A record crowd visit Central Library on Manchester Day to celebrate the National Year of Reading! 

Manchester Central Library was buzzing on Manchester Day, 26 July 2026 as the library recorded its busiest Sunday Funday ever!  An amazing 7,614 visitors in 5 hours came to see the suite of activities on offer from Libraries, Read Manchester, Z-Arts and The Lowry.  The city centre parade also featured books and reading for the National Year of Reading, alongside a more distinctly Spanish theme thanks to Manchester’s links with Barcelona. 

Families were offered the chance to be ‘prescribed books’ by the library team’s resident book doctors.  The ‘doctors’ suggested new authors or books to visitors who might be looking for their next great read or to others who may have fallen out of the habit of reading regularly.  Children were also invited to join this year’s Summer Reading Challenge Read to the Beat.  When children read four or more library books, they are entered into a special prize draw to win vouchers.  The Book Review writing and drawing competition is another way for children to keep engaged with books and reading in the school holidays and win prizes too. 

The eagle-eyed will have spotted some much-loved book characters in the library on the day!  Captain Hook was out and about helping us to get children (and staff) ‘hooked’ on books, accompanied by Willy Wonka.  Two Narnia shows also entertained large crowds with favourite characters from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.   A beautiful bear outside also reminded us of our favourite polar bear stories – here’s ‘Doctor’ Tom introducing the polar bear to author Hannah Gold’s Bear Rescue book. 

Children enjoyed getting crafty on the day, creating amazing Stickman hats with community artist, Mandy Cleveland.   We were thrilled when children who had created hats at library workshops in the days before the parade joined us to show off their hats with the Mad Hatter. Thanks to Walk the Plank for facilitating these four ‘Books on Your Head’ workshops at North City Library and Central Library.   

The Lowry and Z-Arts teams were also run off their feet on the day. Both have brilliant family-friendly offers, so why not plan a visit there soon? 

You can find out more about the National Year of Reading on the Go All In website. 

Whatever you’re into, read into it!