British songwriter and musician, Chris Turner, from Torremolinos, has written the song which will be used at the welcoming ceremonies for athletes at this summer's XVII Commonwealth Games. The song, 'The Mancunian Way' has been produced in 3 different mixes, as a dance/reggae; hip hop and jazz/R&B version, with the help of Jim 'Switch' Hopper, a local entertainer and excellent musician.

The catchy tune, which includes the lyrics, "Do it, Do it - The Mancunian Way" will be sung at least 3 times day during the games from 15-24 July in the Athletes Village in Fallowfield, Manchester. The aim is to welcome athletes from each of the 72 nations competing in the games, to set the tone for the games and provide an inspirational start to the event. Schoolchildren from each of the 22 local authorities around Manchester will be taking part in the ceremonies, and will perform Chris Turner's song in their own style.

During the ceremonies, the athletes will be greeted by the Village Mayor, who will present them with a small gift and the national flag will be hoisted while their anthem is played. Sue Woodward, Creative Director of Manchester 2002 said: "We're asking each school to perform their own interpretation of 'The Mancunian Way' to provide variety and colour to the ceremonies. We're sure that the children will have lots of fun being part of these events and they give our visiting teams a warm welcome".

The XVII Commonwealth games will be sponsored by Manchester Airport; Microsoft; Cadbury; Asda and Manchester City Council amongst others, and the event will be broadcast by the BBC.

Chris, who also works as a fully licensed professional tennis coach, originally wrote the song in 1986 as a song for Manchester during his final year of music study at University College, Salford. Although he has had limited success in using the song for various promotions, it was the positive response from the marketing Committee for the Commonwealth Games that ensured it would receive such well deserved exposure. Chris has worked as a professional musican and entertainer since his school days, performing both on stage and television. He has formed his own bands and played in others, and worked as a resident entertainer both in Torremolinos and on the cruise liners as a piano vocal artiste. He is now involved in writing a tennis musical, 'Tie-break', which has been shortlisted from nearly 200 musicals for the coveted Vivian Ellis Awards for New Musicals, 2000.