Hi and welcome to the second part of this insight into my life as a radio presenter.
 |
| Runcorn Town Hall (unknown photographer) |
When we left the story at the end of Part 1 we had reached the point where I had been approached by Dave Wycherly (Halton Borough Council's Arts Development Officer) with a view to me joining his team based at Runcorn Town Hall (pictured above). Although this was a voluntary post it brought the strength of the team to the grand total of 2!
Between us we were charged with the development of, and the raising awareness of, The Arts in the Borough of Halton. This was by no means an easy task but it was one that we felt we could bring to justice!
One of the first things that was accomplished was the addition of a live music tent at the up and coming Spike Island Festival. This event was actually sited on Spike Island which was very close to a major chemical plant. The event included all of the usual fair type attractions plus a superb ski-jumping display, sponsored by Citroen .
Although my involvement at first event was purely peripheral I was soon far more involved with the whole project of the Spike Island Festival (as immortalised by the band "The Stone Roses" legendary appearance in 1990.
However (so as not to get ahead of ourselves) the next step was a series of meetings (you could call them strategy meetings but I call them brainstorming sessions)
One of the ideas that surfaced was that of a musicians cooperative, where all members involved supported one another in the development of the music /Performance skills/musicianship et cetera.
In addition Dave and I went on a fact-finding mission to St Helens on Merseyside. We went to a venue that was called “The Citadel” that had been converted into a performance venue from a former salvation army meeting place.
That venue “ROCKED” as did the all-girl band who were on stage and we came away “buzzing” with excitement.
To that end Dave had been able to persuade the council to permit the change of use of an old abandoned church in Widnes and let us convert it into a performance venue.
Several weeks of hard work followed and eventually the doors opened and from that start the "church" was pretty soon rocking every week.
In Part 3 I am going to outline how the next phase of the journey unfolded into a bit of a "wow - has that really just happened?" moment
to be continued......
Thanks for being here and taking the time to read this post!
Please check back again regularly because I cannot specifically say when the next update(s) will be posted.
So until then have a great day, be safe, be careful and above all, remember
Don’t predict the future - CREATE IT!
DAve x
Comments
Post a Comment