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Manchester Evening News writes:

The new England football kit has a touch of Manchester flair.

The home strip, due to be worn at tonight’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley, features the work of Manchester design guru Peter Saville.

Saville, famous for the album covers he created for Factory Records bands such as Joy Division and New Order, was asked to create ‘an icon of English football’ by kit manufacturer Umbro, based in Cheadle.

Inspired by the St George’s cross and Britain’s bespoke tailoring heritage, he added tiny multi-coloured stitches to the back and shoulders of the shirt. The crosses use the traditional red, blue and green of the England team crest and purple, chosen by Saville because it is a combination of the other three.

The graphic designer said he wanted the kit to reflect England’s diversity. A version of it will be worn by the national women’s side.

He said: "Both the nation and the fans themselves are more diverse than ever before – whether that’s differences in politics, religion, ethnicity, fashions, music and art.

"We are now one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world.

"Football is a language that everyone can relate to and the new England home kit provides the perfect canvas to reflect what England looks like today.

"The reality of modern England is expressed in this pattern as it reclaims the St George’s cross to positively represent our contemporary society."

Umbro said the design was inspired by more formal, classic football shirts, with a more open neckline, blue shorts and white socks with a blue trim.

Saville has added his touch to the goalkeeper’s kit too, with purple piping on the black shirt to be worn by City keeper Joe Hart when he plays for England.

Hart said: "I love the black and the subtle nature of the pattern blended into the shirt."

The new kit goes on sale on October 12, priced £49.99.

Michael Gove today cancelled Labour's school building programme, suspending projects for 715 new schools as part of the coalition's latest tranche of spending cuts.

The £55bn Building Schools for the Future programme, which will be cancelled altogether, was the biggest casualty. Some 706 new school buildings and services that already have contracts signed will go ahead but another 715 will be scrapped.

It's another big landmark for St Ambrose College.
For the first time in its history, the school has three former pupils who are now UK Members of Parliament.

So, for the first time, St Ambrose former pupils are part of a serving British Government.

St Ambrose educated three out of the 361 coalition MPs currently in Government ...and that's 0.8%: not bad for a state school!

in alphabetical order:

Damien Hinds attended St Ambrose 1981-1988 and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Trinity College Oxford (where he was also elected president of the Oxford Union).

Paul attended St Ambrose 1987-1994 and read history at University College, Oxford

Greg Mulholland attended St Ambrose 1981 - 1988 and studied Politics at York.

Fatal Fear joined the Korean-metal scene almost ten years ago. They are the hosts of the ongoing and regular “24-hours of Bullsh*t Fest” for extreme and metal music, as well as the more recent “Youth Anthem” fest with a more mixed line-up.

In 2006 the band took on St Ambrose Old Boy Edward "DreadEd" Campbell, a British metal “veteran” and ex-vocalist for Manchester band "Severed Fate", on guitar. Campbell was later replaced with Min-Yong, then returned in 2007 on vocal duties, following the departure of singer Wan-U.

In 2009, the band released the EP, "Apocalyptic Crusade." The tracks layer vocalist Ed's earth-shattering snarls with blazing guitars, booming drums and biting guitar solos to generate an effort bursting at the seams with sludgy anthems. With standout tracks like "White C Virus", "Apocalyptic Crusade" and "Hopeless." They have a good balance of Heavy and Melodic riffage with a positive deficit of melodic vocals and a constant deathcore groove throughout."

Campbell explained: "It's a concept album about a zombie apocalypse. You can take it as socio-political commentary or its a simple, brutal, death-fest with hints of melody and a sprinkling of guitar solo action."

"It's an honour to be in such good company and to be from a school that I hold in high regard.

"Mr "Sam" Wilkinson taught me Biology and was one of, if not the most inspiring educator I have ever known. I am the vocalist in the band, which is quite successful having played some high profile shows out here (e.g. we played with Arch Enemy in Seoul on their world tour). We were also the first Korean band to EVER get published in the UK-based, international magazine "Metal Hammer".

"I guess that all those years of playing music in the St Ambrose practice rooms and attending the school choir has paid off! Mr Arthur (my favourite Chemistry teacher) was not too keen on my long hair - that I kept under my shirt collar, only to cut off a few months prior to leaving - only to grow it all back again in college afterwards."

"Also, along with Korean friends, I started an independent record label and live club to showcase the talent (this also has a recording studio attached). Although some of the bands on our label are in Europe, many are in Asia and we hope to expand further as time goes on."

"As for being in a "death metal band" with a Catholic background all I can say is that despite the death core genre, I mostly write about spiritual, moral, peaceful philosophy (and penance / karma) - which goes hand in hand with the best interpretations of Catholicism ...and most religions, in fact."

Architecture practice Sheppard Robson is preparing to submit a planning application for the £20m St Ambrose Voluntary Aided College in Trafford for builders Balfour Beatty.

Sheppard Robson's design features a central area that includes the chapel, dining, social and assembly areas. Cantilevering platforms on the upper levels support staff areas, library and ICT areas. The central space is visible at all points within the school, and all teaching areas are accessed directly from this space, shelving the need for internal corridors.

Tony O'Brien, design director at Sheppard Robson, said: "Our primary considerations when designing St Ambrose were to provide a high performance school with cutting edge teaching facilities, and to ensure that the building reflects the schools Catholic faith, expressing a strong sense of community.

"St Ambrose is comprised of four houses, with each student allocated a house for the duration of their time at the school, reinforcing this sense of community not just in the physical appearance of the school, but also in the way it operates."

St Ambrose will also boast sports facilities, with the sports hall suspended over the swimming pool.

The building is expected to be submitted for planning permission in May 2010, with completion in 2011. The project is being funded by the government's National Academies Framework Part 1.

Sheppard Robson has designed the center space of the facility in such a way that it represents the heart of the community. It features a chapel, dining, social and assembly areas. The central space is visible at all points within the school, and all teaching areas are accessed directly from this space. This is done to eliminate the need for internal corridors.

Cantilevering platforms on the upper levels are designed to support staff areas, library and ICT areas. Tony O’Brien, design director at Sheppard Robson, stated that the firm aimed to create a high performance school with cutting edge teaching facilities, and tried to ensure that the building reflects the schools catholic faith, expressing a strong sense of community.

St. Ambrose features four houses designed to reinforce sense of community. Each student will be allocated a house for the duration of their time at the school, hence underpinning the sense of community not just in the physical appearance of the school, but also in the way it operates. The school will feature sports facilities, with the sports hall suspended over the swimming pool.

Planning application for permission will be submitted in May 2010, with a slated completion in 2011. The project is being funded by the government's National Academies Framework Part 1. Balfour Beatty Construction has landed a contract from Trafford Council to build the new St. Ambrose Voluntary Aided College.

On 19 April, Mr Michael Thompson kindly gave SAOBA a detailed overview of the plans for the new school.

The paving of the school drive will spell out the motto "Vitam Impendere Vero". We were impressed at the carefully thought out and integrated design, with a plan resembling a Celtic cross, and functions reflecting the family nature of the school community, organised around a large central “heart space”.

The four wings will reflect the school house and departmental structure. The design features minimal use of corridors, maximum visibility and openness, with the use of natural light and transparent glass walls.

It includes several multi-use areas with great future potential, and a 25m swimming pool overlooking the sports pitches through one-way glass. There will be a sixth form area with a balcony overlooking the playing fields, a sports hall, an all weather pitch and numerous other features. It is hoped that the design will help to encourage supportive links between different year groups. It is certain to transform the working methods of the school.

The heart space capacity will be 1050 (or 450 dining), lecture theatre 250. Further flexibility will be provided by folding walls, and multiple uses of rooms. Mr. Thompson’s presentation was illustrated by large and detailed plans and a video. He promised to let us have the video to introduce our dinner and for this website afterwards. An interactive question and answer session followed.

Funds were apparently “guaranteed” by the present (Labour) government, although the forthcoming election (May 7^th) could potentially disrupt this.

We are sorry to report that Mr Hancock, former Head of Art at St Ambrose, has passed away.

His funeral took place at Altrincham Crematorium at 3.30pm on Thursday April 22nd

Mr Phil Howard and Old Boy Larry Miveld both made moving tributes at the service.

(L to R by Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Blur, New Order, Rolling Stones, Clash, Mike Oldfield, Led Zeppelin, Primal Scream and David Bowie)

Peter Saville and Keith Breeden attended St Ambrose 1967-1974 and studied Art to A level with Mr Hancock

Former St Ambrose pupil Peter Saville's cover art for New Order's 1983 Album, "Power, Corruption and Lies", and Keith Breeden's cover design for Pink Floyd's "The Division Bell" have been selected as two of a group of ten classic album covers to be made into Royal Mail Stamps in 2010.

Peter Saville's design for the album had a colour-based code to represent the band's name and the title of the album, but they were not actually written on the sleeve itself. The decoder for the code was featured prominently on the back cover of the album.

The cover is a reproduction of the painting "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, which is in the National Gallery of London's permanent collection. Peter Saville intended to create a collision between this overly romantic and classic image which made a stark contrast with the typography based on the modular, colour-coded alphabet he created solely for the band.

It is also said that the owner of the painting (The National Heritage Trust) at first refused Factory Records access to it. Tony Wilson, the head of the label, then called them up to ask who actually owned the painting and were given the answer that the Trust belonged to the people of Britain. Wilson then famously replied, "Well, the people of Britain now want it."

For the Division Bell, long-time Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson developed the album artwork from Keith Breeden's original concept. He erected two large metal heads each the height of a Double-decker bus in a field near Ely. The sculptures were positioned close together, and photographed in profile, to give the illusion that not only were they either facing or talking to each other, they also presented the viewer with a third face. The sculptures were devised by Keith Breeden, and constructed by John Robertson. Ely Cathedral is visible on the horizon. The sculptures are now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

The album was released in the UK and US on CD, vinyl, and Compact Cassette, each with its own format and label-specific design. Two 7.5-metre (25 ft) stone sculptures were made by Aden Hynes for the cassette releases, and photographed in the same style as the metal heads. The artwork inside the CD lyric booklet revolves around a similar theme, with the image of the two heads formed by various other objects, such as newspapers ("A Great Day for Freedom"), coloured glass ("Poles Apart"), and boxing gloves ("Lost for Words").

Keith Breeden attended St Ambrose until 1974 and studied A level Art with Mr Hancock

Tom King led the Class of 2009 Old Boys' XV to a blistering 19-0 victory against the school First XV

"Malcolm Garrett is a British graphic designer who worked on a number on iconic album and single sleeves of the 1980s from acts including Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, The Buzzcocks and of course, Magazine."

Malcolm, Peter . . . and Keith [EXTRACT]

Over the years, Malcolm Garrett and Peter Saville have often mentioned in interviews that they studied together at Manchester Polytechnic in the 1970s. Less well known, though it sometimes comes up in passing, is that they also attended the same school, St Ambrose College, an independent Catholic grammar in Hale Barns, Cheshire. Barely remarked at all, however, is that Keith Breeden, a third, not so renowned contributor to Britain’s graphic ‘new wave’, was a member of the same A level art class. At school, as both Saville and Garrett affirm, Breeden was a significant influence on them. The only known photograph of the three fledgling designers in the school art room is printed tantalisingly small in Saville’s recent monograph, "Designed by Peter Saville".

It’s odd, in a way, that more has not been made of this surprising confluence of talent. In a class of just six teenagers taking Art, half of the group went on to devote their efforts to album cover design and two became leading figures with national and international reputations. Where many once-celebrated new wave design teams of the early 1980s – Rocking Russian, Shoot That Tiger, Town and Country Planning – are all but forgotten now, Saville and Garrett have stayed the course. The national press coverage generated by the Saville monograph and the Design Museum’s retrospective – even the ultra-highbrow London Review of Books was moved to break its usual silence on design – confirmed just how deeply his work affected those who consumed it at the time.

It’s still too early, though, to determine with any precision how significant the impact of Garrett and Saville was for British design. Saville’s book and exhibition excited impressionistic claims by journalists that his designs had ignited a taste revolution in the high streets of Britain and, not surprisingly, Saville was ready to agree . . .

"He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man." - Paul McCartney

The Beatles' faces show how delighted they were to have their picture taken with Lonnie Donegan

Photographed at the wedding of Eric Clapton to Patti Boyd (former wife of George Harrison) May 19th, 1979.

Patti Boyd, who first met Harrison on the set of the movie "A Hard Days Night" was the inspiration for the Beatles' song "Something". She also inspired Clapton's song "Layla" (and the entire album "Layla and Assorted Love Songs" by Derek and the Dominoes), as well as Clapton's solo songs "Wonderful Tonight" and "Bell Bottom Blues".

He was the first British Artist to have had his first 5 records in the top 5 of the top 20

Anthony Donegan was evacuated to Cheshire in 1939, aged 8. He attended St Ambrose at Dunham Rd and then at Woodeaves (now the Brothers' House). He was mentioned in "The Ambrosian" school magazine in 1945 (writing an article and winning the form prize for Form 3 in 1945).

The Easter 1945 issue of "The Ambrosian" (the St Ambrose College school magazine at the time) records that Anthony Donegan won the First Prize in Form III in 1945. He also wrote an article reproduced below.

Anthony Donegan left St Ambrose in 1946, and took his first job in a Stockbroker's office. After National Service he originally toured as the Tony Donegan Jazz Band, but adopted the name "Lonnie" in tribute to the great American blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson, who was playing on the same bill at the London Festival Hall in 1952. The compere confused their names, and introduced him as "Lonnie Donegan". He kept the name, and invented a new form of DIY music called Skiffle. It was massively successful. In 1956 he sold 3 million copies of the "Rock Island Line" single. John Lennon's first group, the Quarrymen, was a Skiffle group. Donegan's single "Gamblin' Man"/"Puttin' on the Style"was number one in July 1957 when Lennon met McCartney. They have both declared that Donegan was a major influence. McCartney saw him play in Liverpool. He was impressed to see that although Donegan arrived late for the lunchtime show, he took time afterwards to personally write notes for the factory girls in the crowd to give to their bosses, to explain why they were so late returning to work.

Donegan has been described as Britain's first musical superstar and his skiffle music swept through the country in the 1950s.

He quickly became a star, although he had only ever wanted to be a jazz banjo player. Lonnie Donegan had over twenty UK top 30 hits, including three number one records and was known as " King of Skiffle".

Elvis Presley recorded one of his songs, I'm Never Gonna Fall in Love Again. In 1978 Sir Paul McCartney was the driving force behind a tribute album. In 1997 he received a lifetime achievement award at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 1999, a collaboration with long-time fan Van Morrison resulted in Lonnie's first album release in 20 years, Muleskinner Blues.

In November 2000 Lonnie collected an MBE from Buckingham Palace in recognition of his musical contribution to his country. He had a special edition Martin guitar (the make Lonnie has popularised the world over) created in his honour.

Lonnie Donegan with Richard O'Connor and Peter Mulhern, Stockton-on-Tees, 2000

"He really was at the very cornerstone of English blues and rock." — Brian May of Queen

Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, who played with Donegan in London, called him one of his greatest musical influences.

In later years I grew to know him as a friend and was not in any way let down.

He is a great guy with a true love of good music and many of us owe him a huge debt of gratitude.

"Inside", by Stiltskin (above) reached No 1 and spent 13 weeks in the UK chart (1994)

"This is usually mis-attributed to Stiltskin. In fact it was just Peter Lawlor " ...see MySpaceMusic.

All the teams in the English Premier League shake hands before each match to the sound of his track

and as the theme music to all English Premier League matches on TV around the world.

"He has won a BAFTA, the Mid-Summer Awards for best original composition (on two occasions)

He has won the Music Publishers Association Award for "Best Original Composition",

Martin Toal, former St. Ambrose French Teacher turned Tenor is known as “England’s Winning Tenor” as the England football team has won without conceding a single goal every time he has sung the national anthem before the game – now 5 times! In February, Martin was invited to sing Nessun Dorma at Wembley at a special event for the England football manager Fabio Capello!

Martin Toal attended St Ambrose 1975 - 1982 (first time round) and came back to work at the school teaching French for a total of fourteen years, before becoming a professional tenor singer.

"St Ambrose Old Boys" - founded by Adam Mitcheson (2010) - 68 members in first week...

We would like to thank Keith Breeden, Malcolm Garrett and Peter Saville for permitting the use of their work

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