News
Peter Kay’s touching gesture on opening night of Manchester residency goes viral
He continues to contribute to a charity set up in Laura’s honour
The audience were left emotional after a touching gesture from Bolton-born comedian Peter Kay for a ‘beloved daughter and campaigner’ as he opened his sell-out residency at the AO Arena.
The Phoenix Nights creator pledged that a portion of the ticket sales to his sell-out string of Manchester shows would be donated to a charity in memory of Laura Nuttall, who died of cancer earlier this year.
The beloved daughter and campaigner was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) – an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer – after attending a routine eye test in 2018.
After she was told she only had 12 months left to live, she went on to complete a bucket list of goals she wanted to achieve including graduating from university, presenting the weather forecast for the BBC, as well as raising thousands of pounds for brain cancer charities.
Laura, from Pendle in Lancashire, also went fishing with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, got to meet Johnny Marr and watch Fleabag performed live on stage.
In 2021, Peter Kay came out of retirement to raise money for Laura’s treatment and hosted two sold-out Q&A sessions at the Manchester Apollo called Doing it for Laura.
The money raised meant Laura could travel to Germany for specialist treatment that was unavailable in the UK.
She had previously had extensive cancer treatment including surgery to remove a tumour but unfortunately, it returned just days later.
Kay announced on Saturday night (September 23rd) he would continue contributing to a charity set up in Laura’s honour.
Due to the aggressiveness of her cancer, Laura had to drop out of university in London and was forced to put her life on hold while she bravely endured a craniotomy to remove the largest of eight tumours.
She then underwent a gruelling programme of radiotherapy and chemotherapy before her family came across an innovative new treatment available in Germany.
With the help of donations from family, friends, and the wider public through a fundraising page, Laura was able to travel to Cologne in Germany to start immunotherapy – for which she would have to travel back and fourth every six weeks.
She responded so well to the treatment that she was able to continue with her university course. She graduated from her politics, philosophy and economics degree last summer with proud parents Nicola and Mark, and her sister Grace by her side.
Laura continued raising money and awareness for brain charities, as well as promoting the research being undertaken at The University of Manchester’s Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre.
However, her cancer progressed last autumn and the family decided to bring forward their Christmas celebrations to November so they could all enjoy one last one together with Laura.
In a heartbreaking tweet earlier this year, her mum Nicola announced that Laura had passed away, writing: “I’m heartbroken to share the news that we lost our beautiful Laura in the early hours of this morning.
“She was fierce & tenacious to the end and it was truly the honour of my life to be her mum. We are devastated at the thought of life without our girl, she was a force of nature.”
On Saturday night, at Peter Kay’s Manchester AO Arena show, Laura’s mum Nicola tweeted again to thank the comedian for paying tribute to Laura in the form of the generous donation to the foundation in her name.
Sharing a picture of her family, she said: “Such a brilliant night watching Peter Kay in Manchester, we laughed till our faces hurt & my goodness we needed it!
“Couldn’t have been more surprised when he mentioned Laura and her foundation. Thank you Peter you are truly a legend x.”
Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire won the Rose d‘Or Award for her portrayal of Catherine Cawood in the BBC drama.
The Rose d’Or Awards is a prestigious ceremony celebrating international excellence in entertainment programming. The 62nd event was held in London and hosted by comedian and writer David Baddiel.
Collecting her performance of the year award, Lancashire said: “This is thrilling, [I want to] thank those who are responsible for bringing this amazing series to screen.”
Happy Valley is an award-winning British crime drama set in the Calder Valley area of West Yorkshire, written by Sally Wainwright.
The series, which aired on BBC One, follows Lancashire in the role of no-nonsense copper Sergeant Catherine Cawood who comes up against James Norton’s character; evil criminal Tommy Lee Royce – who Sergeant Cawood holds responsible for her daughter’s suicide.
The gripping series concluded earlier this year and has been receiving a raft of nods for performances, as well as for the show itself, ever since.
The BBC also scooped best documentary for The Man Who Played With Fire while ITV’s The 1% Club, hosted by comedian Lee Mack, picked up the award for studio entertainment.
British series A Whole Lifetime With Jamie Demetriou also took home the best comedy entertainment award on the night.
In his acceptance speech, Demetriou said: “What a lovely looking award this is. It needs to be said, David’s opening monologue is honestly one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.”
Lancashire, Dayan and Edebiri join previous recipients of Rose d’Or special awards, including Sir David Attenborough, Brian Cox, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley, James Corden, John Cleese and the late Dame Angela Lansbury.
The Rose d’Or Awards has defined the gold standard for excellence and achievement in International TV and Audio programme making since 1961.
News
Mum opens accessible chippy so autistic son ‘has a job for life’
She opened the chippy after a stranger made a comment about her son online
A mum from Lancashire has opened up a chippy so that her autistic son ‘has a job for life’, after a stranger’s comment online.
Gillian Jervis opened Oliver’s Chippy in Warton, near Blackpool, after a stranger’s comments on a forum online – calling her son Oliver ‘a burden on the state’ – prompted her to prove them wrong.
About the comment, Gillian told ITV News: “I sometimes think I dreamt the comment and that I made it all up, because why would you say something like that?
“Have I read it wrong? I went through all of those emotions – it knocked me sideways.”
The mum-of-four decided to start a business in her son’s name and opened Oliver’s Chippy in 2021 – where Gillian is already training the 12-year-old so that he can take over when he grows up.
On why she chose to open a chip shop business for Oliver she said: “It gives him his structure, it’s a bit like school; his daily routine that he has to have.
“What you end up doing everyday – prepping the food, serving the food, making up the food, stocking the fridges… he’ll learn all that before he starts at sixteen.”
Oliver’s autism means he has some communication difficulties though he is able to express himself in other ways.
The chippy is built with facilities to help people with communication and accessibility issues by using visual screens on the tills instead of words and phrases.
As Gillian explains: “You’ve got people with a stutter, so I’ve looked at it this way. Before people start to speak, they look at pictures don’t they?
“It’s better to see a picture of what you want, it gives you the confidence to come into my shop and order what you want without saying it.”
Not only do these images help Oliver, they also help customers who may communicate better with visual aids. Not only this, the chippy also offers services to help make it easier for all neurodivergent people to place their orders.
Gillian said: “We do have a disability point access, we do have a ramp, we do have a visual menu.
“If you came in and you want your order all separate and you said ‘jigsaw’ we know that it means everything’s separate.” The chippy can make sure different food isn’t touching others by offering cartons with separated sections.
Since opening, the chip shop has fed more than 1,300 children and supported other families across the Fylde Coast. This includes giving away a family holiday, an iPad, air fryer and over 100 competition meals.
She continued: “We had the cost of living crisis, fuel shortages, the after effects of Covid and people not working as they were, with people losing their jobs due to Covid as well.
“So I just said to Arran, ‘shall we feed the kids for free?’ He said ‘yes – but how are we going to do it?’ I said ‘I don’t know, but we’ll find a way of doing it’.”
Opening in 2021 during the pandemic, the first Easter holidays saw the chip shop take a financial hit as it gave out free meals for children in the area.
But during the summer holidays later that same year, the business was supported by Bryning with Warton Parish Council as a Go Fund Me was started to raise the funds.
An 82-year-old woman has sadly died after being hit by a vehicle on a main road in Tameside yesterday.
The elderly woman was critically injured in the collision which happened on Manchester Road, in Audenshaw, at around 5.55pm on Monday, November 20th.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, close to the Snipe Retail Park, and an ambulance took her to hospital.
The driver of the vehicle, a 31-year-old woman, remained at the scene and has continued to assist police with enquiries.
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed the woman has now died from her injuries and are appealing for witnesses of the collision to come forward to help them with their investigations.
Confirming the tragic update in a statement, the force said: “At around 5.55pm on Monday November 20th, Greater Manchester Police were called to reports of a road traffic collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian on Manchester Road, Audenshaw.
“An 82-year-old woman who was taken to hospital in a serious condition has since sadly died from her injuries.
“The driver of the vehicle, a 31-year-old woman, remained at the scene and is continuing to assist police with enquiries.
“Police would like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the collision – and are continuing to appeal for anyone with relevant mobile, dashcam or CCTV footage to please come forward.”
Members of the public can submit information and footage by calling 0161 856 4741 quoting log 2797 of 20/11/23. You can also report information online using the LiveChat function on the website: www.gmp.police.uk.
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Happy Valley actress Sarah Lancashire wins performance of the year award
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Mum opens accessible chippy so autistic son ‘has a job for life’
Full-size one litre bottles of Baileys are now just £10 in Tesco
