EE is offering families free half-hour online safety appointments in its stores throughout September, as new research shows parents, teachers and pupils all expect a summer of heavy screen use to disrupt the return to school.

Among family-friendly seaside resorts, one towers above the rest – Blackpool. And even better, you can get there for a day trip by Stagecoach bus. From Lancaster, catch the 42 Service. Or from Preston, jump on the 61 or 68 Service, and all three routes will drop you off just a stroll away from Blackpool Tower and the North Pier.

Over the last couple of years, we have visited a few different SeaLife centres, so we were not sure how Hull's The Deep would alter our take on aquariums. We arrived with an open mind, especially given that my children thought that we were visiting some secret spy headquarters when they saw the impressive building.

Recent independent national enquiries into maternity care in the UK have invited patients to submit accounts of their experiences via public self-reporting systems and it is clear that mothers and families mostly blame the actions or inactions of frontline workers for their plight: midwives who did not listen or take their concerns seriously; staff who pre-judged them or treated them dif…

This August, disabled or seriously ill children and their families can learn to code, animate and create their way through summer with national disability charity Family Fund’s Discover Digital summer festival.

If there is one thing every outdoor artist in Manchester learns quickly, it is never to trust the weather forecast. In the days leading up to Didsbury Festival 2026, the prediction was fairly bleak. Rain seemed inevitable.