We have worked hard to bring you the best of whats happening, Manchester-wide. We have so much more to offer. So we are working hard over the summer make Manchester Wide much, much better.

Our new site will still bring you information about events and entertainment in this great City. But there is more planned, so check back regularly and subscribe to Manchester Wide on Twitter to ensure you are the first to know about updates on Manchester Wide.

Meet at the Robert Owen statue, Cooperative Bank, Balloon Street, Manchester, M60

This walk will explore Manchester’s radical history including the Cooperative movement, The Clarion newspaper, Marx and Engels, Peterloo, Chartism, The General Strike and rioting in Albert Square. You will also find out what happened the day Manchester was captured by a Scottish army.

The walk will be led by Michael Herbert. Michael has been researching, writing and talking about Manchester’s history for many years. He has an MA in the History of Manchester and is a former editor of the North West Labour History Journal and is currently a Trustee of the Working Class Movement Library. His first book Never Counted Out! The Story of Len Johnson, boxer and communist was published in 1992. His second book The Wearing of the Green: a political history of the Irish in Manchester was published in 2001. He is a regular contributor to the Manchester’s Radical History website radicalmanchester.wordpress.com

More information about the walk: mossley@phonecoop.coop

Feeling the pinch after Easter egg excess? Then sign up for the Manchester Midnight Walk (2 July) and get training! The walk raises money for St Ann’s Hospice, the largest adult hospice in the UK.

The city’s original, exciting night-time event, the Manchester Midnight Walk, is back for the fourth year, even bigger than before and is putting its best foot forward on Friday 2 July 2010.

On the stroke of midnight thousands will take to the streets from Manchester Central in a fun-filled ‘night to remember’. All the walkers are raising money for St Ann’s Hospice, one of the largest adult hospices in the UK.

The walk will take a 10k route through Manchester’s city centre, past some of its best-known landmarks including the start point, Manchester Central, Granada Studios, Urbis, the MEN Arena and the Cathedral, giving walkers the opportunity to see their city in a new light and experience a unique party atmosphere at the same time.

But St Ann’s Hospice is largely dependent on donations for its survival and has to raise £16,000 a day to keep its doors open. For every £1 donated to the hospice, 92p is spent directly on patient care.

So why not set a challenge in 2010, register now and get a head start on fundraising! There’s also a special rate of £8 for those aged 11 to 17. For more information or to register visit www.manchestermidnightwalk.org.uk or call 0161 498 3631.

Enchanting fun to be had, join in Easter Face Painting (April 4,6,9,11,17,18).

Help welcome the Easter Bunny to the Mall by decorating the Easter Garden with colorful homemade flowers in the Easter Flower Making Workshops (March 31 and April 1)

Win medals and goody bags at our Mad Hatter’s Games Day (April 2)! With an egg-citing line up of Easter Egg games including Egg & Spoon Races, What’s inside the Egg and Roll the Giant Egg!

Have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny (April 3) and feature on your very own Easter card to take home! Make sure you take part in The Great Easter Egg Hunt too! The mischievous Easter Bunny has hidden 100 Easter Egg Cards around the Mall. If you find one on Saturday 3rd April hand it into Customer Services and get a FREE chocolate Easter Egg!

For all those magical in mind visit the Mall on Magic Monday – The Great Lorenzo (April 5) for a truly magical display of sorcery tricks and talents.

Get crafty at the Easter Basket Workshops (April 7 and April 8), decorate your very own Easter basket before filling it with Easter treats to take home and enjoy.

Bring your teddy along to take part in our Teddy Bear Fun Day (April 10), which includes a talent contest, music, games and more with prizes for the winners! Plus, meet William our friendly 14ft Teddy Bear!

The Lowry Outlet Mall is the perfect place for a family day out, offering free entertainment and events all year round, an on-site cinema, restaurants and stores offering up to 60% off RRP all year round

ACTIVITIES:

Easter flower making workshops – Wednesday 31th March, Thursday 1st April: 11am to 4pm
Mad hatter’s games day – Friday 2nd April: 11am – 4pm
Have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny! plus easter egg hunt in the mall!* – Saturday 3rd April: 12pm – 4pm
Easter face painting – Sunday 4th April : 11am to 4pm
Magic Monday – the Great Lorenzo – Monday 5th April: 12pm, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm
Easter face painting – Tuesday 6th April: 11am to 4pm
Easter Basket workshops – Wednesday 7th April, Thursday 8th April: 11am to 4pm
Easter face painting – Friday 9th April: 11am to 4pm
Teddy bear fun day & meet the tallest teddy bear in the world!* – Saturday 10th April: 11am to 4pm
Easter face painting – Sunday 11th April, Saturday 17th April, Sunday 18th April: 11am to 4pm

For more information visit www.lowryoutletmall.com or follow us on http://twitter.com/lowryoutletmall

Please note, the following applies to the activities:

* (*) Characters will be appearing at various intervals throughout the day.
* The children’s entertainments are not supervised playschemes and parents are requested to stay with their children and join in the fun.
* The Lowry Outlet Mall reserves the right to cancel or change the times of any events without notice.
* Only one chocolate egg per child on the Great Easter egg hunt

The 16th Viva! Spanish & Latin American Film Festival will be hosted at the Cornerhouse, (70 Oxford St, Manchester, M1 5NH) from Saturday 6th to Sunday 27th March 2010.

Although full details are not available at the time of writing, highlights will include:-

Paraguayan comedy Mal Día Para Pescar
La vergüenza, a Spanish family drama
Catalan coming-of-age tale Little Indi
Guest appearances from award-winning writer-director Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and short filmmaker Luis Arambilet

The festival has been extended to include Spanish and Latin American art with an exhibition of the work of Mexican artist Carlos Amorales who will be presenting his inter-media installations Psicofonias (2008) and Discarded Spider (2008).

You can find out more about the festival, get up to date details about whats on and join the Viva! mailing list on the Viva! festival website.

School holidays just got better with the news that at February half term there is going to be some great extraterrestrial fun with ‘Out of this World’ adventures from February 13th until February 21st 2010.

Firstly, there is something for Dr. Who fans, (young and old), with the arrival at the Mall on Saturday, 13th February (11:00 am – 3:00 pm) of Classic Dr Who characters played by Hyde Fundraisers to raise money for BBC Children in Need. You will be able to meet Dr Who and other popular characters such as K-9, Ogron, Classic Cyberman, Tetrap, Heamovore, Silurian, Davros, Exillon, Draconian and Auton, and no Children In Need fundraiser would be complete without a surprise visit from Pudsey Bear.

On Sunday 14th February and Friday 19th February the Mall is hosting Intergalactic Games Day (10:00 am-4:00 pm – every half hour). Games include Space Hopping, Mars Racing and Satellite Spinning. There is a space academy medal for everyone taking part and there will be a prize for the best space cadet in each group.

There is Alien face painting on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th February, (11:00 am – 4:00 pm both days) and there is the Floating Space Ships Craft Workshop on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th February (11:00 am – 4:00 pm both days) where kids can make their very own helium space ship.

On Saturday 20th February there is another opportunity to meet Dr Who characters, (11:00 am – 3:00 pm) but this time Hyde Fundraisers will be raising money for BBC Children in Need when they perform as Modern Dr Who Characters including Judoon, Santa, Ood Sigma, Host, Scarecrow, Hath, Donna Noble, Clockwork Droid and, of course, Pudsey Bear!

The following day, Sunday 21st February, kids can learn to moonwalk, Michael Jackson style, with the Learn to Moonwalk workshop. (11:00 am, 12:30pm, 2:00 pm and 3:30pm (30 minute sessions)). This dance session will feature dance movement, moonwalking, hip-hop and a body popping workshop for all those far out performers.

Get directions and keep up to date with whats happening at the Lowry Outlet Mall website.

Artists Rooms, an exhibition of striking sculptures by acclaimed artist Ron Mueck starts in Manchester on Thursday 4th February 2010. On show are Wild Man (2005), Spooning Couple (2005) and Mask III (2005).

The exhibition, takes place at Manchester Art Gallery, (Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL) and lasts from Thursday 4 February to Sunday 11 April 2010. Entry to the exhibition is free.

Find out more at the galleries website, here.

Examples of Mueck’s work can be found on this You Tube video.

Join the celebrations over two weeks in March 2010 when Manchester plays host to one of the worlds largest and most popular Irish Festivals. Festivities start in earnest with a Launch Night at Manchester Town Hall on Friday 5th March 2010.

The Manchester Irish Festival took place for the first time in 1996 and has grown to the amazing extravaganza it is today. The Irish Festival features two hundred events at more than 30 different venues across Greater Manchester.

Lawrence Hennigan, marketing executive of the Manchester Irish Festival website said………

“This years festival will feature two weeks of Art, Culture, Comedy, Community, Dance, Music, Sport and Theatre events, making it one of Europe’s biggest Irish Festivals. We have tried to include something for everyone to enjoy in the community and a warm Irish welcome awaits all our visitors.”

For many the highlight of the celebrations is the St Patricks Day Parade on Sunday 14th March. Last year the parade commenced at 12 noon at the Irish World Heritage Centre, 10 Queens Road, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, M8 8UF and then progressed down Cheetham Hill Road towards Manchester town centre, ending up, after a couple of hours in Manchester’s Albert Square.

In addition to the official Festival from the 5th to the 21st there are a variety of pre and post festival events from February through to April 2010. There is a detailed website for the whole of the festival at ManchesterIrishFestival.co.uk which has full details of all festival events.

Portraits for Posterity is a project begun by Jacki Reason and Jan Marsh, in 2007. In order to reach their goal they were joined by professional photographer Matt Writtle. Together, they had one simple goal – to photograph survivors of the Holocaust living in Britain today and by doing so make a lasting record for generations to come.

Pictures from their collection have been displayed elsewhere in the country but this is the first time they have been on display in Manchester.

Portraits for Posterity’s exhibition in Manchester Town Hall, starts on Wednesday 27th January and has been timed to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day 2010. The exhibition consists of a series of photographs of survivors of the Holocaust, who are now resident in Manchester. Each portrait is accompanied by a short biography.

The exhibition runs from Wednesday 27th January to Saturday 20th February 2010. It will be located in the Sculpture Hall in Manchester Town Hall (Albert Square, Manchester, M60 2LA) and entrance is free.

The project’s website can be found at PortraitsforPosterity.com and London based photographer Matt Writtle’s website can be found here.

The day start off at 11:00am when the traditional market opens up in Chinatown and celebrations continue on into early evening around 7:00pm.

This year is the Year of the Tiger (February 14, 2010 – February 2, 2011). Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of all the traditional Chinese holidays and Manchester is proud to host these celebrations.

Chinese New Year celebrations in Manchester are always very popular. Every year thousands and thousands of people from Manchester and the rest of the UK come here to join in the celebrations. This is a great, family friendly day out.

This year festivities will be centered around Albert Square, next to Manchester Town Hall in the centre of the city and Manchester’s world famous Chinatown, next to Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens.

According to the event website entertainment includes……….

“Dragon and Lion Dances, Parade, Money God distributes Lucky Red Packets, Kung Fu demonstrations by the legendary Shaolin Martial Arts Monks, Award-winning acrobatics, Folk dance performances, Hundreds of street stands including free tasting, arts & craft, jewellery and food stalls and Art workshops for children….”

For many the highlight of the day will be the Golden Dragon Parade. Last year the parade started in Albert Square and made its way through the streets of Manchester finishing, in China Town itself. To round the day off there will be a spectacular firework display, from around 6pm onwards.

Here is a very short video from last years celebrations which also shows the spectacular Chinese Arch in the centre of Chinatown……

Further details about the event can be found on the organisers website. The site will also tell you more about hiring a stall at the Chinese New Year market and you will also find details about the Chinese New Year Celebration Banquet on Monday 15th February 2010.