Events

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Secret Life of Smithdown Road

September 4, 2009 in Events, Museums, The changing city, landscape by Martin | No comments

National Museums Liverpool are putting on an exhibition at the Oomoo cafe on Smithdown Road, showcasing the way in which the road has changed over the years, reports Art in Liverpool. The exhibition, which runs throughout September, will consist of photographs and stories – the memories of old and young who live and have lived in the area – to build a picture of Smithdown Road over time.

This is precisely the thing I’m trying to do with Historic Liverpool, and it just goes to show that there is an audience out there for this kind of history, this landscape archaeology of a single road! It’s incredibly important when writing about history in such a public arena that you connect with what the audience wants, and not what you want to tell them (unless you’re confident you have a new and interesting angle, of course!). That this exhibition actively involves the local residents is excellent; they are the main audience after all. It’s a shame I don’t think I’ll be able to make it, but hopefully I can learn something from this. I know my own site is quite one-sided at the moment (I’m trying the interesting angle, which hopefully isn’t covered by other similar sites), so in future I will try to add stuff more directly related to the people of Liverpool. After all, the aim of the site is to give you insight into the history of your area, help you explore and encourage you to get out there and see the place in a new light.

I’m still finalising the comments arrangements, but soon you’ll be able to hold forth on pretty much any page, so please do!

Historical notes: Smithdown, once known as Esmedune, was a manor mentioned in the Domesday Book, and was part of the royal forest of Toxteth, used for hunting.

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Liverpool hosts Tall Ships Race

July 31, 2008 in Capital of Culture, Events, maritime by Martin | No comments

Over the weekend of 18th to 21st of July, Liverpool played host to a fleet from all over the world, preparing to take part in the 2008 Tall Ships Race. The boats sailed down the River Mersey on the Monday, but not before filling the old and new dock systems with vessels like those which graced the Empire’s second port over the course of the last 200 years. Up to 800,000 people visited the city over the four days, 200,000 of which thronged the shores of the Mersey to watch the Parade of Sail on the Sunday. 50,000 actually boarded the boats to look around for themselves.

The Albert Dock, Canning Dock, Canning Half-Tide Dock, Sandon Half-Tide Dock and Wellington Dock were all full of ships, including training vessels for Brazilian and Mexican crews, as well as more home-grown vessels such as the Glaciere of Liverpool, raised from the bottom of Collingwood Dock.

The ships’ journeys can be followed from Sail Training International’s website.

Liverpool Quay by Moonlight, by John Atkinson Grimshaw

Liverpool Quay by Moonlight, by John Atkinson Grimshaw

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Part 2 of the celebrations

January 12, 2008 in Capital of Culture, Events, Music by Martin | No comments

After last night’s successful People’s Opening on St. George’s Hall Plateau, tonight sees the second part of the festivities for the start of the Capital of Culture year. Again starting at 20:08 GMT, Liverpool: the Musical is billed as a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ experience. Ringo Starr will be taking to the stage again, along with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Pete Wylie, the Wombats, alongside an ‘audio-visual spectacular’ and 90 minutes of film footage shown throughout the programme. Tonight’s event marks the inauguration of the 10,500 seat Echo Arena. More details here.

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Culture celebrations begin, the Europe’s Other Capital of Culture and Liverpool’s many face-lifts

January 9, 2008 in Capital of Culture, Events, art by Martin | No comments

Capital of Culture Opening Ceremony
This Friday witnesses the People’s Opening of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture celebrations. Nigel Jamieson, artistic co-director for the event told icLiverpool: “It will be something those who go will remember for the rest of their lives.” With a mixture of established acts (Ringo Starr, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) plus other special guests) and younger generation artists, the 40 minute show includes cranes (of course), aerial performers and extreme sports enthusiasts. “There will be people performing in spaces and on stages where you’d never imagine them to perform,” Jamieson said.

Related: Merseyside Police ban ’08 related holiday.

Banksy mural covered up -
A mural of a rat by renowned artist Banksy has had to be partially covered by hoarding as part of the ongoing effort to hide eyesores in the city during the Capital of Culture year. The Liverpool Culture Company said it had “no choice”, as the building on which it was painted – the White House pub at the junction of Berry and Duke Streets – is in such a state of disrepair. Interestingly, a different take can be found on the Liverpool Regional Development Agency website, which brands it a ‘dressing’ of the buildings, with six other ‘selected’ structures. This is the Look of the City project, an attempt to cover with artwork as many ugly buildings as possible, while increasing numbers of visitors wander around the town during the next twelve months.

Welcome to Stavanger
It’s not only Liverpool that’s enjoying a year as European Capital of Culture. The Norwegian city of Stavanger, on the south west coast is paired with the British city in holding the title for 2008. The town has a booming oil-related industry, and is well known, at least locally, for its large number of wooden buildings, and ‘Christmas card image’. It is already a wealthy place, and so their version of the event is less concerned with generating tourism and attracting business investment, and generates as much local cynicism as in Merseyside. Details at the BBC News website

Other news:

Garden Festival site ‘should be left wild‘;
The new St John’s Shopping Centre unveiled.

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Introducing the all new Liverpool Landscapes Blog!

October 28, 2007 in Capital of Culture, Events by Martin | No comments

Liverpool is often in the media these days, what with the Capital of Culture events of next year, and the many exciting and controversial developments in the World Heritage Site and beyond. This blog will keep you abreast of the handful of articles I come across. Feel free to add more in the Comments section.

To get going, here are a few of the pieces I’ve found in the last few months:-

  • With Liverpool facing up to its placement at the Old Kent Road end of a hypothetical Monopoly board of Britain, the Guardian dedicates one of its ‘In praise of…’ columns to the city. The snub was “shrugged off with the humour for which it is famed”, with the council saying the manufacturers should be given a Go to Jail card. Still, Newcastle and Edinburgh failed to make the board at all.
  • River of Life: a large feature in the Guardian Society section tells of David Ward’s journey to find the source of the River Goyt, a Mersey tributary, and a walk along quite a length of the Mersey itself. As well as the oft-celebrated salmon, cod are regularly caught by local fishermen as far upstream as Otterspool; the only reason they’ve not been found further up being that “we haven’t fished there”. Porpoises, grey seals and an octopus – predators – have followed in the fishes’ wake. (Ward’s book Mersey: the River that Changed the World will be published on December 6th by Bluecoat Press)
  • Guardian National news: under a photograph of the Pier Head, including the proposed Mann Island development, an article outlining the huge events programme lined up for next year. Highlights naturally include Paul and Ringo, and the public face of the Culture year, Phil Redmond. A city-wide public arts programme, similar to the Biennial and events covering Bill Shankly, Mersey music and ‘North-West Side Story’ are also highlighted.
  • Finally, on October 25th, the Financial Times contained a whole supplement dedicated to the business potential of the whole region, entitled Doing Business in Liverpool and the North West. I haven’t had a chance to look at this in detail, but unsurprisingly it concentrates on the relevant interests of the FT’s readership, and is also overwhelmingly optimistic. More on this soon.

Well, I hope this gives you a taste of what the blog will bring. No doubt there will be plenty to report on in the next 18 months, and hopefully beyond. As it stands, nothing is off topic at the moment, so if you want to contribute, feel free to get in touch. Thanks for reading!

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