An action-packed family fun day where kids can try out science experiments, get to grips with cool technology, learn how different machines work and more is coming to Stockport town centre and the tickets are super affordable.
Make Stuff is a series of free coding, making and tech events for both adults and young people brought to locals by homegrown innovation organisation, MadLab, who are kicking off their 2024 programme of activities with a festival right here in Greater Manchester.
Taking place across two different dates at Stockport Central Library this month and then again in March, no experience is necessary — just roll up and get the whole family involved with fun stuff to do for people of all ages.
With over 20 activities to choose from, including the experience of 1000 watts of bass power buzzing through your fingers, watching a dancing alien oobleck (corn flour), creating laser-blaster sounds with a slinky; making robot chickens or ‘auto-strummer’ using upcycled computer guts and so much more.
Credit: Make Stuff
Arriving at Stockport Library first on 10 February with a second event on 9 March, each festival aims to create a space where knowledge and enthusiasm can be shared and judging by everything they’ve got going on, they both look like they’re going to be a fantastic day out.
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As well as offering all manners of science and tech-curious Mancs the opportunity to learn things learn the basics of soldering, crafts, coding and discover the joy of making stuff in general.
Guests can also learn how sound waves work, play a mechanical violin, connect their friends to an electrical circuit to learn about their own frequencies and even discover amazing hidden sounds in everyday objects. There will also be pop-ups from Noisy Toys and Manchester Metropolitan University.
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MadLab themselves have been helping inspire the next generation into the world of digital and creative exploration through tech, art, design, marketing and more since 2016 and offers a range of engaging experiences throughout Greater Manchester communities.
Brought to life with funding from Greater Manchester Combined Authority secured as part of the UK government’s wider ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, MadLab has gone on to win the ‘Best Tech for Good Project’ at the Big Chip Awards in 2017, as well as ‘Volunteering Team of the Year’ and ‘Best Community Space’ at the Spirit of Manchester Awards the following year.
With Make Stuff itself having a bit of a break during and after the pandemic, they’re now back in full force for 2024, planning over 100 events this calendar year in their adopted hometown of Stockport alone.
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The Make Stuff family fun days take place on Saturday, 10 Feb and Sat, 9 March at Stockport Central Library (Wellington Road South, Stockport, SK1 3RS) from 11am-3pm, you can grab your tickets for the first event HERE and the March date HERE.
Admission is just £5 (refundable) and if you cannot afford a ticket, please email [email protected] with your name and postcode and they will be in touch. Legends.
Manchester’s historic Portico Library secures £6.4m funding grant towards its transformation
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s Portico Library has secured a whopping £6.4 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In case you missed it, ambitious plans to transform the historic Grade II-listed building on Mosely Street were already unveiled last October… but now, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced it is committing £6.4 million of funding towards the project, hoping that the building thrives as the UK’s most sustainable historic library for generations to come.
The grant is being described as a ‘major milestone’ in the approximately £12 million Portico Reunited project.
The Portico Reunited project will look to ‘reunite’ the historic building’s three floors for the first time in over a century, creating a fully-accessible and sustainable cultural library.
Founded all the way back in 1806, The Portico Library played a central role in Manchester’s rise as the world’s first modern city, and since then has been serving as a window into the past and a providing a place of inspiration for anyone who needs it.
The Portico Library has secured a £6.4m funding grant towards its transformation / Credit: Purcell Architecture (Supplied)
Crucially, plans will see a step-free entrance and lift installed to make the library accessible to all.
There’ll also be new exhibition and event spaces introduced as part of the scheme to explore the stories of Manchester’s communities and the city’s heritage. There will a Northern Bookshop, showcasing regional and emerging writers, and independent publishers, as well as a creative Portico Kitchen, which will celebrate the city’s food culture, writing, and history.
A place for school groups, families, and all people to explore Portico’s collection and experiment creatively also forms part of the plans.
Dr Thom Keep, Librarian and CEO of The Portico Library, called the funding grant a ‘landmark moment’ in the Portico’s ‘rich and complex history’, and a ‘huge achievement’ for its staff, trustees, volunteers, and partners.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, we can reunite this extraordinary building and make room for people to discover, learn and create together,” he added.
“We have listened to thousands of people about what the Portico could become, and their ideas and experiences have helped shape these plans.
“Our ambition is a library that belongs to the whole city – a place to discover remarkable collections, question the stories we have inherited, and create new possibilities together.”
Manchester City Council has granted planning permission and listed building consent for the project, and the building is expected to close for construction in late spring 2028 and reopen once again in early March 2030.
Following reopening, the transformed library is expected to welcome around 95,000 visitors each year.
Featured Image – Purcell Architecture (Supplied)
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New data estimates that 7.3m Oasis fans are set to miss out on 2027 tour tickets
Emily Sergeant
New data has revealed that as many as 7.3 million Oasis fans could be set to miss out on tickets to the band’s 2027 tour.
In case you need bringing up to speed a little, it was announced earlier this week that, following the unprecedented success of the reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25, last year, including five nostalgia-drenched gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, Oasis would be hitting the road once again in 2027, and this time around, they’re going BIG.
We’re talking 11 nights at the Etihad Stadium and a return to the iconic grounds of Knebworth for four special shows there too, kind of ‘big’.
The iconic Manchester band will also be taking to a range of other world-famous stages across the globe, including five nights at Glasgow’s Celtic Park, and major cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
But despite the elevated number of dates the Gallaghers and co will be performing, some new data has unfortunately revealed that millions of fans may still not be lucky enough to snag a ticket.
The ticketing system for Oasis Live ’27 is not what it was for the last tour, nor will it be similar to many other tours of a similar scale in the past either, as this time, the band and their promotors are taking necessary measures to ensure ‘genuine fans’ get their hands on the tickets and that dynamic pricing doesn’t creep in.
Instead of going into detail on that now though, you can read our full guide on how to get tickets for the Manchester and Knebworth shows here.
Experts at online ticketing platform TicketSource have analysed the scale of demand for Oasis tickets by comparing the 10 million fans worldwide who queued for the initial release of 1.4 million tickets for their 2025 tour, with the newly announced 2027 tour dates and stadium capacities.
With an estimated 2.67 million tickets available across 38 dates and 11 locations between 21 May and 19 September 2027, Oasis could still face huge demand from fans hoping to see them live.
But research reveals the band would need to play 112 Wembley-sized shows to accommodate everyone who tried to get a ticket in 2025.
The 2027 tour would accommodate just 26.7% of those who tried to get tickets last time, meaning almost three-quarters (73%) of them could miss out, leaving a shortfall of more than 7.3 million fans.
Fingers crossed you’re among the lucky lot that secure tickets, though.
Featured Image – Joshua Halling (Press Image – Supplied)
Danny Jones -
7th February 2024 
