100 Years, Countless Contributions: City Awards Freeman of the City Honours
Plus paintings from the National Gallery arrive at Bethesda Gardens, VisitEngland Awards for Keele Uni and World of Wedgwood, and support for Stoke's SMEs…
Good News 🎉
🏭 Honorary Freeman of the City Titles Awarded. Bet 365’s Denise and Peter Coates, Tile Mountain founder Mo Iqbal, chairman of Goodwin PLC John Goodwin, the Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire Sir Ian Dudson, local historian Fred Hughes, music promoter Mike Lloyd, Port Vale Football Club, PVFC chair Carol Shanahan and former Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley have all received Honorary Freeman of the City titles. They were recognised for their efforts to support the community, represent the city on a national or international stage, or deliver lasting positive change. Awesome!
👨🏻 THE KNOT’S PEOPLE OF THE WEEK – Major Levison Wood, Martin Tideswell & Commander Nathan Gray 👨🏻
Three of the city’s most inspiring figures have been unveiled as the first additions to the ‘100 Years, 100 Faces’ mural, a landmark project led and funded by the Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Business Improvement District (BID). The announcement took place ahead of the University of Staffordshire's recent TEDx event, where Major Levison Wood, Martin Tideswell and Commander Nathan Gray were surprised during event rehearsals. The mural, to be unveiled later this year in Stoke city centre, is a large-scale public artwork that will feature 100 individuals who’ve helped shape Stoke-on-Trent over the past century across all walks of life. We can’t wait to see it!
🖼️ Major Art Exhibition Opens at Bethesda Gardens. Big art ahoy! Stoke was chosen as the first place in the UK to host The National Gallery’s outdoor exhibition, Art on Your Doorstep. The show features 15 masterpieces from the iconic gallery printed at life-size and installed in Bethesda Gardens opposite The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. The paintings include Impressionist legends such as Claude Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond and Georges Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières alongside JMW Turner’s dramatic Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway in this bicentenary year of the steam-powered locomotive. The exhibition runs until 07/01/2026, so there’s plenty of time to catch this ace art.
🏥 More Cash for Health & Free School Meals Programme Extended. More cash has been earmarked for Royal Stoke and facilities including Lyme Brook Mental Health Centre to tackle problems such as leaky pipes, poor ventilation and electrical issues, which has led to cancelled operations and appointments. Families struggling with the cost of living, meanwhile, will be entitled to free school meals from September 2026 if they’re in receipt of Universal Credit.
🥇 Keele Uni & Wedgwood Recognised at VisitEngland Awards. The Events and Conferencing Team at Keele University are celebrating after beating competitors from across the country to win the Gold award for Business Events Venue of the Year at VisitEngland’s Awards for Excellence. World of Wedgwood scooped the Silver Award in the International Tourism Category.
👩💼 Supporting Stoke’s Small Businesses. Are you a small business who needs support? The Flourish project, a Keele Uni-led initiative that connects undergrad and postgrad students with dozens of small businesses to help them grow, is entering its second phase and open for applications again. The university can facilitate 25 fully-funded projects in the borough, with students or recent graduates working with eligible businesses for up to 75 hours. The projects can be delivered virtually or in-person and provide an opportunity to trial new ideas or develop existing ones without long term commitment. Email them for more info.
Really Good News 🎉 Your favourite news from the last week
🌲 Revitalising Stoke, One Derelict Spot at a Time: Lots of you enjoyed reading this story by journalist Jerome Whittingham about revitalising small green spaces
🖌️ Piecing it Together: The Knot interviews are back - meet Les Jones, the Newcastle-based founder of Europe’s only magazine dedicated to contemporary collage…
🦵🏻Programme to Ease Muscle & Joint Pain: Bad back? Achy joints? Some of you have, and wanted to read about this Active Stoke initiative at Dimensions…
The Knot Pod 🎤 ⬇️ Catch James chatting with some of our amazing innovators
🥨 The Red Haired Stokie: Our ace local blogger, photographer & Knot contributor
🗣️ Kirsty Hulse: Get inspired, it’s the founder of leading event Confidence Live
🏃♂️ George Bettany: Jog to this chat with the founder of MARA Run Club
📽️ Daniel Moore: So much creativity going on in Stone at top agency Dissident
🎶: Ash and Ryan: Listen to two of Stoke’s biggest names in music and fashion
🕯️Beth Warren: Founder of sustainable candle brand The Wandering Bee
🥨 Good Vibes Only: A word from Helen, writer at The Knot
It was a bit of a soggy affair for the People’s Parade last Saturday, but the weather did little to dampen people’s spirits as the parade – featuring marching bands, community groups plus artists and performers from across the six towns – marched from College Road to Hanley Park, with a flypast from a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster Bomber as the Party in the Park unfolded below.
If you weren’t able to attend the event, there are still plenty of other happenings to look forward to in our centenary year, including a stylish proms extravaganza from the City of Stoke-on-Trent Symphony Orchestra this weekend (13/05) and a pop-up exhibition celebrating the life and work of Stoke cultural icon Arthur Berry (04/08-15/09). Check out the Stoke 100 website for the full listing of centenary goings-on – and in the meantime, here are some pics from Saturday’s event we love…
Helen x
Weekly Weather (Stoke-on-Trent):
Mon ☁️ 16° (12°) Tue 🌧️ 19° (10°) Wed 🌦️ 24° (15°) Thu 🌦️ 23° (14°) Fri 🌦️ 23° (13°)
Sat 🌦️ 22° (11°) Sun ⛅️ 22° (11°).
Sunrise 09/06 ☀️04:44 Sunset 09/06 🌅 21:32
