A two-day festival full of cooking classes, wellness workshops, and more is coming to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet this weekend.
The designer outlet has joined forces with Food4Thoughts (F4T) – a nutrition brand co-founded by famed Mancunians Scott Thomas and Eden Thomas – to bring an exclusive wellness weekend to Cheshire, with everything from fitness classes, to live cook-a-longs and workshops led by industry experts across the two days.
Visitors to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet will also be treated to live entertainment and music by DJ Kieron J, and stars of The Voice, Holly Ellison and Jordan Phillips, as well as receive access to a whole host of exclusive offers too.
You’ll be able to book on to live F4T panel talks from key speakers across the weekend, with local celebrities giving their insight into wellness, healthy eating, and living balanced lifestyles.
The F4T Wellness Festival is taking place on Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 July at Cheshire Oaks / Credit: Supplied
Hosted by Kate Cocker, sessions will feature guests including Emmerdale and Waterloo Road star Adam Thomas, chef and influencer Steph Elswood, and the founder of Men Should Talk Gareth Palmer – with more names soon to be announced.
ADVERTISEMENT
Brands including Lululemon, ASICS, adidas, and Under Armour will also be working alongside the expert F4T team for a jam-packed schedule of fitness classes and workshops across the weekend too, so whether you want to test your limits with a HIIT class by F4T’s Commando Charlie, or find your Zen at Lululemon’s meditation sessions, there’s something for everyone to get involved with.
Podcast fans will even be able to enter a competition to secure their spot in the audience of an exclusive live recording of Scott Thomas’ podcast, Learning As I Go.
And that’s not all, as you’ll even get the chance to enter a prize draw worth up to £2,500.
When you enter into the prize draw in the F4T Hub at the Ellesmere Port-based shopping and leisure village, you’ll be in with the chance of winning prizes such as six months of Food4Thoughts membership, £500 to spend at Cheshire Oaks, and a luxe spa experience at the Chester Grosvenor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Each entry to the prize draw also gives the option to donate to support Cheshire Oaks’ 2022 charity partner, Flynn’s Port in the Storm – with donations supporting the incredible work that the local mental health crisis café does for those in the community.
“This really is such a special moment for myself and the Food4Thoughts team,” F4T co-founder Scott Thomas said.
“I have visited Cheshire Oaks all my life and to be invited to host our very own F4T Wellness Festival at such a prestigious location really is something else.
The F4T Wellness Festival is taking place on Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 July at Cheshire Oaks / Credit: Supplied
“I’m so happy with the lineup of activations we have confirmed and the brands we have involved for the weekend.
“This is going to be special.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Kenny Murray – General Manager at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Cheshire Oaks – added: “The schedule is packed full with physical and mental workshops, so we can’t wait to see our Centre guests all getting involved over the weekend.”
The F4T Wellness Festival is taking place on Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 July, and you can find more information and book onto free workshops and classes here.
Featured Image – Supplied
Sponsored
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery will be at the heart of a major new exhibition
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery are to be explored during a major new exhibition coming soon to the city.
The Science and Industry Museum, in the heart of our city centre, is already known and loved for telling the story of the ideas and innovations that transformed Manchester into the world’s first industrial city.
But now, a new free exhibition is set to “enhance public understanding” of how transatlantic slavery actually shaped the city’s growth.
Produced by the Science and Industry Museum, in partnership with The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, and developed with African descendent and diaspora communities through local and global collaborations, this landmark project will put Manchester’s historic connections to enslavement at the heart of a major exhibition at the museum for the first time.
Featuring new research, it will also explore how the legacies of these histories continue to impact Manchester, the world, and lives today.
Set to open in early 2027, the exhibition will run for a year in the museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery.
Alongside that hub at the Science and Industry Museum itself, the project is also set to have a collaborative city-wide events programme, and a lasting legacy – with a new permanent schools programme, and permanent displays in the future too.
As mentioned, the new exhibition is part of The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, which is a 10-year restorative justice project launched in 2023.
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery will be at the heart of a major new exhibition / Credit: Science Museum Group Collection
Through partnerships and community programmes, the project aims to improve public understanding of the impact of transatlantic slavery on the UK’s economic development, and its ongoing legacies for Black communities – with a strong focus on Manchester, the city in which The Guardian was founded back in 1821.
The museum’s existing gallery content and ongoing work around sharing the inextricable links between Manchester’s growth into an industrial powerhouse and a textile industry reliant on colonialism and enslavement will be developed through the project.
Through a “collaborative re-examination of the past”, the exhibition will also share a more inclusive history of a city that prides itself on being at the forefront of ideas that change the world.
It’s opening at the Science and Industry Museum in early 2027 / Credit: Science and Industry Museum
Speaking ahead of the exhibition’s arrival in early 2027, Sally MacDonald, who is the Director of the Science and Industry Museum, says: “This will be an exhibition about important aspects of our past that are profoundly relevant to the world we live in today.
“Revealed from the perspectives of those who experienced enslavement and whose lives have been shaped by its legacies, we will foreground stories of resistance, agency, and skill.
“The exhibition will explore themes of resilience, identity and creativity alongside exploitation and inequality, and will feature a specific focus on the ways that scientific and technological developments both drove and were driven by transatlantic slavery.”
Further details on the project will be announced in due course, so stay tuned.
Featured Image – Science Museum Group
Sponsored
Charlotte Dawson will be handing out compliments and big prizes in Manchester to brighten Blue Monday
Daisy Jackson
TV star Charlotte Dawson will be cheering up Blue Monday in Manchester, dishing out compliments to strangers and awarding some big prizes too.
The actress, who is the daughter of the legendary late Les Dawson, will be bringing her signature sunny energy to Printworks on Monday 20 January.
Otherwise known as Blue Monday, it’s believed that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year – so she’s here to nip that in the bud.
Between 1pm and 3pm on the huge gaming screen inside Printworks – part of its £21m transformation that included adding a huge digital ceiling – Charlotte Dawson will be spreading joy and laughter.
She’ll be live streaming straight to passers-by, spreading smiles and dishing out compliments.
Charlotte will also be treating visitors to some amazing prizes from Printworks’ collection of bars, restaurants and leisure venues.
These prizes will include free brunch for four at Walkabout, gaming sessions at Bierkeller, or family cinema tickets with Ice Blasts at VUE. Other prizes include Nando’s vouchers, a drink and activity for two at the new Trax Social, and much more.
And the top prize will be a luxury overnight stay for two at Hotel Indigo, just across the road in the very heart of Manchester.
Charlotte Dawson will take part in Blue Monday at Printworks, Manchester
There’ll even be free coffee vouchers for Todd St Cafe on offer to brighten your Blue Monday.
Kristian Brennan, Marketing Manager at Printworks, said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have Charlotte at Printworks this Blue Monday.
“As a true Mancunian icon, her vibrant personality is exactly what we need to brighten up the most depressing day of the year and we know she’ll bring plenty of laughs and smiles to everyone who stops by.
“What makes this event truly unique is the opportunity for the public to chat with Charlotte under Europe’s largest digital ceiling, which will showcase new mood-boosting content.
“It’s an innovative and exciting way for people to connect, and we can’t wait to see families and friends come together to create joyful memories in this truly unique setting!”
Emily Sergeant -
28th June 2022 
