Manchester Christmas Markets have officially run out of its beloved festive mugs, despite a stock of 140,000 cups.
The hugely popular event has now resorted to using leftover stock from previous years for its gluhwein and hot chocolates, billing them as ‘vintage and retro’.
It means that visitors to the Christmas Markets over its final few days will no longer be handed the 2022 design – featuring Christmas characters like Santa, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and polar bears all high-fiving each other – and will instead throw it back as far as 2012.
Shoppers pay a deposit of £3 for a mug, which is returned when mugs are handed back in at the bars – but it seems like this year everyone’s chosen to hang on to theirs as a souvenir.
Manchester City Council said that 80,000 collectable 2022 mugs were printed this year, with a further 60,000 printed with no dates to be used in future years.
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Manchester Christmas Markets 2011 mug design. Credit: Manchester City Council
After a particularly busy festive period, which has included the city’s first ever Christmas Parade, the entire stock has been obliterated.
By 12 December – just over a month since the markets opened – every 2022 mug had either been sold or was doing the rounds of the markets in its rental scheme.
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Then by 15 December, a whole week before the festivities wrap up, they were all gone and were being replaced by vintage mugs from previous years.
Councillor Pat Karney, Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council, said: “Our Christmas mugs have always been a massive hit with each year’s design eagerly anticipated, but this year they seem to have been top of everyone’s wish-list and the demand for them has been phenomenal!
Previous Manchester Christmas Markets mug designs:
Manchester Christmas Markets 2012 mug design. Credit: Manchester City CouncilManchester Christmas Markets 2017 mug design. Credit: Manchester City CouncilManchester Christmas Markets 2018 mug design. Credit: Manchester City Council
“Bad luck of course for anyone who maybe hasn’t been to the markets yet and so has missed out on one of them, but with all our vintage mugs now out in the markets until they close, what a great chance to grab a piece of Manchester Christmas past for all the retro-heads and collectors out there!
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“The vintage mugs have been proving a massive hit with visitors over the weekend who simply can’t get enough of them and have been lapping up the nostalgic designs with their kissing snowmen and mistletoe, and of course our 2018 vintage with their interactive and wearable red nose reindeers!
“Don’t miss out – come and grab one!”
Manchester’s world-famous Christmas Markets are spread across nine sites in the city centre, and are open until 5pm this Thursday 22 December.
The market stalls at Cathedral Gardens alongside Skate Manchester ice rink will remain open in the run-up to Christmas and again after Christmas until New Year’s Eve.
The opening times for stalls at Cathedral Gardens from 22 December are as follows:
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22 Dec – open 11 am close at 9 pm
23 Dec – open 11 am close at 9 pm
24 Dec – open 10 am close at 5 pm
25 Dec – closed for Christmas Day
26 Dec – 31 Dec – open 10 am close at 6 pm
Featured image: Manchester City Council
Christmas
Chester Zoo reveals new plans for ‘spectacular’ winter light trail
Emily Sergeant
Chester Zoo has revealed new plans for a “spectacular” lights trail this winter, and it sounds even more magical than ever.
Is it too early to mention the ‘C’ word? Probably, considering it is the middle of July… but despite how far in advance it may seem, Chester Zoo has wasted absolutely no time at all in revealing exciting plans for the return of its massively-popular lights trail this winter.
Lanterns and Light is by far one of the UK’s largest charity zoo’s best-loved events each year, so it’s absolutely no surprise to hear it’s making a 2024 comeback.
Set to feature a raft of new additions, and therefore more animal lantern puppets than ever before, the zoo is promising that this year’s Lanterns and Light will be even longer and “more exciting” than what visitors saw in back in 2023 – with the event running all the way through to New Year’s Day for the first time in its history.
The zoo will be teaming up with entertainment giants, Sony Music, once again to deliver this year’s beloved festive spectacle.
Chester Zoo has revealed new plans for the return of its ‘spectacular’ winter light trail / Credit: Chester Zoo
Opening to the public for some festive family-friendly fun from 15 November, organisers say visitors should expect to take a journey through a number of distinct and vibrant lands, where they’ll encounter an exciting lineup of costumed characters and new animal puppets – including meerkats, peacocks, red pandas, and snow leopards.
An “incredible” new soundscape will add to the immersive experience, while animal lanterns such as dragonflies hovering over water, elephants in permafrost, and exotic birds flying overhead, decorate the route of the stunning light trail.
If the lights and sculptures themselves weren’t impressive enough as it is, there’ll also be a whole new festive menu on offer at food and drink markets stationed in various locations within the zoo too.
🎄Christmas is JUST around the corner!❄️
More LIGHTS, more LANTERNS, more ANIMAL PUPPETS, more MAGIC, more of EVERYTHING you love…
Don’t forget to greet Father Christmas in his workshop!🎅 Tickets to Lanterns & Light are selling fast, so get them while you still can👇 pic.twitter.com/B8cmwrLr76
Heidi Budden, who is the Marketing Manager at Chester Zoo, expects this year’s Lanterns and Light to be a “wonderful evening” and says it gives visitors the chance to “play a part in helping wildlife to thrive”.
“We’ve made the light trail even longer and packed it with exciting new elements,” she added.
“There’ll be more animal lanterns than ever before, and never-before-seen interactive puppets including energetic meerkats, colourful peacocks and playful snow leopards, all joined by many of the family favourites from years gone by that people have grown to love.”
There’ll be more animal lantern puppets than ever before at this year’s festive spectacle / Credit: Chester Zoo
Lanterns and Light will return to Chester Zoo from Friday 15 November 2024, and run on selected evenings right through to New Year’s Day – with tickets now on sale.
Ticket sales will help to support the zoo in its conservation efforts to protect some of the planet’s most threatened species.
The lyrics to Auld Lang Syne for New Year’s Eve, and what the song means
Daisy Jackson
The clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, the confetti is thrown, the kisses are exchanged, and then up starts Auld Lang Syne and you realise, once again, that you don’t know the lyrics to the iconic song.
This classic song is traditionally sung as we welcome in a new year, but you may (like us) find yourself singing the words as ‘dah daaah dah dah daaah dah dah, dah dah daaah dah Auld Lang Syne.”
Well it’s time to stop that behaviour and learn yourselves the Auld Lang Syne lyrics, quick time, before we hit 2024.
The text of the song is actually from a Robert Burns poem, penned way back in 1788 and based on an old Scottish folk song.
It was set to a tune a decade later, and since then has been recorded by dozens of different artists.
Auld Lang Syne can loosely translate as ‘old long since’, or ‘days gone by’ or ‘old times’.
So its meaning roughly is ‘for the sale of old times’.
There are longer versions of the song, but the lyrics to the most commonly-played version of Auld Lang Syne are below.
So hold hands with your loved ones, crack open the champers, and ring in a very happy new year.
What are the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne?
Fireworks on New Year’s Eve, when the song Auld Lang Syne is traditionally sung
Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot And the days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear For auld lang syne We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet For the sake of auld lang syne
And surely you will buy your cup And surely I’ll buy mine! We’ll take a cup of kindness yet For the sake of auld lang syne
We two have paddled in the stream From morning sun till night The seas between us Lord and swell Since the days of auld lang syne
For old acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind Should old acquaintance be forgot For the sake of auld lang syne?
For old acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind Should old acquaintance be forgot In the days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear For auld lang syne We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet For the sake of auld lang syne