IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Princess Street, MANCHESTER, M1 4JY

An imposing former warehouse by C. Clegg, 1883. Unlike many of its neighbours, it has Tudor motifs, polygonal piers rising towards gables, clustered chimneystacks, and a very steeply pitched roof. Grade II listed. It is one of a sequence of particularly fine warehouses on this street, each occupying a whole block. It is at least partly occupied by a Chinese restaurant.

Signs by the main A34, either side of St James Street, a side street off the main road.

View looking down Princess Street towards Portland Street.

Chinese dancers, in colourful costumes, leading the dragon along Princess Street as part of the celebrations to mark the start of the Year of the Monkey.

Honest the entry arch is behind the tree

Greater Manchester Police handing out "Alan Turing Sunflowers" from their "Hate Crime - Report it" float at the 2012 Manchester Pride Procession. Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.

Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held Manchester. The event began in the second half of the 1980's as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pride ). It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village, which centres around Canal Street, each year. The ten-day festival culminates in "The Big Weekend", a 72-hour party in Canal Street and the surrounding area over the August bank holiday weekend. The Manchester Pride Parade is the highlight of the Big Weekend and the biggest Parade in Manchester! The Parade is promoted as a fun way to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Greater Manchester, the UK and overseas, and to raise awareness of the issues around HIV. More than 100 floats made their way through the city centre, setting off from Deansgate and ending on Whitworth Street at the gay village. The theme for this year’s Manchester Pride Parade is “Queer’d Science”, in honour of “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime code breaker and victim of prejudice,” Alan Turing. The gay computer pioneer was prosecuted for gross indecency for having relations with another man in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later and it was ruled at his inquest that he had committed suicide. A number of charities, venues, public sector bodies, housing authorities, political parties and commercial organisations take part in the parade each year. http://www.manchesterpride.com/parade Manchester Pride Web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19379394 BBC News.

Chinese dancers, in colourful costumes, leading the dragon along Princess Street as part of the celebrations to mark the start of the Year of the Monkey.

Members of the 'Arts of China' dance troupe taking part in the 2016 Dragon Parade. Part of the celebrations to mark the Chinese New Year.

The dragon dance is performed during Chinese New Year celebrations. Chinese dragons are a symbol of China, and they are believed to possess qualities that include great power, dignity, fertility, wisdom and auspiciousness. According to legend, the dragon has to chase the pearl of wisdom. The pearl effectively controls the dragon, so wherever the pearl goes, the dragon follows. The story goes that every time it is just about to catch it, it gets away. The dance is performed by a team of dancers who manipulate a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the dragon. The appearance of a dragon is both fearsome and bold but it has a benevolent disposition and is believed to bring good luck to people, therefore the longer the dragon in the dance, the more luck it will bring to the community. This one (which was reportedly the longest dragon in Europe at 175ft http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2016/feb/08/chinese-new-year-manchester-photo-essay ) was built around bamboo poles for the runners to hold, with bamboo and rattan cages forming the main body and a spine running down the centre topped with cardboard cones. There are 23 cages doubled up so there are 46 runners, with five or six more to manage the head, and extras to control the pearl.