What's On

There’s a FREE family wellbeing festival happening at Trafford Palazzo this weekend

There's meditation workshops, aerobic dance classes, and more on the lineup.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 31st January 2024

Meditation workshops, aerobic dance classes, and sound baths are just some of the things you could be getting up to at Trafford Palazzo this weekend.

That’s because the retail complex is bringing back its TP Feelgood Weekender festival.

Back by popular demand, and already sounding set to be weekend full of “fun and energising activities” for visitors of all ages to enjoy, the TP Feelgood Weekender will be taking over Trafford Palazzo‘s tipi space on both Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 February.

Open for all to attend, there’ll be a wide range of family-friendly workshops happening across the two days of the festival, all with a focus on health and wellness.

Some of the feel-good activities you can get involved with are yoga sessions, aerobic and dance classes, and relaxing sound baths, alongside guided meditation and ‘breath work’ workshops from Greater Manchester at the wider North West region’s most renowned wellness brands and professionals.

And the best bit about it all? Everyone can take part in all of these sessions without paying a penny, as the full festival is completely FREE.

On the Saturday (3 February), you can start your day out on a positive note with an ‘Ecstatic Dance’ class led by Transcend Tribe that’s designed to help you cope with stress and achieve serenity, or take part in a ‘Breath Workshop’ with experts Illumin8te to “steady your breath, steady your mind, and reap all the benefits” in the afternoon.

There’s a free family wellbeing festival happening at Trafford Palazzo this weekend / Credit: Trafford Palazzo

Or, how does an ‘Angst Aerobics’ class with Girl Gang MCR to let off some steam with an alternative excursive routine sound instead?

Then, on the Sunday (4 February), Girl Gang MCR are back to kick-start the day from 11am, but this time with their Taylor Swift-inspired fun aerobic dance session ‘Shake It Off’.

After this, little Mancs can then get stuck into a ‘Kids Meditation and Yoga’ class with The Conscious Classroom to help them move away from anxiety and stress, and toward “increased concentration over their mind”, while grown-ups try out an innovative ‘Sound Bath’ session with Gong Hollistic to renew their mind, body, and soul. 

There’s meditation workshops, aerobic dance classes, sound baths, and more on the lineup / Credit: Trafford Palazzo

Fancy it then? The TP Feelgood Weekender is happening this Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 February down at Trafford Palazzo, and it’s free to head on down to – but advanced booking of the classed you want to take part in is advised.

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You can find out more and book your place on the workshops here.

Featured Image – Trafford Palazzo

What's On

Aitch is playing a huge hometown set at The Warehouse Project

Danny Jones 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.

Booking the main stage at Depot Mayfield this autumn, Aitch will be playing to hordes of die-hards inside the massive space.

It’s not his first time playing WHP, having previously joined fellow native and DJ Bou (the very same producer he joined in Glasto 2025) last year, but you can guarantee this one will be bigger.

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.

The concert is coming to Manchester city centre on Wednesday, 29 October, and you can check Aitch’s social media for info on how to get pre-sale.

Meanwhile, in terms of general admission for Aitch at The Warehouse Project, tickets go live this Thursday, 3rd July at 10am.

Keep your eyes peeled for a link when tickets officially drop, and we’ll make sure to let you know when they do. See you there.

In the meantime, you can always watch us eat a burger with him…

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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 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. 

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“It speaks of nature, of craftsmanship, and of a couple who chose each other over status and what others thought of them.”

The sculpture has now gone on display at Dunham Massey from Thursday 26 June.

Featured Image – James Dobson (via Supplied)

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