Printworks is helping parents keep kids this busy for the rest of the Easter holiday by hosting a totally free and family-friendly gaming event this Thursday, 4 April.
Fresh from the £21 million refurbishment of the iconic Manchester entertainment venue and leisure destination, which now includes the largest digital ceiling anywhere in Europe, Printworks will be putting their new and improved tech offerings to use through a giant interactive gaming screen.
Having already been unveiled as part of their relaunch party last month, the open area now known as the Pumpyard will see their very own gaming referee, Chris Dresden, hosting a huge interactive game that will see anywhere between 30 and 100 players take part at a time.
Able to play simply by joining through your smartphone, participants will compete in two easy-to-play, interactive multiplayer games created by Manchester-based, crowd-gaming specialists, Piing. We’ve already had a go and trust us, it’s a good laugh.
With the whole thing being shown on Printworks’ new gaming screen as visitors use their smartphones as the controllers, you just have to scan a QR code to get involved. It’ll be taking place between 12pm-4pm on Thursday and it’s sure to attract a big crowd.
There’s no app to download or sign up necessary, you just join the screen and play – though we’d definitely recommend getting the Printworks app for more benefits throughout the year.
As for what people will be playing, gamers can try out Rebound – a ping pong game where players aim to keep the ball on the court – as well as Buggy Race: a classic racing gamer where you can steer around the islands and chicanes on a fast-paced F1-style circuit.
A new gaming challenge will take place every 15–30 minutes as part of the family-friendly event, with the winner of each round able to select a fantastic prize from Printworks’ lucky dip, including vouchers for in-house restaurants and leisure destinations, chocolate fountains, footballs and plenty more.
Credit: The Manc Group
Better still, families can also take advantage of a variety of half-term offers with Printworks’ popular venues over the next two weeks, including Easter menus with Chiquito and Frankie & Benny’s, free face painting and balloon modelling events on weekdays with Treetop Golf and lots more.
Kristian Brennan, Marketing Manager at Printworks, said: “We’re so excited to host our first gaming event here at Printworks on our new gaming screen.
“As part of the recent relaunch following our extensive refurbishment, this gaming event will not only bring free fun for families during the Easter break but will also offer an experience like no other, where they will be surrounded by mesmerising content on our giant digital ceiling.”
The screen isn’t just there as something to look at and to light up the internal street, Printworks is also planning a variety of free content scheduled to run throughout the next year, with families able to marvel at stunning ‘Out of Space’ scenes this school holidays. We can’t lie, it’s pretty bloody impressive.
Aitch is playing a huge hometown set at The Warehouse Project
Danny Jones
Aitch has booked another massive hometown slot as the Moston-born rapper will be playing none other than the home of clubbing here in Manchester: The Warehouse Project.
Joining the WHP25 programme, which is already stacked right up until New Year’s Eve, the 25-year-old is the latest rapper to take on the famous club venue, following the likes of Little Simz and Loyle Carner, who played the event series back in October.
Aitch‘s new album, 4 – which denotes the number of studio LPs he’s made to date and acts as a nod to the M4 postcode – was released on June 20 and has already proved popular with fans.
Having just played Parklife as well as a secret set at Glastonbury this year, he’s already performed most of his biggest slots for the year, but the ever-rising local rapper thought he’d given Manchester another big gig and one more chance to see him live in 2025.
As an increasingly popular main event act across the UK, a headline show at Warehouse Project is nothing short of a massive deal for any artist, let alone a Manc.
The date itself will see him see him performing songs from the new record, which is his second to hit the top 10, as well as a selection of multiple platinum-selling hits.
Sharing details of early access tickets on Instagram stories shortly after the announcement, the UK hip-hop and grime star reminded fans: “This is the only chance to see me shut this sh*t down this year!!!”
It’s actually his only major domestic show in full stop, so if you’re a die-hard fan of Harrison Armstrong and his music, you really don’t want to miss this one.
He’s not the only big name coming to Mayfield this season either.
WHP25 /// FISHER – TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Don’t miss out on what’s set to be an unmissable night – packed with infectious energy from beginning to end – as he takes over Depot Mayfield alongside a lineup coming very soon.
Featured Images — Jahnay Tennai (supplied)/Aitch (via TikTok)
What's On
‘Dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture goes on public display in Greater Manchester after fears it was lost
Emily Sergeant
A long-lost masterpiece of Victorian silverwork has been saved and is now on display to the public in Greater Manchester.
Anyone taking a trip over to the National Trust’s historic Dunham Massey property, on the border of Greater Manchester into Cheshire, this summer will get to see the ‘dazzling’ sculpture called Stags in Bradgate Park – which was commissioned by a former owner in a defiant gesture to the society that shunned him.
The dramatic sculpture of two rutting Red Deer stags, commissioned in 1855 by George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, was said to be an ‘act of love and rebellion’.
It also serves as a symbol of ‘locking horns’ with the society that ostracised him over his marriage to a woman considered ‘beneath him’.
“This isn’t just silver – it’s a story,” says James Rothwell, who is the National Trust‘s curator for decorative arts.
“A story of a man who fell in love with a woman that society deemed unworthy. When the Earl married Catherine Cox, whose colourful past was said to have included performing in a circus, Victorian high society was scandalised. Even Queen Victoria shunned the couple at the opera and local gentry at the horse races in Cheshire turned their backs on them.”
Modelled by Alfred Brown and crafted by royal goldsmiths Hunt & Roskell, Stags in Bradgate Park is a meticulously-detailed depiction of nature, and was considered a ‘sensation’ in its day.
Showing the rutting deer positioned on a rocky outcrop with gnarled hollow oaks, it graced the pages of the Illustrated London News, was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 – both of which were events that drew millions of visitors.
A ‘dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture has gone on public display in Greater Manchester / Credit: Joe Wainwright | James Dobson (via Supplied)
The silver centrepiece was the celebrity art of its time, paraded through streets and admired by the public like no other.
Gradually over the years, some of the Earl of Stamford’s silver collection has been re-acquired for Dunham Massey, and this particular world-renowned sculpture, thought to be lost for decades and feared to have been melted down, has miraculously survived with its ‘dramatic’ central component being all that is left.
“The sculpture is not only a technical marvel, with its lifelike depiction of Bradgate Park’s rugged landscape and wildlife, but also a dramatic human story key to the history of Dunham Massey,” added Emma Campagnaro, who is the Property Curator at Dunham Massey.
Danny Jones -
3rd April 2024 
