How the Power Hall tells the tale of Manchester’s industrial past

Manchester’s industrial past roared back to life as the Science and Industry Museum reopened its fully restored Power Hall.

In its own right, the Power Hall is the ghost of Manchester’s past. Each piece of machinery symbolises what Manchester once was, and how it influenced the present.

Originally built in 1855 as a shipping shed for Liverpool Road Station, the world’s first purpose-built passenger railway station, Power Hall is a Grade II listed building that has witnessed over 170 years of Manchester’s industrial story.

Now fully restored and reimagined, the gallery blends timeless architecture with hands-on interactivity, ensuring visitors of all ages can get their cogs turning.

Although the hall has been closed since 2019, some of the locomotives and steam engines seen today are now running for the first time in over a decade.

As you embark on your journey through the years, you’ll find inspiring stories of the past – an ode to the incredible people who shaped history.

Amongst them is Dorothy Smith (10 February 1899 – 22 February 1975), who was born in Manchester. She went to Manchester High School for Girls, and her favourite subject was Maths. Dorothy was called up to work in an Engineering drawing office in the First World War, and she absolutely loved it.

It was perfect for her because she got to use her favourite subject, and it wasn’t easy. She encountered quite a lot of prejudice and struggles, but she persevered and she became one of the first ever women to have a full career as an Electrical Engineer.

More photos can be seen here.

Piano Recital at Stoller Hall

Acclaimed pianist Vesselin Stanev returned to The Stoller Hall with a solo programme of romantic works by Schumann, Brahms and Liszt.

Vesselin Stanev was born in Varna, Bulgaria. He rapidly made a name for himself as a musician of outstanding talent, and awards at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition and at the Concours Marguerite Long – Jacques Thibaud bear witness to this.

Vesselin Stanev’s career has taken him to leading European concert halls as well as to Scandinavia, Russia, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and Japan.

Ohio relaxes personalised license plate restrictions after lawsuit

Ohio began allowing personalised license plates in 1973 but did not adopt clear rules for evaluating the appropriateness of messages. However, after a 2003 lawsuit, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) adopted criteria clarifying that it bans word and letter combinations that are profane, sexually explicit, advocate lawlessness or could provoke a violent response. 

Each year, around 600,000 people request personalised plates, but these guidelines led the agency to reject 939 applications in 2024.

On 9 September, two state residents filed a lawsuit against the Ohio BMV, alleging the government organisation violated their rights to free speech and equal protection under the law by rejecting their personalised license plate requests. 

William Saki attempted to apply for a plate online containing the word “GAY,” while Cyrus Mahdavi sought to include the word “MUSLIM.” Both requests were blocked, with the BMV’s website displaying a message calling them “inappropriate.” Meanwhile, the lawsuit states the Ohio BMV has issued license plates including terms such as “STR8,” “STR8 PWR,” “ATHEIST,” and “HINDU.”

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles has agreed to loosen restrictions on personalised license plates after a federal court challenge claimed its policies were unconstitutional.

James Pratt and John Smith

190 years ago, on 27 November 1835, was the last occasion when two men were executed in Britain for sodomy.

James Pratt and John Smith were arrested on 29 August in London after being spied upon while having sex in a private room. The room was rented by another man, William Bonill. Bonill was not present, but was nevertheless convicted of being an accessory and was transported to Australia, where he died five years later.

They were hanged on 27 November, with James reportedly crying “Oh God, this is horrible, this is indeed horrible” just before their deaths.

The Police magistrate Hensleigh Wedgwood wrote in a letter to the Home Secretary that death was too harsh a punishment for the two men on the basis that no one was harmed and that the only reason for the death sentence in the case is that no lawyer wanted to defend such a “shameful crime”. He also highlighted the class inequality in sodomy convictions, noting that richer men could more easily get away with the crime.

In January 2017, Pratt and Smith were among those who were posthumously pardoned by the Alan Turing law which pardoned those who had been convicted of same-sex carnal offences which no longer exist in the UK.

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