One of Manchester’s most iconic charities is inviting daredevil Mancs to join them in a towering fundraising challenge this year.
In case you missed it, We Love MCR Charity asked The Manc’s loyal audience of over 200,000 Mancunians on Instagram to lend a helping hand in deciding on its official fundraising challenge for 2022 earlier this month by casting their votes on three head-to-head polls shared to our Instagram stories.
The four challenge ideas battling it out were:
A Valentine’s Day dip in Debdale Park Reservoir
An abseil off a city centre high-rise tower
A skinny dip at dawn on the Autumn Equinox at Druridge Bay beach
A jump off a 10m diving board
And now that the votes from the final poll have been counted, it has officially been announced that the Manchester public have decided We Love MCR Charity’s next fundraising event will be an abseil at dizzying heights off one of the many gleaming towers that make up the city’s growing and ever-changing skyline.
It was a very close call in the end, but in our final poll, the abseil event was the pick of the bunch, grabbing 54% of the vote.
This will be the second instalment in We Love MCR Charity’s ‘Challenge Event Series’, which is aiming to set mind-over-matter challenges that raise funds for their work supporting Manchester’s communities and young people.
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The 2022 challenge comes after the success of the charity’s first – and probably the last – sponsored ‘firewalk’ event, which made history as 50 “brave soles” raised over £18,000 and counting by walking over 700-degree hot coals in St Peter’s Square in the heart of Manchester city centre last October.
The Manchester and Salford skyline / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Against a backdrop of Manchester’s Central Library and with a massive crowd cheering them on, each of the participants conquered their fears and completed what they previously thought was impossible.
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Speaking ahead of the abseil challenge this year, Ged Carter – Development Manager at We Love MCR Charity – said: “How could we top a firewalk? By going up into the sky. Our tower-block abseil will give people a chance to see the city from a birds-eye view, then step off and walk down the side of the tower.
“Our fearless supporters are really raising their game with this challenge.”
The abseil will take place in July, and We Love MCR Charity expects it will be over-subscribed, so if you want make sure you reserve a guaranteed place, then the charity has opened a pre-registration list for brave fundraisers to book their place “on the rope”.
The secret location has not been revealed yet, but the charity promises it is going to be somewhere “very special”.
This week, our mates at @TheMancUK polled their readers for thoughts on what our next fundraising challenge should be..
Top vote went to a city centre abseil! Nearly beaten by a skinny-dip in the North East 😳
Selfridges Manchester to host an out-of-hours dinner in the middle of the shop floor, plus the city’s chicest book club
Daisy Jackson
Selfridges will be hosting a series of exclusive events in the coming weeks, including a supper club in the middle of a shop floor, and an evening with the city’s chicest book club.
Up first, on Thursday 23 April, Selfridges Exchange will welcome acclaimed local supper club A-Kin for an exclusive dining experience on the menswear shop floor.
Guests will enjoy a five-course menu inside the luxury department store, long after the doors have closed.
You’ll be tucking into dishes like short rib doughnut with horseradish cream, breadcrumbs and chives; bone-in ribeye with cafe de Paris butter and shoestring fries; and a tarta de Santiago.
A-Kin will be bringing together like-minded guests for an evening of exceptional food, music, and style, fittingly in the surrounds of Selfridges Exchange’s menswear department.
Club Culture is Selfridges’ take on what’s bringing people together, now, building on the new movement of hobby-led and community-centric social gatherings and clubs.
But Selfridges has always had its roots as a social space – when the London store first opened in 1909, founder Harry Gordon Selfridge opened a Journalist’s Club with a room equipped with typewriters, telephones and a bar, later hosting an All-Girl Gun Club on the roof in the 1920s and 1930s; and even later, hosting screenings with Club Cine.
Run clubs, a comedy club, boxing club and nightclub have all featured as part of Selfridges creative programming in recent years – and now, a book club and supper club.
Selfridges customers can collect keys for attending Club Culture events and experiences, as part of its membership programme, Selfridges Unlocked. Customers join and collect keys by shopping and spending time at Selfridges to unlock perks at every level.
The Akin Supper Club has now sold out, but you can still book tickets for The Read Room HERE.
Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum announces FREE programme of space-themed activities
Emily Sergeant
National Space Day is coming up, and you can celebrate with a bunch of free space-inspired activities in Manchester this bank holiday.
Ever wondered what astronauts eat in orbit? How they use the loo in zero gravity? Or why crumbs are bad news on the International Space Station? Well, to celebrate National Space Day – which is taking place this year on Friday 1 May – you’ll now get to discover the answers to those questions and so much more down at the Science and Industry Museum early next month.
The popular Manchester city centre-based museum has unveiled a programme of free ‘out-of-this-world’ events and activities this upcoming May bank holiday weekend.
The programme of free events are set to accompany the museum’s latest special exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos – which you do have to pay for – and will give visitors more ways to explore the ‘wonders and weirdness’ of space.
The Science and Industry Museum has announced a free programme of space-themed activities / Credit: Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
Launching on National Space Day (Friday 1 May) and running through to Monday 4 May, the special bank holiday weekend programme is especially timely following the recent return of Artemis II astronauts from their history-making mission around the moon.
Families can get a taste of space during new live shows by sampling real foods used to feed astronauts, and discover more about how humans live and work beyond Earth, while budding space explorers put their skills to the test in interactive activities designed to ‘spark curiosity’ and ‘stretch imaginations’ to the moon and back.
Stargazers can enjoy the night sky as its projected across super-sized screens, or get creative by crafting their very own constellations and designing a mission patch for an astronaut’s spacesuit.
The events accompany the museum’s latest special exhibition, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos / Credit: Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
“2026 has already been a stellar year for space,” commented Tash Camberwell, who is the Interpretation and Content Developer at the Science and Industry Museum, as the programme of free events was announced this week.
“We’ve been so inspired by the amazing Artemis II astronauts, so I’m especially excited to bring space back down to Earth with an action-packed programme for the May bank holiday.
“Just like the exhibition, our holiday activities have been created for young people and their grown-ups to enjoy together by blending humour, hands-on science and spectacular experiences to spark curiosity in space and inspire the next generation of space explorers.”
More information on the bank holiday weekend activities can be found on the Science and Industry Museum’s website here, and free general admission tickets, as well as £10 tickets to Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos, can also be booked online too – with under threes going free.
Following what was a popular spring school holidays, museum staff say early booking is ‘advised’.
Featured Image – Drew Forsyth / Science Museum Group
Emily Sergeant -
25th January 2022 
