Cheshire

Popular dinosaur trail Totally Roarsome has reopened near Manchester for half term

The much-loved attraction has found a new home for 2022 at Arley Hall in Cheshire.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 18th February 2022

One of the North West’s most-popular outdoor events has reopened near Manchester, and it’s an ideal day out for families this half term.

For the past two years, Totally Roarsome has taken the region by storm and has seen visitors flock from far and wide after it opened in untouched woodland following the initial lifting of lockdown restrictions in mid-2020, before returning after popular demand for the Easter half term in 2021.

And now, it’s found a new home for 2022’s event at Arley Hall in Cheshire.

Aimed at primary school children, and named as one of the safest attractions for all the family in Greater Manchester, there will be more than 200 individual dinosaur models making up the woodland trail this year, with kids will be able to get up close to the raptors, brontosaurus, spinosaurus, triceratops, and stegosaurus, and so much more.

Not only that, but there’ll also be other creatures and animals to keep them company too, from sea creatures and unicorns, to aliens and farm animals.

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Totally Roarsome’s new home for 2022 is Arley Hall in Cheshire / Credit: Totally Roarsome

Groups enter every 15 minutes to space people apart, with the trail said to take between an hour and an hour-and-a-half to complete.

The path is suitable for pushchairs and prams.

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If the chance to see all sorts of creatures in the wild wasn’t exciting and educational enough as it is, on entry, visitors are given a quiz sheet that features different levels of questions aimed at different age groups, and the answers are on the fact boards as you make your way around.

The popular event has taken the region by storm and has seen visitors flock from far and wide the past two years / Credit: Totally Roarsome

Having already opened last Friday and due to run up until Friday 27 February, followed by weekends throughout March, tickets for Totally Roarsome have been selling fast and are now available to book online.

Tickets will set you back £8.95 each, and must be booked in advance.

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Find out more information and book here. 

Featured Image – Totally Roarsome

Cheshire

Neighbourhood Weekender returns after hiatus with incredible first wave lineup for 2025

Danny Jones Danny Jones Neighbourhood Weekender back with 2025 lineup

After a year out to help fine-tweak what is already one of the best festivals in the North West, Neighbourhood Weekender returns for 2025 with a simply incredible first-wave lineup.

The Warrington-based music festival spread across two fantastic days and jam-packed with some of the best talent from all over the UK is officially back after its short hiatus and buzzing is an understatement.

Neighbourhood will no doubt be a familiar name to many of you who have attended the city centre day festival that first started back in 2016, but the full weekender which began a couple of years later has become a giant in its own right, welcoming some huge acts to the stage in the past.

Spoiler alert: there are some pretty bloody big ones this year too.

Credit: Tom Martin (supplied)

With the likes of Pulp, James, Shed Seven, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Blossoms, Sam Fender, Lewis Capaldi, Inhaler and countless other big names having come through taken the NBHD rite of passage in previous editions, it’s fair to say the lineup also sees both established and up-and-coming names.

Another thing it can take as a compliment is that many of these bands are artists keeping coming back every year or two – in fact, there are a fair few returning customers in 2025 and we’re sure that same goes for the crowd too.

Boasting a daily capacity of around 25,000, make no mistake, this thing is massive and if you’ve never been before, we can’t think of a better time than next summer for their comeback festival now that we’ve seen who’ll be playing.

NBHD Weekender 2025 will not only see headline performances from Manc rock and indie legends, James, as well as fellow veterans and the veritable pride of Wales, Stereophonics, but other huge names include The Wombats, Inhaler, The Lathums, Dizzee Rascal, Ocean Colour Scene and SO many more.

Drum roll, please…

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The names we’re excited to see a virtually endless and this is just the first wave, mind you.

We’re especially excited to see the likes of Wunderhorse, CMAT, overpass, Sigrid, as well as returning favourites The Lathums, The Reytons, The Snuts, The Lottery Winners, The K’s and we simply must stop there otherwise we’ll just end up listing the whole lineup.

Set to take place on the bank holiday weekend of 24-25 May, tickets for Neighbourhood Weekender go live at 9:30am on Friday, 22 November via www.gigsandtours.com, Ticketmaster and the NBHD website.

Residents in postcodes WA1 – WA5 will have access to a local presale, which also opens from 9:30am on Wednesday, 20 November.

See you at the park!

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Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)

Cheshire

Chester Zoo opens new ‘cutting-edge’ science centre to help fight global extinction crisis

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Chester Zoo has opened a new science centre which is set to play a “significant role” in the conservation of the world’s most-threatened species.

The new cutting-edge facility, formally named the International Centre for Zoo Science, will enable researchers to study some of species most at-threat across the globe, as well as support conservationists and scientists to fight the ongoing global extinction crisis.

The specialised centre is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to assess the health of plants and animals, Chester Zoo has revealed.

Inside is a demonstration lab to help train future conservationists, as well as a special cryo-conservation unit where genetics from endangered species will be preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196°C, and the new facility also houses Europe’s largest dedicated wildlife endocrinology lab, giving scientists the chance to study and track hormone levels in animals to further understand their reproductive biology.

Chester Zoo has opened a new ‘cutting-edge’ science centre to help fight the global extinction crisis / Credit: Chester Zoo

In case you didn’t know, Chester Zoo is already at the forefront of vital research to protect a wide range of different species from extinction, with it being home to 37,000 animals from more than 500 species – but this new centre will take things one step further.

Scientists at the UK’s biggest charity zoo say the new centre – which is triple the size of the zoo’s previous lab facilities – will enable them to attempt to “unlock the secrets” of different species which have, so far, remained “unstudied” and a therefore a “mystery to science”.

It will also help the zoo significantly expand its scientific capacity, and boost its conservation training programme.

“Our new International Centre for Zoo Science will help us to play an even more significant role in the conservation of some of the world’s most endangered species,” explained Dr Sue Walker, who is the Head of Science at Chester Zoo.

“At a time when species face extinction on an unimaginable scale, we’re already making a substantial contribution to the task of preventing extinction and restoring biodiversity… and now our new science centre will enable us to grow our research, not only in wildlife reproduction, but also in terms of innovating within our other areas of expertise.”

Read more:

Dr Walker added that this will also be the first time the Zoo is able to accommodate training courses for visiting researchers from all over the world.

Featured Image – Chester Zoo

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