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STAT is an anti-profit arts & culture zine for the North West. statmagazine.org/links

23/09/2026

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Wigan BMX-ers

Lo-fi footage of Wigan Street Jam, a day of BMX tricks and pie-eating held on 22nd June 2024.

Locations include Alexandra Skate Park, Boyswell House (Scholes Estate) and St Marys Church Car Park.

***

A couple years back we commissioned Lucy Evans [lucy ❦ MONS IGNEOUS] to follow road these Wigan BMX-ers. This resulted in the article “The Illegal, Pie-Eating BMX Riders of Wigan” which featured in STAT12. You can now read it in full on our websh*te. It also resulted in this wonderful lo-fi film, which we haven’t released until now.

Filmed and edited by Lucy Evans.

Watch in full on our YouTube channel, link int bio.

13/09/2026

OPINION: If Everything is Working Class, Then Nothing is Working Class

by Manvir Sohal [.sohal99]

Are our definitions of class up to date? Does a northern accent really indicate a tough upbringing?

‘When did “working class” jump the shark? It’s happened slowly, bit by bit, and has only been detrimental to the genuinely working class. There’s been a creeping flanderisation of what we talk about when we talk about class. We focus on accents and behaviours instead of financial status. We perceive class as a stereotype, a set of characteristics. PSA: class is about income, not accents.’

All images courtesy of Manchester Libraries (CC BY 4.0).

READ in full at statmagazine.org
links int’ bio x

LET’S BUILD A NEW CULTURE 🌹

09/09/2026

CALL FOR CONTENT 📩
WRITERS, ILLUSTRATORS, PHOTOGRAPHERS!

PITCH DEADLINE: 28TH SEPTEMBER 2026

STAT IS INTERESTED IN STORIES AND WRITING THAT HELP TO DEFINE PRESENT-DAY ART AND CULTURE
ACROSS THE NORTH WEST OF ENGLAND.

We’re looking for content for our upcoming issue. The theme? The North West, of course.

MORE INFO AT:
statmagazine.org/pitching-guide

07/09/2026

WHAT’S THE DEAL?
30% OFF PATREON SUBSCRIPTIONS

As we shift about our deck chairs, be the first to access our upcoming standalone publications* as well as our regular zine issues. Get discounts at the STAT shop and free gig tickets. Get access to our entire digital issue archive and oh so much more. Let’s build a new culture.

discount code = PENDLEHILL

Get 30% off your first month or first year.
Ends at 12:00 on 14 Sept 2026.

*dependent on which tier you pledge.

24/08/2026

The Life and Times of a Bickershaw Park Ranger
by Davey Brett []

Deers, herons, and teen quad-bikers battle over the post-industrial spoils of Bickershaw Colliery.

“For three years, ending in the pandemic, Hamish worked as a Project Officer at Bickershaw Country Park, a 250 hectare piece of land that sits on the site of the former Bickershaw Colliery. The colliery officially closed in 1992 and for the 25 years that followed, the site sat unmanaged.”

full article at statmagazine.org
available in print as part of STAT16/17
links int’ bio x

LET’S BUILD A NEW CULTURE 🌹

17/08/2026

ROLLING THROUGH THE YEARS:
Growing Up With Wigan Roller Rink

words by Amelia Ritchie
photos by Lucy Evans [lucy ❦ MONS IGNEOUS]

As Europe’s biggest wooden roller rink bites the dust, Amelia Ritchie unpicks the Wigan institution’s regional rites of passage. Wigan Roller Rink.

“When it came to university, I was surprised that barely anyone knew how to rollerskate, shocked to discover that there wasn’t a roller rink nearby. Returning during the holidays reminded me of those early years. I *could* skate with inlines, an even rarer skill than it had once been within my social circles.”

read the feature in FULL at statmagazine.org
links int’ bio x

LET’S BUILD A NEW CULTURE 🌹

16/08/2026

BANJO BUSKING IN BOLTON
by Laura Barnes

Banjo-playing busker, Zacc, fills Bolton high street with the earthy melodies that were once a Lancashire folk staple.

‘“People have this romantic thing – oh, you’re there for the romance! For the sheer love of music!” Zacc exclaims. “Most people, though, are there for the money. You need money to live. The difference is, you don’t have to be there just for the money. I’m here to play to people, and practice. Whatever you learn, you take home with you. If it ever becomes just about the money, I’ll go home.”’

full article at statmagazine.org
links int’ bio x

LET’S BUILD A NEW CULTURE 🌹

12/08/2026

Need me a jumper like Fred Dibnah.

10/08/2026

AGONY MASSIVE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU
[AGONY MA$$IVE]

words by Connor Seed []
images by Orrin Saint-Pierre [Orrin Saint-Pierre]

Meet Agony Massive, the self-described East Lancashire pop group basking in twisted hyperlocalism.

“When you’re getting fu**ed up as a kid it’s not hard to see the dark horror that comes with it when you’re doing it around a castle or you’re doing it on Pendle Hill. It’s not hard to see the magic. There’s a huge dose of strangeness injected to kids in tracksuits k-holing, tripping on mushrooms around an ancient castle ground or where witches were taken from to be on trial. It’s not hard to see that. When James I wrote Demonologie he said that Lancashire was a wild and lawless land inhabited by the disturbed.”

full article at statmagazine.org
link int’ bio x

LET’S BUILD A NEW CULTURE 🌹

07/08/2026

LAST SUPPERS
by Joseph Gudgeon [Joseph Gudgeon Photography]

A photo series depicting the everyday encounters that make up Preston’s pubs and social clubs.

“My school bus used to travel the length of New Hall Lane. I vividly remember all the weird and wonderful pub names: The Queen Adelaide, General Codrington, and Rosebud. This stretch used to boast over 10 pubs but only one remains today, The Hesketh’s Arms. You knew you’d been in battle if you made it to the last pub. Those names have always stayed with me.”

first published in STAT12
now at statmagazine.org
links int’ bio x

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