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Days out

Conrad Astley
27/ 1/2006

THE STREETS will come to life this weekend as the city's Chinese community ring out the old and rings in the Year of the Dog.

Thousands will be declaring Kung Hei Fat Choy tomorrow (Saturday) as a glittering procession takes place, marking the start of the year 4703 in the Chinese calendar.

There will also be dragon and lion dances, kung fu demonstrations, folk dancing performances and workshops.

The streets of Chinatown will be full of special stalls and fairground rides, along with the usual restaurants and oriental shops.

The Chinese calendar follows a lunar system - said to have been introduced by Emperor Huang Ti in 2600BC - and so can fall anywhere from late January to the middle of February.

It is also based on a rotating zodiac system. Anyone born in 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982 and 1994 was born under the sign of the dog - and is destined to be honest and faithful, if a little eccentric and stubborn.

Organisers say Manchester is one of the best places to see in the Chinese New Year this side of Shanghai, as the city is home to the UK's second biggest Chinatown district.

The Golden Dragon Parade leaves Albert Square at 12.30pm on Saturday, before heading to Chinatown. The official celebrations will end at 6pm with a firework display at Faulkner Street car park.

You can also celebrate Chinese New Year at The Trafford Centre, where five times kung fu champion Master Chen will lead a cultural celebration.

There will be a demonstration of his Shaolin style kung fu as well as a traditional lion dance and performances from the Taiwanese Ren We dance group.

Also acrobatic act Bai Ling and a trio of Chinese musicians will perform.

This event will start at the Orient stage at 12.30pm on Saturday.

COUPLES can plan their perfect day in style as one of the year's biggest bridal exhibitions gets underway in Tatton Park.

The Cheshire park is hosting The Wedding Show this weekend, with 150 exhibitors on hand to provide expert advice.

These include displays from companies specialising in everything from chocolate fountains and cakes to magicians and toast masters.

Couples can also find out about tiaras, balloons, honeymoons, jewellery and lingerie, while there will of course be financial services firms on hand.

There will also be four choreographed catwalk stage shows each day to provide an idea of how the wedding dress might look.

Tickets to the event, running from 10am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday, cost £8 on the door.

WHY not take a stroll and find out about the region's winter wildlife? Would-be birdwatchers can meet at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle Hulme and learn about the area's ornithology.

They can even take details of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' (RSPB) garden bird watch and continue the pastime at home.

The event is free, but anyone attending should bring warm clothes, boots, and binoculars. Call 474 4512 or e-mail parks@stockport.gov.uk Meet at the park's ice cream kiosk at 10am on Saturday.

If All The World Were Paper is an interactive show perfect for children aged between two and five, inspired by the historic nursery rhyme: "If all the world were paper and all the seas were ink, and all the trees were bread and cheese, what would we have to drink?"

Curlicue, Squiggle and Doodle - two multi-talented performers and one musician - create a magical world of paper and ink.

The show, inspired by Victorian paper theatre and Japanese origami, takes the audience on a trip as the paper house sails across an inky sea to a colourful island where the characters meet a paper girl who provides important lessons about family and friendship.

Songs and plenty of audience participation are guaranteed.

The cast contains Japanese dancer Keiko Hewitt-Teale and Mark Stevenson, who trained as an actor in Moscow and appeared in last year's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and the BBC's production of Macbeth.

The show starts next Thursday (February 2) at the Royal Exchange Studio.

A NEW age festival is taking place for those prepared to take a short drive up the M62.

The tenth annual Heywood Festival of Healing Light and Learning is kicking off today (Friday) featuring stalls, therapies, private readings and workshops - including a demonstration of psychic art at 7.30pm tonight (Friday).

The festival takes place at the town's Civic Centre in Church Street and runs until Sunday. Call 01706 629 857 for more information.

A STORYTELLING week for youngsters is being launched tomorrow (Saturday).

The Out of the Box theatre company are kicking off the week at the Cinnamon Club in Bowdon with a selection of children's stories told with puppets.

Stephen Novy from Pekko's Puppets will perform The Ugly Duckling's New Clothes, a play in which Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson tells the audience about his extraordinary life story, including his better known tales - The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Top and Ball and The Princess and the Pea. The performances feature a mixture of table-top puppets and expert storytelling and are suitable for children aged between four and 11.

Doors open at The Cinnamon Club in Bowdon at 10.30am.