Manchester in 50 Buildings

Dr Deborah Woodman is a Research Development Officer at the University of Salford. Her research is focused around the history of the North West; the role of drink in society; commerce and trade; and popular politics of the nineteenth century. She has taught history at the Universities of Huddersfield, Salford and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Dr Paul Rabbitts has over 35 years of experience in designing, managing and restoring urban parks across the UK. As a qualified Landscape Architect, he is also a published author and regular contributor to journals and periodicals. As well as being a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, he currently works full time for Norwich City Council as their parks manager. He is an author of books on architects Sir Christopher Wren and Decimus Burton as well as Regent’s Park, Richmond Park, Hyde Park, the wider Royal Parks and that icon of public parks, the Victorian and Edwardian bandstand, on which he is acknowledged as a UK expert and which was the subject of his PhD at the University of East Anglia. He lectures frequently on all things parks and can be contacted via his website www.paulrabbitts.co.uk. He lives in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.