Category Archives: Liverpool And Merseyside
Sudley House: Victorian Home Of A Mayor Of Liverpool
Aigburth is a long-established residential area within sight of Liverpool Cathedral. Amongst the many surprises in this enduring part of the city is the National Museum Liverpool’s newly refurbished Sudley House, tucked away behind Rose Lane, Carnatic Halls and Mossley Hill Church. Bequeathed to the City by Emma Holt, daughter of a Victorian merchant, it offers a major art collection.
Sudley House contains works by artists such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Landseer and Turner. This is the only surviving Victorian merchant art collection in Britain still hanging in its original location.
The earliest resident of the house was Nicholas Robinson, a rich corn merchant, who bought the land and built the original house somewhere between 1811 and 1823. The architect may have been Thomas Harrison. Robinson was Mayor of Liverpool in 1828-9. He lived in the house until his death in 1854, and his two daughters continued to live there until their own deaths in 1883.
Sudley was then sold to George Holt, a ship owner and merchant, who made many alterations to the property. He acquired the art collection which remains in the house, which, with its contents, was in 1944 bequeathed to the City of Liverpool by his daughter Emma.
See also: History of Liverpool
Carols Round The Christmas Tree At Sudley House
Liverpool’s Ancient Chapel Of Toxteth, Dingle Gaumont Cinema, The Turner Nursing Home & Dingle Overhead Railway Station
Autumn Glory In Sefton Park
Sefton Park, Liverpool: Winter Solstice 2006
Please see additional photographs at Camera & Calendar
More information on Sudley House and visitor arrangements is available here.
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Amongst the more interesting modes of transport in Liverpool city centre last Christmas (2006) was this traditional vehicle, with its delighted passengers and good humoured driver. People waiting at the bus stop must have felt that somehow they were missing something rather special.
For more photographs please see also Camera & Calendar
For information on things to do in Liverpool click here.
Liverpool Fringe! Trustees Sign Up
This evening (Wednesday 28 November 2007) saw another big step in establishing Liverpool Fringe! when the Fringe’s six Trustees got together to sign papers formalising arrangements.
With this step completed, we are well on our way to securing the support we need for 2008 events.
Meet the new Founding Trustees….
[L-R] Peter Worthington, Antony Mantova*, Dawn Stewart, Hilary Burrage*, Andrew Chambers and Bisakha Sanker:
[* Trustees until end of 2008]
For day-by-day information on events as they are confirmed, click here.
Liverpool Fringe! Is Launched Today
Today is the beginning of a new era for community-led arts in Liverpool. The launch of Liverpool Fringe!, organised by the Liverpool Community Network Arts and Culture Steering Group, was a packed occasion, with artists and performers from across the city congregating in the Rex Makin Lecture Theatre to show their enthusiasm for this exciting grassroots festival initiative.
Not a seat in the Rex Makin Lecture Theatre of the Walker Art Gallery was unoccupied this afternoon, Wednesday 21 November 2007, for the first Liverpool Fringe! Open Meeting.
Keynote talk on the Edinburgh Fringe
The event, organised by Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services (LCVS)’s Liverpool Community Network (LCN) Arts and Culture Network Steering Group, featured a keynote talk by Claire Daly of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Claire gave a fascinating account of how the Fringe in that great city has developed, and the opportunities and challenges of that growth.
Discussion groups
There was also much discussion in groups and between individuals, who were invited in a ‘speed networking’ session to find three people from different groups, and ask them to share ideas about how to progress. The buzz told us all we needed to know about the appetite to make Liverpool Fringe! work.
Next steps
Katie Beales, as the LCVS Arts and Culture Development Officer, had a huge hand alongside the Steering Group members in arranging this Fringe event; and now she has an equally big task ahead, working through all the ideas which participants have already submitted and this afternoon recorded on their questionnaires.
In the meantime, as Andrew Chambers of the Arts and Culture Steering Group reported, the new Trustees of Liverpool Fringe! will be meeting very soon to confirm dates and arrangements for 2008.
[Later: Confirmed as August.]
For day-by-day information on events as they are confirmed, click here.
Why not share your own enthusiasm about Liverpool Fringe! in the Comments box below? We look forward to hearing from you!
Liverpool Fringe! Back Story
Liverpool Community Network Arts and Culture Steering Group has been working to establish Liverpool Fringe! for many months; the idea first arose early in 2006. Here Katie Beales, the LCN’s new Arts and Culture Development Officer, gives a brief rundown of what has been achieved by the Arts and Culture Steering Group so far.
Katie Beales of Liverpool Community Network writes:
The Liverpool Community Network Arts and Culture Network (for which I am now Development Officer) has been active in preparation for a Liverpool Fringe Festival for almost two years.
Work to achieve this aim has been undertaken by the LCN Arts and Culture Steering Group, in collaboration also with other officers of Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services (LCVS) and LCN.
Milestones to date
The Arts and Culture Network Steering Group has:
– Set up a Fringe Working Group separate to the Network but accountable to it, to progress working towards the Fringe happening in Summer 08.
– Secured the Liverpool Fringe! website domains (as you see here).
– Applied for funding.
– Sent out a call to partners and had initial discussions with organisations such as BDE Dance Fringe, HOPES: The Hope Street Association and Liverpool Film Festival amongst others.
– Developed relationship with Edinburgh Fringe, and undertaken a planning trip to Edinburgh to visit Fringe staff team, and met with strategic people connected to the Edinburgh Fringe.
– In discussion with partners such as the North West Regional Assembly and the NW TUC, considered joint working to deliver the Fringe.
– Developed a good working relationship with the Liverpool Culture Company, who are supportive. (However, it should be noted that the Liverpool Fringe Festival are not approaching the Culture Company for financial backing in order to maintain the integrity of the festival as a fully ‘Fringe’ event.)
What we are looking for now
We welcome all individuals or groups who are interested in being involved! And by all we mean all!
You may have a play you want to see performed in the city next year, or a venue which you would like to be filled with an arts event… you may be a business or media group looking to offer sponsorship financially or in kind… We particularly want to hear from people who are interested in doing something really creative and exciting in our City.
To get involved, please contact us:
Fringe hotline ~ 07528 295012
Email ~ Liverpool Fringe! Festival
Liverpool Fringe! The Vision
Liverpool Fringe! is about ‘Celebrating People Celebrating Culture’. Intentionally and fundamentally grassroots, it arose from an idea by community-based artists who themselves live in the city. Liverpool Fringe!’s mode will be festive, but its underlying vision is serious: to engage and develop local people’s creative talent.
The inaugural Liverpool Fringe! will take place in the Summer of 2008. The Fringe will particularly encourage grassroots, community and voluntary, arts organisations to be fully involved in both the planning and delivery of an exciting, dynamic and innovative festival. It has arisen from ideas developed by the Liverpool Community Network Arts and Culture Network Steering Group.
Liverpool Fringe! will focus on extending the access to and participation with arts and cultural activities within communities at a local level, and aims to make a demonstrable impact on increasing the skill and confidence of smaller organisations.
Structuring Liverpool Fringe
The Arts and Culture Network have discussed at length a structural model for a Liverpool Fringe that facilitates these aims and have decided to replicate elements of the Edinburgh Fringe model; i.e. existing as an umbrella for a large number of different organisations cultural activities. The structure will be designed to benefit as many organisations as possible with effective PR, marketing and information.
Liverpool Fringe! will not be a programming or funding body but rather set up as a shared-risk venture (as Edinburgh Fringe is) in partnership with the artists, community and arts organisations participating, in order to facilitate maximum community and voluntary sector involvement.
Community involvement is core
We believe the Liverpool Fringe! festival is essential because many community, voluntary & grass-roots organisations represented by the Network desire to participate in their own unique ways in the City’s celebrations in 2008 and beyond.
There is a real need for people within Liverpool to feel a part of something in 2008. Liverpool Fringe! will provide an avenue for local residents to contribute to 2008 whilst many of the ‘main events’ may not capture some of the smaller (and larger) community group actions.
Objectives of the Fringe
– Celebrate real people and real experiences
– Inclusive in the widest sense
– Provide a platform for diverse art forms
– Of Liverpool for the world
– Promoting the local, regionally, nationally and internationally
– Pride in Liverpool and it’s achievements past and present
– Bringing different communities together
– Appreciating cultural diversity, and valuing creativity
Festive atmosphere; serious purpose
The Fringe will have a festival atmosphere – with multi-disciplinary events (both large and small) having the opportunity to be showcased and promoted to a wider audience. It will promote culture and diversity as a regional asset, highlighting the benefits that this sort of program can have in developing the economy and building ‘Social Capital’.
However the main focus will be engaging, promoting and supporting the wealth of creative talent in Liverpool.
LCN Arts and Culture Network involvement
There are advantages in the Arts and Culture Network working to facilitate the Liverpool Fringe:
1. The Network is an inclusive, accountable and transparent body.
2. It has a diverse membership and can bring many different thematic and geographic partners to the table, through relationships with the wider Liverpool Community Network, Liverpool First and other strategic bodies such as the Police.
3. Liverpool Arts & Culture Network is a not-for-profit group; all representatives put their time in free of charge which means money spent on the festival, goes on the festival!
Welcome To Liverpool Fringe! Website
This is the original website of Liverpool Fringe!, which was formally launched on 21st November 2007.
The website carries News, Views and information about Liverpool Fringe Events, as well as Fringe! backstories.
For day-by-day information on events as they are confirmed, click here.
You can find more back-stories on the links below:
Liverpool Fringe Events
Liverpool Fringe News
Liverpool Fringe: The Formals
Then, when you’ve read the Fringe! news, please do post your ideas and views in the (moderated) Comments box below each piece.
To read more please click on the links as indicated (e.g. Liverpool Fringe News).
Liverpool: Governance, Growth And Going (Somewhere)
Abrupt curtailment of the 2007 Mathew Street Festival, silly ideas about removing fish so the docks become a concert arena, questions about preparations for the Big Year…. Liverpool 2008 is a drama unto itself. The leading arts venues have devised a good cultural programme for European Capital of Culture Year, but concerns about what else must be done remain.
A European Capital Of Culture Without Euros
Here in Liverpool we are about to start our 2008 Year as European Capital of Culture. But apparently the connection between this year-long Capital of Culture event and hard European cash has yet to dawn on some local businesses. This is serious. Who’s failed to get the message over? And will things improve?
A walk this morning took us through Liverpool’s Sefton Park to Lark Lane, where the Boho action is, to find some brunch.
The brunch was fine; but the bill which followed it left us at best bewildered.
Sterling only
The card machine – as usual these days, the ‘continental’ ‘take it to the table’ type – came up with a sensible sum, requested in either Sterling or Euros. As it happened, we had some Euros on us, so when we’d paid (in Sterling) we asked lightheartedly if we could have paid cash Euros. (The literal conversion rate was 1.645 if anyone wants to know….)
The waitress was aghast. Oh no, she assured us, clearly thinking we’d sought such reassurance, they wouldn’t even think of taking Euros. The cafe never dealt with Euros, the cost would be sky-high, it was quite out of the question…
Bafflement and business
We were unsure how to respond, having originally intended to congratulate the establishment on its forward-planing and preparations for Euro-billing.
Did our waitress know, we asked, what 2008 had in store for Liverpool? She confirmed that she knew 2008 is the Capital of Culture year.
But it’s Liverpool’s ‘European’ Capital of Culture Year, we protested……
The management decides
‘I don’t know about that’, came the reply. ‘Anyway, none of Liverpool’s restaurants are doing Euros. You’ll have to take that up with the management.’
On the contrary, we suggested, perhaps the management needs to take the Euro opportunity up with itself….
The ‘Liverpool experience’ missing link – Europe
So there we have it. At least some of our local businesses, just three months before 2008 begins, still fail utterly to understand that next year is an international, a European, event.
These local ‘enterprises’ haven’t even begun to consider whether a billing system with the potential to offer payment in Euros as well as Sterling might in fact be a business advantage or selling point…. especially in the Boho part of town.
No leadership with the big picture
Could this failure to get the overarching picture be because the city’s leadership has permitted developments (perhaps even decided?) not to move out of the Liverpool comfort zone?
Are city leaders neglecting to emphasise that next year’s celebrations are not ‘only’ an excuse for some (what look to be very promising) major arts events, and for neighbourhood street parties and general local merriment, important though all these are?
2008 opportunities squandered?
If the whole rationale for Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture 2008 Year is put aside, if the business opportunities are not seized, all that enormous amount of (our) money already spent will have been squandered.
I really hope someone will be getting things into gear pretty pronto.
Dreaming Realist 