Three Salford siblings are fighting to keep the memory of their late father alive by continuing with his life goal of helping Manchester’s homeless.
Alan Dolan spent much of his life on the streets of Manchester helping the city’s most vulnerable.
He was fondly known by family, friends, and those in the community as someone who would lend a hand to anyone he met, and was described as “caring too much for everyone”.
Even at times when he found himself without a job, technically homeless, and needing to crash with relatives, his years of “selfless” work to give back to the community were commended, and he was guided by his dream to build a shipping container village in the centre of Manchester to ensure that nobody was forced to sleep rough and would instead have access to food, clothing, shelter and a place to stay the night.
This was something he was so “passionate” about, and would often discuss with his three children.
But sadly, his vision never made it to reality.
On 26th November 2020, Alan suffered a heart attack whilst out helping some homeless friends, and was taken to hospital, where he sadly died at just 55-years-old.
Now, his three children – Robyn, Grant, and Jenna Dolan – are striving to continue his legacy by promoting the message that “love always wins” and #RealLoveMatters, and by carrying out his life-long goal of helping Manchester’s vulnerable when they truly need it most.
They are doing this through their newly-launched charity Humble Souls, alongside a JustGiving fundraiser, with the aim of raising £2,000 – a target they are so close to reaching.
Humble Souls – which has been created to “continue the work and legacy” of Alan Dolan – is being ran by Robyn, Jenna, Grant, his mother, and a family friend.
They have described him as “the best dad”.
“Anyone who knew him knows how passionate he was about [his shipping container village dream] and just helping people in general.” the Dolans said.
Grant Dolan, 29 – who has recently achieved his own personal goal of setting up a recruitment company, which was something he talked about with his father often – added that: “Even though my dad was going through so much of his own stuff, he’d always do the daftest things to make you laugh,
“He just felt for people, and his message was that all that matters when you go, is how you’ve helped people”.
He continued: “We’d been talking about my dreams to start my own recruitment company for years [and] around half an hour before he died, I got the call to say I’d received the funding I needed [to start the company], but I never got to tell him.”
Grant’s new company, Real Recruitment, will donate 10% of all profits to the Humble Souls project.
On the charity’s long-term aspirations, Grant said: “We are starting the project in Manchester, but want to make it UK-wide eventually. We’re looking to build the container village for the homeless in the city centre, and we also want to build a community centre [too]”.
There are also future plans to release an album featuring a series of Manchester-based artists, with all sales being donated to the Humble Souls project.
“We just want to do something positive in my dad’s memory,” Grant said.
The Dolans added: “He was a great dad and a great soul, [and] we just want people to know that if you cant donate any money [to the fundraiser], you can always donate your time, old clothes, food, and even just a smile to brighten someone’s day,
“Words of encouragement when someone needs it the most are what our dad was about,
“[He was] 100% real”.
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The Dolans’ fundraiser for the Humble Souls project has now raised £1,767 of its first £2,000 target, so if you able to spare a couple of pounds for this truly worthy local cause, then all donations are welcome.
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025
Emily Sergeant
Rochdale has officially been named Greater Manchester’s Town of Culture for 2025.
Taking over the reins from Bolton – which held the title in 2024 – and following in the footsteps of Stockport before that, which held the title in 2023, and even hosted a massive ‘Town of Culture Weekender’ festival with 50+ free events to celebrate and bring its title year to a close, it’s now the turn of the north-eastern Greater Manchester borough of Rochdale.
Rochdale’s year will build on the town’s already-rich cultural history and international reputation as the home of the co-operative movement.
More than 35 arts organisations will be bringing together an ambitious programme of festivals, exhibitions, events, and performances throughout the year.
Unfamiliar with what the ‘Greater Manchester Town of Culture’ title is all about? It’s an accolade that’s handed out every year to different boroughs across the region.
Bury was the inaugural title-holder 2020 and held onto it in 2021 too due to the COVID pandemic, before being followed by Stalybridge in 2022, Stockport in 2023, and of course, Bolton in the year just gone.
The title celebrates Greater Manchester’s culture and heritage.
As well as getting a new title to shout about, it also sees the towns given a grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) culture fund to help develop a programme of cultural events and activities throughout the year.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025 / Credit: The Manc Group | Rochdale Council
In Rochdale’s case, you can expect the ‘very best local talent’, as this year is promising to put ‘people power’ centre stage, with residents helping to plan, develop, and deliver a lineup of creative activities, alongside a number of major events.
This includes the popular free days out for families, an exciting new urban arts festival, two different food and drink festivals, a lantern parade, the Ignite Fire Festival, a Pride parade, and so much more.
You can also expect live music performances, a new people’s gallery, and even some major international collaborations that are yet to be announced.
Rochdale is taking over the reins from Bolton, which held the title in 2024 / Credit: Rochdale Council
“Rochdale is a place with a rich cultural history, so it is great to name it Greater Manchester’s town of culture as it’s town hall and town centre enter a new era,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as the borough was crowned this week.
“Rochdale submitted a fantastic bid for this which, was incredibly exciting and ambitious, while being firmly rooted in its local talent and deep history.
Emily Sergeant -
3rd February 2021 
