The programme for the Manchester Histories Festival has been unveiled — with this year’s events focusing on the climate crisis and the city’s industrial heritage.
The festival, which runs from June 8 to June 12 across Greater Manchester, is mostly free for families and attendees. Venues include Angel Meadow Park, the Manchester Monastery, and Gallery Oldham.
It will be opened by TV historian Michael Wood — a Manc himself — at the monastery in Gorton. The opening night will be a sneak peak into the rest of the festival.
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With the climate crisis being this year’s theme, venues like Gallery Oldham will feature a retrospective of the British Wildlife Photography Awards, and Manchester Central Library hosts a judge-Judy style climate justice game, in which players must decide to put their family of the climate first in a dystopian world, set in 2061.
The library will also host a talk by Brian Groom, author of ‘Northerners: A History’. On Saturday, June 11, Angel Meadow will be transformed into a family-fun paradise, with food stalls and live music.
Tours of Angel Meadow will open a window on what was once described by Friedrich Engels as “Hell on Earth” and the transformation that has taken place to a green city space beloved by residents and visitors. Festival bosses hope the event will spur people on to ‘make progress’ in addressing the climate emergency.
“It feels wonderful to be bringing a full scale Manchester Histories Festival to life once again,” Karen Shannon, CEO of Manchester Histories, said. “In many ways the last couple of years has brought people closer together and it is only by continuing this in our approach to climate change that we are going to make the progress needed.
“Our aim is to share learnings and insight from the past, to bring people together to ask questions and seek solutions, and to collectively look to the future. We will be doing this with an exciting programme of events full of different and creative ways of exploring climate change.”
The full programme of events is available online, with more information on how to book events available too.
