The University opens its doors for its annual Community Festival

11am – 4pm on Saturday 16 June.

We are set to throw open our doors to the people of Manchester for our annual Community Festival on Saturday 16 June.

Whether you are a budding scientist, a history buff or just want to enjoy an entertaining day out with the family, there are loads of fun activities for you to get involved in at our annual Community Festival.

We will be welcoming our local friends and neighbours to discover the variety of things we do here at the University of Manchester. Visitors will be able to go behind the scenes at the University to find out all about our work and get involved with a variety of exciting activities.

The day will be filled with fascinating activities and visitors can get hands-on with some of our research. They’ll be the opportunity take part in live experiments, interactive demonstrations, musical and dramatic performances and the opportunity to go on a historical campus tour as well as the chance to meet our staff and scientists….and much, much more!

Some of the exciting activities include

Transport yourself to China!

Enjoy a tea ceremony in the beautiful Chinese Garden, classical music performances and Chinese arts & crafts workshops for children at the Confucius Institute.

Shimmer and Shine Window Workshop and Selfie Station

The John Rylands Library’s amazing stained glass windows are a colour inspiration! Using colourful papers and textures make your own stained glass windows and strike a pose in our pop up Selfie Station using fun and colourful props!

Heritage Tours

Journey around the University’s fine neo-gothic architecture and sites of world-changing discovery. Visit sites including where Ernest Rutherford ‘split the atom’ and where Alan Turing helped lay the foundations of modern computing.

Dr Who?

Come and find out more about Delia Derbyshire, a pioneer of electronic music and the woman behind the world famous Dr Who theme. Play the Deliaphonica Game to understand how Delia created that iconic electronic music.

The Flash-Bang Show

Everyone’s favourite, open your eyes to the amazing world of chemistry that is all around us. There will be fantastic colour changes, flashes and the occasional bang, so hold on to your hats!

Opening the curtain: adventures in healthcare

We will take you on a journey through some of the sounds, sights and scenes of healthcare. Meet actors playing patients, help doctors and nurses ‘at work’; and experiment with writing, drama and fun‘in the waiting room’.

Exploring the many languages of Manchester

Come and find out more about Manchester’s many languages! Play family-friendly language games and learn some new words in our language taster session.

Make your own 3D models

Our Digital Fabrication Centre uses printing for research and to build models. Come and play with our 3D doodle pens and make your own 3D model.

Climb aboard a vintage ambulance

Take a look around an original 1950’s Bedford KZ ambulance. Get your hands on original medical artefacts spanning over 300 years from our Museum of Medicine and Health collection and talk to our experts about healthcare of days gone by.

Just for fun…

  • Penalty shoot-out: Come and test your penalty taking skills and earn a chance at winning a prize.
  • Science Buskers: Our buskers will intrigue and entertain you with sensational science tricks.
  • Fun of the Fair! Have a go on our traditional Helter Skelter and test your courage on our climbing wall
  • Face Painting

For more information about the Festival please go to the Community Festival webpages and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see updates as new activities are added to the programme.