Castlefield gallery’s auction show, A Friend In Need, raised close to £10,000 – a fully qualified success in these times of recession – and ensures the gallery’s survival into the next financial year. Grateful thanks go to the donors and buyers (and Anthony H Wilson, who proved to be a capable auctioneer) for rallying around.

Its successor is Linda Weir: Paintings, which highlights the work of one of Manchester’s best-loved painters. The initial impact of these paintings is derived from a sumptuous use of colour and their manifest richness of detail. Decorative and formal elements are reconciled with great skill.

Three Manchester Architects: Holford Associates, Simpson Associates & Stephenson Architecture.

Places and buildings create a city’s image and atmosphere. As makers of places and images, architects provide the means by which the city is perceived by it’s inhabitants, recalled by visitors and explored in the imagination. Architecture is the most powerful expression of a community’s self-image and aspirations.

New Art North West ’91 promises to be one of the most exciting regional exhibitions to date. The fact that it embraces such a diversity of art supports claims of a new dynamism in the region and a definite trend towards new artists moving into the North West.

In contrast to the small, dense paintings Hodgkin has been creating in recent years, the twelve hand-coloured prints that form this exhibition, surprise the viewer by their huge size and stunning simplicity.

Alex Ramsay’s paintings are unashamedly sensual and teeming with life. Their initial impact is one of richness, exuberance and a degree of chaos. Figures, fish, birds, boats, cats, children, mermaids and barking dogs are amongst the characters that fill the picture surface and jockey for position.