2025

 

We’ve had Festival fun in Manchester this year

With memories and laughs and the odd little tear

We were all so ready, for a variety of shows

But what will they offer – the volunteer team knows

 

There was Ames with the details and Rob with the jokes 

And El with expenses, for all of us folks

And India an angel, sent from above

They hovered round the building, offering their love

 

It’s twelve on the dot on the volunteer site

We’re sitting and refreshing in a similar plight

To Oasis and Springsteen and also Taylor Swift

But I must be too late ‘cos I haven’t got a shift

 

We started in confusion in a packed Cathedral Square 

What’s going to happen? Are the animals really there?

Then the Herds walked among us and ran all around

While violins and woodwind inspired us with sound

 

We Uber’ed up to Leigh, an early weekend dash

To the picturesque venue of Pennington Flash

So few volunteers with so much to do

Forget sitting down or going to the loo

 

A viewing screen for lions with zebras on their pitch

Naughty adults, and their children, pushed past us to the ditch

A stampede down the paths, with Janet the gorilla

The golf course full of animals, no golf, but a thriller

 

So much was happening on Festival Square

Spoken word and choirs performed with such flare

Food and drink consumed on seats by the river

Local bands and DJs and clubs did deliver

 

Relax in the Green Room and prepare for your shifts

Remember it’s floor three when going up in the lifts

But reaching there’s impossible if you haven’t got a pass

Just look out for Adam or some helpful orange staff

 

Shift emails sent out, before details were arranged

We’re too early in the Social, cos the start time has changed 

No meeting place included, and no-one to ask

Searching for the team was your first major task

 

But once the shifts started the volunteers all had fun

Because chatting to people, just has to be done

We point them over there, with a map or a card

Some shifts are easy, and some much more hard

 

Antlers in the social and discount on the food

Chatting with other vollies, puts you in the mood

Team leaders if there is one, or, if they’ve been told

Are all wonderful, but rare, as precious as gold

 

Rain in the Square, but the next day it’s hot

Raincoats and popsicles, can help quite a lot

Rusty old Manchester, but few people there

Is it time to have a parallel in good old Albert Square 

 

In The Hall, A Single Man, Ed Watson’s flexible feet

An Airfix model for his set, watched from a yellow seat

A character monologue, from singer John Grant 

With naked illusion and precise ballet dance

 

Football City, Art United, a mixture of parts

With interviews and comments, straight from the heart

Ella Toon’s spirit and Maradona’s hand

Cantona’s spotlight, on you it always lands

 

Brody the mascot is dancing round in colour

An outfit hot and heavy, needs help to recover

Manga and football are good for the soul

And so is the pleasure of scoring a goal

 

If Chloe Kelly was here, she’d be holding up the cup

England, winning on penalties, you couldn’t make it up

 

Juliet Ellis, A symphony of flesh and bones

All so immersive and full of dreamlike tones

Her father joining in, with a loving piece of dance

Made us all feel good, my day was enhanced

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An immersive performance, Blackhaine at Diecast

Strobe lights and a lock-in for those who could last

The angst in the warehouse with dancing and despair

Loud and disorienting for many people there 

 

Germaine Kruip a possibility, Shilpa Gupta in Rochdale 

Yahuarcani with paintings of his ancestors’ tales

Everything is Recorded, and Sounds of the East

Orchestral sufi, a great musical feast 

 

Liberation: Africa’s Freedom and changes for all

In 1945 at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall

The future built, the leaders made, and dreams are realised

But it all starts to unravel as personalities collide 

 

Michael Beard with live painting, music and some dance

Neurodivergent and learning-disabled are given a chance

To paint with lots of colour and have a well-earned break

A calm and peaceful world, to chill-out with some snakes 

 

What do you want? fills a wall with ideas

Just write it all down, we are Mary-Ann’s earsY

ou want tickets for Oasis, well you can’t have it all

They might fill your thoughts, but this is no Wonderwall 

 

Children’s ideas all gathered, in An Inheritance

What will still be here, one hundred years hence?

No petrol cars, no paper, no lions and no bees

No rain and no water, and no pigeons in the trees 

 

But pancakes are delicious, and dancing is so cool

Always say you’re sorry and pick up your dog’s poo

Enjoy all of your milkshakes and be active through the day

I wish I’d thought of these, shall we all go out to play  

 

Everything’s all over now, for another two long years

We’ll all be back in twenty-seven, with lots more childish cheers

Until then let’s all see, if we can get some sleep

And hope we have some herds again, next time cows and sheep?

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