Top 4: January events inc The Whitworth, Delia Derbyshire Day + beer festival

With its dark days, bad weather, and New Year’s resolutions ruining all the fun, January might seem like a bit of fallow period in the social calendar. However, there’s more than enough cool stuff to look forward to early in 2016. Four mood-lifting highlights of January’s social calendar are outlined below…

Delia Derbyshire Day 2016 at HOME
HOME is hosting a day celebrating the life and work of Delia Derbyshire, the pioneering electronic composer. Derbyshire is best known for her work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where she ‘realised’ the theme tune to Doctor Who. The day begins with a hands-on music-making workshop for families. Attendees will learn how to turn everyday objects into the building blocks of music by experimenting with sound loops. Later on the composer Janet Wolstenholme will be giving a pop-up performance to fill the building with music inspired by the great woman herself. Derbyshire worked closely with visual artists, and it is this aspect of her career which is celebrated with a programme of archive films which feature her music.
Sun 17 Jan, HOME, First Street, Manchester, M15 4FN, Tel: 0161 228 7621, 5.00pm – 8.30pm, £8.50 (£6.50 conc.), deliaderbyshireday.com

Beer and Cider Festival at Manchester Central
The Beer and Cider Festival returns for its third year, now at the huge new venue of Manchester Central. Organised by those affable dudes at the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the event will showcase over 500 beers, ciders, and perries (pear ciders) from some of the UK’s best craft breweries. Also, ‘Bière Sans Frontières’ bars will present a large range of both draught and bottled tipples from around the world. Last year’s festival attracted over 11,000 visitors, and the organisers are hoping for a bigger turnout this year. Around 50,000 pints will be served over the course of four days.
Wed 20 Jan – Sat 23 Jan, Manchester Central, Windmill Street, Manchester, M2 3GX,
Ticket prices and opening times vary, mancbeerfest.uk

Independent Venue Week in the NQ
Independent Venue Week is a celebration of those small concert halls that we all know and love. The festival sees showcases of new and established artists, labels, and promoters in smaller venues with the aim of supporting the UK music scene at the grassroots level. Now in its third year, the event is bigger than ever, with over 120 venues in the country taking part. Keeping Manchester’s end up will be four of the Northern Quarter’s finest: Band on the Wall, Night & Day Cafe, Soup Kitchen, and the Ruby Lounge. Dates and ticket links will go live on the website below as acts are confirmed.
Mon 25 Jan – Sun 31 Jan, Band on the Wall, Night & Day Cafe, Soup Kitchen, The Ruby Lounge, Northern Quarter, Manchester, times and ticket prices vary, www.independentvenueweek.com

Tibor Reich retrospective at The Whitworth
Art is the perfect remedy for a wintery mood, and the Whitworth gallery has the very thing: a retrospective of the work and ideas of Tibor Reich, celebrating 100 years since the birth of the Hungarian textile designer. Having trained in Vienna and Leeds, Reich was influenced by the simple, straightforward approach of the Bauhaus movement. Having moved here to escape Nazi persecution, his ideas had a huge impact on the post-war British textile scene and he did much to introduce bright colours and new textures into our bland living rooms and work spaces. His firm, Tibor Ltd, worked on commissions for the likes of the Festival of Britain and Concorde. This rare showcase explore the themes and ideas behind his work and innovations. Pictured is ‘Raw Coral’, a design manufactured by Reich’s company, Tibor Ltd.
Fri 29 Jan – Aug 2016, The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER. Tel: 0161 275 7450, times vary, FREE, www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk