This year, Friday 17th May 2013 will be a very special day in the history of Liverpool.  It is the opening of the Central Library after it’s £50 million restoration.  It’s doors will be opening at 10am and you can be the first to explore this beautiful building, the restored Hornby Library and Oak Room to the new Children’s Library and rooftop terrace.  This coincides with the Liverpool LightNight and between 9.15pm to midnight you will be able to view the spell-binding light and sound projection on the historic facade of the building.

LightNight is Liverpool’s one-night arts and culture festival when the doors of over 50 city centre organisations keep the doors of their museums, galleries and venues open until late, staging around 100 special cultural events for all ages.

This is an annual event and part of the Museum at Night initiative and gives the local cultural community an opportunity to showcase the talents and activities of this city locally, regionally and nationally.

Last year I had a wonderful LightNight visiting places I did not even know existed, listening to music, watching street theatre, dancing at St George’s Hall, visiting exhibitions and sharing all this with my fellow Culture Champions.   I am now ‘studying’ my LightNight programme to make sure I don’t miss anything out this year and will, hopefully plan my route accordingly.

You can plan your night by visiting www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk or picking up a programme at one of the venues.

Happy Days. 

It’s Liverpool!

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It was with empathy we sat in St Lukes (Bombed Out) Church in freezing cold weather, wrapped in our blankets and looking like the down and outs that this play was about.  Open to the elements and the lights outlining the majestic inside of the skeleton building, it was a formidable setting for the premier of the play about the residential support centre for the homeless.  The story, written by Ester Wilson and inspired by real stories, tells the tale of Tony Teardrop a resident in the home and his journey through his interior landscape looking for the true meaning of ‘home’.  With the noise of the traffic and the Police helicopter flying over, this story seemed more lifelike than being in a theatre.   

The brash and rough character of  Tony Teardrop was played brilliantly by Neil Bell.  Through his black humour and different perspective of life, the audience warmed to his character and his fellow ‘space cadets’.  The story of how a new manager to the centre perceived her job to the rest of the staff and the consequences that this brought to the lives of the residents was told with heart rendering reality in this current climate.

I thoroughly enjoyed this play, the acting  and setting was superb.  Despite thinking how mad I was, going to sit in the freezing cold for one and half  hours, I had a great evening and am so glad I went to see this unforgettable play.