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Beloved Holi Festival returns to Leeds in 2023 – and it’s bigger and more colourful than ever

The annual event is bringing cultures together.

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall - 3rd March 2023

One of Leeds’ best-loved – and most colourful – events of the year is back for 2023, and it’s going to be bigger than ever before.

Holi Festival – known as the Festival of Colours – is a joyous celebration of peace, love, happiness and equality through live music and bright colours. 

Leeds Holi Festival 2022 was a triumphant success and saw 1,200 Holi Lovers making it the biggest Colour Festival in Yorkshire, but this year, Holi Festival are kicking it up a notch and are bringing 2,500 people together to celebrate – making it the biggest open air colour festival in the UK.

The event commemorates forgiveness and peace and is widely celebrated in India and adopted around the world for celebration.

Beloved Holi Festival returns to Leeds in 2023 / Credit: Leeds Holi Festival

Holi Festival celebrates the welcoming of spring and is seen as a time for people, no matter what caste or ethnicity, to get together and enjoy a feeling of togetherness, community and happiness.

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This year’s celebrations in Leeds are set to involve the traditional dry powder paints, as well as the serving of street food, live DJs and performances right in the heart of the city.

Red is the sign of love, yellow is synonymous with healing properties, blue is the colour of Lord Krishna, and green symbolises new beginnings – and through the use of these vibrant colours, Leeds Holi Festival aims at bringing different cultures together with different genres of music under one roof.

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It’s set to be bigger and more colourful than ever before / Credit: Leeds Holi Festival

Eshaan Kapoor, founder of Leeds Holi Festival said: “Our purpose is to bring different cultures together, spread love, positivity through music, colours and food. It is best known around the world for the powder that friends and families throw on each other and it’s the festival of love, peace and happiness.”

Holi Festival’s main sponsor this year is Leeds-based taxi firm Amber Cars – who will be providing festival goers safe journeys to and from the event with no added surcharge.

“We are proud to sponsor such a vibrant, unique festival and be part of Leeds Holi Festival,” said Tarlochan, Regional Director at Amber Cars.

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“Amber cars will be providing safe rides to all festival goers making their journey safe and secured”.

is a joyous celebration of peace, love, happiness and equality/ Credit: Leeds Holi Festival

British-Pakistani singer-songwriter, Zack Knight, will be headlining the event and providing the ultimate party tracks for guests to dance all day whilst being covered head to toe in bright colours from Ministry of Colours.

Other sponsors include Kirkstall Brewery and Slingsby Gin, with Punjabi Heaven from Roundhay providing delicious street food for the day. Through finding Yorkshire-based sponsors, the festival aims to bring like-minded people together to make Holi Festival one of the biggest events in the Leeds calendar.

Holi Festival will take place on 11 March 2023 at Beaverworks from 12.30pm till 7.30pm.

Tier one and two tickets have already sold out for the seven hour event, but remaining tier three tickets are still available to grab.

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For more information, visit the Leeds Holi Colours Festival 2023 Instagram Page.

Featured Image – Leeds Holi Festival

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Popular Manchester Italian restaurant launches great-value express menu and mouth-watering new dishes

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

One of Manchester’s best Italian restaurants is ready to launch a brand new menu – with a top-value express deal too. 

Italiana Fifty-Five, formerly known as the foodie favourite Cibo, is expanding its offering with even more authentic pastas, pizzas, salads and seafood dishes. 

The restaurant has sites across Greater Manchester, including in the Great Northern, on Liverpool Road, and in Didsbury, all serving up authentic Italian food. 

And now the family-friendly eatery is ready for a new season, with a whole host of new dishes to sink your teeth in to. 

Italiana Fifty-Five’s new menu features a brand new Rigatoni Italiana, a spicy and rich pasta dish that’s baked so that it becomes a bubbling bowl of molten cheese and creamy tomato sauce. 

Meatballs at Italiana Fifty-Five. Credit: The Manc Group
Meatballs at Italiana Fifty-Five. Credit: The Manc Group
Burrata bruschetta and tiger prawns from Italiana Fifty-Five
Burrata bruschetta and tiger prawns from Italiana Fifty-Five. Credit: The Manc Group
Risotto Zafferano with king prawns
Risotto Zafferano with king prawns

They also have a new Risotto Zafferano, a risotto cooked in saffron and pecorino cheese so that it arrives glowing a healthy yellow, with the option to add king prawns on top. 

For starters, there are new dishes like a mozzarella, avocado and tomato salad, meatballs swimming in a hearty tomato sauce, and a seafood stew with gigantic prawns and mussels. 

You can also order huge tiger prawns cooked in garlic and chilli, their tender meat served still in their shells, or a roasted tomato bruschetta topped with fresh burrata. 

All these new menu items (and more) are available at Italiana Fifty-Five now, along with a brand new Italian Express set menu. 

Dishes on Italiana Fifty Five’s express menu. Credit: The Manc Group
Salami pizza at Italiana Fifty Five
Salami pizza at Italiana Fifty Five
Dishes on Italiana Fifty Five's express menu. Credit: The Manc Group
Dishes on Italiana Fifty Five’s express menu. Credit: The Manc Group

If you dine from the Express menu, you can get a delicious Italian dish served with a tea, coffee or soft drink, for only £14.75. 

Choose from a creamy mushroom risotto funghi, the aforementioned Rigatoni Italiana, a classic chicken Caesar salad, pan-fried seabass with parsley, lemon and spinach, or a fiery Diavola pizza covered in spicy salami and red onion. 

To find out more about Italiana Fifty-Five and to book your table, click here. 

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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First-ever RHS Urban Show to take place in Manchester this month

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The inaugural RHS Urban Show will take place at Depot Mayfield in Manchester. Credit: Supplied

A plant paradise will be created at Depot Mayfield in Manchester this month when the inaugural RHS Urban Show takes over. 

The huge event – the charity’s first large-scale indoor show – has been created to celebrate the growing urban gardening movement.

Whether you’re cramming a tropical jungle onto your balcony or trying to bring a little plant life into your home, the RHS Urban Show will have exhibits that will educate and inspire you. 

You can learn the secrets to growing happy houseplants, see vertical structures for awkward urban spaces, and explore a seven-garden vision for a greener city. 

There’ll even be a horticultural exhibit celebrating the heyday of Manchester’s Hacienda days. 

The RHS Urban Show wants to answer the question of ‘what is urban gardening’ through this huge event, which will run between Thursday 18 and Sunday 21 April. 

Major exhibits will be filling the gigantic industrial space at Depot Mayfield, like the RHS City Spaces: Cloudscape, by Manchester’s Cloud Gardener Jason Williams, which will challenge local authorities and developers to think and envision greener towns and cities. 

The inaugural RHS Urban Show in Manchester will be a plant-lover’s paradise

It will bring together four balconies, each facing north, south, east and west, plus a north-facing shaded patio, an urban farm, and a communal garden. 

Created in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University’s Rise programme and Notcutts Garden Centre, RHS City Spaces: Cloudscape will showcase how to bring plants into your space, regardless of needs, microclimate, or budget. 

Williams said: “The concept as a whole is an ambitious blueprint of how we can bring a city together. These are not show gardens, they are learning exhibits designed to teach residents, local authorities, retail and developers how we can all improve to make our towns and cities greener.”

Four-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show medal-winners GrowTropicals will be explaining which houseplants – including rare and exotic ones – are best suited to which home environment. 

Visitors to the RHS Urban Show will be able to learn the secrets to growing happy houseplants
Visitors to the RHS Urban Show will be able to learn the secrets to growing happy houseplants
There'll be exhibitions, talks, shopping opportunities and more at the RHS Urban Show in Manchester
There’ll be exhibitions, talks, shopping opportunities and more at the RHS Urban Show in Manchester

They’ll group dozens of plants together, from shade-loving plants who’ll be happy in north-facing rooms, to those who love a bit of humidity, to the sun-worshippers begging for a sunny windowsill. 

Midlands-based designer Amanda Grimes’ exhibit Pop Culture Planting: Punk Rockery, the New Wave and 24-Hour Party Planting, will be a two-part installation set over three years, showing a design at the time of planting, one year on and two years on. 

Her aim is to give new and inexperienced gardeners the confidence and inspiration to ‘just go for it’ by showing visitors what they can expect as a garden develops naturally over time, even with poor soil or rubble.

She said: “Punk Rockery hits Manchester in the same way the Sex Pistols did in June 1976, though possibly with less swearing and a bigger audience. 

“That now-legendary gig was the spark that lit the touch paper of the whole Manchester New Wave music scene which included the Buzzcocks, Joy Division/New Order, The Fall, Magazine, The Smiths and Factory Records, and went on to inspire so many more. 

“The installation is named in honour of all that creativity which was, and still is, uniquely Mancunian.

“24-Hour Party Planting is a celebration of Manchester’s thriving nightlife, restaurant and entertainment scene. 

Garden designer Tom Wilkes-Rios dusts between leaves of succulents on his balcony garden 'The Blue Garden', during build-up of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022, Thursday May 19, 2022. The show returns for the first time in spring for three years and opens to the public May 24...RHS / Luke MacGregor
Garden designer Tom Wilkes-Rios dusts between leaves of succulents on his balcony garden ‘The Blue Garden’. Credit: RHS / Luke MacGregor

“It references the Happy Mondays’ track of the same name, and with it the hedonistic days of the Hacienda. It traces that legacy through to 2024 and the incredibly diverse, vibrant and endlessly creative energy of the Gay Village, Northern Quarter, Salford and beyond.”

The RHS Urban Show, sponsored by Mad About Land, also debuts ‘content cubes’ for gardeners with small spaces.

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That includes RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2023’s People’s Choice and gold medal-winner Conal McGuire’s Urban Shade, which utilises modular ‘grow frames’ offering a flexible solution for growing in awkward urban spaces.

As well as all the exhibits to explore, there’ll be a programme of talks that will run through everything from cut flowers to juggling plant life with work and family life. 

RHS-run workshops where you can make your own terrarium will be taking place, and you can join a free guided tour of the neighbouring Mayfield Park. 

And you can browse through a variety of indoor and outdoor plants that you can take home with you, with pots, macrame, and even a new clothing range by Mad About Land for sale too. 

Lex Falleyn, show manager for the RHS Urban Show, said: “Urban Gardening is diverse and dynamic and the inaugural RHS Urban Show is an exciting opportunity to explore the important role gardening plays in greening up cities.

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“We’ve chosen to work with a wide range of gardeners, from award-winning designers to community groups to enthusiasts who juggle gardening with day-to-day life. We hope this will bring a balance of relevant yet realistic advice to get people growing.”

The RHS Urban Show will take place at Depot Mayfield between Thursday 18 and Sunday 21 April. You can buy tickets here. 

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Featured image: Supplied

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