Dozens of life-sized puppet animals are to embark on a journey through Greater Manchester this summer.
From the team behind The Walk with Little Amal – the Syrian refugee child puppet who made the journey across the world, and our borough, back in 2021 – comes a new life-sized spectacle called THE HERDS, which will visit Manchester as part of the opening of this summer’s Manchester International Festival (MIF).
The hugely-ambitious new public artwork is set to transform Greater Manchester into a ‘breathtaking untamed spectacle’ as a way of vividly dramatising the climate crisis.
Life-sized animal puppets travel will be travelling through the city centre, Heywood in Rochdale, and Pennington Flash in Wigan this July as part of their 20,000km journey from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle.
This is a public artwork on a scale never attempted before.
The animals are visiting Manchester as part of an epic journey – which began on 9 April from Kinshasa in the Congo – and as they cross different continents, the herd will grow in numbers and species including elephants, giraffes, antelope, lions, and others local to the area they are travelling through.
To help further highlight the scale of the climate crisis and the collective effort needed to fight it, the puppets are set to operated by local participants in each city – including in Manchester.
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Because of this, Factory International and The Walk Productions are looking for amateur makers and DIY enthusiasts to join the puppet build, as well as 100 local people to help operate the puppets in Manchester, Heywood, and Wigan.
Life-sized animal puppets are being paraded through Greater Manchester this summer / Credit: Ant Strack
For the opening event of MIF25 on Thursday 3 July, THE HERDS first arrives in Manchester city centre and will scatter through the city’s main streets, so if you happen to find yourself between Cathedral Gardens and Market Street on the day, then you might just stumble upon them.
After opening MIF25, the animals are then abandoning the bustling city for the residential streets of Heywood in Rochdale on Friday (4 July).
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For the final stop on their Greater Manchester journey, THE HERDS find a fleeting refuge in the wild beauty of Pennington Flash Country Park in Wigan on Saturday 5 July, and visitors are invited to explore the park’s winding trails and quietly observe as 70 life-sized puppets appear amid the trees and wetlands.
Amir Nizar Zuabi, who is the Artistic Director of THE HERDS, calls it a ‘a living breathing call to action that stampedes across continents’.
“THE HERDS is an urgent artistic response to the climate crisis,” he added. “Through the beauty and ferocity of these life-size creatures, we aim to spark dialogue, provoke thought, encourage engagement and inspire real change.”
You can see THE HERDS in Greater Manchester from Thursday 4 – Saturday 5 July.
Featured Image – Berclaire (for The Walk Productions)
Art & Culture
Selfridges Manchester to host an out-of-hours dinner in the middle of the shop floor, plus the city’s chicest book club
Daisy Jackson
Selfridges will be hosting a series of exclusive events in the coming weeks, including a supper club in the middle of a shop floor, and an evening with the city’s chicest book club.
Up first, on Thursday 23 April, Selfridges Exchange will welcome acclaimed local supper club A-Kin for an exclusive dining experience on the menswear shop floor.
Guests will enjoy a five-course menu inside the luxury department store, long after the doors have closed.
You’ll be tucking into dishes like short rib doughnut with horseradish cream, breadcrumbs and chives; bone-in ribeye with cafe de Paris butter and shoestring fries; and a tarta de Santiago.
A-Kin will be bringing together like-minded guests for an evening of exceptional food, music, and style, fittingly in the surrounds of Selfridges Exchange’s menswear department.
Club Culture is Selfridges’ take on what’s bringing people together, now, building on the new movement of hobby-led and community-centric social gatherings and clubs.
But Selfridges has always had its roots as a social space – when the London store first opened in 1909, founder Harry Gordon Selfridge opened a Journalist’s Club with a room equipped with typewriters, telephones and a bar, later hosting an All-Girl Gun Club on the roof in the 1920s and 1930s; and even later, hosting screenings with Club Cine.
Run clubs, a comedy club, boxing club and nightclub have all featured as part of Selfridges creative programming in recent years – and now, a book club and supper club.
Selfridges customers can collect keys for attending Club Culture events and experiences, as part of its membership programme, Selfridges Unlocked. Customers join and collect keys by shopping and spending time at Selfridges to unlock perks at every level.
The Akin Supper Club has now sold out, but you can still book tickets for The Read Room HERE.
Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum announces FREE programme of space-themed activities
Emily Sergeant
National Space Day is coming up, and you can celebrate with a bunch of free space-inspired activities in Manchester this bank holiday.
Ever wondered what astronauts eat in orbit? How they use the loo in zero gravity? Or why crumbs are bad news on the International Space Station? Well, to celebrate National Space Day – which is taking place this year on Friday 1 May – you’ll now get to discover the answers to those questions and so much more down at the Science and Industry Museum early next month.
The popular Manchester city centre-based museum has unveiled a programme of free ‘out-of-this-world’ events and activities this upcoming May bank holiday weekend.
The programme of free events are set to accompany the museum’s latest special exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos – which you do have to pay for – and will give visitors more ways to explore the ‘wonders and weirdness’ of space.
The Science and Industry Museum has announced a free programme of space-themed activities / Credit: Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
Launching on National Space Day (Friday 1 May) and running through to Monday 4 May, the special bank holiday weekend programme is especially timely following the recent return of Artemis II astronauts from their history-making mission around the moon.
Families can get a taste of space during new live shows by sampling real foods used to feed astronauts, and discover more about how humans live and work beyond Earth, while budding space explorers put their skills to the test in interactive activities designed to ‘spark curiosity’ and ‘stretch imaginations’ to the moon and back.
Stargazers can enjoy the night sky as its projected across super-sized screens, or get creative by crafting their very own constellations and designing a mission patch for an astronaut’s spacesuit.
The events accompany the museum’s latest special exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos / Credit: Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
“2026 has already been a stellar year for space,” commented Tash Camberwell, who is the Interpretation and Content Developer at the Science and Industry Museum, as the programme of free events was announced this week.
“We’ve been so inspired by the amazing Artemis II astronauts, so I’m especially excited to bring space back down to Earth with an action-packed programme for the May bank holiday.
“Just like the exhibition, our holiday activities have been created for young people and their grown-ups to enjoy together by blending humour, hands-on science and spectacular experiences to spark curiosity in space and inspire the next generation of space explorers.”
More information on the bank holiday weekend activities can be found on the Science and Industry Museum’s website here, and free general admission tickets, as well as £10 tickets to Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos, can also be booked online too – with under threes going free.
Following what was a popular spring school holidays, museum staff say early booking is ‘advised’.
Featured Image – Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
Emily Sergeant -
12th May 2025 
