Cheshire Fest will return this summer for a four-day knee up over the June Bank Holiday Jubilee weekend, bringing the early noughties indie rock band The Zutons down from Liverpool for a headline set.
Taking place this year from a brand new home at The Lambing Shed, Moseley Hall Farm in Knutsford, the festival line-up will play host to a number of famous Manchester faces with further DJ sets coming from the likes of Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets) and Peter Hook (Joy Division / New Order / The Hacienda).
Elsewhere, there’ll be a massive craft beer festival, a huge Big Top bingo party hosted by none other than Bongo’s Bingo, a street food village, artisan markets, and family entertainment involving a giant bubble display and circus acts.
Image: Cheshire FestImage: Cheshire Fest
There’ll be more bars serving everything from artisan gin and prosecco to lagers and softs, with several hosted by gin brand JJ Whitley Neil, and a Cheshire Fest Pub, on-site.
As for cocktail lovers, the Tipi Disco will offer a vibrant escape with premium mixologists and soulful music from Liverpool Disco Festival DJs.
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Thursday
Revellers will descend on a beautiful, new tree-lined location in the heart of the green Cheshire countryside for the event, which will kick off its first night with a Cheshire debut of Bongo’s infamous Bingo in the Big Top tent.
Here, festival-goers can expect crazy prizes, spontaneous dance-offs, rave intervals and magic moments of nostalgic escapism, all hosted by Jonny Bongo himself.
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Bank Holiday Friday
Image: Cheshire Fest
On the Bank Holiday Friday, Cheshire Craft Beer Festival will take over the site from 4-11pm, bringing over 40 UK breweries along to serve up their finest pours including Tiny Rebel and Beavertown.
There’ll be street food too, as well as cocktails for non-beer drinkers, all hosted in what will be the Big Top Beer Hall for the day.
Tables, seating and solid flooring will enable festival-goers to dance the night away to a music programme led by Judge Jules, who is bringing his own 10-piece live band down to keep the party going with covers of all the biggest dance hits from the past three decades, plus further sets from Take That’s Howard Donald and Radio 1’s James Cusak.
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‘Festival Day’ Saturday
Image: Cheshire Fest
Saturday will see Liverpudlian indie rock favourites The Zutons headline ‘Festival Day’, marking the fifteenth anniversary of their debut album Who Killed The Zutons with a mix of greatest hits and new tunes. produced by Chic co-founder Nile Rogers
Peter Hook and Clint Boon will team up as a DJ duo, taking over the Big Top, with further live performances from 90s house music queens Angie Brown and Rozella and a closing set from trio K-Klass. More artists are still to be announced.
Jubilee ‘Family Day’ Sunday
Image: Cheshire Fest
A family day will close the four-day festival, with the whole site becoming a giant street party for the afternoon.
A programme of family entertainment will see a magical, giant bubble show from eBulio bring all the colours of th rainbow floating through the fields, whilst elsewhere there’ll be a Greatest Showman Show by A Million Dreams, circus performances from Nula Hula and storytelling from Mark The Storyteller.
Elsewhere, music from cover bands like The Cavern Beatles, Manytones and more will send the vibrations of feel-good favourites floating across the site.
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Speaking on the returning event,Festival Director, Benjamin Harris said; “We are so glad to be able to bring Cheshire Fest back after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
“The 2022 line up is definitely the best we’ve ever had and by partnering with so many local businesses, the festival will have a real community feel.
“It is the perfect festival for families and groups of friends to get together and enjoy some amazing music, great food and drink and enjoy socialising again.”
How to get tickets
The jam-packed weekend of events run from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5t June – with four days of celebrations planned in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
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The second release of tickets is on sale now and can be purchased for individual days, or the whole weekend via cheshirefest.co.uk.
Day tickets start at just £8.50 for children and £12.50 for adults.
News
Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
Georgina Pellant -
8th April 2022 
