Holidays are coming, and the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck has finally confirmed that it will be heading back to Greater Manchester.
The big red vehicle always marks the start of the festive season when it rolls onto our screens in the Coca-Cola advert.
The Christmas Truck first visited the UK in 2010 and now tours the UK every winter.
Last year’s event had to be called off because of the pandemic – but it’s full steam ahead with its 2021 visit.
The Coca-Cola Christmas Truck will roll into Greater Manchester this weekend.
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A snippet from the Coca-Cola Christmas advert / Credit: YouTube (Coca-Cola)
It will be parked up at the Trafford Centre between December 3 and 5.
Dates have been being added gradually to the tour, with the drinks giant saying: “This year, we’re planning to stop off at as many cities around the UK as possible – but we don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet.
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Read more: Alternative ‘tat free’ Christmas Markets have taken over Manchester breweries
“We’ll be revealing which cities we’ll be rolling into over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes on our social media or website for all the details.”
The truck will be open between 11am and 8pm on all three days.
Featured Image – Coca Cola
Manchester
Viral sportswear brand Gymshark is holding a huge free fitness event in Manchester this weekend
Daisy Jackson
Some of the biggest names in the fitness community are coming together for a huge Gymshark event at Manchester Central this weekend.
The fitness brand’s previous Lift events have had queues stretching down the street as thousands flock to see figures from the worlds of lifting, fitness and bodybuilding.
Gymshark’s first post-pandemic Lift event is taking place right here in Manchester, featuring a programme of athlete seminars, meet and greets, competitions, challenges, and prizes – and it’s free.
It promises to be their biggest event yet, with the huge events space split into four zones.
There’ll also be a pop-up shop selling the brand’s activewear range, loved by fitness influencers across the globe.
A previous Gymshark event with Whitney Simmons. Credit: SuppliedGymshark Lift in Manchester in a previous year. Credit: Supplied
Famous faces appearing at Lift this weekend will include Whitney Simmons, whose hilariously honest and educational fitness content has pulled in 3.5m Instagram followers (plus another 2.1m on YouTube and 1.4m on TikTok).
Also taking part are Gymshark’s creative director of lifting David Laid, Instagram star Libby Christensen, and power lifter Jamal Browner.
More than 10,000 tickets have already been sold for Lift at Manchester Central.
Gymshark itself was founded by Ben Francis in his garage in 2012. He used YouTube tutorials – and a little help from his grandmother – to learn to sew.
Now, there are more than 18 million Gymshark customers across 180 countries, and it’s achieved ‘unicorn’ status after being valued at more than £1bn.
The brand turned over around £500m in its last financial year and employs around 800 people worldwide.
You can book your spot at Gymshark’s Lift event at Manchester Central, taking place on 1 and 2 April, here.
Rio Ferdinand is helping change young lives with community programmes in Oldham and Salford
Danny Jones
Ex-Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand and his foundation’s wonderful work is helping better the lives of young people in Oldham, Salford and across Manchester as a whole.
Over the past year, the Rio Ferdinand Foundation and The Guinness Partnership have been putting together a vital social initiative aimed at providing opportunities and resources to young people across Greater Manchester, helping them develop their skills and aspirations for future working life.
Now, after a hugely successful 12-month campaign, their skills and progression community programme, participants are well and truly starting to feel the impact, with 90% of those taking part now stating that they are enjoying a clear idea and focus on what they want to do for a career.
It may have be thriving in Salford and Oldham at the moment, but given the benefit the scheme has already had — not to mention the ambition the Rio Ferdinand Foundation has shown around various areas of the UK since being set up in 2012 — we can only see this spreading further across the region.
MatthewCredit: Supplied
The skills-based initiative engages young people aged under 25 years old and living in Guinness homes in a six-month skills-based programme which has been up and running in the two Manc boroughs, as well as the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth, since March 2022.
Young people from both Oldham and Salford take part in a weekly schedule of activities designed to tackle youth unemployment, including digital media training (photography, product design, filmmaking, podcasting), building and construction, CV workshops, mock interviews and more.
Not only do these shadowing opportunities garner confidence and raise aspirations among other young people in the local community, but they also help directly develop their employability skills via mentoring.
For instance, Matthew, 19 from Royton in Oldham, completed the programme and then was supported to apply to the Guinness Aspire Awards to request funding to purchase camera and lighting equipment to help him start a small local photography business. Quality stuff.
Matt says that the scheme “has been an amazing opportunity and has given [him] a chance to get back on the right path… I know what I want to do now and can’t wait to start… I would recommend that other people in my position get involved with it in the future.”
As well as markedly increasing participants health and well-being, all 100% of those involved across Salford and Oldham reported feeling more confident, with many now enjoying opportunities with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation’s partners such as Warner Music, Kiss FM, The Jockey Club and the Gym Group.
Speaking on the programme’s success, Rio himself said in a statement: “The Foundation is committed to working with young people at the heart of their communities to offer support, training, and opportunities to those that need it… engaging with the Guinness Partnership has provided a great boost to our reach and our work”.
Well in, Rio. Thankfully, he isn’t the only ex-Manchester-based footballer still trying to make a difference in the local community either:
And @sterling7 isn't the only one keeping young people active in Greater Manchester either.
Daisy Jackson -
30th November 2021 
