Bewitching Christmas light trail Northern Lights will return to Heaton Park this year

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Bewitching Christmas light trail Northern Lights will return to Heaton Park this year

The festive light trail that proved to be a smash hit last winter will make a return to Manchester this year.

Northern Lights has just announced a major return to Heaton Park, with a brand-new Christmas Time Machine theme.

The dazzling mile-long light trail will transform the park into a wonderland with 14 different installations, plus selfie spots along the route.

And there’ll be a limited Kids Go Free offer on select dates, as well as inclusive evenings with reduced capacity and lower audio levels.

Northern Lights attracted more than 100,000 visitors when it made its Heaton Park debut last winter, and received rave reviews across the board.

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This year, A Christmas Time Machine will take place from 19 November all the way through to the end of the year, inviting visitors to step back into their favourite festive memories with a nostalgic collection in installations.

Original soundscapes, spectacular new illuminations, and even a marshmallow zone will bring the fully accessible trail to life.

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Northern Lights is returning to Manchester
Northern Lights is returning to Manchester
Northern Lights is returning to Manchester. Credit: Supplied

Visitors will walk along Candy Cane Lane, admire a giant neon slinky, and ogle at shimmering nutcrackers.

There’ll also be vintage fairground rides, cosy festive pit stops, and an expanded Christmas Village with artisan food and drink producers from across the region.

Demand is expected to be high for this year’s festivities, with Early Bird tickets just released to get you the best value prices of the year.

Emma St.Croix, Senior Marketing Manager at From The Fields, said: “The response to Northern Lights Manchester last year exceeded all of our expectations.

“The warmth and enthusiasm from visitors made it incredibly special for our team, and we’re delighted to be returning to Heaton Park with something completely new.

“Since January, we’ve been reimagining every part of the experience. A Christmas Time Machine takes visitors on a journey through the festive moments that stay with us long after the decorations come down. Nodding to the traditions we return to year after year, the nostalgia of Christmases gone by, and the excitement of creating new memories together.

“We can’t wait to welcome visitors back and share this next chapter of Northern Lights with families, friends and loved ones from across the region.”

Northern Lights will also host dedicated inclusive evenings on Wednesday 2 and Wednesday 9 December. Visitor numbers will be reduced by 75%, with lower audio levels throughout the trail to create a calmer environment that may be preferable for some neurodivergent visitors and those who benefit from a more relaxed experience.

Northern Lights Manchester tickets

  • Kids Go Free offer – available on selected Off-Peak Early Bird dates until 31 August (or until allocation is exhausted. Use code KIDSLIGHTS before selecting tickets to unlock.
  • Early Bird Pricing
    • Peak tickets – from £17.25 including transaction fee
    • Off-peak tickets – from £13.75 including transaction fee

Book your tickets HERE.

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Featured image: Supplied

NHS to begin offering new one-minute jab to women with ‘aggressive’ form of cancer

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Injection / jab

The NHS is set to begin offering new immunotherapy for hundreds of women with aggressive cervical cancer across the country.

Pembrolizumab – which experts have described as being able to ‘take the handbrake off’ the body’s immune system to target cancer – will now be presented as a new treatment option for women in England with locally-advanced cervical cancer, which means the cancer has grown beyond the cervix to regions such as the pelvic wall, but not yet spread further around the body.

Trials found that adding pembrolizumab to standard chemoradiotherapy helped keep cancer ‘at bay’ for longer, and improved survival rates overall.

Two years after starting the treatment, nearly seven in 10 patients (68%) were still living without their cancer progressing, compared with 57% for those receiving chemoradiotherapy alone, according to NHS figures.

The trial also found that 82.6% of patients were still alive three years after treatment with pembrolizumab and chemoradiotherapy, compared with 74.8% with chemoradiotherapy alone.

The drug is either given every three or siz weeks via an infusion, or as a ‘one-minute’ injection, alongside chemoradiotherapy.

The NHS estimates around 550 patients in England will be eligible for the treatment – which has been approved this week by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – over the next two years.

Patients will now receive fast-tracked access, funded by NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund.

“This is great news for women facing a diagnosis of aggressive cervical cancer, and represents one of the biggest improvements in treatment for this disease in recent years,” commented Professor Peter Johnson, who is the NHS National Clinical Director for Cancer.

“Combining this immunotherapy with existing treatment has had very positive effect for patients in trials, helping the body’s immune system to target cancer more effectively.

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“We’re delighted it will be available for patients on the NHS as it could help hundreds more women survive and stay cancer-free in the long-term.”

Featured Image – NappyStudio (via Unsplash)


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