Classic FM has confirmed that its show filled with calming music to help keep anxious pets and their owners relaxed is back this fireworks season.
Bonfire Night is loved all across the UK for the spectacular firework displays and all the festive-themed activities that go along with it, but the November holiday isn’t so fun for our four-legged friends.
Fireworks can be frightening to pets because of the loud bangs, flashing lights, and unpleasant strong smell of spent explosives, and with multiple bangs occurring from numerous displays, pets are rarely able to pinpoint where the booming explosions are coming from.
Not knowing what an explosion is, where it’s coming from, or where and when the next one is going to be, can be terrifying for some pets.
Recently, a survey by the RSPCA revealed that two-thirds (63%) of animal owners reported their pet was distressed during fireworks season, and that playing relaxing music was the most common way (36%) to help calm or prepare their animal.
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Many kennels and rehoming centres across the UK also use the power of classical music to decrease stress levels amongst their animals.
Classic FM’s show filled with calming music to help keep anxious pets relaxed is back this fireworks season / Credit: Elisha Terada (via Unsplash)
So this year, Classic FM is once again teaming up with the RSPCA to create two Pet Classics programmes packed with “the most soothing and comforting classical music” that’s been handpicked to help calm and settle any anxious pets.
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Hosted by Classic FM presenter Charlotte Hawkins, alongside the music there’ll also be dedications to listeners’ pets, as well as advice from the RSPCA for any owners looking to reassure their animals.
“I am thrilled to be hosting Pet Classics again this year, as it’s such a special show,” Charlotte said.
“I’ve seen first-hand from my dog just how difficult a time it can be for pets during the fireworks, but it’s amazing the difference relaxing music can have in helping to calm and soothe animals.
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“We had such an overwhelming response to Pet Classics last year, it was so good seeing the impact the music made to pets up and down the country… so I’m looking forward to people joining in again this year and sending me lots of photos of their calm pets.”
Join @CharlotteHawkns for ‘Pet Classics’, our special programme to calm pets during fireworks season with tips and advice from @RSPCA_official. 🐱🐶🦜🎶
We hope you, and all furry and feathered friends, can join us on 4 and 5 November at 5pm. pic.twitter.com/lvd8LLclTE
“Owners can really struggle with knowing what to do for the best, so it’s one of the reasons we are delighted to partner with Classic FM on their Pet Classics programmes, as studies show that calming music can be beneficial for some animals during this time.”
Pet Classics will be broadcast on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 November from 5pm to 9pm on Classic FM.
Featured Image – Flickr
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‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
28th October 2022 
