What's On

‘Northern Lights’ to be visible in Bolton as popular FREE light art festival returns next month

Put Big Light On will transform the town centre into a glowing canvas of creativity, wonder, and community spirit.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 9th October 2025

Bolton’s festival full of fantastic immersive light art installations is set to shine on the town centre next month.

Back by popular demand after proving to be such a success during its inaugural year in 2023, with the first-of-its-kind event attracting more than 50,000 visitors, Put Big Light On Festival is returning for another year of festive magic, and there’s some huge and impressive art installations set to descend on the Greater Manchester town’s centre.

Curated by artistic events company, Things That Go On Things, the festival will take place right across Bolton in late November.

This year’s lineup will feature magical creations from a diverse range of artists.

A free festival of immersive light installations will shine on Bolton again next month / Credit: Bolton Council

Returning in 2025 for what’s said to be ‘the final time’, Dan Acher’s fan-favourite Borealis will illuminate Victoria Square by recreating one of planet Earth’s most incredible natural phenomena, the Northern Lights, in the most immersive way possible.

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As beams of light travel through particle clouds, visitors can look up to see the show above their heads, and as the particle clouds are moved by wind, over which there is no control, this means they’ll never see the same pattern twice.

Other installations this year include Mars by the critically-acclaimed artist Luke Jerram, which is a six-metre diameter sculpture featuring high-resolution NASA imagery of the Martian surface, and Submergence by Squidsoup – a walkthrough experience with thousands of suspended lights creating an immersive sense of movement.

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Wave by Are You Playing Out, The Garden by Ant Dickinson, Celestial Carousel by Eye of Newt, and Beacon of Hope by Craig Morrison are a handful of the other installations.

As well as the festival itself,  there will also be plenty of vibrant street entertainment over the four-day event too, and residents can expect lots of family activities in the run-up to the festive season.

“Put Big Light On is more than just a festival, it’s a celebration of Bolton’s creativity, resilience, and community spirit,” commented Bolton Council’s Executive Cabinet Member for Culture, Cllr Nadeem Ayub.

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“We’re proud to welcome world-class artists and local talent to light up our town and bring people together in a truly magical way.

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“Visitors can expect a family-friendly event packed full of entertainment and moving light art displays designed to inspire wonder.”

Put Big Light On Festival returns to Bolton town centre this winter from Thursday 20 and Sunday 23 November, and it’s free for all to visit.

Featured Image – Joel Chester Fildes (via Bolton Council)

What's On

A massive social for Manchester runners is happening in the city centre this winter

Danny Jones Danny Jones

With the bulk of race season nearly over, the local running community is finally starting to wind down and indulge in some well-deserved rest and relaxation – well, that and a sprinkle of clubbing, as the massive Cross Club Social for Manchester runners is back for 2025.

Following a successful sophomore edition last winter, the MCR Cross Club Social is returning for another proper good bash and looks to be shaping up nicely.

Hosted at a brand new venue, with sets from Manc-based DJs, karaoke and even giveaways on the night, the runners are going BIG this year.

So, if you’re part of a local running club or even just a Greater Mancunian who’s partial to a bit of jogging and looking for a night out, you’d best keep 8 November free.

cross club social mcr
running event fairfield social club manchester
Credit: Cross Club Social

Combining forces once again, the third iteration of the Cross Club Social sees multiple Manchester running clubs putting on one of the biggest parties of the year, with people from all over the community turning up to swap their trainers for dancing shoes.

Ticket prices have crept ever so slightly this year, mainly because of just how well attended the 2025 event was, but also to help raise money for their official charity partner.

Helping generate funds for the annual Manchester 24-Hour Run Against Homelessness, which takes place less than a week after this year’s Cross Club date, it’s also for a good cause.

Clubs signed up this year include:

However, it goes without saying that all newcomer clubs and solo runners in general and welcome to come along to this year’s event, which is also the first to be held at Fairfield Social Club near Angel Meadows Park – the more the merrier, as far as these lot are concerned.

For example, here’s a taste of the kind of turnout it got last year…

Speaking to The Manc, organiser and resident MC Dave ‘Macca’ McLaughlin said of Cross Club Social 2025: “This event is a celebration of the local running community, by the local running community.

“It’s a great chance to get some of the biggest running clubs in Manchester together to celebrate their achievements of the year without the running kit or carbon-plated trainers.

“It’s a pleasure to organise an event that local runners seemingly love, alongside some of Manchester’s biggest running clubs, all while raising money for our charity partner. Last year, we were able to contribute nearly £400 to their fundraiser, and we’re aiming for even higher this year.

“The demand has been huge – our first event sold out in under 50 minutes, last year was just under two hours at a bigger venue. This year we’re going even bigger to handle the demand, with more clubs than ever and a venue with three separate rooms for different kinds of entertainment.

“Me and Sophie [de Greenlaw – fellow DJ and co-founder] hope to continue expanding the event into a day-long running festival; we’d love to book bigger venues, get more clubs and sponsors involved, and make this a day that every local runner has marked on their calendar. See you there.”

Credit: Supplied

Early bird access will be on sale from 10am this Friday, 10 October, with the general admission tickets going live at the same time next week (17 Oct).

The social itself will run from 5pm until midnight, with last entry at 8:30pm, and you can bank on there being some kind of after-party elsewhere on the night. Get ready to grab your tickets HERE.

It’s also worth noting that the two previous years sold out fast, so make sure you put in a PB-worthy performance when it comes to that online shopping basket if you want to be there.

Once again, the Manchester Runners Cross-club social is a completely non-profit event; all funds from ticket sales go directly towards setting up the next one, back into the running clubs who take part, and to charitable organisations like The MCR 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness.

Speaking of which…

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Brand new venue confirmed as the host of The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Supplied

What's On

Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall

Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.

The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.

And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.

I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.

Credit: Audio North

It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.

The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.

She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.

Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.

Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.

Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.

We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.

Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.

Credit: The Manc

Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.

It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.

Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — The Manc Group

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