Free things to do this weekend ft. MOSI, Chinese New Year and Antwerp Mansion

No doubt some of you are at your wit’s end having had to entertain those lucky enough to benefit from half term. If so, here are some freebies to ease both the monetary strain and the relentless pressure of finding stuff to do, including both family-friendly activities and something to give the grown-ups a laugh at the end of a long week.

Open Voice at MOSI
To conclude MOSI’s Steam Sweat and Sewers, the museum’s half term programme celebrating all things steam related, Manchester’s acclaimed local choir Open Voice will provide a fitting finale with a rousing performance. With the power of 25 voices the choir will sing verses from Manchester’s Improving Daily, written in the same year as the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway in 1830 – the world’s first passenger railway which is now home to MOSI. Neat little link.
Sat 21 Feb, Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, M3 4FP, 2pm, FREE, www.mosi.org.uk

Chinese New Year Dragon Parade
Manchester’s Chinese New Year festivities sprawl across the latter end of half term, but if you’re opting to do one thing and one thing only it’s got to be Sunday’s finale parade. Concluding the celebrations with a vibrant mix of martial arts and dance displays, traditional lion dancers, firecrackers, Chinese acrobatics and more, the day will begin with a dramatic appearance from the Dragon at 12.30pm outside the Town Hall. From 1pm you’ll then be able to follow the Dragon Parade through the city’s streets to Chinatown, before the day culminates in a spectacular firework display at 6pm.
Sun 22 Feb, Various locations, From 12.30pm, FREE, www.chinesenewyearmcr.com

Antwerp Mansion Comedy Night
Antwerp Mansion hosts an evening of free comedy this Sunday, with a show featuring ‘two of the UK’s best comedy characters’. Said two characters are Ian D Montfort, a Sunderland psychic and celebrity séance specialist, and Ivan Brackenbury, a daft and inept yet adorable hospital radio DJ. The characters are two of the alter egos of comedian, DJ and actor Tom Binns, renowned on the comedy circuit with various award wins and nominations at the likes of Edinburgh Festival and New Zealand International Comedy Festival.
Sun 22 Feb, Antwerp Mansion, Rusholme Grove, M14 5AG, 7.30pm, FREE, www.facebook.com

Know of any freebies coming up? Email jess at manchesterwire dot co dot uk with the deets.