More than 100 objects and stories collected during the peak of the pandemic are to go on display as part of a new exhibition opening in Manchester.
Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum is preparing to open its doors to a major new exhibition that examines the global and local response to the COVID-19 pandemic that changed the world as we know it.
The groundbreaking new exhibition, titled Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine, will explore the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed, while uncovering the inspiring stories of scientists and innovators around the globe who collaborated to tackle the worldwide COVID-19 challenge along the way.
The exhibition comes to Manchester as part of a national and international tour, following its inaugural run at the Science Museum in London back in 2022.
The race for a COVID vaccine will be explored in a new Science and Industry Museum exhibition / Credit: Science Museum Group
Opening at the city centre-based museum next Friday (19 July), and set to run right through until mid-November this year, the free-to-attend exhibition will also look at the unique experiences and responses to the pandemic from communities in Manchester.
It’ll do this through showcasing a wide range of fascinating objects and stories that’ll be on public display in our city for the first time ever.
Some of the objects curious Mancs will get to see with their own eyes at the new exhibition include one of the 750 innovative flat-pack beds used in the NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, the vial of the first COVID-19 vaccine ever to be administered worldwide, and tokens taken from Manchester’s Rates Hall vaccine centre.
Personal items belonging to those at the heart of the vaccine’s development, and breathtaking artwork pieces by Angela Palmer and Junko Mori to help visitors visualise the virus, will also be on display.
But, what is expected to the star of the show for many Mancunians, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s navy worker’s jacket – which has been loaned from People’s History Museum – that he often wore as he addressed the region directly to discuss the tough restrictions we were placed under as COVID-19 cases increased, will be displayed for the first time at the exhibition.
The now-iconic jacket became a symbol of the hardships experienced during the pandemic, as well as the unity of the North West.
More than 100 objects and stories will be on display to the Manchester public for the first time / Credit: Science Museum Group
Museum bosses say Injecting Hope “builds on the fascinating and important work” the Science Museum Group – which the Science and Industry Museum belongs to – has undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past four years.
Andrea Lathrop, who is the Associate Curator of Exhibitions at the Science and Industry Museum, explains that the new Manchester-focused content introduced as part of the exhibition’s run in our city offers a “poignant opportunity for joint reflection”, as well as “moments to celebrate the ingenuity, resilience, and selflessness” of local people.
She continued: “Injecting Hope is a people-centred exhibition that shines a light on those behind the headlines who innovated vaccine science, sat in bed on their laptops, volunteered in vaccine centres, and exposed themselves to the virus day after day to keep us safe.”
Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine will open at the Science and Industry Museum on Friday 19 July, and will run until Sunday 17 November.
Free tickets are now available to book on the museum’s website here.
Featured Image – Science Museum Group
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Hit theatre production set at a house party to visit Manchester on UK tour
Daisy Jackson
Alright then, 24 hour party people, we’ve found a theatre production you might like the sound of – it’s called The House Party, and it’s set in (you guessed it) a house party.
This smash hit production by pioneering theatre company Headlong is set to land at HOME in March as part of the arts venue’s 2025 theatre season.
It tells the tale of a wild 18th birthday party, where Christine is trying to pick up the pieces of her best friend, a newly-dumped Julie (who happens to be the birthday girl).
Themes of class, power and privilege are all explored with a raw intensity as the cast on stage plough through shots and dive head-first into a night that will change everything they know.
The House Party, which has received glowing reviews from previous showings, is filled with ‘privilege, desire and destruction’.
When it stops off in Manchester, its cast will include Bridgerton’s Sesley Hope as Christine, Synnøve Karlsen (Miss Austen, Last Night in Soho) as Julie, and Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, Patience) as Jon.
The ensemble of Frantic Assembly performers includes Ines Aresti, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Rachael Leonce, Jaheem Pinder and Jamie Randall.
The House Party is written by Laura Lomas and is a reimagining of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie for today’s generation.
It’s directed by Headlong’s artistic director Holly Race Roughan, who directed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere of David Edgar’s major new political play The New Real.
The House Party. Credit: Ikin YumThe production will be at HOME. Credit: Supplied
Movement direction will come from Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham.
Prior to the UK tour of The House Party, Headlong celebrated its 50 year anniversary, including the hit production of A Raisin in the Sun which played nationwide.
The House Party will be at HOME in Manchester between 25 and 29 March, 2025 – you can get your tickets HERE.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Daisy Jackson
If you’re not a handy person, when something breaks, the temptation is often to abandon or bin it straight away.
But that’s just not how we’re gonna do it here in Greater Manchester any more, with the return of the annual Repair Week to help you learn valuable repair skills and save money at the same time.
Whether it’s tinkering with your bicycle, fixing up your small tech items, or having your furniture re-varnished and upcycled, there are so many places and people who are on a mission to help you fall back in love with your belongings.
There are even workshops to help you put flat-pack furniture together.
Taking place between 3 and 9 March, Repair Week will be the chance to learn skills, fix your stuff, gain repair confidence and find local fixers.
Events throughout the week (and beyond) will be hosted by community groups, businesses and plenty more.
You can sharpen knives, fix zips, and un-wobble chairs with a little hand from local repair heroes.
JillyGDesign Jewellery in Heaton Moor will fix up your sentimental and special jewellery items, while Rag Revival will help you turn unusable textiles into new creations with basic sewing skills.
There are repair cafes popping up all over Greater Manchester where you can take your belongings.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff. Credit: Supplied
Repair Week will highlight schemes like the Manchester Library of Things, where you can borrow the tools and equipment you need for those repair jobs at home.
During the week you’ll also be able to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the incredible Renew Hub, the UK’s biggest reuse hub, where donated items are brought back to life.
Similarly, you’ll be able to get inside the textile recycling centre run by homelessness charity Emmaus Bolton, where you can choose your own fabric from the scrap store and turn it into a very handy draught excluder to keep costs down and your heat in.
Recycle for Greater Manchester’s Repair Week will take place between 3 and 9 March, with workshops, events and resources to help you revive your belongings.
Emily Sergeant -
10th July 2024 
