A chance to win tickets to see 'Allo Allo' at the Lowry's Quay Theatre.
FIND OUT MOREWin tickets for the hilarious festive farce, See How They Run, at the Royal Exchange.
FIND OUT MOREThe Calico Cafe Bar is offering one reader a free Champagne Afternoon Tea for two, worth £45.
FIND OUT MOREChartered Accountants Lucas Reis are offering an hour's free business consultation.
FIND OUT MORESinger-songwriter Rufus Wainwright (pictured above), director Neil Bartlett and architect Zaha Hadid are three of the big names headlining next year's Manchester International Festival (MIF).
Rufus Wainwright will present his debut opera, entitled Prima Donna, at the Palace Theatre. Described as 'a portrait of a fading opera singer', it will be set in Paris and sung in French.
Meanwhile, the prima donna of architecture, Zaha Hadid, has been commissioned to create a unique space within Manchester Art Gallery for Bach's solo works.
Neil Bartlett will also premiere a new work, entitled Everybody Loves a Winner, which will turn the Royal Exchange Theatre into a bingo hall.
MIF 09 will run from July 2 to 19, 2009, and the entire festival programme will be announced next March.
Manchester rock superstars Oasis have announced their biggest ever tour of open air venues in the UK and Ireland next summer, starting with two homecoming shows at Heaton Park.
The Manchester dates (June 6 & 7, 2009) coincide with the centenary of the first music event in Heaton Park, when 40,000 people gathered to listen to a gramophone recording of the Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso.
Tickets for the Oasis shows are now on sale through www.oasisinet.com.
The Grade II listed Gorton Monastery in east Manchester has entered a new phase in its 145-year history as a concert venue.
Built in 1863 by Edward Pugin, the church was abandoned by its Franciscan monks in 1989 and suffered years of vandalism and neglect before a recent £6 million restoration transformed it into one of Manchester's premier conference venues.
This autumn, Gorton Monastery has started to host a series of concerts that showcase the building's fantastic acoustics alongside its stunning architecture. One of the forthcoming highlights is a Valentine's concert with Martin Toal and Craig Owen on Feb 15, 2009.
For more information visit www.gortonmonastery.co.uk.
Bury is officially the cleanest, tidiest and greenest large town in the region, after scooping the top prize at the annual North West in Bloom Awards for the fifth time in a row.
The town will now represent the region in the 2009 national Britain in Bloom finals, run by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Salford is on a mission to show the world its unique musical heritage, with the launch of the city's first music map.
From The Smiths to The Ting Tings and from Ewan MacColl to New Order, Salford boasts musical talent across all genres. The recently unveiled music map pinpoints iconic locations in the city that have helped to forge the UK music scene as we know it today.
The launch of the map coincides with the opening of a new exhibition at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, entitled Quiffs, Riffs and Tiffs, which tells the story of popular music in Salford over the past 50 years. The music map is available for free at the exhibition, which runs until Oct 2009.
A retro Finnair aircraft, served by a crew dressed in 1950s uniforms, will land at Manchester Airport next month to take passengers on a trip down aviation memory lane.
Named Silver Bird, the Airbus A319 has been painted in the livery of Finnair's revolutionary 1950s Convair to celebrate the airline's 85th anniversary. A total of some 60 retro flights served by the retro crew will be operated around Europe until the end of the year.
To check out the Silver Bird flight schedule visit the retro pages on Finnair's website at www.finnair.com/retro.
The 4-star Stanneylands Hotel has just launched a fashionable new cafe bar, bringing a touch of luxury to the Wilmslow countryside.
Named after the calico (a variant of cotton), which is still produced today in the Georgian Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Calico Cafe Bar is set in mature wooded gardens just minutes away from the vibrant Wilmslow town centre.
It boasts an extensive wine list and high quality food in a striking conservatory. Dominating the room is a baby grand piano, where musicians entertain guests while they drink and dine in style.