A huge festival dedicated to all things vegan is coming to Manchester this weekend, bringing over 80 stalls showcasing all the tools you need to live your best plant-based, sustainable life.
Offering a mix of street food stalls, beauty and household products, vegan cooking products and more, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or just thinking about making a bit of a change, Manchester Vegan Festival is the place to go for inspiration.
Taking place this Sunday 15 May at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Trafford, Manchester Vegan Festival is set to be full of surprises – selling everything from authentic Eritrean street food and toiletries to a vegan cookbook for humans and their dogs.
Run entirely by volunteers, all the proceeds from the festival (and that cookbook) will go to support animal welfare charity Miracle’s Mission – a non-profit animal welfare organisation works with sick, injured and disabled animals worldwide.
Other charities and not-for-profit organisations attending include Greenpeace, Hugletts Wood Farm Animal Sanctuary, Plantlife, Viva!, Woodland Trust and WWF.
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Food and drink stalls
Teatime Collective is a vegan bakery based in Hulme. At the festival, you’ll find vegan cakes by the slice as well as Bakewell tarts, rock road, chocolate tortes and apple turnovers. / Image; Teatime Collective
Root2Ginger sell natural ginger drink mixes that are alcohol free and made here in Manchester. / Image: Root2Ginger
On the street food front, look out for authentic Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine from House of Habesha and hearty wraps from Seitan’s Kebab. Elsewhere, you’ll find a Greek vegan deli, vegan vfish and chips from There’s No Catch, and an array of vegan hotdogs from VDogs.
As for the food and drink stalls, here you’ll find a host of Manchester-based makers including Root2Ginger, Kind Hearted Chocs and Teatime Collective.
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For fiery, spiced mint and ginger health drinks, Root2Ginger is a must, whilst Teatime Collective and Bolton-based Vegan Infinity are the places to visit for vegan cakes, brownies, truffles, apple turnovers, bakewell tarts and bars.
Artisan vegan chocolate shop Kind Hearted Chocs will be there with its special handmade selection boxes, and there will also be a stall selling a vegan cookbook for humans AND dogs. Called Bo’s Book, all the profits go to help needy dogs at the animal welfare and education charity Miracle’s Mission.
For all things beauty, household and lifestyle, stalls at the festival will include natural and organic vegan toiletries from iUVO Skincare, Eden Perfumes and fashions from Slogan Clothing, and Viva la Vegan.
Eden Perfumes promise to match your favourite perfume without chemicals, whilst Slogan Clothing has all your ethica, vegan and ecological clothing, boots and accessory needs covered.
Also exhibiting is the ultimate vegan food and camping experience happening in June 2023 – VFest UK. This brand new upbeat event features exciting headline acts, yoga, family entertainment, fun shows, international speakers, stalls, global food caterers and much more.
Charity support
The event supports Miracle’s Mission, a charity that works to provide a place of safety for animals in danger, to educate on the needs of neutering both pets and strays and to neuter stray dogs and cats to prevent the birth of more animals onto the streets.
The mission also rehabilitates and re-homes dogs in need, often with disabilities, from its UK rescue base.
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Speaking on the upcoming event, Manchester Vegan Festival organiser Victoria Bryceson said: “I’m really looking forward to the Manchester Vegan Festival which is set to be even bigger and better than last year’s.
Nelly from Miracle’s Mission is a double amputee looking for her forever home. / Miracle’s Mission
“We received so much positive feedback last year and there’s now so much demand that this festival is becoming a sell-out event. I think it’s partly because people really love the friendly atmosphere.
“The wonderful thing about the event is that it’s for everyone whatever your lifestyle. Just come along and bring your friends for a great, fun day-out.
“You’ll have everything you need there, whether you’re looking for some retail therapy, some ‘me’ time, precious family time, or just a lovely meal out with some friends.”
Manchester Vegan Festival takes place on Sunday 15 May 2022 from 10.30am to 4.30 pm at Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Longbridge Road, Manchester M17 1SN.
Admission is £5, with under 16’s allowed in for free, or £15 for VIP tickets that can be ordered in advance from Eventbrite, These include fast track entry and a goody bag full of vegan products, samples, discounts and offers.
‘Danger to life’ amber wind warning issued for Greater Manchester as Storm Éowyn arrives
Emily Sergeant
Storm Éowyn is expected to bring very strong winds and widespread disruption to Greater Manchester later this week.
In case you hadn’t heard, the Met Office named Storm Éowyn yesterday, and confirmed that it will begin to influence the UK’s weather from early on Friday – with strengthening winds initially expected in the south west first, accompanying heavy rainfall, before it quickly spreads to the north and the rest of the UK as the morning progresses.
An amber warning for wind has been issued for large parts of the UK, including the majority of Greater Manchester, for most of the day on Friday.
#StormÉowyn has been named and is forecast to bring strong winds to much of the UK on Friday and into Saturday.
Coming into effect from 6am this Friday (24 January), the weather warning his means that power cuts are likely to occur, transport services will be affected with delays and cancellations, and there is a chance that buildings could be damaged.
Worse than that though, there’s even a ‘danger to life’ too, with potential injuries occurring from flying debris.
Speaking ahead of Storm Éowyn’s arrival in a couple of days time, Mike Silverstone, who is the Deputy Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “Storm Éowyn will bring a period of very unsettled, potentially disruptive, weather to the UK through Friday and into Saturday.
Warnings for strong winds, heavy rain and snow are in place across many parts of the UK during Thursday, Friday and into the weekend ⚠️
“The strongest gusts are likely to be felt across parts of Northern Ireland, northern England, northwestern Wales and western Scotland, where exposed sites could get gusts in excess of 80mph, which has the potential to cause impacts for those in these areas.
“There will also be some heavy rain, bringing some unpleasant conditions to end the week.”
The initial warning for Storm Éowyn has been issued several days in advance, so it’s important to stay up to date with the forecast on the Met Office website here in the coming days.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
News
The 2025/26 Premiership Women’s Rugby season has been delayed
Danny Jones
The next Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) season has been officially delayed by nearly three weeks.
Announced on Tuesday, 21 January, the decision has been taken in an effort to help promote the Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC), the proximity of which is rather close to the national union championship competition.
With sporting bodies also trying to nurture a growing interest in female rugby, the start of the next PWR season will be pushed back not only to give players more time to rest but in an effort to drive a larger audience to the WRWC as well, the final of which is being played here in England.
The hope is that it will also better the Red Roses’ chances of winning the international tournament in turn – fingers firmly crossed.
Get excited 🤩
The PWR 2025-26 Season will officially kick off on Saturday 25th October PLUS the PWR Cup will return 🙌
The conclusion of the international tournament is taking place at Twickenham Stadium in London on 27 September, just days before the 2025/26 Premiership season was due to start.
Local side Sale Sharks are sadly at the bottom of the table this current campaign, which kicked off on 5 October 2024 and ends this March, but with eyes already on the WRWC the focus for lots of players in the division will no doubt already be shifting.
Not only is the domestic women’s rugby season being delayed by nearly three whole weeks – meaning the first games won’t happen until 25 October – but this comes after the current schedule of fixtures was also reduced with player recovery in mind ahead of the World Cup.
Speaking to BBC Sport, the PWR’s operations manager, Amy Walmsley, said: “The Rugby World Cup is a generational moment for women’s rugby and will create a huge opportunity for both PWR and our clubs to grow and celebrate with their fans.
“The optimum time between the Rugby World Cup Final and our first league match will ensure we capitalise on what we already know will be the biggest and best World Cup ever, while also ensuring player welfare with adequate rest across the season.”
The stats back it up too as 2024 saw numerous milestones for the women’s game; in addition to record crowds at the Olympics, last year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations was the most viewed on record with 8.1 million fans tuning in, not to mention an increased interest among 18-24-year-olds.
You can find the run-down of the Sale Sharks Women fixtures below:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗜𝗻
All of our fixtures for the 24/25 season are locked in. Let's bring that Northern roar to every game #SharksFamily 🦈
As for the final of the Premiership Women’s Rugby, the date has been reverted to its usual window in June, which should also fit within what congestion remains.
Nevertheless, with the Women’s Six Nations in late April and England – who have won all but one of their last 51 games – set to begin their World Cup on 22 August, the margins are still going to be somewhat fine if they are to head into the tournament in the best shape possible.
With the tickets selling extremely well, the expectation is that the Rugby World Cup final break is set to break the world record for the best-attended women’s rugby fixture in history.
In the meantime, Greater Manchester is gearing up for the men’s action as the Six Nations gets underway at the end of this month and the city is boasting the perfect place to watch it.
Georgina Pellant -
13th May 2022 
