Learning

In 2026, Stalybridge Carnival celebrates 50 years at the heart of the town. Since 1976, the annual parade has transformed Stalybridge’s streets into a vibrant stage of colour, music and community pride. Generations have grown up watching from the pavements, volunteering behind the scenes and stepping into the procession themselves.

The Worker Becomes Queen is a landmark international collaboration between Greater Manchester and Barcelona, commissioned for La Mercè Festival 2025. This large-scale street performance unites monumental sculpture, original music, and powerful dance to tell a story of labour, transformation, and pride.

At Global Grooves, we believe heritage isn’t just about preserving the past – it's about celebrating and evolving cultural traditions in ways that are meaningful today. Through our recent community consultation, we listened closely to dancers, musicians, textile makers, cultural groups, and heritage experts. Their insights are now shaping an ambitious new project called Dancing Threads.

Completing our celebration line up were two drop-in sessions adding colour to the streets and our memories.

Yes, it's true! Our research discovered that Mossley is the birthplace of JD Sports! So we installed a blue plaque to mark this marvellous matter!

Our hapless pair reveal little known facts about Mossley's shops, including Smiths Photography Hut, Lees's Chip Potato Restaurant and the origins of the pelican crossing!

Put on your Sunday Best and let's take a trip to Smiths Photography Hut.

How a small group of people changed the face of shopping in Mossley making a fairer and more cooperative movement.

Vignettes, visages, vernaculars and verse. Lancashire rhymes and homely pictures of the people.

The story of J. Lees's Chip Potato Restaurant and a history of the humble fish and chip supper.

Delve into the collections of the Mossley Heritage Centre and Tameside Image Archive to find out more about the stories we've discovered from our research.

A monumental exhibition of work from Signs by Umberto inspired by the history of Mossley's high street and the reasearch and collections of the Mossley Heritage Centre.

Up Our Street - Take a closer look 'Up Our Street' and learn more about the heritage of Mossley's shops and people...

The interactive version of the Cotton Culture exhibition at The Vale is just a click away.

Megan Bruton has used some of her gap year to write two narratives for Cotton Culture which bring local heritage to life. Available as audio and written, settle with a cuppa and enjoy.

Megan Bruton's fantastic historical narrative contribution to Cotton Culture. What a brilliant way of bringing heritage alive. To read more or listen to the full audio click here.

Irene Raddings has lived in Mossley all her life, worked in the mills and enjoyed carnivals and Whit Fridays. Listen to this recording as she recalls her journey from her first mill job to representing the town as Mayor. Click to read/listen.

The exhibition, comprising of interpretation panels sited on the outside of Vale Mill is the outcome of the artists’ creative responses to themes or ideas within the research.

Ian Chochrane and Joyce Hobson of Stalybridge Festival Committee share their passion and energy for the carnival that's still going after 42 years. Click to read more and watch the zoom.

The latest finds from our research on the textiles produced from Vale Mill by our predecessors George Lawton and sons. Click here to read more.

If you've ever stood and watched a Morris team and had your curiosity piqued then this is the talk for you. Martin offers a first hand, heartfelt experience of what the Morris tradition means to him and we are thankful  he so generously shared it with us. Click to read more.

The workers of Vale Mill produced award winning cloth in the nineteenth century and the boss was a juror for The Great Exhibition in 1851. This is just another piece of the jigsaw of the award winning textile heritage connected to Vale Mill and Mossley. Click to read more.

Did you know that for 100 years, until 2005, high quality, wax cotton print was made in Hyde and exported to Ghana, West Africa? Neither did we, until we spoke to David Bradley from ABC Wax. Then by internet magic we met Agnes Fough who moved to Tameside from Ghana in the 1970s. Agnes talks about her love of ABC Wax fabric and explains the cultural value and meaning of Adinkra symbols sometimes used in ABC Wax designs. Click to read more.

In our quest to learn more about the heritage of the area, we need to understand what has shaped Mossley to be the town it is today and meander the routes which connect our work at Vale Mill to its roots. Click to read more.

A text message takes us on a textile path over 150 years old. One page from a register sold on an online auction can reveal so much about the heritage of The Vale. Click to read more.

Cotton Culture Connections:
Lucy Wright gives a talk on the long established but more recently hidden tradition of Girls (Carnival) Morris Dancing in NW England. Click to read more.

Fascinated by the heritage of people and places?
Enjoy research?
This is for you!

Go beyond the traditional cut-and-stick class with our visual arts workshops.

Boosting and sharing skills can open all sorts of doors. And who knows where your new skills will take you?

Our arts for health and wellbeing projects across Tameside

Our teachers can help your teachers…

Your school will fizz with energy as your pupils collaborate to create a community celebration spectacular.

Featuring Carnival dance influences from around the globe, this workshop experience will excite and energise your students as they learn their new Carnival ABC: Africa, Brazil, Cuba.

In the age of technology, it has never been more important to encourage a healthier lifestyle amongst our young people.

Featuring grooves from around the globe, this workshop caters for any bespoke themes or cultural aspects that you and your school may wish to explore, perhaps to suit a special event or curriculum interest.

Capoeira is a beautiful, acrobatic art form that originates from 16th Century African slaves in Brazil who used it as a form of self-defence, affirming strength and building esteem.

Modern, popular dance styles incorporate many of the older forms of Carnival dances from around the world.

Energy energy energy! This high-impact class will get your students working hard and reaping a real sense of accomplishment – whilst having fun, of course.

Drawing influence from the rich Orisha tradition found in Cuba, this workshop contains an element of theatre to enable your students to embody the physical traits of deities.

This dynamic, fun workshop gets the blood flowing and the smiles beaming.

The energy created in the Afro-Brazilian dance workshops is second to none!

Our Indian drumming tutors regularly showcase innovative fusion music at Mela events around the UK and bring a modern approach to Indian percussion to the classroom.

With a selection of authentic instruments to play, students will enjoy the lilting sounds of the Caribbean as part of their own steel pan band.

Suitable for musicians and drummers aged Key Stage 3 and above, the polyrhythmic multi-instrumental music of Cuba will inspire and ignite the interest of any keen music student.

With a selection of hand drums to explore, our African drumming workshop gives students the opportunity to experience the instant gratification of group music making, following the intricate call-and-response element of African percussion-driven music.

These African-inspired Brazilian instruments and rhythms bring the flavour of Carnival to your classroom, inspiring cultural question-and-answer dialogue to give a fuller picture of the social context of this amazingly powerful music.

Global Grooves is an accredited Artsmark partner, offering a diverse, fun and accessible programme of arts activities for students all over the UK.