What's on

Our Sam, The Middleton Man

Performance Space

Our Sam follows the story of a teenager, Samantha (a secret poet), who travels around her home Town of Middleton observing and writing of the exclusion and voicelessness of the other young girls she sees. On her travels she learns of Samuel Bamford, the radical, reformer and writer who was born in Middleton in 1788. […]

Peterloo 1819-2019 – A Talk by Robert Poole

Performance Space

A timely illustrated lecture on the Peterloo massacre of 1819, with the emphasis on new findings and on connections with the local area. Robert Poole Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire, author of the new book Peterloo: the English Uprising, co-author of the graphic novel Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre, and consultant […]

Peterloo – Te Read, to Hear, to Feel

Performance Space

We will perform dramatic readings from a book called Mules Masters and Mud by local author G.J.Griffiths. Graham captures the Zeitgeist of the times and will read from a chapter covering events on the day of Peterloo. Local folk group Trebuchet will perform traditional and contemporary music and songs, marking key events of the era. […]

Peterloo Now: Is Devolution the Way to a Healthier Democracy?

Performance Space

In partnership with the University of Manchester and the Guardian, join our panel chaired by Guardian northern editor Helen Pidd and including Professor Andy Westwood and Lisa Nandy MP, as they discuss the devolution of government and its impact on the future of our democracy. In 2018, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said, “Devolution is not just a series […]

£5

Generation Revolution

Performance Space

As part of this years Peterloo bicentenary, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre invite you to a screening of Generation Revolution, a feature-length documentary film that brings to screen the powerful story of London’s new generation of black and brown activists who are set on changing the social and political landscape in the […]

People’s Landscapes – Unearthing Passion and Protest

Performance Space

Developed out of their work at local National Trust properties with a connection to Peterloo, artists Grace Surman, Gary Winters and their children will lead a creative family workshop exploring ideas around collective action, democracy and children’s rights. Expect craft-based activities, discussion on what you think matters, personalised portraits and banging a drum. This commission […]

Prostest in the Surveillance State: The East German Jewish Dissident Stefan Heym

Performance Space

This talk traces strategies of civil disobedience in Cold War Eastern Germany through the case of the German Jewish dissident Stefan Heym. Born into a German-Jewish family in Chemnitz (now notorious for its recent outbreaks of Far Right violence) in 1913, Heym was an early sympathiser of the Communist Party. He fled from Nazi Germany in […]

Peterloo Film Screening

Performance Space

Join us for relaxed screenings of the Peterloo Film every month from June – August. The Peterloo Massacre was a defining moment in British democracy which also played a significant role in the founding of The Guardian newspaper. Written and directed by Mike Leigh, Peterloo is an epic portrayal of the events surrounding the 1819 […]

£3 – £8

Speaking Out!

Performance Space

Journalist Bob Dickinson introduces a selection from films made by the Workers Film Association, formerly based in Lucy Street, Hulme. The film clips show the diversity of the WFA’s interests, their commitment to the history of the Afro-Caribbean and South Asian communities, their response to political events of the 1980s and 90s, and the importance […]

£3

Ballads and Songs of Peterloo, with Dr Alison Morgan

Performance Space

Ballads and Songs of Peterloo by Dr Alison Morgan is based on her unique collection of more than seventy poems and ballads which highlight the outrage, grief, defiance and resolution felt by labouring-class people in the immediate aftermath of the Peterloo Massacre in which eighteen people were killed and more than 600 injured as they […]

Trace Your Peterloo People

Join us in a full day of discovery at our Peterloo focused genealogy open day.  Book a 30 minute 1-1 session with a member of the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society (MLFHS) and delve into the wealth of resources to start you off on your own family tree, or help break through a brick […]

Queer

Performance Space

Manchester Histories are proud to present “Queer”, a platform showcasing some of the ways that LGBT+ communities and their allies have stood strong for protest, democracy and freedom of speech. We invite you to: hear the story of Manchester’s Clause 28 protest march, the history of one of the most important queer publications in Manchester, […]