun trail, taking in the city’s landmarks and undiscovered gems. Each Bee has been designed by a different artist and celebrates the unique buzz of Manchester, from its industrial heritage to its vibrant music scene. An inspirational learning project will give schools, colleges and community groups the chance to take part. The humble worker bee is the symbol of Manchester City. It was adopted during the industrial revolution, referencing the textile mills which were often described as hives of activity. The bee represents the unwavering Mancunian spirit of hard work and enterprise. We saw several of these bees along our travels today and I'm sure we will see plenty more before we leave Manchester!
The main stop for the day was the John Ryland Library in Central Manchester. The John Rylands Library was founded by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband John Rylands. In 1889 the architect Basil Champneys designed the striking gothic building, which took ten years to build and was opened to public readers on 1 January 1900. The library became part of The University of Manchester in 1972 and currently holds the Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library. Mrs Rylands' memorial to her husband is now part of the third largest academic library in the United Kingdom, and the Deansgate building houses over 250,000 printed volumes, and well over a million manuscripts and archival items.
The current exhibition on display is 'Women Who Shaped Manchester'. Women Who Shaped Manchester captures the passion and strength of these pioneers. You will be astounded by the actions of women as they engaged in politics, scientific debate and culture and are able to explore the history of the women whose hard work fuelled Manchester’s booming cotton industry. Many items and stories were on display in the exhibition; Emmeline Pankhurst’s stirring letter that speaks for those prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of equality, the lives of the women spinning cotton at Gidlow Mill, the beautiful scroll presented to Enriqueta Rylands, the first freewoman of the City of Manchester, just to name a few. Unfortunately photos were not allowed to be taken in this exhibition.
The permanent exhibition at the library is home to what is believed to be the oldest fragment of the New Testament of the Bible. The fragment of the Gospel of John contains incomplete lines written in ancient Greek, the Bible's original language. The fragment was bought for the library in Egypt 1920, but the original origins of the piece are unknown. Specialists have identified similar handwriting in documents dating from the early second century to the early third century AD, the fragment on display was copied during this time frame, and is one of the earliest surviving manuscripts of the New Testament and one of the oldest archaeological remains of Christianity.
The whole library was absolutely beautiful. The gothic architecture along with the musty book smell, made you feel like you were in the middle of a Harry Potter movie and Madam Prince was going to come any second and tell you off for talking or using your electronic devices!
After visiting the library, we drove up into the North Quarter of Manchester and had a wander around the little shops, bars and restaurants there. We dawdled home stopping in just about every town's centre street along the way, unfortunately on the way home we ran into some car trouble in the way of what we diagnosed as a slow leak in our front passenger tyre. After a quick trip to the local Hertz, we headed back to Manchester Airport where we had original hired the car to see if they could sort it out. Unfortunately there we ran into more trouble! Hertz was completely booked out of cars and the only appropriate was a 12 seater van! Which would be almost impossible to drive around the UK!! Thankfully after some talking and rearranging we ended up with a smaller 7 seater van, with a sky light and navigation! definitely an upgrade! Mum just has to learn to drive it!
The final stop of the night (after a quick run home and change of clothing) was Mum's conference opening at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. It was a great way to wander the textile exhibition and see the first computer 'Baby' whilst enjoying the evening food, drinks and company.
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| The John Ryland Library |
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| The Textiles Exhibition |
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| The Computer Exhibition and 'Baby' Replica |
Beautiful narration and beautiful places and palaces.
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