Weekend picks · 7–8 November
Our picks for the weekend: last fireworks and Remembrance
Free fireworks in Wythenshawe Park, Diwali at the Trafford Centre, orienteering at Sale Water Park, a LEGO morning and Remembrance Sunday, mostly free and close to home.
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Bonfire Night has been and gone, but the displays carry on until Sunday, and Sunday is Remembrance Sunday. These are five things worth getting out for, most of them free and within 25 minutes of Timperley, plus one for if it rains and one to book now.
Free, Saturday from 3pm, no tickets. One of Manchester City Council’s three free fireworks nights. Storytelling from 3pm, a quieter, low-noise display for young children at about 5pm, a lantern parade at 7pm and the main fireworks set to music at 8pm. Times are approximate, and it’s all outdoors, so wrap up.
Free, Saturday 11am to 4pm, under cover. A Diwali market, a dance showcase at noon with a dance-along workshop anyone can join at 12.30pm, and a short big-screen telling of the Diwali story at 3pm, in The Orient and the Main Dome.
Saturday, start between 12.45 and 2pm, juniors £3, a group of up to five £12. A come-and-try afternoon from the local orienteering club: take a map and find the markers at your own pace on a short course of about 1 km or a longer one of about 2 km. Volunteers show you how. Enter online or on the day.
Free, Sunday 10am to noon. Big boxes of LEGO, and plenty of Duplo for toddlers, at Kargo MKT in MediaCity. Free tickets keep the tables from getting too full, but walk-ins are welcome too.
Free, Sunday from 10.30am. The parade leaves St Paul’s Church at 10.30am for the war memorial at Sale Town Hall, with the service and two-minute silence from 10.55am. Roads around the Town Hall close from 9.30am, so arrive early.
There are Remembrance services in Altrincham, Hale, Stretford and Urmston too. For little ones aged 3 to 5, Stoller Story Sounds is a 45-minute musical story at the Stoller Hall on Saturday afternoon. Every other display this weekend is on our Bonfire Night picks.
If it rains
Last weekend, evenings from 5pm, about £6 an adult with one child up to 12 free. Luke Jerram’s seven-metre glowing moon hangs inside Campfield Studios in the city centre, with a soundtrack composed for it. It closes on Sunday, so this is the last chance.
Book now, before it goes
The Garrick’s own panto this year is Robin Hood, from 4 December, £17 to £22 a seat, ages 3 and up, with a relaxed performance on Saturday 12 December. Weekend matinees before Christmas were filling fastest when we last checked; midweek evenings have more room. Every panto is on our pantos page.
Everything else on this weekend is on this weekend’s page, and everything for Christmas on our Christmas page.
Details change, so check with the organiser before you set off. Spotted something wrong, or know an event we've missed? Tell us.