Free things to do this weekend ft. Makers Dozen, Appleton Rum + Horse and Jockey

This week we’ve got a taste of the good stuff as the Appleton Estate team park up in Manchester, there’s Pimms and Prosecco reviving the thirsty on Chorlton Green and a slightly more sober affair as Manchester Craft and Design Centre launches a new exhibition.

Makers Dozen Collaborate at MCDC
This Thursday Manchester Craft and Design Centre launches its latest exhibition, providing a platform for a collective of designers to bounce off each other, learn new skills and gain exposure. Featuring Joe Hartley (work pictured; collaboration with Li-En Yeung), Eleanor Simms, Laura Negus, Vinny Ratcliff, Rory Thompson, Jessica Swallow, Laura-Jane Atkinson, Fliss Quick, Gemma May Latham, April Wernham, Rachel Britch and Jake Campbell, Makers Dozen Collaborate covers a broad range of disciplines including furniture and product design to fine art, highlighting the diverse nature of the North West’s creative streak. To meet the Dozen and their collaborators head down to the launch event this Thursday, where you’ll also find some refreshments and a DJ set from Ailsa McLaggan.
Launch event Thu 17 Jul (exhibition runs Fri 18 Jul – Sat 13 Sep), Manchester Craft and Design Centre, 17 Oak Street, Northern Quarter, M4 5JD, 6 – 8pm, FREE, www.craftanddesign.com

Appleton Estate Rum Bus at Great Northern Square
Where’s all the rum gone, you say? Well, from this Thursday you’ll actually find it on a pretty sweet looking bus as Appleton Estate Rum team up with the cocktail bods over at West Didsbury’s The Violet Hour for a boozy summer pop-up project on four wheels. Mixing up a selection of 4 classic rum cocktails, the fully functioning mobile bus will have its very own inside seating area, along with plenty of space to take a pew with benches and parasols in an additional 80-capacity outdoor area on the square. Granted, the booze itself isn’t free, but chilling out in a ride inspired by the Jamaican Omnibus series bus that ran from 1948 until the late ’70s isn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon. Read our full preview here.
Fri 18 Jul – Sun 17 Aug, Great Northern Square, 235 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN, noon-11pm (seven days a week), FREE entry, www.facebook.com

Proms on Chorlton Green
This weekend, beloved Chorlton boozer Horse and Jockey invites you to an afternoon on the Green, complete with live orchestral music to complete the Proms package. Throughout the event you’ll get to enjoy alfresco tunes from the likes of Stockport Brass Band, opera singer Sarah Aston, saxophonist Matt Nixon, harpist Rachel Gladwin and more. The Horse and Jockey’s pop-up Cream Tea Cafe will be serving up sarnies, cakes and tea, and just a stone’s throw away you can get your hands on a glass of the harder stuff over on the pub’s terrace.
Sat 19 Jul, The Green, Chorlton, M21 9HS, FREE, 12pm – 8pm, www.horseandjockeychorlton.com

Know of any upcoming free weekend events worth shouting about? Email jess at manchesterwire dot co dot uk with the deets.