University of Manchester Community Festival

University of Manchester Community Festival at University Place, Manchester, 16 June 2018, free entry - Visit now

The University of Manchester’s free Community Festival showcases the world-leading research of England’s first civic university.

In many fields such as science, medicine and the arts, the University’s progressive principles have led to world-changing discovery and are integral to Manchester’s history as the birthplace of new ideas.

With some great activities for all the family, this annual festival is a chance to peek behind the scenes, get involved with some pioneering work first hand and have many high jinks while you are at it.

Play the Deliaphonica Game to discover more about Delia Derbyshire, a pioneer of electronic music and the woman behind the world famous Dr Who theme.

Take part in The Flash Bang Show – a live, noisy, colour changing chemistry demonstration before making your own 3D models with experts from the Digital Fabrication Centre, who use printing for research. Play with 3D doodle pens and see how different 3D printers work to create objects.

At the Confucius Insitute, take in some tea, live classical music and Chinese arts and crafts while exploring the stunning Chinese Garden.

Make stained glass windows inspired by the incredible windows at the University’s John Rylands Library  before playing language games and exploring the many languages of Manchester in a language taster session.

Join a Heritage Tour to adventure around some of the University’s incredible neo-gothic spaces and visit the sites where Ernest Rutherford ‘split the atom’ and Alan Turing helped lay the foundations of modern computing.

Mini medics will love the chance to hop aboard an original 1950s Bedford KZ ambulance and explore original artefacts from the last 300 years with experts from the Museum of Medicine and Health collection. Meet actors playing patients, help doctors and nurses ‘at work’; and experiment with writing and drama ‘in the waiting room’ too.

Stretch those limbs as well as minds on a Climbing Wall, through sports skills sessions and by whizzing down a Helter Skelter.

A great combination of discovery, ideas, knowledge … and riotous fun.