Everything happening at Manchester’s National Football Museum this summer
The remainder of summer 2021 is looking like a washout. Thankfully, some of the best holiday entertainment in the city is all happening under cover at the National Football Museum.
The summer holidays of 2021 have proven a little more challenging for families than usual.
First, we had to wait for the lockdown lifting dates to roll around before we could start booking activities. And then – right on cue – the storm clouds gathered and Manchester has been soaked ever since.
According to the Met Office, this torrential rainfall has set the tone for the final stretch of summer – with the rest of the month grimly forecasted to be something of a washout.
It’s at times like these we should consider ourselves fortunate we’ve got the National Football Museum right on our doorstep.
Situated inside in the uniquely-shaped Urbis Building at Cathedral Gardens, English football’s flagship cultural venue is playing host to a range of interactive exhibitions this month – offering four floors of indoor family-friendly activities all under cover.
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Not only is there loads to see and do here (away from the unseasonably wet and windy weather) for parents and kids alike – it’s also the perfect way to whet your appetite for the new football season.
Here’s what’s happening at the museum right now…
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A huge range of iconic objects are on display at the National Football Museum this summer
The National Football Museum is home to a fantastic Play Gallery right now which lets you put your skills to the test with a series of interactive challenges.
You can also host your own mini competition with a penalty shootout or game of table football; have a go at being a goalkeeper on Shot Stopper; or try stepping into the shoes of a Match of the Day Commentator.
Hall of Fame exhibition
The National Football Museum’s English Hall of Fame highlights the achievements of those who’ve made an outstanding contribution to football – celebrating players and managers whose work, talent and dedication have “made football the game of our lives”.
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Guided 30-minute tours take place daily at 2pm.
Euros craft activities
Not all of us are ready to forget about the Euros just yet.
The National Football Museum is hosting a range of craft activities themed around the magic of the tournament that gripped the nation in June and July – and everyone is free to join in.
Thursdays (11am-1pm)
Make your own football timeline / Rewrite the Rules
Ever wondered where all the football rules actually came from?
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At the National Football Museum you can read up on the original Laws of the Game and even create your own with the ‘Rewrite The Rules’ activity.
If you were in charge, what would you change?
Fridays (11am-1pm)
Museum tours
Tours take place across the whole museum every opening day – allowing you to enjoy the best possible insight from one of the venue’s expert curators.
(Every Day 11am)
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The National Football Museum is home to a range of exhibitions and activities
Right across the museum, there’s also plenty of photo opportunities.
You can pose alongside the Premier League trophy – won by Manchester City in 2020/21 season, the first ever England football team strip, the infamous Diego Maradona ‘Hand of God’ shirt, and the match ball from the 1966 World Cup Final – the year football came home.
Other exclusive summer exhibitions include Still Gleaming: Euro 96 in Pictures – remembering key moments during the year in which the continental tournament was hosted on home turf – and a new museum gallery dedicated to football’s first female superstar – Lily Parr.
There are loads of photo opportunities at the museum – meaning you can grab a snap with the Museum’s Premier League trophy!
You can find out more about everything that’s happening at the National Football Museum during the remainder of the summer on the official website.
Chester Zoo opens massive ‘African savannah’, one of the UK’s largest-ever habitats
Daisy Jackson
Chester Zoo has today opened its doors and revealed a magnificent new African savannah habitat, the Heart of Africa – one of the largest in the UK.
The massive new habitat at the beloved attraction is home to dozens of African species, including giraffes, rhino, zebra, vultures and meerkats.
Chester Zoo has created a vast open savannah where guests can come across species living side-by-side, as well as new indoor habitats where you can see smaller species like never before, and habitats you can clamber inside.
The centrepiece of the Heart of Africa is the savannah, where you can see giraffes, Grevy’s zebras, roan antelopes and ostriches all roaming together across grasses and water.
As you weave around the incredible new habitat, which spans an area the size of 17 football pitches (22.5 acres), you’ll also come across several new aviaries where birds hoot, tweet and screech.
There are 31 species of bird here, including a fabulous flock of 120 greater flamingos, three types of critically endangered vulture, colourful black cheeked lovebirds, and Africa’s largest owl, the Verreaux’s eagle owl.
One of the most impressive new areas is the Hidden Savannah, where you can clamber inside a safari jeep that’s within the actual enclosure, so that you can see 10,000 locusts all around you from the driver’s seat.
This indoor habitat is also home to adorable, wrinkly little naked mole rats, who have a network of tunnels to burrow through, and other rodents like short-eared sengi and pygmy mice.
Heart of Africa at Chester Zoo, in pictures
Heart of Africa at Chester Zoo, in pictures. Credit: The Manc Group
As for the cold-blooded animals, or ectotherms, there’s Trevor the African bull frog, plus dung beetles, red spitting cobra, Ethiopian viper and pancake tortoises.
There are 15 other mammal species to encounter too, including African wild dogs, meerkats, Eastern black rhino, yellow mongoose, and dik-dik.
The Heart of Africa stands as a symbol of Chester Zoo’s continued conservation efforts across the continent, which includes combatting poaching and illegal wildlife trade.
It’s thought that the Heart of Africa will attract an additional 200,000 visitors to Chester Zoo each year while creating 30 new jobs.
Heart of Africa officially opens to visitors on Saturday 5 April – you can book zoo tickets HERE.
Award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon to kick off UK tour in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Multi award-winning musical Sunny Afternoon is set to kick off its UK tour here in Manchester later this year.
Following a sell-out run at Hampstead Theatre, the musical production featuring all the hit songs by legendary rock band The Kinks opened to critical acclaim at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, where it ran for two years ahead of its sensational UK and Ireland tour throughout 2016/17.
It also collected four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical and Outstanding Achievement in Music for Ray Davies, along the way.
Award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon is kicking off its UK tour in Manchester / Credit: ATG Tickets
Set against the backdrop of Britain on the cusp of the rebellious 60s,Sunny Afternoon is described as being an ‘exhilarating and moving’ celebration of the music, life, and the band that changed it all, The Kinks.
Sunny Afternoon celebrates The Kinks’ raw energy, passion, and timeless sound.
Charting the ‘euphoric highs’ and ‘agonising lows’, the smash-hit production tells the band’s story through an incredible back catalogue of chart-toppers – including ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘Lola’, ‘All Day and All of the Night’, and of course, ‘Sunny Afternoon’ itself.
Tickets are on sale now from just £15 each / Credit: Kevin Cummins
Producers Sonia Friedman Productions and ATG Productions announced last week that the show would be returning for another UK tour later this year, and it’ll be opening right here on one of Manchester‘s most iconic stages.
The hit musical will open at Manchester’s Palace Theatre on 10 October 2025 and it will run right through until 18 October.
Sunny Afternoon has music and lyrics, and an original story, all by the band’s frontman Ray Davies, along with a book by Joe Penhall, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether, and choreography by Adam Cooper.
The Manc -
11th August 2021 
