Free things to do this weekend ft. Wigan Food and Drink Festival + International Women’s Day

This weekend we’ve got quite a mixed bag of free events, featuring a couple to coincide with Saturday’s International Women’s Day and the Food and Drink Festival over in wonderful Wigan. Helpfully, the freebies are pretty spread out, meaning that you should have time to tackle them all if you feel so inclined.

Women’s History Gallery Tour at People’s History Museum
As part of Wonder Women Radical Manchester, People’s History Museum is offering up a unique tour of its galleries to explore the role of women in politics. Find out about the ideas of early feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft, and how the votes for women campaign grew with such strength that it created seismic changes in women’s rights. The tour will then conclude with a look into women who have fought for equal pay, Britain’s first female PM, Margaret Thatcher, and the position of women in hopes for a more peaceful world. This event is free, but booking is essential and a donation certainly wouldn’t go amiss.
Fri 7 Mar (and Fri 14 Mar), People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, M3 3ER. Tel: 0161 838 9190. 1.15pm – 2pm, FREE, www.eventbrite.co.uk

Women of Peace at Three Minute Theatre
For Books’ Sake, a webzine and community dedicated to promoting and celebrating writing by women, commemorates International Women’s Day with a special event this Saturday. Featuring a varied line-up of local women, the afternoon will use fiction and non-fiction to extol the often unacknowledged role of women as peacemakers. With readings from For Books’ Sake founder and editor Jane Bradley, artist and performer Stefanie Elrick, writer Zoe Lambert, sociology lecturer at Manchester University Susan O’Shea and more, Women of Peace looks to celebrate diversity and talent of women. The event is free, but be sure to reserve your place as places are limited.
Sat 8 Mar, 3 Minute Theatre, Afflecks Arcade, 35-39 Oldham Street, M1 1JG, 1pm – 6pm, FREE, www.eventbrite.co.uk

Wigan Food and Drink Festival
Just a saunter down the road from Manchester, you’ll find a whole host of free events in Wigan this weekend as its 7th Food and Drink Festival draws to a close. Along with a food and drink market at Standishgate in Wigan’s town centre (Tue 4 – Sat 8 Mar), there’s an American Beer Festival at The Crown at Worthington, various events at Wigan Library including a bread baking competition and a talk about the rise of Greggs (booking required) from the man himself, Ian Gregg, as well as a performance from the silly and loveable Lancashire Hotpots (pictured) at the market place at 2pm on Saturday. Click here to see the full list of events.