The Halloween Lockdown at Old Granada Studios

Mancunian Celebs Face The Ghosts Of TV Past As They Get Locked In The Bowels Of Old Granada Studios

By Steven Pankhurst | 26 October 2016

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Mancunian Celebs Face The Ghosts Of TV Past As They Get Locked In The Bowels Of Old Granada Studios

Coronation Street’s Faye Brookes today reveals that she will join a selection of celebrities and local business people as they take on Manchester’s toughest Halloween challenge on Saturday 29 October in the name of charity Forever Manchester.

The glamorous team will be made up of West End star and Coronation Street Resident Faye; longstanding Forever Manchester supporter and local entrepreneur Scott Fletcher MBE; businessman, hairdresser to the stars and creator of The Mirror Ball Andrew Trott-Barn; co-founder of Manchester-based technology start-up Formisimo Tom New; professional wrestler Xander Cooper; boxer Michael Gomez, and Platnum – singer songwriter Aaron Evers and singer and rapper Michelle McKenna. Plus the Forever Manchester superhero extraordinaire Captain Manchester.

The brave ghost hunters will gather underneath the Bonded Warehouse on Saturday 29th October to expose the dastardly goings on of Manchester’s undead whilst simultaneously raising cash for the charity. Their only way out is to get friends and family to raise as much cash as they can for Forever Manchester.

Depending on how much money is in each competitor’s JustGiving account – they will either be released and whisked off to Forever Manchester’s Halloween Spooktacular at Old Granada Studios to party the night away, or they will be locked up for even longer until the last man or woman standing is solo.

Guiding the group will be resident ghost hunter Stuart Marshall, working to find out exactly what is behind the recent spate of unexplained paranormal activity at this city centre location. Ghostbuster Stuart has visited over 100 haunted locations all over the UK and has spent years searching for evidence of ghosts, spirits and other entities. Last year, he conducted the Lockdown for Forever Manchester underneath The Palace Hotel – giving him plenty of experience of Manchester spectres!

Support your favourite here – http://forevermanchester.com/halloween-lockdown-2016/.

Faye Brookes said; “I’m looking forward to supporting Andrew and such a worthwhile charity. Who doesn’t love dressing up in fancy dress and spending a night with family and friends!”

Scott Fletcher MBE added “I am a huge Mirror Ball fan. Andrew’s parties are legendary – he really knows how to pull out all the stops. Plus we are a Mancunian business through and through so it makes sense to support a genuinely local charity like Forever Manchester. Andrew has done well to rope me into the Lockdown – I am actually pretty scared!”

On the same night, hosted by Forever Manchester and The Mirror Ball organisers, will be the fourth Halloween Spooktacular Ball which will also take place at Old Granada Studios.

Much like The Mirror Ball, held for six years now at The Lowry Hotel, the event promises celebrity faces, glitz and spine-chilling glamour as guests are requested to go all out with their fancy dress for the evening. Plus there are prizes for the best dressed on the night.

The event has some high profile fans with past guests including Brooke Vincent, Helen Flanagan, Hayley Tammadon and Chelsea Healey.

This year’s event is sponsored by award-winning Cloud Service Provider and Manchester business, ANS. The event will run from 7pm ‘til 1am and tickets are priced at £20. A small amount of tickets will be available on the door. Ghoulish guests will be entertained with live performances including DJs and a raffle.

Andrew comments; “There is no event to rival the fun of the Halloween Spooktacular. From year one we have been blown away by how much effort Manchester has put into dressing for the occasion. I am sure this year will be no different. The tickets will sell out this year so we are encouraging people to get theirs now to avoid missing out.

“And don’t forget it’s for charity – we have raised over £250k for Forever Manchester now and we would love to get to £300k by the end of the year. We are really grateful to the support of Scott and the ANS team as we couldn’t keep doing it without them.”

For more information or to buy tickets visit Forever Manchester here… forevermanchester.com/spooktacular

Through generous contributions from individuals and businesses, Forever Manchester funds and supports community activity across Greater Manchester. Over the last 26 years they have awarded £36M to community projects, benefitting over 1.3 million people across the region. They strengthen communities and enrich local life by inspiring local people to do extraordinary things together, but above all they believe that everyone should have the opportunity to be happy. From kid’s football teams to allotment groups, older people’s clubs to disability projects, you name it, Forever Manchester has funded it.

The Mirror Ball is organised by a team of Forever Manchester ambassadors including Natalie Gray from interior design and branding agency NoChintz, Daisy Whitehouse from PR and social media consultancy Down at the Social and Siobhan Hanley from Edge Street Events.

To find out more about Forever Manchester you can follow the charity on Twitter @4EVERManchester or visit the website at forevermanchester.com.