Northern Eye 9 - Thomond on Thursday

The first of three studies of low winter sunshine this week over the 76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire on the last day of the annual star count organised by the British Astronomical Association and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

The second of three studies of low winter sunshine this week over the 76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire on the last day of the annual star count organised by the British Astronomical Association and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

The last of three studies of low winter sunshine this week over the 76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire on the last day of the annual star count organised by the British Astronomical Association and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Talacre lighthouse and a windy sandstorm during this week's blustery weather on the Flintshire coast. OK, not England, we know, but a beautiful part of north Wales.
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Street scene in the Northern Quarter, Manchester
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

A construction worker cycles along the towpath of the Netherton Tunnel in Dudley where the Canal and River Trust is spending £1.5 million on stabilising some 1.7 miles of mid-19th century brickwork
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Graham Wharton, community manager for the Salvation Army at Southwick in Sunderland, where he runs one of the UK's growing number of food banks
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

A spell in studentland: the busy, colourful scene around Manchester's universities off Oxford Road
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

More student life in Manchester: the city's most famous colour gets a vivid outing
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

All the colours of education at Manchester Metropolitan University
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

The first of three studies of buildings old and new in this week's sunshine at Manchester University
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

The shadow of the university's past great buildings falls on part of one of their modern successors
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Side by side: the old and the new at Manchester University
Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian