Hundreds of teddy bears and soft toys are set to be thrown onto the ice at the next Manchester Storm home game in a wonderful charity drive for local children.
Manchester‘s premier ice hockey team play the Belfast Giants in Altrincham this weekend and on top of the action inside the rink, supporters watching in the stands are being asked to bring plenty of plush toys for the iconic ‘Air the Bear’ ritual.
A popular tradition throughout hockey around the world during the festive period, Air the Bear is a pretty simple concept: fans bring along teddy bears and other soft toys and once the first point of the game is scored, the toys are thrown onto the ice and collected.
Once they are all gathered up, the mass of toys will then be donated to local charities and hospitals around the Greater Manchester area. You love to see it.
𝗔 𝗦𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗜𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗥
Ahead of our '𝗔𝗜𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗥' league fixture this Saturday evening, we decided to put together a simple guide for all those new to the club! 🧸⛈️
The wholesome tradition began back in the ’90s by WHL team, the Kamloops Blazers. Historically called the ‘Teddy Bear Toss’, the first volley of soft toys was launched on 5 December 1993.
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Organised by the Marketing Director, Don Larson, as a way of helping out families over Christmas, the first goal of the evening was scored by Brad Lukowich and the charitable trend has been carried out by countless teams every year ever since under various monikers.
The biggest-ever Teddy Bear Toss was carried out in 2019 by the appropriately named AHL side, the Hershey Bears, when a world record 45,650 stuffed toys were thrown onto the ice.
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Just look at how mint this looks.
Here’s hoping the popular Manchester hockey team puts in a similarly good showing and managed a massive pile of teddies for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and more.
Most importantly, this unique and heartwarming international toy drive supplies millions of children every year and the Air the Bear is one of hundreds around the world.
Manchester Storm‘s Air the Bear event takes place at 7pm this Saturday, 17 December (doors at 6pm) at their home stadium, Planet Ice Altrincham.
If you want to come along and give the gift of a cuddly toy this holiday season, be sure to wrap your toys in clingfilm so they don’t get wet from the ice and while you can donate your old used teddies, just be sure to give them a clean before bringing them along.
More than 1,000 tickets have already been sold — you can grab yours HERE.
Manc music legends James announced MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Featured Images — Ehud Lazin/Press shots (supplied)
What's On
Electronic icons Kraftwerk announce first Manchester gig since 2017
Danny Jones
Pioneering German band Kraftwerk have announced their first UK tour since 2017, with fans having to wait almost a decade for another Manchester gig.
Thankfully, they’ll be heading back down the Autobahn and across the channel for a return to our shores soon enough with a long-awaited list of British and Irish live dates.
Kraftwerk remains one of the most groundbreaking groups in the electronic scene to this day, having paved the way for generations of new artists to keep experimenting with the genre in the 50+ years since their formation.
Heading back to Manchester early next year, die-hards will no doubt snap these tickets faster than you can say ‘Das Model’.
For anyone unaware of these veritable legends of electronica and the world of alternative/Euro-synth pop, Kraftwerk formed all the way back in 1970 and went on to shape the modern music industry, bridging the gap between music and the digital age.
Best known for tracks like ‘Computer Love’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and the aforementioned on named after the national motorway network, they spearheaded futurism in the musical landscape from the outset.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that their upcoming highly anticipated return to the UK comes as part of their ‘Multimedia’ tour.
While they have played a number of live shows all over the globe this year, including an extensive run in the US, next spring will be our domestic visit from Kraftwerk in nine long years.
Credit: Press shot (supplied)
You can see the full list of UK and Ireland tour dates – including a handful of Northern gigs – down below:
Spanning a total of 15 UK dates, as you can see, there will also be tickets to see Kraftwerk nearby in the likes of Liverpool and with our mates over in Sheffield.
Kraftwerk legend Ralf Hütter famously played a set inside our city’s velodrome at the National Cycling Centre for Manchester International Festival (MIF) back in 2009, and has collaborated with the event on multiple ocassions.
In fact, that very performance was seen as a turning point for MIF, so the Manc Kraftwerk connection speaks for itself; O2 members can obviously get pre-sale, but general admission tickets go live from 9am this Friday, 10 October.
Danny Jones -
15th December 2022 
