A popular festival full of pop-up live music, performance, food, drink, and family fun is back in Swinton later this month.
Returning to the Salford town for the third year running at some of Swinton’s favourite venues and well-known locations, Swinton Sounds – which is a collaboration between Salford City Council and From The Other – is all about celebrating the local area and its vibrant community.
Throughout the weekend, local venues will welcome a lineup of Greater Manchester’s best musicians and DJs in a programme curated by the team behind the Sounds from the Other City festival.
Local venues including Swinton Grand Palais, The Swinton Hop House, and The Wobbly Stool, as well as Swinton Square, and the beautiful Victoria Park, are just some of the places residents can head to around town to catch all the action.
Swinton Sounds is back later this month / Credit: Salford City Council
Kicking off on Friday 30 May and running through to Sunday 1 June, Swinton Sounds will launch at the historic Grand Palais with a dancefloor-filling set from Untold Orchestra, with unique takes on dance songs from all the best decades, so expect disco, funk, soul, and lots of shuffle-inducing surprises.
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Some of the other stand-out musical performances across the weekend come from the likes of Soul artist Yemi Bolatiwa, Ghana-born, Manchester-raised contemporary guitarist and composer Rory A. Green, and R&B, Gospel, and Neo Soul fusing singer-songwriter Kiké.
Away from the music, festivalgoers will also be able to catch a visually-striking performance piece from the UK’s leading makers and creators of outdoor arts, theatre, and spectacle in the public realm, Walk the Plank – inspired by the nesting birds found around the waterways of Salford.
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Throughout the weekend, local venues will welcome a lineup of Greater Manchester’s best musicians / Credit: Supplied
Craft-based family fun will also be provided by Manchester’s Little Artists, while Swinton’s-own Arts Let Loose will be inviting kids to dance and create to music under UV lights.
Clay and craft workshops for the all the family will come courtesy of Clay Life, and Salford Mad Pride will be in town to promote creativity, arts, nature, and community connection for wellbeing, all while celebrating the unique talents of those who struggle with mental health.
If you’re feeling a bit peckish, Fratellis will be providing the pizza, and local bars, The Wobbly Stool and The Swinton Hop House will be running pop-up bars.
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Further refreshments will be served from The Hive community hub.
There’ll also be lots of food and family-friendly entertainment over the three days / Credit: Supplied
“Swinton has plenty to celebrate, and has the potential to be one of the best places to live in Greater Manchester,” commented Councillor Jack Youd, who is the Deputy City Mayor at Salford City Council.
“Local people have told us they want to see a more vibrant Swinton, with more going on and more reasons for people to visit and spend their leisure time in the area, so this exciting weekend of activities is part of a programme of events developed in response to that community ambition, and it’s a great opportunity for people to explore the town and experience something new.”
Swinton Sounds will take over Swinton for three days at the end of this month from Friday 30 May – Sunday 1 June, and all events are free to take part in.
A local Manc content creator is looking to set a world record by running around Old Trafford
Danny Jones
A local content creator, who specialises in running/hiking content (and sandwiches), is looking to raise money and potentially set a world record by jogging around Old Trafford.
Oh, and by jogging, we mean running – for a really, REALLY long time…
If you’ve never come across his channel before, let us introduce you to local influencer and videographer Sam Matthew, a.k.a. ‘Peaks and Pubs‘.
Boasting plenty of fans on both Instagram and TikTok within the world of trail running, the outdoors community and beyond, he’s set to toastreaching a very specific achievement by “turning a milestone into a mission” and doing laps around Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United Football Club.
As explained in the video, he’s now surpassed 74,310 followers, i.e. the same capacity of supporters you can fit inside the Theatre of Dreams itself.
We know, it’s distance running and feats of endurance aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they are a great way of raising money and awareness, not to mention possibly getting yourself in the official Guinness Book of World Records.
Explaining the challenge in the caption of the video, Sam writes: “There’s now enough of you lot following this daft account of mine on here to fill a stadium I’ve adored since I was a little boy. And that genuinely means so much to me.
“So why not celebrate the occasion by punishing my legs and raising money for good causes along the way? Donations are, of course, the aim, but I understand that not everybody is in the position to do that, so any engagement on this post is hugely appreciated.
“I mean it from the bottom of my heart that you lot genuinely make this all happen for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful that I get to do silly stuff like this on a random Wednesday [29 October]. Giving off pure ‘your unemployed friend on a Wednesday’ vibes, but I love it!”
Raising money for the club’s in-house Manchester United Foundation, which has already shown its support for the upcoming ultra-marathon distance event, they are also looking to generate crucial funds with the return of another annual charity event too.
The Foundation does some incredible work all year-round, if you’d rather swap running around Old Trafford for sleeping.
Once again, Sam will be kicking off the serious step-count from approximately 9am this Wednesday (28 Oct), he’s estimating it’ll take him around a whopping nine and a half hours, “with plenty of breaks for food and fluids”, thank god.
As the man behind most of the Bada Bing videos, we expect plenty of butties to fuel the running.
Furthermore, although he’s set to take on the distance solo for the morning, he’s invited as many people who fancy getting involved to come and join him for a lap or two from 12 noon onwards; hopefully, he’ll see the Guinness people popping along to see if he registers a world record while he’s at it, too.
We hope there are a few pints at the pub waiting for you at the end, as always, Sam.
Featured Images — Peaks and Pubs (supplied)/The Manc Group
What's On
A live Shaun the Sheep stage show and circus is coming to Manchester
Danny Jones
Brace yourselves, because one of the best fun-for-all-ages events is coming to Manchester: the official Shaun the Sheep stage and circus show is coming to Factory International.
This isn’t just one to keep the children entertained; we already know plenty of big kids who grew up on Shaun, Shirley, and the rest of the sheep are already thinking about grabbing tickets.
Created by Nick Park, the same man responsible for Wallace and Gromit, this live stage production and incredibly practical circus show of the beloved British cartoon is already critically acclaimed.
Now set to make its full European debut right here in our city, Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show teams up with leading performance company Circa to bring the TV show to life this winter.
‘It’s gonna be un-BAAA-leivable’.
Conceived not only by the award-winning minds at Aardman Animation, but the experienced performers at Circa, this ‘in the flesh’ (and wool) interpretation of the slapstick CBBC classic will not only delight younger audiences, but bring plenty of energy to keep the adults entertained too.
Promising a “live circus performance, simultaneously blurring the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus for a visual spectacle packed with wit”, you can expect acrobatics and circus skills.
Stunts will include the likes of tumbling, juggling, aerial hoop, aerial silks, trapeze, Spanish web and Chinese pole, just to name a few.
And, of course, there’ll be plenty of Aardman’s signature heartwarming comedy in W&G, Chicken Run, Arthur Christmas, Flushed Away and more.
Naturally, all the usual suspects will be on show to: Shaun, Bitzer, The Farmer and the rest of the Flock – and yes, in case the trailer didn’t give it away, they are people who are not just dressed up as adorable real-life lambs but bouncing, flipping and flying all over the stage.
Coming to Aviva Studios this festive period, it’ll be taking place in The Hall: one of the venue’s largest and most dynamic rooms, with the state-of-the-art building famously able to alter the size of individual stages and spaces depending on the event.
John McGrath, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Factory International, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Circa and Aardman to present the European premiere of this fun-filled show at our home in Aviva Studios.
“Circa presents award-winning circus performances to audiences across the globe, and their collaboration with Aardman Studios creates a unique offering for families, circus fans and everyone who loves Shaun the Sheep“
Running from Tuesday, 11 December 2025 until Sunday, 4 January 2026, they’ve also ensured affordable admission from just £10; you can grab your tickets now.
Emily Sergeant -
16th May 2025 
