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Paddington Bear will be the special festive guest at Trafford Centre’s grotto this Christmas

The 'Christmas with Paddington' grotto is gearing up to be "a memorable festive experience".

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 26th October 2022

The Trafford Centre has announced that a very special guest will be making an appearance for its Christmas celebrations this year.

With not long to go until the festive season is here, and Greater Manchester already starting to get into the spirit, the Stretford-based shopping centre has revealed that its much-loved Christmas Grotto is back by popular demand for 2022 as part of its annual Tinseltown celebrations – and this year is set to be extra-special as Santa will be joined by a famous guest.

Paddington is digging out his Christmas hat and heading to the Trafford Centre next month.

The shopping centre’s grotto is always a highlight of the festive season each year, but it’s expected to be bigger and better than ever before with Paddington’s arrival.

Gearing up to be some proper festive fun for all the family, the Christmas with Paddington grotto experience – which is curated by award-winning experiential events company Bakehouse Factory – will include fun photo opportunities for all ages, the chance to travel through snowy festive trees and scenic street scenes, and so much more.

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There’ll also a mesmerising interactive doll’s house that features Paddington’s famous attic window, and kids will be invited to tiptoe across the Christmas night time rooftops of the beautiful Windsor Gardens, before being transported to the hallway of the Browns’ house to finally meet Paddington.

After snapping a photo with the world-famous bear, families will then be guided in groups to meet the big man Santa himself.

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A Paddington book as a special gift from Santa and families can enjoy browsing a 

Not only will families be able to take a look round a pop-up Paddington shop for quality memorabilia and gifts to take home with them, but Santa will also give each child a Paddington book as a special gift to remember from the magical experience.

Paddington Bear will be the special festive guest at Trafford Centre’s grotto this Christmas / Credit: Adrien Welch

And, on weekdays throughout November, the Christmas with Paddington experience will also be open for interactive storytelling sessions that are specifically-designed for pre-school children, schools, and nurseries.

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Each storytelling session also includes the chance to meet Paddington.

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The Christmas with Paddington grotto at the Trafford Centre will be open every weekend from 16 November – 24 December 2022 for families of all ages to enjoy what’s already being described as “a memorable festive experience”.

Find out more and grab tickets here.

Featured Image – Trafford Centre

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A music festival is coming to a Manchester skate park

Danny Jones Danny Jones music festival at manchester skate park 2025

With the sun starting to shine more consistently and the music festival season well and truly on its way, we’ll admit we weren’t expecting to see an event taking place on a Manchester skate park, of all places.

Projekts Skatepark, the long-standing skating hub and cultural hotspot located under Macunian Way, is set to host the fourth edition of the unapologetically named ‘Metlchester’.

Starting out life as little more than a small Oldham Street takeover, the city centre festival is returning for this year, bringing plenty of alternative music, skate vibes, bevs and more.

You can see the lineup confirmed so far down below:

The 2025 edition of the festival, a.k.a. ‘Metlchester Vol. 4’, is taking place later this month.

Projekts has been catering to local boarders for the past two decades, and along with their on-site cafe and bar, the space has been put to use for several other special events – case and point, Meltchester Festival, which first started back in 2022.

Bringing a healthy dose of garage rock, post-punk and psych music to NQ from the outset, now it’s expanded, you can expect even more variety when it comes to genre this time around, as well as a well-stocked in-house bar and street food stalls.

Oh yeah, and of course there’ll be the usual merch and skate shop for you to browse.

As for the aforementioned tunes, while last year’s festival was headlined by Night Beats and Frankie & The Witch Fingers, topping the bill this year are Snapped Ankles, along with a mix of grassroots artists, including local duo, Slap Rash, who recently featured as one of our Manc artists of the month for April.

projekts skatepark
Projekts opened back in 2004
slap rash manchester gigs
Slap Rash
Credit: Supplied

Set in collaboration with Sour Grapes Records, an equally longstanding regional promoter with hundreds of successful events to their name, they make up part of the Greater Manchester Music Commission.

Serving up an exciting springtime event full of energy, from the skate culture to the performances themselves, this is the perfect appetiser ahead of a busy summer schedule as we approach festival season.

They also happen to be the event coordinators for local music venue Big Hands, where not only are current Sicilian traders Rizzo’s are based (also set to join the festival for the day) but where this year’s after party will be held, which is free for ticket holders, by the way.

Set to kick off from 12 noon on 17 May, with a pro skater session running until 2pm before the tunage, Metlchester sounds like a belter.

You can grab your tickets HERE.

One the best in the North: Green Island celebrates fifth anniversary with biggest music festival yet
Meltchester isn’t the only festival hosted within a unique setting that we’re looking forward to seeing return this year.

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

Featured Images — quantum bunny (via Flickr)/Supplied

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Greater Manchester’s heritage railway is hosting a new vintage festival this late May bank holiday weekend

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Greater Manchester’s iconic heritage railway is taking a step back in time with its brand new vintage festival later this month.

After delighting families throughout the region with countless successful events over the past couple of years, the Greater Manchester public is now being invited down to East Lancashire Railway (ELR) this late May bank holiday for an unforgettable weekend of ‘soulful tunes’ and ‘timeless classics’ – with music, food, events, and costumes inspired by the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s.

The brand-new Vintage Vibes events is shaping up to be even bigger and better than ever before, all to celebrate the best of years gone by.

Along with previously confirmed headliners including The Real Thing, The Barron Soul DJ, Northern Soul Train, and Sixties Mania, seven new acts are hitting the stages at Bury Bolton Street, Rawtenstall, Ramsbottom, and Heywood Stations along the ELR route.

Local radio personality, David Dockerty, will serve as MC for both days of the event on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 May.

Acoustic specialists The Washboard Resonators, Motown marvel Jackie Marie, disco band Groovemental, and vocal trio Christopher and The Robins are just some of the music acts to perform across the two-day festival, while tribute act Masters of the Scene will round off the weekend in perfect sing-along fashion belting out all your favourite ABBA hits.

The fun doesn’t stop at the main stage either, as vintage entertainer Lilli Moore is set to perform at Heywood Station all afternoon on both days of the event, as is 1940s singer and entertainer Lancashire Belle at Rawtenstall on 24 May and Ramsbottom on 25 May.

A new vintage festival is coming to Greater Manchester this late May bank holiday weekend / Credit: ELR | Wikimedia Commons

So Retro will be hosting an incredible vintage fair with themed memorabilia, clothing, and vinyl records for sale all weekend.

ELR is also taking those vintage vibes to the sky too, and that’s because the iconic Lancaster bomber will be performing a thrilling flypast on the Saturday to wow spectators with a touch of history and nostalgia.

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Vintage Vibes is taking place across the late May bank holiday weekend from Saturday 24 and Saturday 25 May, and you can find out more and get tickets starting from £13 each on the ELR website here.

Featured Image – ELR

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