Manchester receives heritage funding boost

Marketing Manchester will be allocated funds to further promote the city's industrial heritage, specifically the activities undertaken by Industrial Powerhouse. The Northwest European Regional Development Fund Programme will provide £2.4m funding and Crain's Manchester Business reports, in a piece retrieved today, that "the other half of the money will be made up of match funding from the region's tourist boards, museums and attractions."

Funding will also be made available for Cumbria to promote the Adevnture Capital theme and Visit Chester and Cheshire to further develop and publicise its Gardens of Distinction campaign.

Visitors to Manchester can get hear how the world's first industrial city first made its mark - and continues to do so - on the wider world with the Manchester: Then & Now, Walk Talk Tour.

The city was dubbed 'Cottonopolis' in the nineteenth century on account of the number of cotton mills and in the city. The Royal Exchange was the hub of the world's textile trade as listeners to the tour will discover. To hear an audio sample from the tour please click here.

The Museum of Science and Industry has a vast collection of exhibits from the Industrial Age.

The city has a range of cultural gems - which are often overlooked or ignored. The neo-Gothic John Rylands Library on Deansgate contains the oldest known piece of the New Testament, the St John's Fragment (which is believed to date from the second century AD).

The 2.4 mile (3.8km) Walk Talk Tour of Manchester is composed of commentary points. The walking tour begins outside Manchester Town Hall and ends in Cathedral Gardens. Listeners hear about a particular attraction and then receive instructions outlining how to reach the next commentary point. Listeners have the freedom to stop, start and listen again to any part of their commentary. The tour comes complete with a free downloadable map for listeners to print out.

Buy any Walk Talk Tour and get a second one free by entering the following promotional code in the shopping basket page: BI123.

Visitors without the wherewithal to download the Walk Talk Tour of Manchester can hire it from the city's Visitor Information Centre on Lloyd Street, just off St Peter's Square.