It’s time to say goodbye to May, and welcome June with open arms.
Throughout the month of May so far, the Greater Manchester social calendar has featured the likes of foodie festivals, cultural celebrations, wholesome spring-themed events, and so much more… and thankfully, there’s loads more where that came from this week – especially as schools across the region are out for half term.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though? We’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
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Manchester Flower Festival 2024
Manchester City Centre
Monday 27 May
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Manchester Flower Festival 2024 / Credit: The Manc Group
Manchester has become one of the most picturesque places in the UK this bank holiday weekend.
That’s because the city has got all dressed up in celebration of the annual Flower Festival, which is back by popular demand for its seventh year, and it means that plants and flowers are covering landmark buildings, shop windows, doorways, balconies, statues, fountains, and more for as far as the eye can see.
There’s also a ‘Manchester Icons’ floral trail, and visitors can see 10 glorious displays inspired by Manchester-born figures, music icons, and even legendary buildings created by local artists, gardeners, and flower enthusiasts.
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Find out more about everything happening at this year’s Manchester Flower Festival here.
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Vintage 1940s Weekend
East Lancashire Railway
Monday 27 May
Vintage 1940s Weekend / Credit: ELR
Fancy stepping back in time? The Greater Manchester public invited to “dig out your gladrags” and head on down to East Lancashire Railway (ELR) to round-off the bank holiday weekend, as an ‘immersive’ 1940s-themed weekend is back by popular demand.
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The Vintage 1940s Weekend has been an absolute hit in previous years, and has always been one of the heritage railway’s most popular events.
You can expect an exciting programme of live music all throughout the three-day weekend, as well as food, fashion, and memorabilia of the 1940s being brought to life.
Brilliant Bodies Month & Half Term Events / Credit: Science Museum Group
Fancy diving into the “gloriously gross” world of our brilliant bodies?
With schools across Greater Manchester breaking up for half term at the end of this month, and parents and carers gearing up to entertain the little ones, the Science and Industry Museum has a wide range of events and activities planned especially for the holidays.
The city’s most-visited museum is promising visitors a May half term “full of family fun” inspired by its world-first exhibition Operation Ouch! Food, Poo and You.
Find out more about what’s on at the Science and Industry Museum this half term, and the rest of the month here.
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The Manchester College ‘Greater Mancunians’ Exhibition
Manchester Central Library
Monday 27 May – onwards
The Manchester College ‘Greater Mancunians’ Exhibition / Credit: Supplied
Photography students from The Manchester College are now showcasing their ‘Greater Mancunians’ project as part of a landmark exhibition at Manchester Central Library’s Main Exhibition Hall.
150 students have participated in the groundbreaking photography project, and it features images of some of Manchester’s most famous and influential people shot at numerous locations across the city.
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More than 100 contributors are featured in the project, including musicians Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr, athletes Diane Modahl and Ricky Hatton, local politicians Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner, and Bev Craig, actors Maxine Peake and Bill Roache, artists Stan Chow and AKSE P-19, and other local figures like Jonathan Warburton, Simon Martin, and Professor Erinma Bell MBE.
Have you seen that Diecast has just launched its huge outdoor beer garden for the summer?
‘Summer Town’ is billed as being the biggest summer garden party space, with room for 800 revellers to make the most of the sunshine over the next few months.
Diecast’s famous daiquiris are dominating at Leno Ex Machina’s central bar, with up 49 flavour combinations pouring from their gigantic Bacardi Frozen Daiquiri machines, while at the centre of the garden is the brand-new ‘Barbecue Kitchen’, where you can took into burgers, chargrilled hanger steaks, hot dogs, kebabs, and chef’s specials while the sun shines.
The magic carpet has officially landed, as Disney’s smash-hit musical Aladdin is now here in Manchester for the summer.
Based on the beloved 1992 animated film of the same name, and following several critically-acclaimed and sold-out runs on both Broadway and in London’s West End since it first debuted back in 2011, the Tony and Olivier Award-nominated production has taken to the stage down at Manchester’s iconic Palace Theatre.
The musical features all the timeless songs we know and love from the film, and people are already describing it as a seriously magical show.
Manchester Green Spaces Trail / Credit: Carl Sukonik | Annapurna Mellor
Workers and visitors are being invited to discover some stunning outdoor spaces across Manchester city centre and beyond this summer.
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Keen to get out and about on foot? Manchester has launched Manchester Green Spaces Trail – a brand-new walking trail celebrating the best green, blue, and outdoor areas the cities of Manchester and Salford have to offer.
Created in collaboration with Manchester tour guide, Jonathan Schofield, the walking trail is free to do and accessible via a downloadable map, and it features 16 garden and water spaces.
Did you see that Chester Zoo has been named the best zoo in the UK for 2024?
Everyone in and around Greater Manchester and the North West is already familiar with just how brilliant the UK’s biggest charity zoo is and all the work it contributes towards conservation and protecting endangered species all across the world.
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But now, it’s got itself a respectable new title to prove it, and it’s all thanks to tens of thousands of positive TripAdvisor reviews.
The world’s biggest travel guidance platform has named Chester Zoo as the best-rated zoo to visit in the UK this year, with more than 11,000 ‘Excellent’ ratings.
This week is your last chance to visit a brand-new art FREE exhibition curated by visual artist Emma Evans in partnership with six other creators.
Tales of Manchester 2.0 down at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is a collection of multi-platform art celebrating our brilliant city, and it’s showcasing six spoken word pieces by established Manchester based poets – Griot Gabriel, Ilaria Passeri, Lisa O’Hare, Mark Jackson aka Keith’s Brother, Matt Concannon aka The Thirsty Poet, and Sarah Attwell.
The spoken word is paired with visual pieces painted by self-taught artist Emma Evans, where the words have served as inspiration for the art.
Trafford Palazzo is hosting loads of gardening-themed events to entertain the little Mancs this half term.
To celebrate National Children’s Gardening Week, Trafford Palazzo has partnered with We Are Mud to curate a lineup of “blooming fun” bactivities that will inspire the whole family to get growing, and encourage little green fingers to get stuck in.
And the best bit? It’s all absolutely FREE to get involved in.
Fizzy Quizzy is GRUB’s weekly quiz event where, put simply, “the fizz meets the quiz”.
Each week, the popular Green Quarter-based street food fair and social hub’s in-house quizmaster crafts a mind-blowingly original quiz featuring six topical and light-hearted rounds, and it’s even been hailed as the best brain-tickler in Manchester.
Tickets are now on sale, so you know what to do if you’re looking to put your knowledge to the test – and there’s loads of prizes up for grabs too.
Oldham’s outdoor arts festival celebrating culture and community is back this Saturday to mark the 175th anniversary of the town.
Held annually in the town’s centre, this exciting family-friendly festival will showcase the very best local, regional, and national street theatre, music, dance, and visual arts across a variety of spaces, and visitors on the day will have a choice of over 50 performances and activities to make the most of and get stuck into.
It’s all FREE to attend too, so if you are looking for something to do with the kids that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, this is a great half term plan.
Featured Image – Manchester Flower Festival | Annapurna Mellor | Science Museum Group
What's On
A huge festival dedicated to tequila and mezcal is coming to Manchester this month
Daisy Jackson
Manchester’s first-ever Mezcal and Tequila Festival is taking place this month, filling Manchester Cathedral with tastings, masterclasses, cocktails and street food.
The massive event will see the Grade I-listed building transformed into an agave spirits tasting floor, featuring more than 100 varieties of premium tequilas and mezcals from some of Mexico’s best producers including El Jimador, Ojo de Tigre, El Sueno, Los Arcos, Del Maguey, Cazcabel, Komos, Nixta, Tapatio, El Tequileno, Tiempo and many more.
Festival-goers will be able to gain exclusive insights into the craftsmanship behind these spirits, sampling (responsibly, of course) from dozens of stands.
All samples, plus a limited-edition clay tasting copita, will be included in the ticket price – there’s no token system here and no extra charges for samples.
The new Mexican-inspired drinks festival only debuted in Glasgow back in Spring 2023 but it unsurprisingly went down an absolute storm – after all, what’s not to like a big festival full of booze?
Bartenders will stir up cocktails at the bespoke cocktail bar while the crowds are kept fed by delicious street food, including Mexican-inspired Taco Or Don’t, previously featured at the British Streetfood Awards.
And it’d be remiss of you to leave the festival empty-handed when you can take a taste of Mexico home from the exclusive bottle shop provided by Drinkmonger on site (with discount tokens included in the ticket price).
A tequila and mezcal festival is heading on Manchester. Credit: Supplied
Colin Campbell, one of Copita’s co-founders said: “We’re really excited to be bringing Copita to Manchester. It’s gone down brilliantly in Glasgow the last two years so we felt now was the right time to take it on the road and we couldn’t think of a better place than Manchester to head to next!
“It’s a really easy-going event with a great atmosphere, lots of local street food, shopping and music, so whether you’re an aficionado or a casual sipper we’re confident you’ll have a great time.”
The Copita Mezcal and Tequila Festival will be at Manchester Cathedral on Saturday 14 September.
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 9 – 15 September 2024
Emily Sergeant
We’re into our second full week of September now, and summer is already beginning to feel like a distant memory.
For many people, the end of summer can sometimes mean the end of all the fun and the start of the cosy season, but as we head into autumn, there’s still absolutely no shortage of things for all the family to be getting up to across Greater Manchester.
If you’re finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though, we’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
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Heritage Open Days 2024
Greater Manchester
Monday 9 – Sunday 15 September
Heritage Open Days / Credit: Chris Lacey | Paul Harris (via HODs)
The UK’s largest festival of history and culture has returned this week, and there’s thousands of free events on the lineup.
Back by popular demand, the National Trust’s ‘Heritage Open Days’ are run by thousands of local organisations and volunteers, and they’re all about bringing people together to celebrate their culture, community, and history.
From historic houses, factories, and museums, to music halls, formal gardens, and graveyards, countless of places and spaces across the country – including loads here in Greater Manchester – are open to the public, all without having to spend a penny.
Find out more about everything on the lineup here.
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Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine
Science and Industry Museum
Monday 9 September – onwards
Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine / Credit: Science Museum Group
More than 100 objects and stories collected during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic are now on display as part of a new exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum.
The groundbreaking new exhibition, titled Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine, explores the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed, while uncovering the inspiring stories of scientists and innovators around the globe who collaborated to tackle the worldwide COVID-19 challenge along the way.
A groundbreaking new immersive exhibition exploring our relationship with the natural world is now open at Manchester Museum.
‘Wild’ look at how people are creating, rebuilding, and repairing connections with nature, and how the natural world has traditionally been presented and idealised through Western art, as well as looking at some unique approaches to environmental recovery too.
The exhibition will also crucially look at how we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by making the world more wild.
50 Years of the Replica Shirt / Credit: National Football Museum | Admiral Sports
A new exhibition telling the story of the football shirt pioneers, Admiral, is now open at the National Football Museum.
50 Years of the Replica Shirt will take visitors right through the Admiral’s history, from their humble beginnings in a Leicestershire textile town, to the official kit manufacturers for the England national team – with key moments in the company’s timeline highlighted through a range of objects, photographs, and kit designs.
Manc visitors will be able to walk through the iconic Jurassic World gates, explore some richly-themed environments, and encounter a life-sized Brachiosaurus, Velociraptors, and the most fearsome dinosaur of all, the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
You can be in with a chance of winning one of hundreds of free prizes just by heading down to Spinningfields this week.
In case you hadn’t heard, Spinningfields has just launched a brand-new app that’s now available to download, and in a bid to mark the occasion and properly celebrate this exciting launch, the city centre leisure and business district will be hosting an epic ‘Spin to Win’ event where “everyone’s a winner” on Tuesday from 8am.
There’ll be free coffee and free prizes to make the most of, all for just downloading a free app.
One of Greater Manchester’s best-loved outdoor dining concepts has returned for 2024, and there’s a proper tasty lineup of traders.
‘Kargo on the Docks’ – which is MediaCity‘s al fresco dining pop-up, in place of the former Box On The Docks – has had itself a bit of a “glow up” and has taken over the waterfront and gardens with a fresh wave of local food traders and stunning artwork by Salford-based creatives, all as the sun shines down on Salford Quays this summer.
Did you see that Bolton has launched its own ‘Hollywood of the North’ TV and film location tours around the town centre?
Merely months after being named Greater Manchester’s new ‘Town of Culture’, Bolton is already proving why 2024 is its year, as the town is celebrating its shiny new title by celebrating all the times it has been chosen as a filming location for dozens of major film and TV productions over the years.
These new behind-the-scenes tours are led by local historian and professional tour guide, Suzanne Hindle, and will feature all of the town’s famous filming spots.
Bolton Film & TV Tours / Credit: Supplied | BBC
Visitors will get to explore places such as court rooms, cells, and Crescent corridors whilst hearing tales of how the industry adapt these unexpected locations to set the scene.
Known and loved for being one of the best musicals the 21st Century – and one of the funniest of all time – having scooped up dozens of coveted awards both in the US and here in the UK in its time, The Book of Mormon is currently out on tour, and the Elders are set to arrive in our city this week for an extended stay.
The hilarious production will be taking over the iconic Palace Theatre stage from this Wednesday until early October, and there’s still chance to grab yourself some tickets too.
A new science and tech festival for all the family is coming to Cheshire this weekend to help “inspire young minds”.
Set to descend on the grounds of Bruntwood SciTech’s Alderley Park – a unique place where world-leading science, innovation, and stylish living all come together in the Cheshire countryside – SciTech Extravaganza will be a day filled full of fun science-themed shows, interactive activities, new skill-building opportunities, and more.
The brand-new family festival is designed to “spark curiosity” and “encourage engagement” through STEM-related learning.