'There were four of us at the start of 2020, now there's two': The family hit by tragedy

hundreds also gathered at Manchester’s Albert Square.Co-organised by Jen Langton-Sneyd, a singer and vocal tutor living in Salford, the event was a roaring success and led to the birth of the Manchester chapter of Women’s Global March, the worldwide organisation that was created to help advance women’s human rights.But, despite the well-oiled event, it was actually Jen’s first experience of a protest.“It was my first protest altogether, let alone organising one,” Jen, 37, tells the Manchester

Radcliffe has been approved by the government.The proposal for the new facility - submitted by Star Academies and backed by Bury council - is one of four new free schools to have been given the green light across Greater Manchester.A further ten of the region's schools are set be rebuilt as part of a £1 billion scheme to boost education.The town has been without a high school since Radcliffe Riverside shut in 2014, meaning hundreds of youngsters have been forced to attend schools in other areas

EXCLUSIVE: Pedro Correa (The Middle), Booboo Stewart (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Raymond Cruz (Breaking Bad), Simon Rex (Scary Movie franchise), and Steven Bauer (Scarface) will star in My Dead Dad, a coming-of-age indie drama from executive producers Declan Baldwin and Karl Hartman of Big Indie Pictures, the production company behind acclaimed films like Manchester by the Sea and Beautiful Boy.

Manchester Evening News' Digital Donation on Friday - which raised £188.6k in financial contributions and new and used tech data packages for the region's children - Cash for Connectivity aims to fund the purchase of dongles, inexpensive hardware to connect laptops and up to five other devices per household to the internet.

direct to your inboxOne in four people in Greater Manchester’s hospital beds are now Covid patients, with the peak of the third wave not now expected to hit until the coming weekend and projected to last for some time.A further 999 new patients with the virus have been admitted to hospital beds here in the past week, nearly twice the numbers being recorded a month ago.

direct to your inboxA fire engine had to reverse its way back down a street after newly-installed street filters in south Manchester blocked access towards an ongoing incident. Earlier this month, a series of street filters were installed across Levenshulme as part of a six-month trial by Manchester Council to ease road traffic and improve air quality in the area.

straight to your inbox every day for freeThere was a sincere message from Edinson Cavani to Manchester United supporters that appeared on the club's social media channels last week. Subtitles were required, for Cavani delivered it in Spanish.Cavani, 34 next month, only arrived in Manchester on October 5 and has not had the benefit of language lessons in-person due to the pandemic.

direct to your inboxThe former chief executive and founder of UKFast has appeared in court charged with rape and sexual assault.Lawrence Jones, 53, from Hale Barns, pleaded not guilty to four counts of sex assault when he appeared at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning.He did not enter a plea to a fifth charge, in which he is accused of raping a woman at a Manchester city centre hotel in 2010.Mr Jones appeared in the dock wearing a suit and a mask over his face during

direct to your inboxA former Manchester Airport police officer already under investigation over whether he abused his warrant card on a flight has narrowly escaped a prison sentence for a drunken car crash.John Ashton, 55, was more than four times over the drink-drive limit when he hit a kerb, swerved into the wrong side of the road in his BMW and hit an on-coming car.The shocked driver of the other car saw the former PC, who had downed a bottle and a half of red wine, stagger out of his car and

#MUFC #MUNLIV #FACupThiago appeared to duck, with United midfielder Paul Pogba, who was standing behind him, also getting out of the way.  One Twitter user wrote: 'I do wonder what would have happened if Thiago decided to jump there instead of duck.

Dancing On Ice bosses have been urged to fire Rufus Hound from the show following shocking claims he made about the Manchester Arena attack. Survivors of the terrorist attack and MPs spoke out against the comedian competing on the hit ITV show.The 41 year old had previously posted comments on Twitter implying that he thought then Prime Minister Theresa May had been behind the cruel tragedy in order to help the Conservatives win the ongoing general election.

straight to your inbox every day for freeBruno Fernandes has revealed his methodical approach to free-kick practice, which paid off in style for Manchester United against Liverpool. The 26-year-old fired home a brilliant 78th minute free-kick in United's 3-2 FA Cup victor y over Liverpool on Sunday evening.

direct to your inboxLocal history fans are in for a treat - Tuesday's M.E.N. will come will come with a free 16-page supplement which draws on our rich archive to bring to life Greater Manchester down the years.As well as your regular news, features and sport, you'll find Memory Lane, the first in series of six collectables which builds into a 96-page souvenir.Each one will explore different aspects of life in Greater Manchester since the M.E.N.

direct to your inboxA new digital bootcamp is offering young people the chance to break into the tech industry - and it's free.Shift Click is open to all 18 to 30-year-olds across Greater Manchester and will provide expert support and coaching for those who sign up.No qualifications or previous experience are needed but an interest in learning code and a commitment to the scheme are essential.Those who complete the full programme will be rewarded with guaranteed job interviews for specialist

direct to your inboxJamie Carragher believes the title is "slipping away" from Liverpool and thinks his former club will be concerned about missing out on the top four after losing to Burnley.The Premier League champions were beaten 1-0 at Anfield on Thursday night, bringing an end to their 68-game unbeaten run at home.It means that Liverpool are now winless in five Premier League matches and haven't scored a league goal in 2021.

direct to your inboxThe last 24 hours has seen multiple deluges of rain, inches of snow, roads and homes collapsing, and a slew of serious car crashes as the region was 'just centimetres' away from disaster. In the wake of Storm Christoph hitting Greater Manchester, the city's Fire and Rescue Service chief has spoken out about a day, night and further day filled with drama.

Wigan, a woman became stuck in her car with water up to the bonnet.  In Radcliffe, fire crews were called to a river that had burst its banks.

direct to your inboxA number of flood warnings and alerts are in place across Greater Manchester and its surrounding area after hundreds of residents were evacuated from their homes overnight. Storm Christoph has brought heavy, torrential rain to the region yesterday (Wednesday) before snow settled in overnight.