The audience got to its feet and roared in appreciation as Madame Phylisann Von Hollywood Aries took to the stage and launched into a stirring rendition of Rose’s Turn from the musical Gypsy.

Her performance, as always, absolutely brought the house down.

But it was to be the swansong of a Canal Street icon. The final chapter of a remarkable life story that started with a coal mine and ended with the stage.

Just two weeks later, she would be gone.

Affectionately known as ‘Nana’, the so-called oldest drag queen in the village, Madame Aries had been a stalwart of Manchester’s drag scene for decades.

A consummate performer, she was utterly determined that the show would go on when she performed at Bar Pop last month, her rapidly declining health be damned.

The early life of Colin Timmins, the man who would bring Nana to life, was a world away from the clubs and bars of Manchester.

Born in Chesterfield in April 1957, in his youth, Colin’s first job was as a coal miner.

He would eventually move to London to work as an au pair, a job that would later take him to Amsterdam.

It was here that he fell in love and married his husband.

But his happiness was shattered when his husband - a police officer in Amsterdam’s vice squad - was shot dead while on duty.

Heartbroken, Colin moved back to London and took up a job as bar manager at the legendary Vauxhall Tavern.

At the time, a drag queen by the name of Lily Savage, aka, Paul O’Grady, was hosting an amateur drag night.

Heckling the acts from behind the bar one night, Colin proclaimed that he could do much better.

Lily wasn’t about to let the claim go unchallenged. She promptly suggested he came back the following week with some dresses and some numbers to prove it.

Return he did, and Colin’s legendary drag act, Madame Aries was born.

In the early 1990s, drawn by the city’s pioneering role in the gay rights movement, Colin moved to Manchester.

“Manchester at that time was a hub of student and political activity,” says John Hamilton, Colin’s friend and owner of Bar Pop.

“It was a great time for people to move to Manchester even with the political things, Thatcherism, James Anderton. The city stood up, because of it being a cosmopolitan and quite a student place, we were quite lucky in that.

“Colin knowing that Canal Street had a collection of bars, came to make his roots here and set up home.”

Over the years Nana, would go on to work at ‘almost every bar on Canal Street’ including The Union, AXM and Bar Pop, where she performed as Nana for the past five years.

Performing alongside the likes of Misty Chance, Belinda Scandal and John’s alter ego, Viva la Diva, she relished the role of comedy sidekick.

Nana wasn’t actually the oldest drag queen in the village, but she couldn’t resist playing up to the image of the cantankerous old lady, often taking her teeth out on stage and giving them to people.

Her hearing wasn’t the best and her lip syncing was usually three seconds behind the track, but true to form, it was a quirk she embraced as part of the act - which only added to the charm.

Her reputation preceded her, and she became known and loved in Manchester and beyond.

“She’s known all over the country - when you go to Manchester you have to meet Nana,” said John.

Two years ago, Nana achieved her long held ambition of performing on a big stage, when she was invited to perform with Bianca Del Rio at her one-woman show at the Palace.

And if her status as a Manchester icon was ever in doubt, it was cemented with a cameo appearance on Coronation Street, popping up on screen when Rita visited a drag bar.

Beyond the cranky stage persona he created in Nana, Colin would habitually go out of his way to take care of others.

“If she was performing at a venue, and she clocked on that there was a new person, looking scared, when she finished her act she’d go over to the person, knowing they were new to the scene and she took them under the wing.

“Whenever there was someone in trouble, she was one of those people that said, come to me, I’ll look after you. She was always taking people into the house if they were homeless. She was that type of person. She never boasted about what she was doing, it was just her life,” says John.

Colin was also known to many as a vocal campaigner for HIV and AIDS awareness.

Throughout his life, he spoke openly about his own HIV Positive status.

In the early days, his focus, as for many men of his generation who faced the same diagnosis, was simply on surviving.

But over the years he would turn his hand to campaigning, becoming a fighting force for awareness.

One of his proudest moments came when he was made an ambassador for the George House Trust.

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“He believed that if he was able to help the fight, then he would do what he could do.

“He believed in campaigning on HIV and AIDS and also awareness of safer sex. Whenever there was a vigil on, he was at the vigil.

“Whenever there was a charity event, he was at that event, whether he was rattling a bucket, or performing on stage. And nine times out of ten, he was performing on stage.

“There was so much death, and prejudice against what was going on in those days and now, there’s still a certain amount of prejudice, but I think we are strong enough to challenge it. I think Colin saw that as well.

“He was a very sociable person, and also a cantankerous person, it came hand in hand.

“He had no time for time wasters. Once he made his mind up, he was doing that and no one could change his mind

“He set himself a goal and he would do it to the best of his ability. He was well respected, everybody knew him,” says John.

Colin attended Pride for the final time last year.

His health was already declining and he was supported by his siblings, who were touched by the incredible response Colin, as Nana, received, everywhere they went.

(Image: Joel Goodman)

Never more so than when the crowd got to its feet for a spontaneous standing ovation in Nana’s honour. A reflection of the deep affection she was held in by village.

“There is an incredible legacy. As someone said, ‘who is going to fill that now?’” John added.

In the end, Colin died as he lived. On his own terms.

As pneumonia took hold, he made the decision to remove the equipment which was keeping him alive and passed away peacefully surrounded by the people he cared about.

John added: “It always used to be the joke, when will Nana go?

“‘You can’t kill a witch. Hell will freeze over the day I die’. And she died on the last day of February, the coldest day of the year, with the River Irwell frozen over.”

Colin, who lived in Salford, is survived by his brothers and sister, as well as countless friends.

A huge celebration of his life, organised by the bars of Canal Street, will be held in Sackville Gardens on April 8, the day after what would have been his 61st birthday. More details will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, his funeral will be held in his hometown at 2pm on March 16, at Chesterfield Crematorium, Brimington.

Coaches are being arranged for anyone who would like to attend. Contact John on Facebook for details.

Those attending are invited to wear black and orange, in honour of his links with Amsterdam. Everyone who knew him is welcome to attend.