Latest news with #DarrenOrme
New Statesman
21-05-2025
- Sport
- New Statesman
Letter from Wigan
Photo by George Hutton In early March, Darren Orme was reported missing from his home on the Beech Hill estate in Wigan. He was well known locally as a 'superfan' of Wigan Athletic football club, and his disappearance galvanised the local community in his support. As the days passed and he had not been found, flowers, scarves and football shirts were left in his honour outside the Brick Community Stadium, as if his loss was already being mourned. The stadium, renamed in May 2024 to reflect a partnership with a local anti-poverty charity, is the home ground of Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors, the all-conquering rugby league club coached by Matt Peet. Both clubs are owned by Mike Danson, the CEO of GlobalData and owner of the New Statesman, who was born and grew up in Wigan. Under his ownership, the two clubs, once rivals, are working in collaboration as the Wigan Sporting Group and will share an open-plan office at the Robin Park Arena, adjacent to the Brick stadium. Darren's body was eventually found in a river near the stadium. His funeral was held on 24 April and many hundreds of local people were in attendance alongside players and officials from the football and rugby clubs. 'We'd never seen anything like it before,' Kris Radlinski, who played 332 games for Wigan Warriors from 1993 to 2006 and is now the CEO of the club, told me. 'There was silence, there was respect. The funeral procession did a lap of the stadium on the way to the church. At the end of the lap, the procession stopped, and the family got out to thank all the footballers and rugby players who were there. It was a powerful moment, the closest together the two clubs have felt in 30 years.' Professor Chris Brookes (universally known as 'Doc'), chairman of Wigan Warriors, agreed the symbolism was striking. 'The two clubs now need to move forward in a connected way, so we are working actively to combine resources and efforts, maximising our contribution to the people of Wigan and our loyal fanbases.' The sports group is an anchor institution in a town that has very few. Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan since 2010, says 'sport is the glue holding the town together'. Danson, Radlinski and Peet are all from the town and understand that the Warriors are much more than a club: they represent a culture, a community, and create a sense of shared belonging. When George Orwell came to Wigan and Barnsley in the 1930s to write about the effects of mass unemployment, he found an England he could respect – even believe in. Deep underground with the miners in the Wigan coalfields, this contrarian old Etonian encountered a way of life that profoundly affected his politics. Orwell did not sentimentalise the northern working class in The Road to Wigan Pier, but admired their fortitude, togetherness and patriotism. He believed in a socialism that was not 'book-trained' but was compatible with the common decency of the 'submerged working class', among whom he briefly lived in Wigan. In a 1943 BBC broadcast, Orwell acknowledged that Wigan, though 'not worse than fifty other places', had 'always been picked on as a symbol of the ugliness of the industrial areas'. Lisa Nandy understands the sentiment. 'A whole industry has developed around understanding the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform,' she scornfully said. 'These people travel up from London almost like David Attenborough to observe these strange people in the wilds. They write absolute shite about us and then get back on their trains.' I told her I was in Wigan not as some kind of anthropologist but because I'd been asked to visit by Tom Gatti and Gordon Brown to write about the connection between sport, politics and the common good for this special issue of the magazine. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Nandy and I met on a bright morning at the Robin Park Arena where civil society groups were taking part in the Warriors' inaugural mental health awareness week. We spoke to a group of 12-year-old boys; they were among 40 children there, some of whom had been excluded from school. They were being encouraged to see how sport could offer discipline and definition to what one volunteer, a former police officer, called 'their often-chaotic lives'. 'I don't want to be in school,' one boy told me. 'I want to be here. I want to be active!' Wigan has advantages, not least in elite sports; the diaspora of former Warriors players includes Andy Farrell, head coach of Ireland rugby union team and now also of the British and Irish Lions squad that will tour Australia, and Sean Edwards, who is the defence coach for the French rugby union national team. The town's largest employer is Heinz, but it provides largely low-skilled work in food processing and packaging. Like other former coalfield communities (many of them rugby league towns), Wigan suffers from intergenerational inequality and economic stagnation. 'Not long ago mining and industrial production offered back-breaking work, but work with purpose: it won wars and underpinned our security,' Josh Simons, the former head of Labour Together and a local MP, told me. 'Since then, the internet revolution has offered little to northern towns. Our public realm has been left in ruins and our public services trashed.' Wigan has the highest male suicide rate in the country and some of the highest rates of domestic violence. It has the highest school suspension rate in England and as many as 23,000 children live in poverty (the theme of this guest-edited issue). Between 2010 and 2017 the local council had its budget cut by 43 per cent, the third worst affected local authority in England. There is inadequate infrastructure for new housing and lower than average life expectancy. Loneliness is a scourge, particularly among young men. The area has had several local 'asylum hotels', invariably located in poorer areas in England, which have been another source of tension, alongside rising house prices and rent costs. 'Rents have got higher and higher and so more and more houses have been turned into HMOs [houses of multiple occupancy] because that's the only thing that people can afford,' Nandy said. 'But on top of that, we've also had Serco buying up asylum accommodation, very concentrated in particular postcodes, even particular streets, because they go for the places that are cheapest. And obviously that's caused serious problems because you've then got several families in accommodation that's only meant for one. You've got problems with bin collections, with a very transient community in what used to be a very settled community. And so it's a double whammy because not only is the community changed beyond recognition, without people having any control over it, but it's also that the prices that your kids are now paying [for housing] have become ever higher.' (Serco say they do not buy property but lease from private landlords.) In a previous conversation, Nandy mentioned to me that the north of England was so tense it could 'go up in flames'. What did she mean exactly? 'Last summer, when we had the horrendous murder of those young girls [in Southport], there was already a real sense of tension in the north. People have watched their town centres falling apart, their life has got harder over the last decade and a half… I don't remember a time when people worked this hard and had so little to show for it.' She referenced again the 'huge pressures on housing'. And then said: 'All of that has fuelled a real sense of anger about what people are being asked to put up with. And it all really came to a head around Southport, because, you know, your children being safe, your community being a decent place to live. It was one of those absolute flashpoint moments… a moment of release. I don't mean the violent organised thuggery. People rejected that very strongly here, but people want to speak out, to be heard.' The notion of something going up in flames suggests that one spark could ignite a conflagration. 'That's what happened last summer.' Could it happen again? 'It could do. I mean, we are not complacent about it all.' I've been visiting the post-industrial north-west for more than three decades and wrote about the decline of the racially and religiously segregated towns of Rochdale and Oldham in my book about the condition of England, Who Are We Now? (2021), which Nandy told me she had read. In a speech in Manchester in July 2019, shortly after he became prime minister, Boris Johnson lamented the decline of the old mining and mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire. 'The story has been, for young people growing up there, one of hopelessness, or the hope that one day they'll get out and never come back.' Johnson promised to 'level up' the north but the Conservative wish to reduce regional inequalities amounted to little more than rhetoric. Who now speaks seriously of levelling up? 'It was totally discredited,' Nandy said. 'It became very much a group of civil servants being tasked to wander around the north of England, pointing at things and saying 'let's put a bit of money behind that' rather than empowering communities to be able to make that contribution themselves. What we got here in Wigan was a small refund on the money that had been taken from us, but dictated by a group of civil servants in Whitehall as to how we could spend it.' Politics is about place – where people live, go to school, work, interact, play sports, socialise, worship – but what happens when a place loses its purpose? Visiting the former mill towns of the north-west for the first time, I noticed the grandeur of the civic architecture – the High Victorian town halls and arcades, the great churches, the former libraries and exchanges, the miners' and technical colleges – but was dismayed to observe how many of these buildings had been neglected or were derelict, a standing rebuke to generations of politicians who had failed the north. Wigan has not lost its purpose, but it is burdened with social, economic and spatial inequalities, reduced social mobility and diminished aspiration. Mike Danson explained how Wigan is attempting to address these issues. 'In her book Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin described how Abraham Lincoln got various parties to work together during the Civil War for the greater good,' he said. 'In today's communities we are facing huge economic and social problems, but the challenge is to solve them. In Wigan we have a team of 'community anchors'. David Molyneux and Alison McKenzie-Folan at Wigan council are exceptional, similarly our MPs offer a special set of skills. On the sports side, the rugby and the football clubs work together. The combination, with charity and business, shows a unique way of working – our own team of rivals. They are all locals, and they want to create change and a thriving town for the next generation.' One plan is to invest in Al and tech hubs. Wigan has local expertise in sport, sports data and food processing. Josh Simons said: 'We're working to ensure the AI and data revolution actually benefits local people – so food and process manufacturing businesses in Wigan have the latest in AI-powered technology and skills.' On Saturday 17 May, I visited Edge Hall Road in Orrell, three miles to the west of Wigan town centre, for the official opening of a new high-performance centre for women and girls. Edge Hall Road was originally built as the permanent ground of Orrell rugby union club, but in recent years, under the previous ownership of Wigan Warriors, the site had become derelict. Transformed by £350,000 of investment, it is now the new home of Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors women's teams and when I visited girls were out on the pitch in small groups playing football and rugby. Simons was there and we chatted again about the social and economic challenges affecting the local community. Like all Red Wall Labour MPs, he is keenly alert to the threat posed by the Reform insurgency. Orrell has 11,000 residents but very limited healthcare. Simons has been working with the Wigan sports group, in partnership with the NHS, to create a new health hub at Edge Hall Road that 'will benefit the whole community'. The key word here is community. A nation is more than an 'imagined community' because our lives are embedded in relationships, institutions and networks. Lisa Nandy used an Orwellian phrase when she spoke to me of the 'country that lies beneath the surface', by which she meant the experience of those who feel submerged, or frustrated, or ignored. Simons said the people he represented were 'angry and they are right to be'. For most people politics is not national, it is experienced locally, through a run-down, boarded-up high street, a bankrupt or impecunious council, an unreliable bus service, uncollected rubbish, a dysfunctional postal service, a school playing field sold to property developers, a GP practice where you cannot get an appointment, a hospital in special measures. If communities beyond the great cities are deprived of investment and opportunity, if economic security and social capital are missing, if the intermediate institutions and places where we gather and interact are absent or become derelict, as the Edge Hall Road site was, people's collective aspiration becomes thwarted. More than a sports club, the regenerated Edge Hall Road is a social asset, 'anchoring' a community, creating a sense of common purpose and belonging. Wigan and the post-industrial north need more of them. [See also: Why George Osborne still runs Britain] Related
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Yahoo
CCTV appeal issued after 'theft worth £1,500' in Manchester city centre
Detectives have released a CCTV image as they investigate a theft in Manchester city centre. Officers were called out to reports of a theft from a store on Deansgate at 3.50pm on Saturday afternoon (March 29). Greater Manchester Police says the theft was worth £1,500. READ MORE: Amazon reduces £80 toaster to £40 that 'cooks toast to perfection' and looks 'stylish' READ MORE: Family issues heartbreaking tribute to 'beautiful soul' Darren Orme The force has issued an appeal on social media this morning (Thursday), showing a CCTV image of a man they wish to speak to. Officers believe the man pictured could have key information to help them with their investigation. The man pictured, or anyone who recognises him, is asked to come forward as soon as possible. Anyone with information about the incident can also report it to GMP direct, or anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers. A spokesperson for GMP City Centre said: "We are looking to speak to this man as we believe he can assist with investigations following a theft worth £1,500 from a store on Deansgate, Manchester on March 29, 2025, at 3:50pm. "Any info? Call 101 quoting log 2269 of March 29, 2025, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111." --- Day in day out, our reporters in the Manchester Evening News newsroom bring you remarkable stories from all aspects of Mancunian life. However, with the pace of life these days, the frenetic news agenda and social media algorithms, you might not be getting a chance to read it. That's why every week our Features and Perspectives editor Rob Williams brings you Unmissable, highlighting the best of what we do - bringing it to you directly from us. Make sure you don't miss out, and see what else we have to offer, by clicking here and signing up for MEN Daily News. And be sure to join our politics writer Jo Timan every Sunday for his essential commentary on what matters most to you in Greater Manchester each week in our newsletter Due North. You can also sign up for that here. You can also get all your favourite content from the Manchester Evening News on WhatsApp. Click here to see everything we offer, including everything from breaking news to Coronation Street. If you prefer reading our stories on your phone, consider downloading the Manchester Evening News app here, and our news desk will make sure every time an essential story breaks, you'll be the first to hear about it. And finally, if there is a story you think our journalists should be looking into, we want to hear from you. Email us on newsdesk@ or give us a ring on 0161 211 2920.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wigan Athletic fans pay tribute to one of their own at the ground where he was loved
Fans of Wigan Athletic have left emotional tributes to one of their own. Bouquets and messages have been left around the Dave Whelan statue outside the club's ground to Darren Orme. Darren's body was tragically found 19 days after he went missing. A shirt embossed with the number 54, his age, was draped on the plynth of the statue. One message referring to Darren's allegiance to the town's football team and rugby league side, Wigan Warriors, said: "Red or Blue. A Wiganer through and through. God bless Darren." READ MORE: After years of failure, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is now improving READ MORE: Man killed after being hit by van in 'road rage' horror Tributes have poured in for a much-loved Wigan Athletic fan, Darren, who was a hugely popular figure among Latics supporters who had known the devoted fan for decades. Blue balloons, scarves, shirts, and spring flowers were left for him today. Dozens of Wiganers pulled together in community search efforts in the days following his disappearance on March 5. Police announced on Monday afternoon (March 24) that a body had been pulled from the River Douglas near to Stadium Way, in the shadow of Darren's beloved Latics' ground, The Brick Community Stadium. In a statement issued on Monday, a Wigan Athletic club spokesperson said: "We are devastated to learn that a body has been found in the search for Darren Orme. "Darren is a much-loved member of the Wigan Athletic family, and our thoughts go out to Darren's family and friends at this extremely difficult time." Posting on X, the club's managing director Sarah Guilfoyle added: "Rest assured, we're working with supporter groups and Darren's family to ensure we arrange a proper and fitting tribute. "We'll communicate this in due course. Darren will be fondly remembered by everyone associated with the club, we're devastated." Members of Wigan Athletic fan clubs were among those who had taken part in the search for Darren earlier this month, and many hold fond memories of him. The Official Wigan Athletic Supporters Club posted on X: "Absolutely devastating news this afternoon (Monday). All our thoughts and those of the whole #wafc community are with Darren's family at this time." Wigan Warriors, Rugby League Team posted yesterday: "Darren was known to thousands of supporters for his tireless efforts following Latics, with his passion and devotion always shining through. A recognisable face at both Springfield Park and The Brick Community Stadium, Darren was a much-loved member of the Wigan Athletic family and will be greatly missed by everyone connected to the Football Club. "We join in sending our sincerest condolences to Darren's friends and family, and we ask supporters to respect their privacy during this extremely difficult time. As a Football Club, Wigan Athletic will pay tribute to Darren with a minute's applause at the home fixture against Barnsley on Saturday 29 March (3pm kick-off) whilst a minute's applause will be held at Wigan Warriors' game against Salford on Sunday. "We would like to thank the Wigan community, including supporters of both clubs, for coming together over the last few weeks in search of Darren. We encourage supporters to pay their respects and share their memories of Darren. Flowers, shirts, and scarfs can be laid at The Brick Community Stadium alongside Dave Whelan's statue, while a Book of Condolences will be located in the Stadium Reception for fans to sign. "Supporters can sign the Book of Condolence during opening hours at The Brick Community Stadium reception." Wigan Athletic posted: "We would like to thank all supporters - and the wider Wigan community - for coming together over the last few weeks in search of Darren. We encourage supporters to pay their respects and share their memories of Darren - flowers, shirts, and scarfs can be laid at the Brick Community Stadium outside of Dave Whelan's statue." Supporters can sign the Book of Condolences from 9am on Wednesday 26 March during the Brick Community Stadium reception's opening hours (Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm), in addition to in the South Stand Supporters Bar on matchday.
BBC News
28-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Sad story of 'Mr Wigan Athletic' proves football family still exists
Darren Orme was a familiar figure cycling through the streets to work, the supporter known as 'Mr Wigan Athletic' because of a devotion to his beloved Latics stretching back more than 40 was nearly always first on the supporters' coach travelling to away games, happy to wait in the early hours for the ticket office to open for big occasions such as the club's greatest day - the 2013 FA Cup final win over Manchester City at he was reported missing on 5 March, supporters, the town and its respective football and rugby league clubs rallied in the search for the 54-year-old amid a huge public his body was discovered a fortnight later in the shadow of the Brick Community Stadium where he always took his seat in the East is a story both heartbreaking and heartwarming, as it enabled the people of Wigan to prove that the powerful concept of football as an extension of family still life of this much-loved supporter will be commemorated and celebrated at Wigan Athletic's home game against Barnsley on Saturday (15:00 GMT), when a minute's applause will be held, while a shirt emblazoned with 'Darren 1 Of Our Own' and a scarf will be placed on his the news of Darren's death a carpet of flowers has grown around the stadium's statue of former Wigan chairman and owner Dave Whelan, while a book of condolence has been the sadness, the response from Wigan supporters, and the town as a whole, has shone a light on the pivotal role a football club can play in its community - and how regarding your club as an extension of family is not an emotional Wimsey, chairman of the club's Travel and Supporters Club, organised a search for Darren in the days following his disappearance, also driving around in the early hours while taking time off work in an attempt to find the friend who had followed Wigan Athletic with him for more than four decades."We live in a bad world," he told BBC Sport. "But the amount of goodness that's come out of this is amazing. When there was no word on Darren after a few days, we organised a search on the Sunday after he went missing."I was only expecting a few people to turn up but we had more than 100. All those people searched for Darren from 10am to 4.30pm - then some went back out afterwards after they had a break."On that Sunday morning, there were people who don't even watch football, but had seen him going to work on his bike and felt compelled to come and look for him. It was heartbreaking, but there was good in it as well."He added: "Football clubs are like your family. He was part of our family at Latics. Once you saw him you'd never forget him. His smile was infectious. If you could bottle what Darren had, Armani would make millions out of it."Sometimes you saw more of him than you did members of your own family. He was one of my best friends. I've been watching Wigan for 46 seasons and running the supporters' club for 44. I've known Darren for so long. I met him at a game against Walsall when we were both kids about 14 years of age."I was asked to write a tribute to him in the local paper. It just poured out of me and I found myself with tears streaming down my face. Everyone loved Darren - although he was definitely the worst raffle-ticket seller I ever knew."The official Wigan Athletic Supporters Club paid an emotional tribute to "a recognisable and loved character" who "lived and breathed blue and white". It will pay posthumous tribute with a fan of the month award - a framed certificate passed to Darren's family before Saturday's added: "He had numerous nominations for our fan of the month, including 'for being the loudest singer in any stadium' and for bringing back programmes from away matches for fans who couldn't attend themselves. Darren was kind-hearted and caring." When he was reported missing, posters were placed in shop windows around Wigan, while new manager Ryan Lowe made a public appeal. There was also a banner on display at Wigan's training Allen, head of media marketing and communications at Wigan, said: "Latics has had its issues on and off the pitch over the last few years. It's been a rollercoaster ride at Wigan Athletic, but this showed what this club and town has at its heart."This was not the outcome anyone wanted and is devastating, but it united a town and a sporting family across two clubs - Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors. The community and clubs come together in times of need and, like families, this is what happened here."This is a very sad outcome but there is a heartwarming side to this in what it says about our town and the people in it, and how much a football club and its supporters - and of course the rugby league club - can mean."Saturday will be an emotional day in Wigan when they face Barnsley, but Wimsey says: "Football supporters are a community regardless of who you support. Bolton Wanderers fans, our big rivals, were sending love and their thoughts."It will change next Tuesday when we play each other, but for this period of time we were all like one big family. This is what football is - it is grassroots, working class and the word 'family' is right." When football unites amid tragedy Wigan, of course, are not the first club or community to have proved amid tragedy that football has a life and impact stretching beyond 90 six-year-old Bradley Lowery died after a long illness - he was only 18 months when diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer - he had become known to the whole football community. The Sunderland fan became "best mates" with his hero, striker Jermain Defoe, as well as gaining worldwide recognition following an appeal in which he received 250,000 Christmas cards from around the met then England manager Gareth Southgate and former striker Gary Lineker at BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and won Match of the Day's goal of the month award after he took a penalty before a Sunderland game against earlier this month, Rangers captain James Tavernier, goalkeeper Jack Butland and former Scotland international Robert Snodgrass all contributed to a fundraiser for a fan killed in Turkey after being hit by two cars while crossing a road in Istanbul before the Glasgow side's Europa League match with United are another club touched by tragedy, when former winger Joey Beauchamp, regarded by many as their greatest player, took his own life aged 50 in February younger brother Luke has set up a foundation in his name to help those battling mental health and depression to support their Peros, chairman of OXVOX, the Independent Supporters Trust for Oxford United, said: "Fundamentally, as much as everyone wants wins and promotions, we want to feel connected to the club we love, along with the fans who share the experience."In a slightly different way, when Joey passed away it did feel almost like a member of a family, because in a broader sense football is absolutely a family, especially at your own club."You spend as much time with those you regularly go to the match with as you do a lot of your family. You build those bonds. The story of the Wigan supporter is so sad but has also shown how football does go beyond the pitch and into the community."There are people that you may not know, but have just seen around at away games or whatever. You have shared experiences, like members of a family. The minute you sit down, they will bring up things like the non-league days, the experiences, good and bad."There have been a couple of instances where we have spoken directly to people we are aware of that may be struggling in some way, but it is more a case of us helping to facilitate things like the Joey Beauchamp Foundation, who are doing great work, and the club taking it on."
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Yahoo
Area taped off and debris strewn over road after car crash near city centre
An area near Manchester city centre was taped off with debris strewn over the road after a car crash on Monday afternoon (March 24). Police, fire crews and paramedics were called to the incident at the junction of Ellesmere Street and Hulme Hall Road to reports of a two-vehicle smash at around 4.30pm. Parts of a car were seen on the pavement with another car appearing to hit into the side of a building in the incident. Three people were assessed by paramedics at the scene. READ MORE: Police searching for missing man Darren Orme find body READ MORE: Blood on ground and area taped off following horror stabbing as man rushed to hospital A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: 'Just before 4.30pm this afternoon (Monday 24th March), one fire engine from Moss Side fire station was called to reports of a road traffic collision involving two vehicles on Ellesmere Street, Manchester. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE 'The crew arrived quickly at the scene. Firefighters used a hearth kit and hose reel to make the vehicles and area safe. Three people were treated at the scene by colleagues from North West Ambulance Service. 'Firefighters were in attendance for around twenty minutes.' Greater Manchester Police have been contacted for a statement and for further details on the incident. --- Day in day out, our reporters in the Manchester Evening News newsroom bring you remarkable stories from all aspects of Mancunian life. However, with the pace of life these days, the frenetic news agenda and social media algorithms, you might not be getting a chance to read it. That's why every week our Features and Perspectives editor Rob Williams brings you Unmissable, highlighting the best of what we do - bringing it to you directly from us. Make sure you don't miss out, and see what else we have to offer, by clicking here and signing up for MEN Daily News. And be sure to join our politics writer Jo Timan every Sunday for his essential commentary on what matters most to you in Greater Manchester each week in our newsletter Due North. You can also sign up for that here. You can also get all your favourite content from the Manchester Evening News on WhatsApp. Click here to see everything we offer, including everything from breaking news to Coronation Street. If you prefer reading our stories on your phone, consider downloading the Manchester Evening News app here, and our news desk will make sure every time an essential story breaks, you'll be the first to hear about it. And finally, if there is a story you think our journalists should be looking into, we want to hear from you. Email us on newsdesk@ or give us a ring on 0161 211 2920.
