A brand new, totally free festival will spill into venues in Salford later this year.
The We Invented the Weekend festival will bring together class acts from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, theatre, dance, workshops, talks, food, charity, wellness, crafts and more.
There’ll be everything from water sports on the canal, to community feasts, to workshops, to vintage markets, to live music, right across MediaCity and Salford Quays.
The event has been created in partnership with some cultural heavyweights from the city, including the BBC, The Lowry, the University of Salford, the Royal Horticultural Society, Eat Well MCR, Science and Industry Museum, The Open University’s Business School, HOST, Salford Community Leisure, Salford CVS, Sounds from the Other City and hundreds of community organisations.
The inaugural festival is set to take place across the weekend of 10 and 11 September. It promises to be ‘a festival by the people, for the people’.
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We Invented the Weekend will take over Salford venues – and its waterways. Credit: Supplied
The inspiration for We Invented the Weekend goes all the way back to 1843, when the actual concept of a weekend was invented right here in Greater Manchester.
Robert Lowes (Salford Lyceum director, workers’ rights activist, and also Sir Ian McKellen’s great grandfather) campaigned to win workers the right to leisure time on Saturday afternoons.
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A full programme for We Invented the Weekend will be announced in the coming months, but already confirmed is CBeebies Live Bedtime Stories, the BBC Philharmonic, events at The Lowry, activities at the Science and Industry Museum, and gardening activity from RHS Bridgewater.
We Invented the Weekend will suit all ages. Credit: Supplied
Sounds from the Other city will also pull together a music partnership, expanding from their Chapel Street base to the Quays for the first time.
The Salford Weekend Orchestra with the BBC Philharmonic will invite people across the city to join a mass community performance, with all instruments and abilities welcome. The piece will be composed by Michael Betteridge (artistic director of The Sunday Boys – Manchester’s LBTQ+ low voice choir), and performed in the MediaCity Piazza during the festival.
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Hundreds of community organisations, including cheerleaders, bakers and disco dancers, have been invited to take part.
Key people and organisations involved in developing the festival are Wayne Hemingway MBE who is creative director; Salford’s City Mayor Paul Dennett; Tom Stannard, chief executive of Salford City Council; Julia Fawcett OBE, chief executive of The Lowry; Gwen Oakden, development director at The Lowry; Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live Heidi Dawson; Marketing Manchester’s international marketing director Victoria Braddock and MediaCity place director, Josie Cahill.
Wayne Hemingway MBE said: “The weekend is an intrinsic part of the rhythm of life. It’s hard to imagine life without the weekend, yet less than 180 years ago it didn’t exist. Happily, Sir Ian McKellen’s great grandad put an end to life without it.
“Greater Manchester can rightly claim to have invented the weekend and is a place that knows how to celebrate it. Whatever your bag, be it boxing or box sets, crafts or cricket, dancing or digging, reading or raving, swimming or samba, kicking back or letting loose, whatever free time means to you, MediaCity and Salford Quays is the place to be on September 10th and 11th for what has all the ingredients to become THE national celebration of free time.”
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Paul Dennett added: “The City of Salford’s motto and the name of our strategy for culture, creativity and the arts is ‘Suprema Lex’, which means ‘The Welfare of the People is the Highest Law’. The welfare of the people of Salford is paramount, and as the cost of living rises, We Invented the Weekend is set to deliver a programme of essential free cultural and creative activity that is open to every community across our city.
“We Invented the Weekend will be a great spectacle, reflecting our proud social history, whilst also animating the fantastic public realm at Salford Quays in true Spirit of Salford style.”
‘Violent’ Salford man jailed after raping two women he met on dating apps
Emily Sergeant
A man from Salford who police describe as ‘violent’ has been jailed after raping two women he met on dating apps.
Kenny Cox appeared at Manchester Crown Court for his sentencing last week (23 October) in relation to the rape of two women – one in November 2021 and one in September 2024.
The 46-year-old was arrested on 8 September 2024, charged and then remanded, before standing trial for both rapes in March 2025.
The trial, however, resulted in a hung jury, so a new trial commenced in August 2026, and Cox was then subsequently found guilty of two counts of rape and one of attempted rape.
It comes after, on 7 November 2021, one of the victims met up with Cox after connecting through a dating app. They went to a property in Salford, and after drinking alcohol together, the victim began to feel hazy and described herself as ‘feeling paralysed’ and ‘unable to move’.
It was during this time she was raped by the suspect.
After she was able to move, she left the property in a taxi and subsequently reported the incident to the police.
Cox was arrested on 14 November 2021 and bailed with stringent bail conditions not to contact the victim. But then, on 4 September 2024, he met up with a second victim, again after connecting through a dating app, and they went to a property in Salford where he raped her before she was able to leave and inform police.
Following the trial, Cox has been sentenced to 14 years in prison, with four years on licence.
He was also given an indefinite restraining order against the victims, and is subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
“I would firstly like to commend the strength of the victims in this case,” commented Detective Sergeant James Walsh, of GMP’s Salford Criminal Investigation Department. “They have gone through this trial process twice now and each time have has shown incredible courage to ensure Cox was put behind bars.
“He preyed on these women and is an violent, sexual offender.
“I hope this sentence and the subsequent sexual harm prevention order imposed gives the victims a sense of justice to help them try to move forward from this and put Kenny Cox firmly in their past where he belongs.”
Featured Image – GMP
Salford
A spectacular Chinese garden has opened at RHS Bridgewater, and it’s a must-visit
Daisy Jackson
RHS Bridgewater has opened the Yangzhou Scholars’ Garden, the centrepiece of a spectacular Chinese garden.
At seven acres, the Chinese Streamside Garden is the largest, most comprehensive, and most authentic classical Chinese garden in all of Europe.
It’s taken more than eight years to complete, and has utilised landscape architects and specialist craftspeople from China, using traditional techniques rarely seen outside the country.
This has been combined with the contemporary British garden setting of RHS Bridgewater to create a new must-visit attraction in Greater Manchester.
It’s also be designed to be as beautiful in each season as the last, with spring magnolias and cherry blossom, all the way through to dazzling autumn colours from acers and gingkos.
The Chinese garden is the result of an ambitious international collaboration of fundraising, design and craftsmanship between Yangzhou City, China Flower Association, Yangzhou Classical Garden Construction Company*, the City of Salford, Greater Manchester’s Chinese community and the RHS.
Inspiration comes from the historic scholars’ gardens of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province in East China, embodying the classical Chinese principle that gardens are places of philosophy, learning, reflection and seasonal observation.
The landscape features rock, water, planting, and timber structures, with each step revealing new views and perspectives.
There are four interconnected pavilions surrounding a courtyard and pond, each dedicated to one of the four traditional scholarly arts – chess, music, calligraphy and painting.
Pavilions are dedicated to traditional scholarly arts – like chessTimber structures and water feature heavilyEvery step reveals a new viewFootpaths weave through the Chinese garden at RHS BridgewaterThe space has taken almost eight years to completePlants have been chosen for their year-round beautyCredit: The Manc Group
Key features include traditional hand-crafted mortise-and-tenon joinery, Chinese Fir timber sourced from FSC-certified forests, kiln-fired tiles and handmade brickwork from China, intricate stone carvings, and detailed stone mosaic and poetic inscriptions.
More than 200 trees and shrubs representing 56 species and cultivars have been selected for their seasonal beauty and cultural significance, with planting conveying traditional messages of good luck, health, happiness and love.
Marcus Chilton-Jones, Head of RHS Garden Bridgewater explained: “The opening of the Yangzhou Scholars’ Garden is a landmark moment for RHS Garden Bridgewater, for Greater Manchester and the UK.
“This remarkable international collaboration has created not only a beautiful garden, but a lasting symbol of friendship, cultural exchange and shared learning.”
Tracy Snell, Curator at RHS Garden Bridgewater said: “It’s a garden full of meaning and intricacies.
“Importantly, it can be enjoyed throughout the seasons – from spring magnolias and cherry blossom to restful summer greens and the vibrant autumn colour of acers, ginkgos and euonymus.
“Chinese scholars’ gardens were created as places to slow down, reflect and reconnect with nature.
“Visitors will discover something new around every corner, and I can’t wait for people to experience the sense of calm and wonder the garden creates.”
Mr Gerry Yeung, Chinese Streamside Garden Founding Committee member added: “The opening of the Yangzhou Scholars’ Garden is a proud and historic moment for everyone who has helped bring this vision to life and the result of many years of dedication, generosity and shared ambition from people in both China and Greater Manchester.
“We hope visitors will enjoy discovering this special place and, through it, gain a deeper appreciation of the rich traditions, artistry and values that have inspired Chinese gardens for centuries.”
Daisy Jackson -
18th May 2022 
