Manchester prepares to
welcome the world
Sinead O'Hanlon
Manchester, Britain's party capital, will invite the rest if the world to get on down and boogie at a spectacular Commonwealth Games opening ceremony on Thursday shadowed by a massive anti-terror operation.
The multi-million pound ceremony, staged in the sparkling new City of Manchester Stadium, will reflect the northern English city's working class heritage.
"The ceremony captures the spirit, resilience, cheekiness, wit and fun of Manchester," said Sue Woodward, Commonwealth Games artistic director, on the eve of the opening ceremony.
"We spent a lot of time thinking about what was special about Manchester. We're robust, resilient and inventive -- and we also have a bit of an attitude."
The opening, which will be attended by Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as foreign royalty and heads of state, will also mark the peak of a massive security operation, shadowed by memories of September 11 as well as a devastating 1996 Irish Republican Army bomb in the city.
Armed police will be out in force at the ceremony and everyone entering will pass through airport-style security.
Manchester's Assistant Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes told Reuters that while no specific threat had been made against the Games, police were prepared for all eventualities.
"The biggest challenge for us is to marry security with the ethos of the Commonwealth Games, which are billed as the friendly games," Hughes said.
The security operation, featuring 1,000 police on the streets every day until the games end on August 4, will include specialist teams scouring the city from land, water and air, checking for any suspicious signs.
FEELGOOD SPECTACLE
But organisers are determined the tight security will not mar the lavish spectacle planned to kick off Britain's biggest-ever multi-sport event.
More than 5,000 athletes and volunteers will take part in the opening, which organisers hope will eclipse the feelgood success of the Sydney and Barcelona Olympics.
Aerial acrobats, dangling from giant balloons, will take the show into the skies above the stadium as thousands of dancers, dressed in all the colours of the Commonwealth, gyrate below.
A spectacular lightshow, dancing and music -- dreamt up by top Hollywood and London choreographers -- will be capped off with a massive fireworks display.
The Queen's Jubilee Baton, the Games' equivalent of the Olympic torch, will arrive in the stadium on the final stage of a 187-day, international tour, and will be presented to the Queen by terminally ill Manchester girl Kirsty Howard.
"I can't think of anyone who better symbolises Manchester's fighting spirit than Kirsty," Woodward said.
But organisers remained tight-lipped on whether any big names will take part in the ceremony -- refusing to comment on rumours that England soccer captain David Beckham, a Manchester resident and favourite heart-throb, will be in the line-up.
