Thousands of people made their way to the city centre yesterday for what was Manchester’s first-ever Christmas Parade.
With the festive season now officially here, crowds lined the city centre’s main shopping streets yesterday on what was one of the coldest weekends of the year for the first-ever free Christmas Parade – which brought an extra-special dose of Christmas magic, and has been dubbed a “brilliant success” by Manchester City Council.
A first for the city, and the only one of its kind in the UK, the magical parade saw more than 200 parade participants take to the streets and weave their way through the city centre in a procession filled with all the sights, sounds, and sparkle of Christmas.
Off the back of the successful return of the Manchester Day Parade earlier this year, the first-ever Christmas Parade was commissioned by Manchester City Council and ManchesterBID, and created by outdoor arts specialists Walk the Plank.
The parade was filled with everyone’s favourite festive things.
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Thousands flocked to city centre for Manchester’s first ever Christmas Parade / Credit: Manchester City Council
Led by Santa Claus himself, and a very-festive version of Manchester’s iconic Town Hall Clock, the parade saw everything from candy cane stilt walkers and runaway presents, to Christmas elves and dancing snowmen bring a smile to visitors’ faces as they interacted with the crowds, alongside some cheeky robins, a giant reindeer, arctic fox, snowy owl, Jack Frost, and an enchanting giant snow globe.
One of the highlights of the parade was a mini Christmas Toy Procession, with sugar plum fairies, toy soldiers, and a fairy mouse squeaking its way around the streets, along with the biggest Christmas Crackers you’ve ever seen.
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Dancers dressed in their sparkly Christmas kit entertained crowds, and the Bloco Band also provided live music on the day playing everyone’s favourite Christmas songs to get people in the festive mood.
The event has been dubbed a “brilliant success” / Credit: Manchester City Council
The Christmas Parade went down so well families and festive shoppers, that councillors are now considering whether to bring it back next year.
“It really was one of the best things we’ve ever done,” commented Councillor Pat Karney.
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“What made it for me was just seeing thousands of youngsters of all ages, smiling and waving and celebrating the magic of Christmas. We already know Manchester is Santa’s favourite city, and we want all the children and young people who grow up here to know this too, and to have really great memories of Manchester at Christmas.”
Over the past few weekends now, businesses based in the city centre have been working in partnership with the Council and Manchester BID throughout the festive season to help make sure Christmas is magical in Manchester this year.
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
Christmas
Aldi confirms ‘special’ 62-hour closure of all its 1,000+ stores across UK
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has announced that it’ll, once again, be closing the doors of all of its stores across the UK for 62 hours this year.
Christmas is always known to be one of the busiest periods of the year for the retail industry, and Boxing Day has a reputation for being the ultimate day for shopping deals and discounts in the UK – but this year, just like it has done on several years in the past, Aldi has made the decision to close all of its stores nationwide on this bank holiday.
The supermarket retailer says it wants to thank its colleagues ‘for all their hard work’ throughout the year by giving them some extra time to spend with their families.
This means that all Aldi stores will be closed on both 25 and 26 December.
That’s not all though, as stores will also be closed on New Year’s Day, and will reopen once again on Saturday 2 January 2027.
Aldi has announced a ‘special’ 62-hour closure of all its UK stores / Credit: Aldi UK
Opening hours at different Aldi stores across the UK will vary in the lead-up to Christmas, so it’s important to check the times for your local store, but the retailer has confirmed that most branches will be operating extended hours to ‘ensure customers can stock up ahead of the big day’
In the interim period between Christmas and New Year, stores will reopen as usual on Sunday 27 through to Wednesday 30 December, with reduced hours also likely on Sunday and New Year’s Eve.
Speaking on the decision to shut up shop for a full 62-hour period this festive season, Rachel Geary, who is the Communications Director at Aldi UK, said: “Christmas is a special time for our customers, but it is also one of the busiest periods of the year for our teams.
“Our colleagues work incredibly hard to ensure customers can pick up everything they need ahead of the big day.
“We never take that effort for granted. Closing our stores on Boxing Day is one way of saying thank you and giving colleagues a proper chance to rest, switch off and spend more time with the people closest to them.”
Featured Image – Aldi UK
Christmas
A TV channel playing Christmas films 24/7 is now back on air in the UK
Emily Sergeant
Do you think it’s too early for the ‘C word’? Never mind, you’ve already clicked on this article.
Sure, we may only be into our second full week of September, but given the fact the weather these past couple of days hasn’t exactly screamed summer, it already feels like the festive season is around the corner – but whether or not you think it’s too early to be talking about Christmas, it’ll soon be too tricky to escape from.
Especially not when the famous TV channel showing festive film favourites non-stop is now back on air in the UK.
Yes, you heard that right – Christmas films, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
If you’re ready to wave goodbye to summer, and in welcome autumn and winter with open arms, then there’s arguably no better way of getting into the festive spirit than with the long-awaited and highly-anticipated return of the TV channel that’s charmed audiences for over half a decade now.
GREAT! Christmas the UK’s biggest seasonal channel, and it’s now live on Sky, Freesat, Freeview and Virgin Media.
You can expect almost four months of back-to-back seasonal movies.
The 24-hour feel-good and free-to-air channel will be bursting with non-stop Christmas spirit, and will be showing a heartwarming lineup of festive films – including some absolute fan-favourite classics that make it to screens every year without fail, alongside some cheesy Hallmark classics, new channel premieres, and so much more.
Emily Sergeant -
12th December 2022 
