Award-winning lantern and light festival Lightopia is hoping to “shine a light on love this winter” with the release of its date night tickets.
After having returned to Heaton Park this year – with an extended stay running through until Sunday 10th January 2021 – the visually-spectacular event is creating its own Christmas love story with tickets that are ideal for late-night explorers and Lightopian lovers to see the light trail.
The dual tickets admit entry for two people to the event from 8pm onwards.
Being one of the city’s only fully COVID-compliant outdoor experiences this festive season, Lightopia showcases unique interactive and immersive lights, lanterns and installations, with a magical illuminated trail designed to maintain social distance from others.
The new route has been designed to create a safe environment where visitors are able to see the sights safely, with wider footpaths to maintain social distancing, a one-way system, three entry points to reduce queuing, and direct access to two car parks.
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As Christmas is very much the theme for this year’s event too, the stunning Grade I-listed Heaton Hall is used as a sparkling backdrop for all festive merriment, and a 10-metre candy-covered illuminated Christmas tree also provides the focal point.
Lightopia will be open to the public until Sunday 10th January (except for Christmas Day), and opening times are between 5pm to 10pm, with last entry 8.30pm daily.
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‘Date Night’ tickets are available from £32, admitting entry for two people from 8pm onwards.
Dates still available to book include 26th December – 10th January.
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Advance pre-booked tickets are priced at £20 for adults (or £22 on the day), £13 for children (or £15 on the day), and £60 for families of two adults and two children (£68 on the day).
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Children under three can go free.
Essential carers of disabled visitors can also attend the event for free, with the disabled visitor paying the normal admission fee.
There are also a limited number of tickets available for key workers – with a 20% discount off the standard ticket price when using code KEY20 – plus, the 20% discount is applied to all tickets in the online basket.
One essential worker ID is required for entry, per party.
You can book your tickets and find more information via the Lightopia website here.
What's On
Curious kids can meet star of hit CBBC show Operation Ouch! in Manchester next month
Emily Sergeant
Got a curious kid on your hands? You can take them to meet the star of one of their favourite TV shows at the Science and Industry Museum next month.
In case you hadn’t heard, Operation Ouch! is back in Manchester again with a fresh new experience for 2025, and this time around, visitors can journey through an ear canal covered in gooey wax, squeeze past sticky snot, and delve deeper into how our brains interpret the world.
Thousands of families from across Greater Manchester and beyond have already visited the city centre museum make the most of the new exhibition, and get stuck into the wide range of immersive and interactive activities it has on offer.
But for those who haven’t been able to pay a visit yet, this summer couldn’t be a more ideal opportunity to do so.
Operation Ouch! star Dr Chris Van Tulleken will be at the Science and Industry Museum next month / Credit: Science Museum Group
That’s because Dr Chris Van Tulleken – who is one of the presenters of the BBC showOperation Ouch! – will be at the museum in a couple of weeks time to meet visitors as part of his myth-busting mission to answer some of the public’s deepest questions about our senses.
Dr Chris will be at the Science and Industry Museum for one day only, and will not only join mini medics on their voyage through the senses, but will also be on-hand to answer brain teasers from the audience during a series of live Q&As.
Whether it’s banging on a super-sized eardrum, venturing into a massive eyeball, or even taking a whiff of a ‘smell library’, this world-premiere exhibition dives into the science behind hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell – and Dr Chris will be there every step of the way.
Also to celebrate Dr Chris’ visit, the museum is introducing additional sense-themed activities that very same weekend, where sight and sound will be examined during an interactive experience led by the museum’s expert Explainers.
Book your tickets to visit Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You on Sunday 9 November, for any of the time slots between 11:30am – 1pm, and 2:45 – 4:15pm for the opportunity to grab a selfie with Dr Chris from inside the exhibition.
Tickets will cost visitors £10 each, with those under three going free, and a range of family discounts available.
Council announces Manchester’s Remembrance Sunday 2025 parade plans and road closures
Emily Sergeant
Manchester is set to remember the fallen during this year’s annual Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
With Remembrance Day only a few weeks away now, just as it does each year, Manchester City Council has now revealed the details of how the city will mark this important occasion, and has confirmed all the details of the annual Remembrance Sunday Parade on 9 November.
Proceedings will start on John Dalton Street at 10:30am, and run right through until midday – with the service itself being held at 11am.
Veterans, military personnel and cadets, all led by Greater Manchester Police‘s Band, will march from John Dalton Street to the Cenotaph St. Peter’s Square.
This will be followed by a short return march to Mount Street across St Peter’s Square.
Manchester’s Remembrance Sunday 2025 parade plans and road closures have been announced / Credit: Manchester City Council
Civic dignitaries, servicemen and women, service and ex-service organisations, faith leaders, emergency services, and other uniformed organisations, have all been invited to lay traditional poppy wreaths and pay their respects at the Cenotaph, along with members of the public.
As always, a two-minute silence will be observed at 11am, with the start and finish of this silence marked by the firing of a maroon.
In order for necessary security checks and safeguards to be carried out, Manchester City Council has confirmed that a series of road closures will be implemented on Remembrance Sunday itself between 7am and 1pm.
The following road closures will be in place:
John Dalton Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
Princess Street (Cross St to Portland St) with a ‘hard closure’ at Back George St
Cross Street (Princess Street to King Street)
Peter Street (Deansgate to Oxford Street) with a ‘hard closure’ at Watson Street
Oxford Street (Peter Street to Portland Street) with a ‘hard closure’ at Hale Street
Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
Museum Street (Windmill Street to Peter Street)
Southmill Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
Bootle Street (Deansgate to Mount Street)
Lloyd Street (Deansgate to Southmill)
Jackson’s Row (Deansgate to Southmill)
Central Street (Southmill to Mount Street)
Cooper Street (Kennedy Street to Princess Street)
West Mosely Street (Booth Street to Princess Street)
Clarence Street (Princess Street to Kennedy Street)
Bow Lane (Clarence Street to Princess Street)
St James’s Square (South King Street to John Dalton Street)
Ridgefield (Mulberry Street to John Dalton Street)
A number of other parking suspensions, tram suspensions, taxi rank, and bus lane suspensions will also be in place from as early as 6pm on Saturday 8 November.
You can find out more information about these suspensions on the Council website.
Emily Sergeant -
18th December 2020 
