On the Waterfront

Today was a good one. Work-wise, Sarah and I are still a few weeks away from knowing whether or not we’ve been successful in making the case for 3-year core funding, but we’re still doing as much groundwork as we can in preparation for the projects we dream of running if the money comes through...

This afternoon we were in Birkenhead for a meeting at the amazing Open Door Centre which provides emotional and creative support to people aged 15-30 who are going through difficult times. They’ve just opened a new base which, apart from fantastic support facilities, includes a great coffee shop/cafe/gallery with a stage which will finally provide an independent music venue for the Wirral, which has long needed one but which is always overshadowed by it’s neighbour, Liverpool, just minutes away across the Mersey.

Arriving about 30 minutes early for our meeting, we decided to pay a quick visit to Birkenhead Priory, just next door. The ruins of the priory date from the 12th century and are the oldest building on Merseyside. The monks who lived there back then operated the very first ferry service ‘cross the Mersey.

The site also includes the tower of Birkenhead’s first parish church, St Mary’s, and we decided to defy the very blustery conditions and climb its 101 steps to enjoy the amazing views over the river to Liverpool and across the Wirral peninsula. Here’s the view of the Liverpool waterfront, still just about hanging onto its UNESCO World Heritage site status despite constant threat from developers...

In the evening, we headed back over to Liverpool to the set of top soap opera ‘Hollyoaks’ (oh, yes!) for an event with staff from its production company, Lime Pictures. We gave a presentation about our work, and they held a raffle and donated the proceeds to us, which was really kind of them. We’re certainly hoping that we’ll be around long enough to collaborate with both Lime Pictures and Open Door in the future, as we have loads of ideas bubbling away!

Today’s tune, ‘Glass Onion’ by an obscure Liverpool band called The Beatles, makes mention of “the cast iron shore” of the Mersey https://youtube.com/watch?v=2tSIZLuCKUI (Incidentally, ‘The Cast Iron Shore’ is also the title of a novel by Orange Prize winning, Booker Prize shortlisted, Liverpool-born writer, Linda Grant!)