Dippy On Tour - events in Rochdale

A jam packed programme of roarsome dinosaur inspired activities is taking place as Rochdale welcomes Dippy the dinosaur to the borough.

The Natural History Museum’s famous dinosaur cast, Dippy, left the museum for the first time in 2017 to embark on a national tour and Rochdale has been selected as one of his stops.

Rochdale, which is the only North West stop on the tour, will play host to the famous dinosaur from 10 February 2020 to 28 June at Number One Riverside with an accompanying Dippy exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale. It’s free to see Dippy and visit the Dippy exhibition.

More than 20 events and activities will be on offer throughout Dippy’s stay. Highlights include a dino lego build, which will see LEGO artist Warren Elsmore come to Number One Riverside to build a giant Diplodocus out of lego bricks, with the help of children and families.

The Halle Dinosaurumpus family concert will see the world famous orchestra perform at Middleton Arena with dinosaur explorer Tomas O’Redmond in a special show.

Over at Touchstones Rochdale, visitors can explore an exciting and ambitious Dippy Exhibition which will be filled with interactives and hands on displays. There will be an opportunity to learn more about the Diplodocus and other dinosaurs and get up close to some fossilised bones including teeth, eggs and even dinosaur poo in the dinosaur gallery.

In the swampland gallery, people will travel back in time to see what Rochdale would have been like 300 million years ago, before heading to the ‘Our Changing Planet’ gallery to look at how we can all work together to make a difference to protect the future of our planet.

And children can get even more hands on with an opportunity to meet mini beasts like spiders and scorpions at a special session at Touchstones Rochdale, one of many activities which will take place there during his stay.

Those who prefer getting active can get involved energetic pursuits like the Dino Dash at Rochdale Leisure Centre and building boats on Hollingworth Lake.

The borough’s 17 libraries are also getting in on the dinosaur act, with events including Ahhhhh Dinosaur! – a fun and interactive poetry show by award winning poet Dominic Berry from CBeebies.