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Days out: festive fun
Conrad Astley2/12/2005
With the weeks ticking down to Christmas, we look at some of the events to help put families in the festive mood.
FATHER Christmas is coming directly from his home in Finnish
Lapland to entertain youngsters in Sale.
In an event organised by Manchester's Finnish community, Santa and
his helpers will spread some Christmas cheer - and introduce
Mancunians to some of the country's little-known delicacies.
Finnish and English carols will be sung during the free event,
while there will also be the opportunity to buy traditional Finnish
craft products, which can even be made to order.
The day has been organised by Manchester's Finnish School, which
was founded in 1977 and has around 250 members.
It provides language tuition as well as a playgroup for the
children of Finnish expatriates.
The event starts at Mary Magdalene's Church in Moss Lane, Sale from
11am-3pm on Saturday, while the carol singing will take place at
noon.
For more information contact Jenni Viitanen on 0781 773
3750.
A HISTORIC flavour will be given to Christmas celebrations in
Stretford this weekend.
Folk group One Accord will be singing at the Friends of Longford
Park's annual nature walk and carol festival.
Organisers say the group, who sing carols and songs dating back
hundreds of years from Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Cornwall, will
bring an authentic flavour to proceedings.
The carols will be held after a nature walk, taking the public on a
tour of Longford Park.
There will be mulled wine, soft drinks and mince pies on offer at a
small price, along with children's craft activities and a
raffle.
The nature walk begins at The Longfords, next to Stretford
Athletics Stadium at 2.30pm on Sunday, while carols will start at
3.30pm.
A WHOLE new world can be unbuttoned at Manchester Art
Gallery.
One of the world's biggest collections of buttons is coming to the
museum, and promises to be a treasure trove for youngsters.
As well as buttons of all shapes and sizes, there will be plenty of
activities for children, with a chance to dress up as a pearly king
and queen.
There will be a giant Connect Four-style button game.
And there's an opportunity to design your own button and have it
displayed.
The collection features 100,000 buttons.
Some of the buttons are hundreds of years old, contain secret
military devices or tell stories, and were gathered together over
four decades by Gillian and Alan Meredith.
Gillian said her fascination with buttons started when she removed
and hid some buttons decorated with images of circus characters
from a cardigan before it was washed, in case the pictures were
erased.
The pair even moved to Ross on Wye in 1988 to set up England's
first museum dedicated to buttons, before deciding to sell them to
Manchester Art Gallery, as caring for the collection became too
much of a responsibility.
The collection includes buttons used to tell stories, from 19th
century cast metal buttons used to illustrate Aesop's Fables, to
wooden buttons from the 1930s used to promote the animated Snow
White and the Seven Dwarves film.
There are also large hand-made buttons used to adorn the coats of
18th century dandies - intended to reflect the gentleman's social
status and gain admiration from females - and patriotic buttons
made when King George II recovered after a long spell of illness in
1789.
There are moulded animal horn buttons from the 19th century,
buttons from the 1950s made to advertise Guinness and buttons worn
by RAF pilots during the Second World War, which could be unscrewed
to reveal a tiny compass in case the officers were shot down and
had to find their way through enemy territory.
The free exhibition started last week and is expected to
run for a year.
Exposures, the annual showcase for student filmmakers across the
North West, has been re-launched this year to show the work of
talented directors and actors from across Britain.
The festival, running next week at The Cornerhouse, will feature
innovative drama, animation and documentaries.
A series of short films, including Call Register, starring The
Office's Martin Freeman, and Desserts , starring Ewan McGregor will
be shown.
An event dedicated to music videos will also be held, with
directors Mark Thomas, Michael England and Alex Hindle talking
about their work with bands like Elbow, Snow Patrol and Girls
Aloud.
Anyone interested in making short animated films will benefit from
a masterclass given by award-winning Three Bear Animations.
And Stockport College's media make-up team will be demonstrating
how to make actors look like the walking wounded from a futuristic
battle scene.
Cheshire-based Tim Firth, responsible for films including Calendar
Girls, Blackball, and Kinky Boots, will be giving a screenwriting
masterclass at 4pm on Thursday, while Emily Woof, who starred in
films such as Full Monty and Velvet Goldmine, will be talking about
her experiences later in the day.
The festival runs from Monday until Thursday. Visit
exposuresfilmfestival.co.uk for more details.
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