A new festival celebrating the weekend and free time is putting on a massive Sunday Roast in Salford next month. We Invented The Weekend: The Festival of Free Time, is taking place at venues and spaces across the city, inspired by the pioneering campaigning of warehouse clerk Robert Lowes, who convinced the powerful businessmen of Manchester to give workers holidays and leisure time.
It may not be widely known, but without Greater Manchester, we might not have the weekend as we know it. Thanks to Robert Lowes, workers were allowed to have Saturday afternoons off, paving the way for the weekend as we now know it.
Lowes later became director of Salford Lyceum, and his work in getting us all a bit more time off will be celebrated as part of the festival this September. One element of the multi-venue celebration will be a huge communal classic Sunday Roast, put together by Eat Well MCR - a collective of Manchester-based chefs who provide meals to people living in challenging circumstances.
Co-founder Mary-Ellen McTague - the celebrated chef behind The Creameries in Chorlton - will be leading the brigade, while the Manchester reissue label Be With Records will soundtrack the communal feast. The Dock 10 Mezzanine at Salford Quays will be transformed into a setting perfect for a classic roast, with fresh coffee, piles of newspapers and a bar offering Bloody Marys, special ‘Free Thyme’ cocktails and beers from SevenBro7ers.
Mary-Ellen McTague says: "We Invented the Weekend is such a wonderful idea and we're delighted to get involved. The festival celebrates a hard-won campaign for workers' right to leisure time.
“Many of the families Eat Well MCR supports have a working parent - and yet still struggle to feed their families. It's a subject very close to my heart. I'm cooking 200 roast dinners for ticket holders and we'll also be delivering some to the people in our community for free.”
Spread across two long tables and catering for 200 people over two sittings, guests can expect roast rib of beef, Yorkshire puddings, gravy, roast potatoes, buttered carrots, and cauliflower cheese. For veggies there will be a celeriac nut roast, with gluten free and vegan options also available on request.
The two sittings will take place on Sunday, September 11 at 12-3pm and 3-5pm. Every ticket bought contributes to the 50 meals being delivered at no cost to the people in the community that Eat Well supports.
The festival is free and open to all, so visitors are also welcome to bring their own picnics, which can be enjoyed throughout the event while Box of the Docks residents Beigel, famous for their doughnuts, will be putting picnic boxes for kids and adults. The festival’s strong food focus is reinforced by a strong lineup of foodie favourites.
Bringing traditional home-cooked Brazilian food, bursting with colour and flavour will be Carnival, and Desert Island Dumplings will be combining world class vegan dishes into crispy deep-fried dumplings, while House of Habesha will be cooking traditional Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes and maybe even some special surprises in celebration of Ethiopian New Year on the Sunday.
Also joining the line-up will be Mama Sue’s who will be slinging the finest home-spiced frankfurters in the North, as well as the brothers and sisters from Spuds and Bro on a mission to bring their love of poutine to the people of Salford, while the Paradiso team will be offering up authentic, Italian desserts. Thief Street will be dishing out handmade potato waffles fully-loaded with globally inspired toppings, plus pizzas from Dagi Pizza, as well as the very best in smashed burgers and loaded fries from Salfordian actor Adam Thomas’ Patty and Press.
While there will be a variety of other food operators, drink partner Seven Bro7hers will be creating a Weekend Beer for the event and providing beers for bars across the entire weekend. For caffeine fans, meanwhile, Guzzle Vintage Caravan will be serving up coffee from its retro lever espresso machine as well as whippy ice cream, cakes and biscuits. Alongside Founded MCR, and The RePause Project.
We Invented The Weekend: The Festival of Free Time takes place on September 10 and 11. Tickets for the WITW x Eat Well MCR Sunday Roast are available here at £30 for two courses, and £10 for those under the age of 14.
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