1853 Restaurant

The 1853 Restaurant is a 50-seat restaurant run by students at The Manchester College’s “Industry Excellence Academy for Hospitality and Catering”.

Thirty-two of us visited this week and we were given special attention by the team. We enjoyed a menu that’s always changing and innovating to reflect local, seasonable produce and the skills and talents of the chefs who are working and training in the state-of-the-art kitchen.

The lunchtime menu comprises of small plates, of modern starters, classic and contemporary dishes and delicious desserts. 

For starters we had roasted vine tomato soup with freshly baked bread or fish cakes with a poached egg and a lemon beurre Blanc.

The main course was pan seared chicken breast, creamed potatoes, chard broccoli served with a mushroom and tarragon cream sauce or roasted spiced butternut squash with caramelised shallot and herb risotto.

We made room for dessert, which consisted of iced profiteroles and chocolate sauce or blackcurrant cheesecake with chantilly cream berry compote. The latter was available in vegan, gluten free and vegetarian options.

To finish we had tea and coffee.

This restaurant is excellent and we will definitely be returning soon.

More photos can be seen here.

Lesbian Visibility Day – 26 April 2024

The aim of the day is to provide visibility and ally-ship for women who identify as Lesbian or Gay, providing a platform to advocate for challenges, celebrations of accomplishments and areas where improvement is still needed.

Did you know that Stonewall reported that LGBT+ women are two times less likely to be out in the workplace, compared to LGBT+ men? This is an example of the different ways we still need to uplift, and challenge and dismantle systems that put barriers in place. It also shows why individual visibility days within our communities are so important.

Let’s spotlight some amazing Lesbian Women:

Holland Taylor – The L word American Actor, Holland Taylor has often spoken out about her sexuality and has long time advocated for the community. She is married to Sarah Paulston, who is another high-profile actor.
 

Sandi Toksvig – is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on UK radio and TV. She is well known for her role within The Great British Bake Off and is also an activist, known for co-founding the Woman’s Equality Party in 2015.
 

Radclyffe Hall – Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe was an English poet and author best known for her novel ‘The Well of Loneliness’ which is considered a ground-breaking work in lesbian literature and visibility.

 Gina Yashere – is a hilarious and inspiring British-Nigerian comedian who often includes experiences of racism and challenges faced as a Black woman in her sketches. Gina Yashere is not only a household name, but easily a fashion icon in the LGBT+ scene.

How Val McDermid met Jo Sharp: ‘I Googled her to make sure she was a real person’

Crime writer Val McDermid, 67, kept seeing geography professor Jo Sharp, 53, at literary events. They eventually had a drink at the bar in 2013 and now live together in Edinburgh.

In February 2013, crime writer Val McDermid was invited to speak at the University of Oxford. “It was at my old college of St Hilda’s,” she says. When she spotted she had been tagged on Twitter by an attendee, she felt nervous. “I’d had an unfortunate incident a few months before – someone had thrown ink in my face at a signing,” she says. “This tweet had a cartoon profile image rather than a picture, so I looked her up to make sure she was a real person.”

She discovered her new Twitter fan was Jo Sharp, a geography professor from Glasgow. “I was in Oxford doing some research,” says Jo. “I’d contacted a professor I knew there, to meet up. She told me she was going to see Val McDermid speak and I could come along.” Jo decided to go even though she had not read any of Val’s books. She tweeted the details of the event, tagging Val in her post. “My friend was a huge fan of her writing, so we stayed afterwards to be introduced,” says Jo. When she told Val she wasn’t from Oxford, Val admitted she already knew. “I told her I’d Googled her,” she laughs. “There was definitely something that caught my attention.”

In March, they met again at the Aye Write literature festival in Glasgow. Once again, they had a brief chat and exchanged a few messages on Twitter. It wasn’t until September 2013 that they got to know each other better at Bloody Scotland, a crime-writing festival in Stirling. “By this point, my friends were joking that I was stalking Val,” says Jo. They met up at a bar and chatted all evening. “We talked about all sorts: music, books, politics, gaming,” says Val. “We covered a lot of ground over the course of a few hours. I was intrigued by her, and she had lots to say for herself.”

At the time, neither of them saw each other romantically, which made their meet-up more relaxed. Jo was happily single and focusing on her career, while Val was coming towards the end of a long-term relationship. The following month, Jo travelled to Tanzania for a field trip, and their friendship continued to grow. “We broke Twitter because we were sending so many direct messages,” says Val. “Apparently there’s a limit on the number you can send.” Soon, they began to realise there might be more between them than friendship. “We were having these increasingly intense conversations,” says Jo. “Val really understood me.”

That January, Val’s relationship ended. She drove to Glasgow from her home in Northumberland to see Jo, and from that moment on they were never apart.

In May 2014, they moved in together in Edinburgh. “I grew up on the east coast and it’s less rainy,” laughs Val. They had a humanist civil partnership ceremony in 2016, which they celebrated with dinner and drinks near their home. “It ran from noon until 11pm, and the London contingent staggered out of the restaurant at the end of the night to get the sleeper (train) home,” says Val. “The whole day was joyous. I don’t think I stopped grinning,” adds Jo. Both describe their relationship as “incredibly supportive”. About a year after they first met at Val’s speaking event in Oxford, Jo remembers stumbling across a photo of them together there. “It felt like a moment in history for us,” she says. “Neither of us was looking for anything, but our worlds just collided that day.”