A Northern Eye 5 - Thomond on Thursday with his choice of Guardian pictures from England's better half

The first harvest of the season for Abundance Manchester who pick surplus and unwanted fruit from garden and public trees in the city and redistribute the crop among local community groups
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

A pendelino train on the day that Virgin Trains began its successful challenge to the Government's decision to award the West Coast mainline franchise to rival bidder FirstGroup
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Blues and greys in Moss Side, Manchester
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Team GB taekwondo Olympic medal hopeful Lutalo Mohammad in training at Loughborough University. He went on to won a bronze medal.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Edward Naylor, chief executive of Barnsley-based pipemakers Naylor Industries PLC
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

American author Laura Lippman in Manchester, preparing for the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Johnny Murray, back home at the Hallamshire tennis club in Sheffield after becoming the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Wimbledon title. He took the men's doubles with partner Frederik Nielsen.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Team GB Olympic weightlifter Gareth Evans training at Leeds Met University. He finished eighth overall in London 2012. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Preparing for the Lowry at The Lowry exhibition in the artist's native Salford.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

A low-level look at the Handmade Parade in Hebden Bridge.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Opposition leader Ed Miliband at a 'listen and learn' session in Bradford organised by the city's Muslim Women's Council after George Galloway's shock victory in the Bradford West by-election.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

A daytripper at Ladybower reservoir in Derbyshire on the day that the Environment Agency declared that the risk of drought had passed.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Cleveley Mere near Lancaster, where you can stay in a self-catering treehouse with a ropewalk to a sundeck overlooking the lake.
Photograph: guardian.co.uk