Storm Babet is currently battering parts of the country and areas within Greater Manchester are badly affected by the heavy rain.

Although Salford lies within the Met Office's Yellow Alert zone, much of the water falling on surrounding areas will eventually find it's way into streams and tributaries which feed the River Irwell along its path.

It is only logical to expect rising water levels along the river as a result and so purely as a precautionary measure at this stage, Salford Council and the Environment Agency have opted to close footpaths around both flood basins at Little Road and Kersal Wetlands which were constructed to take on water in order to protect vulnerable areas further down the path of the river.

As stated, this is a precautionary measure should the levels rise and they be needed to be quickly brought into action.

As at time of publishing, there are no active warnings, however this could quickly change.

For the latest updates, please follow the council and the environment agency on their social media.

Kenneth Starkie (DOB: 22/10/41) from Bolton Road in Pendlebury has sadly passed away and police are asking for the help of the public in identifying any possible next-of-kin.

Kenneth is said to have died at Salford Royal Hospital on 16th October 2023 and police say that there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

If you can help, please call the Police Coroner’s Office in Bolton on 0161 856 4687

Today (Friday 20 October 2023) David Perry (12/02/1957), of Eyston Drive, Weybridge, Surrey, has pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrate's Court, following an investigation carried out by Greater Manchester Police as part of Operation Octant in connection with malicious communications sent to MP Angela Rayner.

Perry is set to be sentenced at Staines Magistrates on Thursday 16 November 2023 after pleading guilty to sending a grossly offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message.

On Monday 2 May 2022, Perry sent an abusive email to the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister saying:

"Do you really think anybody would be interested in an ugly menopausal pig like you?

"With your sad old m***e, which you could throw a kipper up, typical career politician, useless, no experience, no qualifications."

Detective Inspector Christopher Dean of GMP's Tameside CID said:

"Abusive and threatening communication, towards anyone, is unacceptable and not only impacts the life of those they are directed at but also those close to them.

"The abusive correspondence sent to this woman left her understandably distressed. We launched a full investigation to identify those responsible and I hope today's guilty plea and the subsequent date for sentencing clearly demonstrates that these actions have consequences.

"What you think may be a quick and harmless email can result in a criminal conviction and we will always do what we can to take robust action against you."

Anyone who has been a victim or witnessed a hate crime is asked to report it at the earliest opportunity online or by using their LiveChat service at https://gmp.police.uk.

For victim support and information, visit gmvictims.org.uk. To find out more information and advice about hate crime, visit https://letsendhatecrime.com.

Salford City Council and Salford City FC team up to help raise awareness of the support available to stop smoking.

The councils Health Improvement Team stand will be at Salford City FC home game this Saturday run by Connect Team

Fans will get the chance to win a signed Salford City FC shirt when they attend and answer a few simple health questions.

Salford City Council are excited to be teaming up with Salford City FC at this weekend's home game against Swindon Town FC to raise awareness of the health benefits of stopping smoking.

Every year, around 64,000 people in England die from smoking. Smoking prevalence in Salford is about 2% higher than in Greater Manchester and 3.2% higher than the England average of 15.2%. 

Councillor John Merry, Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing for Salford City Council, said:

"Smoking is still the largest cause of preventable cancer and death in the UK and increases your risk of developing heart disease and premature ageing, gum disease and tooth loss.

We know quitting smoking isn't easy and can take some people up to 30 attempts to succeed. But there's loads of local help available, and when you quit, you'll have more energy, feel healthier, breathe better and have extra money in your pocket.

Further evidence shows that once people get past the short-term withdrawal stage of quitting, they have reduced anxiety, depression and stress and increased positive mood compared with people who continue to smoke. Any boost to our mental health is a positive."

Salford City Council's Stop Smoking Service have achieved a 50% quit rate in the last 12 months so when you sign up, you'll be in safe hands.  

Here's what one attendee had to say about the programme:

"Knowing I had a helping hand and a friendly, sympathetic, and non-judgemental person as my mentor was a blessing." AM, Salford.

It's great to have Salford City FC on our side to raise awareness about the importance of stopping smoking and overall men's health." 

A Salford City spokesperson added:

"At Salford City we encourage our supporters to live a healthy lifestyle, particularly through our official charity Foundation 92. The Peninsula Stadium is a non-smoking venue, which includes a ban on the use of vapes and e-cigarettes.

"We are keen to support the Council's initiatives to help reduce the number of people who smoke, and ultimately play a part in helping to improve the health of the Salford population."

So, whether you join the Stoptober Challenge, Make Smoking History or join our own Stop Smoking Programme – we know we're stronger together.

If you are heading to the home gain on Saturday 21 October, please visit the Salford Health Improvement pop-up stand, answer three easy questions, for your chance of winning a signed Salford City FC shirt!

Not only that, but you'll also learn about important health topics. 

If you have a friend or family member who smokes, give them the support they need to quit. To learn more about Salford's Stop Smoking Service

Call Health Improvement Connect on 0800 952 1000, option 2.

Or refer yourself to the service by completing the online form here.

In a monumental victory for the people living in Greater Manchester, Liberal Democrat Councillor Alex Warren has successfully led a campaign to bring #LateNightTrams to the area. Thanks to a three year long relentless campaign, Salford residents can now enjoy the convenience and safety of tram services operating until 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays. 

Councillor Alex Warren's journey to achieving this significant milestone began in 2020 when he first embarked on a mission to make #LateNightTrams a reality for Salford. His efforts culminated in November 2022 when he successfully passed a motion at the Salford Full Council, garnering support from Councillors across party lines. Salford Labour initially tried to block this policy at full council meetings, saying that there were already rail and road alternatives.

Cllr Alex Warren said:  

"Late-night trams are not only a convenience but also a safety measure, catering to the needs of hospitality workers, individuals on nights out, and vulnerable people walking home alone. The extended tram services, which will commence from Friday, September 29, 2023, will run until 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Services will be available every 20 minutes between midnight and close to 1 am, ensuring that commuters have a reliable and safe transportation option during these late hours."

Councillor Alex Warren spoke passionately about the breakthrough, saying: 

"The whole City got behind the Liberal Democrat campaign for late-night trams. I am so glad I kept pushing for this, because it's quite clear that the people of Manchester and Salford want this. We wrote a letter from Salford Council to Andy Burnham and others to ask for their support on this and in a public combined authority meeting, after I questioned him on it, Andy Burnham agreed and said he did. This Late night trams campaign was a policy that worked for local people, that was not mired in ideology or national party gripes."

"We had a campaign, we fought for it, and you won. We all now have late night trams. Hundreds of Salford Residents signed my petition to introduce #LateNightTrams so a huge thank you to those people, we could not have done it without you."

Late-night trams are set to transform the transportation landscape of Salford Quays, offering residents, workers and visitors a safe and efficient way to travel during the early hours. 

600 Salford City tickets will be given out to our local community this season thanks to a donation by Salford Van Hire to Salford Foodbank.

The tickets will be distributed by the Foodbank across the remainder of 2023-24 as part of the food parcels that they give out to some of the most vulnerable in our community.

Club partners Salford Van Hire have kindly made the donation, which will give people who may otherwise struggle to afford tickets to come to matches the opportunity to keep enjoying football.

Paul Harris, Warehouse and Community Engagement Co-Ordinator at Salford Foodbank, said:

“It’s been brilliant to partner with Salford City Football Club, we’ve had support in all sorts of different ways and it’s been really encouraging.

“One of the brilliant things that has formed out of the partnership is being given tickets that we can give to the people that use the Foodbank, and it’s great that Salford Van Hire have come on board this season to sponsor that initiative.

“It’s really brilliant to be able to give food to the people that are coming to food banks, but through the football tickets offer them something that they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. It gives them something to look forward to at the weekend, something for them to so, but also a community to be a part of and not be insulated in the way that they can be so often.”

Creative and Engagement Manager at Salford City, Andrew Gordon, added:

“Last season we did the Going to the Match campaign where we donated free tickets to Salford Foodbank so that service users could get tickets to the match.

“If you’re struggling to heat your home or put food on the table then going to the football isn’t a priority at that point, but we still want to make football accessible for all, for the most vulnerable in our community.

“Salford Van Hire have taken up the mantle and generously donated 600 tickets over the course of the season for Salford Foodbank to hand out in the food parcels that they make.

“It’s really nice to see a Salford business like Salford Van Hire coming together with the local football team to support the people in our community, it’s a really proud moment and it’s really good to see.”

Salford City staff will also be volunteering their time each week to help out at the Foodbank for at least the next few months.

For more information about Salford Foodbank and how you could help, or how to get help if you need, visit https://salford.foodbank.org.uk/.

Essential work being carried out at Cornbrook station this coming Sunday (22nd October) will mean that trams running along the Salford Metrolink branch line will see disruption to service.

There will be no trams between Eccles and Manchester City Centre for the whole day, with a replacement bus service in operation.

The work will also result in disruption across much of the network, with Bee Line buses taking their place throughout the day.

The replacement Bee Line buses will call at:

Eccles, Ladywell, Weaste, Langworthy, Broadway, Harbour City-Anchorage, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Pomona & Exchange Quay, Cornbrook, Deansgate-Castlefield, St Peter's Square, Piccadilly Gardens, Piccadilly Rail Station.

Eccles – Piccadilly - First service at 6.31am and last service at 12.01am

Piccadilly - Eccles - First service at 6am and last service at 11pm

I have written before about Joshua Batty, a Salford man who was to become a familiar figure in the Magistrates Courts of Salford and even the Crown Court in Manchester, for his political beliefs and his no nonsense attitude to the authorities.

Prior to this appearance in the Salford City Reporter from February 1908, he was in trouble for slandering Sir Andrew Lees Knowles the owner of several local coal mines and Thomas Greenhalgh who was the President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Mineworkers Federation, it has to be said that Batty had no fear of speaking out, on matters he felt strongly about and in the next few weeks I will tell you the outcome of those court cases.

On the morning of Sunday 27th January 1908, the 11 o' clock mass at Salford Cathedral, Chapel street, was interrupted by shouts of, "Query" and "Hear, Hear" as Father Walsh was preaching  a sermon from the pulpit.

A man then stood up and shouted, "Dearly beloved Brethren, in the name of God..." and proceeded to accuse the priests of the Catholic Church of hypocrisy and demanded to know what they had done for the unemployed people of Salford?.

This turned out to be Joshua Batty, who refused to be quiet when told by members of the congregation and continued saying that he had a right to speak for the unemployed people, he was eventually bundled out of the Cathedral but shouted that they had not seen the last of him.

Half a dozen men took him to the police station with a view to having him prosecuted, the police however, said that they knew Batty and he was searching for notoriety, and he was given a caution, not to approach Salford Cathedral again, then released.

The Salford City Reporter visited Batty at his home in, Arthur Street, Pendleton and he gave them the reason why he had stood up in the Cathedral and spoken out and here are his exact words, strong stuff.

"I am sick of the hypocrisy going in the Church, I was brought up a Catholic and I know all their attitudes on all such questions when it comes to the unemployed, it was my intention to get into the pulpit and say the following before I was dragged out.

"I appeal to the Catholic clergy to give me one instance of what the Roman Church has done to uplift the low wage workers and starving unemployed from their present condition of poverty.

"I appeal to the Pope and his followers to come out of their fools paradises and try to do something for the material benefit of the downtrodden masses of humanity.

"It might be said that they care not for the worldly interests of the body, only for the spiritual needs of the soul, I contend not for the spiritual needs of the soul, but for the material needs of the body, a God on earth and not a phantom in the sky.

"It is a hollow mockery for you to come here and waste your time while there are men and women in Manchester and Salford, starving, homeless and shelterless"

The church was given the chance to reply and the Catholic Times said that they were indignant that an agitator was given the chance to disrupt the Mass and added that they feared that the  "brawler", would not be saved from "the indignant chastisement of an outraged people" if he attempted this again.

A youth by the name of John Bonar Thompson, a friend of Batty's  who was also removed from the Cathedral, told the Salford City Reporter that he was told by those that dragged him out that if he tried it again, the police would not be called, and they would be taken into the backyard of the Cathedral and thrashed into an inch of their lives.

Not sure if this was brave or foolhardy of Joshua Batty to stand up in the Cathedral and let his feeling be known, and strange that the police didn't press charges against him, Batty was certainly well known in Salford as a champion of the unemployed, having been sacked from his job at Pendleton Pit for what he he said was, "asking the right questions to the Management"

Perhaps they thought the publicity may have swelled his popularity with local people?

This certainly didn't deter Batty for within months he would be back in the courts on the more serious charges of inciting people to riot in Manchester at a gathering of unemployed people in Stevenson Square.

I went into the Working Class Museum on the Crescent and was astonished to find that they had never heard of him and had no newspaper reports of his activities.

I firmly believe that Batty was a genuine, believer in standing up for not only his rights but for those of the less fortunate, the homeless, the starving and unemployed of Salford, despite the efforts of the authorities to persecute and hound him, which they did, right up to his death in 1929.

I have mentioned that he is in an unmarked common grave in Weaste cemetery, Salford, my intention is to try and find the exact location and pay a visit to pay my respects to this unsung hero.

More on Joshua Batty and his exploits over the coming weeks.

The Eccles and Patricroft Journal of August 1966 told how Deborah Hayes was playing on the canal bank near Parrin Lane bridge with her five-year-old brother Adrian and another young girl.

Somehow Deborah fell into the water and being so young, her friends had no chance of her pulling out.

Fortunately because of the Bank Holiday a group of men were fishing further along the canal bank.

A view of the Bridgewater Canal at Monton © Salford Local History Library

Fred Wharmby, 27, of Stanley Road in Peel Green was enjoying an afternoon’s fishing with his brother, Gordon, 33, and his father in law, Harry Flack, 54.

They had been on the canal for several hours in an attempt to land the ‘big one’ when they heard the girl’s screams and cries for help.

Fred told the Journal: “I looked into the distance and saw something splashing in the water and at first I thought it was a dog swimming near the side, I decided I’d better make sure and went towards the spot.

“It was then that I could see that it was a little girl.

“I threw off my leather jacket and raced to the scene, she had disappeared beneath the water but her head popped up, so I jumped in and pulled her to the canal bank where my brother Gordon lifted her out of the water.”

Miss Joan Grieves, 37, who lived at Verdun Road, was alerted by the sound of the shouting and rushed to help.

She took the little girl into her house and turned her upside down to empty the water out of her.

There was reportedly a horrible wait.

Luckily, Deborah was responsive and started crying, a sign that she could breathe unaided.

They wrapped her up in a blanket to keep the tot from shivering and phoned for an ambulance.

Meanwhile Deborah’s younger brother Adrian had raced home to tell his mother Marjorie what had happened, she was occupied looking after her two other children, Beverley and Brendan.

Adrian blurted out that Deborah was in the water: the mum’s first thought was that she was in a paddling pool, but when he mentioned boats, she quickly realised the seriousness of the situation and panic-stricken rushed to the canal, fearing the worse.

You can only imagine her relief when she met Joan Grieves who told her that her child was safely wrapped up in her house.

The ambulance arrived and the relieved mother and daughter went to Hope Hospital to check that she was okay.

As for our hero, Fred Wharmby, he had to go to his father in laws house in Anson Street for a much needed bath and change of clothes and the day’s fishing was abandoned.

The Met Office has issued an updated weather warning as Storm Babet makes it's way in from the Atlantic and across the country tomorrow.

An Amber warning for rain has been issued for parts of Greater Manchester with much of Salford covered by a less severe Yellow warning.

The warnings come into force at 6pm today and run until 6am on Saturday.

Motorists are being advised to drive with caution due to slippery roads and reduced visibility caused by both heavy rain and spray.

Storm Babet is already the second storm of the season, with more wet and wild weather predicted over the coming Winter.

The Met says that there could be increased risks of flooding across the region following a rare red warning which was issued for parts of Scotland yesterday.