Science and Industry Museum

17/10/2026

1 week to go! October half term is nearly here and we've got a jam-packed week of fun inspired by Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos.
Visit our website to find out more and book your tickets

16/10/2026

🎉 One year of Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery!
This weekend it’s one year since we reopened the doors to our iconic Power Hall, and what a year it’s been.

We’ve loved welcoming you back to experience the sights, smells and sounds of the engine-driven ideas and industries that started in Manchester and went on to change the world.

From bringing historic engines back to life to inspiring the next generation of innovators, here are just a few of our highlights from the past 12 months:

🚂 Welcoming students from Fairfield High School for Girls as some of the first visitors through the doors

⚙️ Supporting thousands of visitors to get hands-on with history by exploring our collections in new ways through demonstrations, talks and object handling

🔧 Using 21st-century technology to bring 19th and 20th-century engines back to life. Firgrove is the latest engine to whirl back into action

🚀 Inspiring the innovators of tomorrow by giving young people the chance to develop their STEM skills through making, creating and playing

🎬 Welcoming award-winning filmmaker, Danny Boyle, to officially reopen Power Hall last year, sharing his own fascination with the Industrial Revolution and , declaring: “I feel like I belong here.”

🛠️ Celebrating the people behind the power by bringing to life the stories of the skills and ideas that have powered our lives, from the Industrial Revolution to today

And that’s just the beginning!

14/10/2026

Join us this weekend for free sensory sessions in Power Hall.

Explore the sights, sounds, smells and textures of the gallery with special activities.

Designed in partnership with Manchester Parent Carer Forum and Sense

📅 17 October 14.00-16.30, 18 October 10.00-12.30
🎫 Book your free tickets on our website

10/10/2026

The aliens have landed! Join us this October half term for some spook-tacular science

🚀 Get cosy with family friendly sci-fi films, Lifted and The Smeds and The Smoos
👾 Play arcade games on the big screen
🛸 Create your own alien spaceship
👽 Meet Albert Slime-stein, part of the MCR Monsters trail

24 October - 1 November, book your free ticket on our website

07/10/2026

07/10/2026

Today is World Cotton Day and here's how you can mark it at the museum.

Join us for an afternoon of talks, workshops and demos, and an evening of important conversation.

Find all the details and book your free tickets on our website

05/10/2026

It's World Space Week! And what better way to celebrate than travelling around the Solar System in Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos?

👨‍🚀 Discover how astronauts live on the International Space Station
🚀 Meet the Moon and launch a rocket
🌞 Catch some solar flares in the Sun
🪐 Explore weird worlds and smelly space
💃 Join a Martian dance party on an Alien Disco planet

Open every day, visit our website to book your tickets

03/10/2026

World Cotton Day will take place on Wednesday 7 October.
We’re marking it with the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme.
From 14.00:
Explore fashion as resistance, storytelling and legacy with Gavin Douglas
Take part in workshops with artist Lazerian/ Liam Hopkins and textiles artist Michelle Ayavoro
Experience our textiles machines in action in live demonstrations that unpick the true cost of cotton
Discover objects, places and people that tell the story of the cotton industry in Manchester and beyond

From 18.00:
Book a FREE ticket for an ‘In Conversation’ to explore how World Cotton Day can help us work together to understand and acknowledge our shared history.
Panel discussion with Keisha Thompson, Lazerian, Cleo Lake, Adeola Adelakun and Duncan Ivison.
Experience live DJ sets from Chris Jam

01/10/2026

📆 What's on this October 📅

We've got a packed month of activities for all ages! Whether you want to explore the museum after dark or keep the kids entertained over the holidays.

Swipe to see what's in store, visit our website to book your tickets and find out more

30/09/2026

🥳 Happy New Year!! 🥳

But wait, we've not got our calendars confused, today is Martian New Year 👽

Mars takes 687 Earth days to travel around the Sun and you can work out your Martian birthday by dividing your age by 1.88, we'd be 22!

Discover more about our amazing Solar System in Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos