Leslie Kerwin

My name is Leslie Kerwin, I’m a second-year Multimedia Journalism student based in Manchester, UK.

I currently work as the news editor of The Northern Quota news website, where I focus mostly on local affairs, alongside overseeing the newsroom. I have also written for an international hydrogen company, specialising in Latin America.

I speak Spanish, and am currently learning Teeline shorthand.

The Northern Quota •

Block the Block protest ahead of latest court battle over student accommodation

Members of Hulme campaign group Block the Block protested outside Manchester Civil Justice Centre on Monday ahead of their latest legal battle against the city council and proposals for a nine-storey student accommodation.


The campaign – first launched in 2020 – aims to overturn a council decision to build student accommodation on an abandoned site once home to the Gamecock pub.


Campaigners from Block the Block say the development will drive up house prices and drive out residents, and tha...
Tameside Reporter •

Teachers Take the Leap for Charity: Headteacher and Colleague to Skydive for Sam's Gift

Two teachers from Audenshaw School will be doing a sponsored skydive to raise money for charity.

Miss Mason and headteacher Mr Taylor will be jumping out of a plane on Saturday in support of Sam’s Gift, which supports children and teenagers diagnosed with cancer across Greater Manchester.

“I just wanted to raise some money for the Year Elevens for their leavers’ do, and we're looking to do it for Sam’s Gift as well,” Miss Mason said.

“I thought the only way we’re going to get people to partic...
Glossop Chronicle •

Help Reuben's Retreat build a LEGO wall

Glossop charity Reuben’s Retreat is launching a new campaign to build a LEGO community wall to celebrate fundraisers’ support for the charity.

The wall is set to be built in a new wing of the Retreat as the building undergoes redevelopment.

Reuben's Retreat supports families who have suffered the loss of a child, or who have children living with complex medical needs.

The charity was founded in 2012 by Nicola Graham, whose son Reuben died from a brain tumour whilst on holiday shortly before h...
Glossop Chronicle •

Cash to bolster green energy

The High Peak Borough Council has received over half a million pounds in funding to bolster green energy within the borough.

The Council secured £587,000 from Sport England last week, which it hopes will see a reduction in carbon missions and a greener future for the borough.

The car park at MyActive New Mills closed on Monday (3rd March) as works are carried out. A range of solar panels are set to be installed onto the leisure centre roof, with equipment upgrades set to follow.

Following the...
Tameside Reporter •

Stalybridge Street Fest announces 2025 return

Stalybridge Street Fest has announced it will be returning for its 4th year in early April.

The announcement followed a period of uncertainty for the festival’s future as the event faced issues securing funding.

Now, Stalybridge Street Fest has confirmed its return for 2025 after a successful grant application from Tameside Council.

In February, the Council submitted an application the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for £20,000, which has since been approved.

The money will come from...
Tameside Reporter •

Funding for Ashton under Lyne

Ashton Under-Lyne has been named among the towns set to benefit from the Government’s £1.5 billion local area funding.

The funding comes as part of the Labour Government’s Plan for Neighbourhoods, announced in the House of Commons on Tuesday (4th March).

The Plan for Neighbourhoods will see local high streets, community hubs, and public services ‘transformed and strengthened’, and comes as a wider part of the already-existing Plan for Change.

£1.5 billion will be spread across 75 areas in the...
Tameside Reporter •

Hyde fundraiser marks 40th Anniversary

A local charity group is continuing to celebrate its 40th anniversary – this time with a visit to Ashton from Davros.

Hyde Fundraisers was first launched in 1985, after a group of friends met in the Blackpool Dr Who Exhibition and bonded over a love of prop and costume making.

40 years later, the charity has since gone on to raise money for Children in Need, the NSPCC and The Dogs Trust, as well as a range of other charitable causes.

They have also fundraised for various local groups, includi...
Tameside Reporter •

Fly Tipping IS a crime!

New research has revealed nearly a quarter of Brits do not know that fly tipping is a crime.

The number comes from a Network Rail study commissioned for Global Recycling Day (18th March), which further revealed that over half the population (55%) does not realise fly tipping can cause transport delays.

Alongside cable theft and graffiti, fly-tipping is considered a form of vandalism. On both the railways and in local areas, illegal dumping can be punished with a heavy fine or prison sentence....
Tameside Reporter •

'Missed opportunities' to have safely delivered baby - coroner

A coroner has said there were ‘missed opportunities’ to have safely delivered a baby who died in the Royal Oldham Hospital in April.

Yahya Muhammad Hayat was born via emergency C-section in Tameside Hospital, more than thirty-five minutes after doctors realised he had no heartbeat.

During the operation, doctors also found a uterine rupture – a tear in the womb. It is not known when this happened.

Yahya was resuscitated after thirty minutes of CPR and drugs, before being transferred to Royal O...
Glossop Chronicle •

Derbyshire Council Takes the Road to Better Mobile Coverage

Derbyshire County Council have said they will be using bin lorries to find the worst mobile signal spots in the area.

In a first for the county, the County Council will be working with refuse teams from neighbouring district and borough councils to locate the weakest areas for mobile phone signals.

Bin lorries will be fitted with mobile signal testing devices during bin collections, with the data mapped to improve coverage in worst-affected spots.

Councillor Carolyn Renwick, Cabinet Member fo...
The Northern Quota newsletter •

Rusholme councillor shares vision for ‘strong and united’ Manchester

Hello, and welcome to The Northern Quota newsletter.Who could it be? Leslie again! Hope you’re all doing well. I’ll be honest, I’ve not got a clue what to ramble about this time, everything has been such a blur of activity in the newsroom. We’ve been working hard on the big, shiny new print edition coming this April, but since we have to keep the details a surprise for now, what else is there for me to yap about here? The weather? The sport? The four kilos of Greek yoghurt I’ve got in the fridge...
The Northern Quota newsletter •

Told to ‘get on with it’: study reveals women with endometriosis experience lower earnings and irregular employment

Hello, and welcome to The Northern Quota newsletter.Leslie here, wishing you all a lovely day. Spring has finally sprung, at long last - now’s the time of sunshine, flowers, and new beginnings, though it’s still the same full steam ahead in the newsroom as usual. Yesterday we were joined by The Mirror’s very own Julia Banim, who gave some incredible insight and advice on her journalism career as an audience writer across both print and the web. No two days as a journalist are ever the same, it s...
The Northern Quota •

Man Met journalism student hosts BBC radio show about taking the night bus around Manchester

A Man Met journalism student is featuring on his own podcast episode on BBC Radio 4 about his journeys on Manchester’s night buses.


Speaking exclusively to NQ, student Ian Burke shared his journey to becoming the latest voice of Radio 4’s Illuminated, where he celebrates Manchester’s night buses in a trip across the city.


“It’s like an experimental documentary, there’s all sorts of weird and wonderful things on there,” he said.


For his podcast, Ian travels on Manchester’s V1 bus from Ox...
The Northern Quota newsletter •

New homeless camp emerges following the removal of tents from St. Peter’s Square by council bailiffs

Hello, and welcome to The Northern Quota newsletter.Leslie again, surprise surprise, and talk about a hectic week! Between the constant stream of new articles being written, the onslaught of emails to sift through, and running between what feels like every nook and cranny of Manchester, it can sometimes be difficult for all of us to remember to take a break somewhere in there, too. I’ve been trying to get back into reading lately, myself: Marianna Spring’s Conspiracyland left me with a lot to mu...
The Northern Quota newsletter •

David Conn calls for ‘duty of candour’ for officials ahead of Hillsborough Law

Hello, and welcome to The Northern Quota newsletter.It’s Leslie here, back in the newsroom again - even though it’s not a newsday! This week, the Multimedia Journalism department invited the BBC’s Robin Grey into the office to give his advice to students wanting to get into broadcasting. It’s always exciting to have visitors, though maybe going along myself might be better after I learn to get a tripod even. I’m sure it will happen one day - for now, I’m probably better off sticking with a keybo...
The Northern Quota •

David Conn calls for ‘duty of candour’ on officials ahead of Hillsborough Law

Reporter of the year David Conn has called for a ‘duty of candour’ to be placed on police as campaigners call for a Hillsborough law to be introduced within the year.


Conn was joined by legal experts from Garden Court North Chambers at a memorial lecture in the University of Manchester on Thursday, honouring of Hillsborough barrister Mark George, who represented 22 families following the disaster.


The lecture discussed failures in the legal system in the years after the disaster. Named the...
The Northern Quota newsletter •

Almost Famous staff turn to union action

Hello, and welcome to The Northern Quota newsletter.Leslie here, happy to welcome you to another edition of the NQ newsletter. After our second week in the newsroom, it’s nice to be getting back into the swing of things again. It’s too late to still be feeling the New Year’s slump, and too early for the academic panic to set in at the end of term, but just the right time to be going out story-hunting while things get back to normal. As always, thank you for checking in to The Northern Quota news...
The Northern Quota •

Hip Hop Chip Shop announces sudden closure citing energy costs and increase in VAT

Ancoats’ award-winning Hip Hop Chip Shop has announced it will be closing via a social media post made on Thursday night (6 February).


The announcement came as owners cited rising energy and VAT costs, as well as post-Covid and Brexit cost increases, as the final straw for the shop’s closure, after 11 years in operation.


The Hip Hop Chip Shop has confirmed it will be officially closing its doors on 2 March, with its sister outlets in Whalley Range, New Century, and the Etihad Stadium facin...
The Northern Quota •

Gary Younge: 'Racism is a language of many dialects'

“I came into journalism through language, because I studied to be an interpreter and a translator. It was in the process of knowing how to translate that I fell in love with language, and the ability to manipulate it, to work it, knead it, and make it do what I wanted it to do.”


The Whitworth Gallery’s Grand Hall was packed on Thursday night as over a hundred people attended to commemorate Dr. Sook-Kyung Lee’s appointment as Professor of Curatorial Practices at the University of Manchester. I...
The Northern Quota •

Jamie Laing: 'My brain was all over the place'

Radio One’s Jamie Laing talked about ADHD, mental health, and Comic Relief in a panel discussion held at Man Met on Monday (20 January).


The event was the first of January’s Future Me Week line-up, which aims to give students opportunities to expand their skills and experience outside of the classroom through workshops and talks. He was followed in the panel by Sky Sports’ Miriam Walker-Khan and GB Paralympian Gregg Stevenson, who gave their own insight to their careers and life experience....
The Northern Quota •

Man Met hosts GB Paralympian and Sky Sports reporter for Future Me Week

Sky Sports’ Miriam Walker-Khan and GB Paralympic rower Gregg Stevenson opened up about their lives and careers for ManMet’s Future Me Week on Monday (20 January).


The pair spoke in a panel discussion on the first day of January’s Future Me Week lineup, which aims to give students opportunities to expand their skills and experience outside of the classroom through workshops and talks.


They followed on from BBC Radio One’s Jamie Laing, who talked about his own experiences on Made in Chelsea...
The Northern Quota •

Lights Up launches Levenshulme exhibition

An art exhibition empowering Manchester’s female cyclists has been launched in Levenshulme’s Station South following the success of November’s Lights Up night-time bike ride.


The exhibition was created as part of the Lights Up cycling campaign created by Manchester’s Cycling Mayor Belinda Everett, which aims to challenge the underrepresentation of female cyclists and raise awareness of the issues they face day-to-day.


On 9 November, crowds of women and allies gathered at All Saints Park to...
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