Fac51 The Hacienda - Walton Hall and Gardens

Yesterday Kath and I went to our first ever rave Fac51 Hacienda at Walton Hall and Gardens. An outdoor concert celebrating the classics of the Factory records and the Hacienda 

I was slightly too young to have even been to the Hacienda but it had a huge impact on the Manchester music scene and collective memory.

We arrived with an open mind, Kath was working tomorrow so opted to drive there. Walton hall is a bit out of the way near Warrington so no easy train commute (maybe one day if the new Manchester Liverpool line is built, if ever! It turned out there were a lot of middle age people like us the event clearly going for the nostalgia factor rather than attracting the youth audience. 

It seemed like a lot of people must have been in the same boat considering that the bars sold out of alcohol free beer before 9pm. I bought tickets a while ago and opted for the VIP experience. This proved to be a great idea as it was much more chilled out than the main event and had posh toilets rather than porta-potties. We managed to grab a couple of the deck chairs dotted about pointed ourselves at the stage and enjoyed the atmosphere.

The VIP area also had a VIP section at the front which was really fun though some people were super hardcore. 

The line up

• Justin Robertson
• Peter Hook
• Jon Dasilva
• Erol Alkan B2B DJ Paulette
• Mike Pickering
• Danny Tenaglia
• Leftfield
• Orbital

My stand out moment was Danny Tenaglia playing Blue Monday which got a huge crowd reaction. Overall it was a really fun event and lucky with the weather it would have been awful in the rain!

Great North Run

This weekend we headed to Newcastle so that I could do the Great North Run. Driving up after school pickup on Friday we arrived relatively late in the evening. Kath had booked us into the Sandman Newcastle Hotel next to St James Park well placed for exploring the city centre and in good proximity to the start of the run.

On Saturday we headed into the city to explore a little, spending the afternoon at the Great North Museum Hancock. There were a variety of displays from the natural world to Egyptians including artefacts on loan from the British museum. There was also a large Hadrians wall section. Thom had a great time there and I would definitely recommend it for some quality family time. The admission is free (optional donation), we paid only for a guidebook and to see one of the shows at the planetarium.

Sunday was the day of the race. It is the largest half marathon in the world, and you can tell! There were 60 thousand runners and a lot of spectators, so the city was extremely busy. I was in one of the later waves the walk to the back of the start line was very long I had done nearly 10,000 steps before I even started the race.

The race itself was very good. The route was nice and varied. There were flyovers by the Red Arrows, which indecently is the first time I had seen them for years. They were a regular fixture of the Woodford airshow when I was younger but it's been decades since that ended!

There was a lot of crowd support all the way along the course, and every time you went under a bridge somebody would start a chant "oggy oggy oggy, oi, oi, oi". Unlike most races I have done the start was in the city the end point at the sea in South Shields which was nice to see the contrast. It did mean getting back to the city was a bit tricky however they organised it really well having a shuttle bus service which must have transported many thousands of people efficiently to and from South Shields. 

I enjoyed most of the run though a bit like London marathon at it is so busy at times I felt like I was having to dodge and jig to get past people. I would definitely recommend though really felt like you were part of a huge event. 

It was my first time in Newcastle apart from a very quick visit for work once where I saw only a small industrial park data centre not far from the Angel of the North. I enjoyed the weekend, it had a certain charm and the people were very friendly.