MORE IS POSSIBLE ALONG THE LEEDS & LIVERPOOL CANAL
the cut Inside this edition
Waterworks Urbanism! Litter bins Floating tea ceremony Rare flowers and much, much more
WWW.BIENNIAL.COM
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Urbanism 09 Urbanism 09 is the name for five days of exhibitions, discussions and celebrations along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal that explore its potential and future uses. It brings together artists and architects from all over Europe invited by Liverpool Biennial to respond to an area of North Liverpool and South Sefton that is the subject of one of the UK’s most ambitious initiatives of urban renewal. It will showcase the projects that have been running since February (and introduce some new ones) and also invite speakers from up and down the country to discuss the issues we have been engaging with. Urbanism 09 is the finale of all this activity and an opportunity not only to have fun on and along the water but also to share views on how the canal could be made a better place. Urbanism 09 takes place at St Winnie’s School from 16–20 September. All our visitors were inspired and intrigued by the Leeds &Liverpool Canal that wends it way through the area from a semi-rural northern tip to the city centre in the south. Many of our visitors, such as Lambert Kamps, from Holland, could not understand why this waterway, bounded by housing, was so little used. In Holland, of course, they use their waterways as vital transport routes, as major social and recreational spaces as well as much valued natural environments. Danilo Capasso, from Italy, told us about the creation of new neighbourhoods in a medieval city such as Sienna, often cited as a model of successful urban design. Before even a spade is planted in the ground, each new community there must have a ‘palio’, a banner that establishes its identity and stakes its place in the annual horse race in the central piazza. Meanwhile, each neighbourhood in Venice is defined by its bridge that represents its lifeline to the rest of the city. Over a few months in the spring, Danilo looked at possible sites for intervention along the canal and was excited to discover the wharf at Bank Hall that had played a central part in the development of the canal. Danilo recreates this history in his installation, Portoallegro, at that site.
Raumlabor, a collective of artists and architects working across Europe to breathe new life into neglected urban spaces, were similarly excited by Carolina Wharf and have created an imaginary journey from St Winnie’s School to the wharf opposite in their installation, The Promising Land. Squash Nutrition have been hard at work throughout the spring and summer planting and tending a kitchen garden at the school with the help of local residents and they will be offering samples of the Sefton Produce made from it, with chutneys and jams on offer each day.
PA R A D E PA R A D E PA R A D E
Shuttling back and forth between these two hubs throughout the five days will be a collection of floating structures created by Ben Parry, David Bade, Lambert Kamps and Public Works offering a range of activities from tea drinking to painting, all of them offering opportunities for conversation. On Saturday evening these crafts of creativity will form a parade. Joined by those built by groups in the neighbourhoods, some working by themselves and some with the help of local artist and boat builder, Dave Webster, as well as Leeds & Liverpool Canal regulars such as the Pride of Sefton and members of the Mersey Motor Boat Club. This floating procession starts from St Winnie’s with imagined uses of the canal glimpsed on bridges along the way created by artist Alan Dunn and ReDock in collaboration with local groups. The procession ends at Portoallegro at 8pm with surprises from Liverpool Lantern Company, Moth and Rob Sweere. Meanwhile, back on land as part of the Art for Places engagement work, artist Kerry Morrison has been working with botanist, Alicia Prowse over the past six months to make the very best of the natural assets of the canal. They have been harvesting elderflower, installing beehives and inspiring the council to install bins along the towpath and remove redundant fencing to open up pleasant green spaces from which to enjoy it. All these people and more will be active over the five days of Urbanism to talk about what they see as the canal’s potential and hear your ideas. We hope you can come.
Roll up, Roll up! (in sensible footwear) The Canal Parade is really coming together with over 20 boat and craft already registered to participate. The parade will begin at St Winnie’s at 6pm, Saturday 19 September and finish at Bank Hall, 8pm for the grand finale at Portoallegro. Everyone’s welcome, so bring your family and friends and come and see the spectacle of the grand Canal Parade! parade@biennial.com
PA R A D E PA R A D E PA R A D E
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Urbanism 09 Programme 16–20 September 2009 St Winnie’s School, Merton Road, Bootle, L20 7AR Portoallegro, Syren Street, Bank Hall Wednesday 16 September 11am – 6pm
All exhibitions open. Pedaloes, canal taxi and artists boats available each day from St Winnie’s
Thursday 17 September 11am – 6pm
All exhibitions open
Propositions for the Happy City: artists and architects talk about their projects 1pm 1.30pm 2pm 2.30pm 3pm 3.15pm 3.45pm 4.15pm
Squash Nutrition: with samples of St Winnie’s Produce Raumlabor: a journey through The Promising Land Kerry Morrison: Performance ‘Alternative Views’ Muf Architecture: Feral Arcadia Refreshments Danilo Capasso talks about Portoallegro Public Works: Canal Club Visit to Ben Parry’s Tea House, David Bade’s Chairity Boat, Raumlabor’s ‘The Promising Land’, Public Works’ Canal Club, sample St. Winnie’s produce and participate in Rob Sweere’s Silent Sky.
Art for Places ‘Waterworks’: discussion and exhibition 5pm
6.10pm 8pm
A roundtable discussion chaired by Paula Ridley, Chair of Liverpool Biennial including Pauline Davis, Managing Director of NewHeartlands, and Laurie Peake, Programme Director, Public Art, Liverpool Biennial. ‘Waterworks’ Competition announcement and drinks End
Friday 18 September 11am – 6pm
All exhibitions open
How to Design the Happy City conference
To book you r plac e in the confe rence plea se visi t www.plac esma tter. org.u k /urbanism 09 or call 0845 220 280 0
9.15am
Registration. Tea and coffee.
SESSION 1
Ingredients for the Happy City
10am
Chair’s Welcome: Martin Stockley, Chair of North West Design Review Panel, Places Mattter! Keynote Speaker: Joost Beunderman, DEMOS Michael Palwyn: Exploration Architecture Ian McArthur: Groundwork Q&A: All speakers Breakout sessions with tea and coffee Lunch (with opportunity to see the exhibitions, sample Squash’s Bootle produce and take out a pedalo)
10.15am 10.45am 11.15am 11.45am 12.15pm 1pm
SESSION 2
Measuring the Happy City – the business case
2pm 2.30pm 3pm 3.30pm 4.15pm 5pm 6pm – 9pm
Keynote Speaker: Marcus Dixon, Savills Pete Halsall: Bioregional Quintain Q&A: All speakers Breakout sessions with tea and coffee Feedback and Plenary Chair’s round up and finish Portoallegro launch party at Bank Hall
Saturday 19 September 11am – 6pm 11am–12.30pm 6pm– 9pm
All exhibitions open Brunch conversation with Rick Lowe Canal parade from St Winnie’s to Bank Hall Boats gather at 5.30pm at Carolina Wharf, Bootle, finale 8pm at Bank Hall
Sunday 20–27 September 11am – 6pm
Chance to see all the commissions and exhibitions at St Winnie’s and Bank Hall
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MOTH
MARROW AND GINGER JAM
MOTH projects digital stories onto city walls free-style. Using hand-held projectors they will illuminate (and animate) unusual places along the canal. They have made a new work for the Portoallegro launch party on Friday 18 September and will also be projecting from a boat during the Boat Parade on Saturday 19 September.
en jam Makes 6 x 1lb jars of delicious gold INGREDIENTS 4 unwaxed lemons sugarcube 4lbs marrows, peeled and cut into sized pieces 4lbs jam sugar (with added pectin) ut 85g), A large knob of fresh root ginger (abo peeled and shredded Enough glass jars for 6lbs Muslin bag ds Waxed paper, cellophane, rubber ban
The Plaza Cinema, Crosby Road North, has a new Cinema Social Club. Every Thursday afternoon from 1.15pm (apart from school holidays) at the Plaza. Come and see a great movie, enjoy a chat with new and old friends over tea, coffee and biscuits and, if you’re in the mood, try your luck at Bingo or the Raffle. Admission is £3 (members) and £4 (nonmembers). More details on 0151 474 4076.
METHOD a peeler, 1. Pare the zest from the lemons with lls she e, juic the ping kee , them e then juic a into pips and and any pips. Tie the shells muslin bag.
Litter Bins Over the past twelve months one of our most common sights along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal has been the plastic bags attached to fences up and down the towpath. However, we shouldn’t be damning of this strange habit. Clearly the bags are tied to the fences because there is nowhere else to put them. Contrary to what some people may think, people in Bootle, dog-walkers included, are actually picking up their rubbish, putting it into bags but having simply nowhere to put them.
That is until August. In mapping the wildlife and plantlife along the canal, artist Kerry Morrison also included data on rubbish hot spots on the towpath and armed with her data Kerry had asked for some bins from Sefton Council. They agreed and have now installed 10 litter bins at key access points onto the canal tow path in Bootle. It’s a small step but what a result!.
‘A lady scooped up her pooches pooh and walked to the new bin at Pennington Road bridge to deposit the deposit. She returned to her walk along the Leeds and Liverpool canal towpath’. Kerry Morrison, Artist, 26 August 2009
pan with 2. Put the marrow into a preserving on a cook then e, juic on lem the 2tbsp of the l unti medium heat, stirring often, soft but pieces are turning translucent and not mushy. ing in 3. Bubble off any juices before stirr zest, the e, the sugar, the rest of the juic l the unti Stir . bag lin ginger and the mus s. olve sugar diss about 4. Bring to the boil, then simmer for softened has row 10 –15 mins or until the mar setting hed reac has jam completely and the w). belo set’ a for ting ‘Tes point (see flavour of 5. Pot the jam into warm jars. The y over the nsif the jam will mature and inte in a dark, y awa it tuck so next few months, cool place. JARS chips or Use jars which are free from cracks, are the Prep b. g/1l 450 are flaws – the best sizes and er wat y soap m war in l wel jars by washing n ove cool a rinsing thoroughly. Dry them in 10 –15 (140C, 275F, Gas Mark 1) for about m to war still lst whi fill e, sibl minutes. If pos hot the n prevent them from cracking whe filling is added TESTING FOR A SET t. Drop a Remove the pan of jam from the hea Allow it cer. teaspoonful of jam onto a cold sau r finger you h pus tly gen to cool for 1 minute then will jam the then kles wrin it If . through the jam t hea the to n set. If it doesn’t, return the saucepa then utes min e mor and continue to boil for a few test again. Repeat as necessary FILLING THE JARS the jar with Fill to the top then wipe the rims of a waxed with r cove a damp cloth. Immediately w to Allo n). dow side xy (wa disc whilst still hot with ring cool then cover with cellophane, secu the re secu age stor a rubber band. For long term lid top w scre cellophane with a STORAGE jam has Store in a cool dark place. Once the ge frid the in been opened for use store
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Orgonite Early Results Mark Bennett
Canal&– Suggestions for a Future Canal
From 7–18 September, Alan Dunn and Re-Dock present ‘Canal& – Suggestions for a Future Canal’. Amazing images emerged from a years work with over 2,000 Bootle and Seaforth residents on urban and economic issues. Imaginative, fun and bizarre futures for the Canal. Look out for posters from the project on billboards at 225 Knowsley Road, Bootle.
My Days at St Winnies I loved that smell of polished floors you get in schools. They always smell slightly different in each school, as though they all have their own recipe for floor polish. Just occasionally whenever I have been to my children’s schools and had a whiff of the old floor polish, BANG! back come the memories, strange isn’t it when some kinds of smells remind you of your past? Hello, my name is Des Byrne, I went to ‘St Winnie’s’ from September 1961 to 1965. I left the school aged 15, so long ago... I can’t remember too many of the teachers names but I do know that Mr Nevin was the Head Teacher at the time I was there. There was a relative newcomer to the school, Mr Wilson, a young art teacher. He was brilliant, a breath of fresh air. I particularly remember Mr Parsons who introduced a lot of us youngsters to classical music – adifferent kind of music than perhaps most of us were used to. He once took us on a school trip to the Philharmonic. All the teachers taught two topics as far as I can remember, as well as the core topics, Maths, English, Religion, History, Geography and P.E. – notice no Languages. I’m sad to say languages were not on the curriculum in those days for ordinary schools, it’s a shame, it left a good proportion of my generation clueless when we eventually started to go abroad or actually met someone from abroad. Then there was Mr Rogan the science teacher who was always (to me) a bit of a bore. All I can remember about him is that he tried to make us think he had this magnificent sense of smell and could smell when someone was chewing gum or ‘chewie’ as we used to call chewing gum. He would sometimes chuck the board duster at the individual concerned! Then there are the notoriously memorable days like watching two fellow pupils who had ‘sagged’
off school for the day, rowing down the ‘Cut’ (Canal) in a borrowed coffin. That is a particularly fond memory of mine. I suppose that looking back we were lucky compared to lots of kids in and around the Bootle / Liverpool area. There was quite a lot of poverty about and yet despite this I’m sure that most of us got something positive out of St Winnie’s which during my time there was a fairly new school. St. Winnie’s is opposite the local St Winefrides Roman Catholic church and as was the case in those days religion was the backbone of the school. The priest used to visit regularly and we used to have to go to church regularly as a school. I have mixed feelings about the religious aspects but overall we got a fairly good standard of education. We all met new friends or they came up with us from Junior School just across the road. I don’t think bullying was too bad, it was there but I suppose it always has been and always will to some extent. When asked to write this down I thought I would have trouble remembering very much about the school. Some of it has come flooding back, some of it is lost in the mists of time. I hope this little memoir brings back some fond memories for everyone who reads this. I hope that all my old friends have been as fortunate as I have in life and can look back on their days at St Winnie’s as amongst their most happy years.
The summer 2009 growing season continues and already I’m getting very interesting early results from the Orgonite trial we started in May. One gardener with a poly tunnel started to harvest runner beans at the end of May! Another who planted the Orgonite rather late in the season in June has seen impressive and rapid growth from just seeds. She reported “The best bit is the flavor and quality of veg and fruit and that I have got so many runner beans the canes gave way!” Meanwhile a follow up to last years startling results from P Barker is that he rotated the location of the Orgonite from the ‘good’ soil to the ‘poorer’ soil. He still got amazing results from the plants in the poorer soil. His ”Paris Market Baron” carrots from Kings Seeds, Suffolk (see below) don’t look like normal long carrots and are ideal for shallow soil. The results are an average of about 4–6 times growth from the Orgonite patch compared to the ones with no Orgonite planted. It wasn’t just the carrots themselves, as he pointed out, it was also the fact that the green leaves from the carrots were a lot different from the carrot patch with no Orgonite, and they took up considerably more space in the planted rows. He’s had so many carrots now he’s giving them away and even selling them!
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Wild Wild Fences
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Kerry Morrison and street performance actor Andy Pollard have taken to the towpath to assess the value of fencing and walls along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal from Stanley Dock to the Red Lion in Litherland. They try to understand the relation between the boundaries and fences and the leisure and social activities that happen along the canal. Do they help or hinder? Are they useful or not? Kerry and Andy have been documenting the various fence types in terms of how they look and feel and how they are used – here is a guide to fence spotting in your area.
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Wood panel Mesh and steel layers Concrete panel Kerry measuring brick wall Temporary fencing Classic pallisade Steel rod railings Steel rod railings Breeze block and classic pallisade Classic pallisade Blue steel rod railings Classic pallisade and barbed wire Classic pallisade with plants Mesh fence Vegetation Classic pallisade
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Urban Walks PlacesMatter! commissioned Urbanwalks to create six brand new independent urban walks around the Bootle area. The routes will take in the Canal path between Marsh Lane and Liverpool and five of the walks will be circular routes taking in local green spaces and linking onto the Canal towpath. The distances will range from 2 to 3 miles. Leaflets with the routes will be distributed to local households by the end of September so watch out for them. If you have not received one by then please contact Urbanwalks on 0870 242 7507
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More Scouse Vicar
Spot the kingfisher...
By Billy Forshaw October – date TBC the Second A fictional account of Bootle during al sources, oric hist y man World War. Drawn from ing story mov this , unts acco ss itne including eyew munity com l charts the life of a family in the loca . ival and their struggles for surv k your place For further information and to boo Road or call ley Stan visit Bootle Library at 220 0151 934 5781.
Waterworks Commission Which artist, architect or urban designer will build the new moveable structure ‘Waterworks’ for the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Sefton... the results are about to be revealed! ‘Waterworks’ is a mobile structure that will house canoes and kayaks to offer watersports activities to local people as well as a base for education activities for young people in the borough focusing on the wildlife along the canal. It is the first commission for the Art For Places programme and the designs and drawings have been on show at Bootle New Strand Shopping Centre in August. The ideas generated a lot of discussion with a lot of people expressing anxiety over its security and safety, ‘It’s a lovely idea but will it get ruined?’ one lady asked. Despite these concerns, local residents seem very happy that the ‘Waterworks’ commission is coming to their area. One Bootle resident said ‘It’s so great its being done here where I live’ and others hope that the structure will encourage and increase activity on the Canal. The three year Art For Places project aims to integrate public art into development areas within the NewHeartlands Housing Market renewal programme. Eventually there will be three public art commissions across Merseyside’s Housing Market renewal areas – Sefton, Liverpool and the Wirral. Art For Places is a partnership between these three local authorities, NewHeartlands, Liverpool Biennial and local Housing Associations.
Paul Kelly from NewHeartlands comments ‘renewal does not happen overnight, and this also applies to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The process of change has started however, and local people we talk to are clear that the environment in and around the canal has been improving. Already the waterway is cleaner and there have been litter bins installed on tow paths, thanks to British Waterways and Sefton Council. Hats off to all those involved so far! We now need to work hard to bring the canal back into our daily lives and get more activities happening on it. We are confident this commission will help in this process, and get more people using the waterway through Bootle.’ The ‘Waterworks’ exhibition has now been moved to St Winnie’s on Merton Road, Bootle for Urbanism (see page 3 for opening times), this time with the scale models. The Commission winner will be announced on Thursday 17 September at 6pm. Overall, there were 69 entries from across the globe which were whittled down to the five finalists: The Antillia Collective (Edinburgh), Nex Architecture (London), Bianchini e Lusiardi Architetti Associati (Cremona, Italy), Studio KAH (Bath) and Duggan Morris Architects (London).We wish them all luck!
The ‘Waterworks’ exhibition, Boot
le New Strand shopping centre
SOME POINTS OF VIEW The canal that winds its way through Bootle, that has been an important part of its history, had become an embarrassment. It was seen as a problem, a place that was unsafe, dirty and so it was neglected. Over the past year or so we have seen positive changes. Access points to the canal have been opened up, tow paths repaired, some rubbish cleared and most significantly new building developments along the canal have begun to embrace it – seeing it now as a positive asset rather than something to be ignored. There is a way to go, we need to work towards gaining ‘cruiser’ status once again for the canal so that it can be maintained to the highest standards. My hope for the future of this commission is for it to be a leading example of this change with the quality of its design. It will add something pleasing and visual to the canal and will be used practically to encourage and increase leisure activity, particularly amongst young people. Most of all I hope that it will be something that the people of Bootle will be proud of. Roger Driver Re-opening of canal link between Liverpool’s Albert Docks and the country’s canal network has stimulated huge renewed enthusiasm for the long neglected Leeds & Liverpool Canal in South Sefton. The number, vitality, and imagination of the entries for this commission demonstrate just how creativity can be used to showcase the regeneration of the area and reinvigorate this leisure amenity and linear nature-park – to turn this Bootle ‘backwater’ into a ‘frontwater’. Tom Clay
QUACK QUACK ’ commission! I can’t wait for the new ‘Waterworks up and down ing It’s always nice to see people walk few years, last the ly lone e the Canal. It’s been quit children and ilies fam e mor ct attra will so hopefully it give us ’t don which we like the best, free food! (but scraps, en gard and hen bread, it makes us fat. Kitc er) bett h muc are kind y leaf n especially the gree
St Winnie’s today...
Raumlabor. The Promising Land – A Really Fictional Story Berlin based architects Raumlabor have spent the last few months researching the histories of the area around St Winnie’s School and have created a wondrous story based on real historical characters. Raumlabors story is not constrained by access to history; they do not have to rely on a few dusty documents left in an archive, speculative books or hearsay. Raumlabors story is actually
precisely how history has always been made, because it is made complete for a purpose. Raumlabor invent what they cannot find and playfully fill in the gaps where needed. Join Raumlabor as they take you on an adventure, through the gates of The Promising Land, past St Winifreds Well. Over the Squash fields to the Canal and via boat or rickshaw across from England to India to the Jantar Mantar in Rajastan.
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THE SKETCH
The former pitch on the East Engl
In 1808 Charles Jenkinson, better known as Lord Hawkesbury, Earl of Liverpool, died. It was not until 1814 that his son Robert found the documents that stated his father had purchased, in 1769, the land on the banks of the Canal at Bootle where St Winnie’s sits now.
and side
Along with the documents he found a strange neatly coloured sketch of an imaginary garden entitled ‘Amelia’s Park’. The sketch was not signed but from the handwriting and the name of the park Robert knew it had been drawn by his mother Amelia Watts who he had never met, (she died a month after his birth). His father had never really spoken to Robert about her because his new wife Catherine didn’t like it when her husband spoke of the beautiful Amelia. She had been his wife for little more than a year when she died.
THE GARDEN The garden in the sketch Robert found had two parts divided by a large lake with boats on it. One side was titled India, the other England. On each side of the lake a path led around the park. In England there was a tea house, a maze, a forest, a cloister with a herb garden, a fountain called Holywell and a wharf where the boats were tied. On the India side there was a small wooden jetty for the boats to land next to a village of little duck houses on pillars entitled ‘Fort William’ and a large house with a courtyard named ‘Begums Home’. This was surrounded by a wild garden which had four objects called called ‘Taj Mahal’, ‘Qutub Minar’, ‘Golden Temple’ and ‘Christ Church’ in the corners. In the centre was a square with some strange objects named ‘Juntar Mantar’.
AMELIA Robert knew immediately what the drawing meant, as his mother Amelia had been the daughter of William Watts, a director of the East India Company. She had not only grown up in Calcutta (Fort William), but her mother Frances was half-Indian – a fact that might explain Amelia’s enchanting beauty. Robert heard the news of his grandmother Frances death in 1812 in Calcutta. Robert was 42 and had just been elected as Prime Minister when he heard the news of her death. He had never met Frances, never been to India (not even in the time when he was Secretary of War and the Colonies). The news made Robert stop amidst his successful career and think for the first time about his roots but as his father was dead and his stepmother would not talk about it Robert fetlt desperate. His wife Louisa, although a good wife, was not someone he confided in. Princess Caroline by Sir Thomas
Lawrence, 1804.
CAROLINE
THE FOOTBALL FIELD
As the close advisor of the Prince Regent (later George IV) it was Lord Liverpool’s exclusive duty to keep the Prince’s German wife Caroline away from the Royal Court. This was a nerve wracking and tiring job. Caroline of BrunswickWolfenbuttel, Princess of Wales was eager to become Queen of England whereas Prince George, who only married Caroline for financial reasons, preferred to spend his nights with the Countess of Jersey. Caroline was ugly, rarely washed and had many other discourteous German attributes. Robert, now Lord Liverpool, spent a good deal of his time trying to persuade Caroline to travel around Europe rather than frequent the Royal Court. Robert had travelled widely as a young man and pointed out many interesting places to Caroline, who was thankful for the advice and took her chance to see the world. Caroline became Roberts confidant on his more sentimental questions and they spoke of his late mother, his childhood and his dreams. When he discovered the sketch of Amelia’s park it was Caroline who advised him to go ahead and buid the Park his mother had designed. Afterall, she reasoned, it had been his fathers intention when he had purchased the land in Bootle in 1769.
When Lord Liverpool visited the Park in 1812 the land was home to two football clubs that used the lawns on either side of the Canal as training gorunds. Formerly the two clubs Oriel FC and Strand United were one club, the Bootle FC, also known as the ‘Big Boots’ played on a field that was owned by Gary Hurst, a brewer from Merseyside. He owned the pub called The Bottle Club that served as Bootle FC’s home and was on the side of the field. When the Canal was planned in 1764 the pub was to be demolished as it was right in the middle of the Canal and Gary Hurst eventually died after a long fight with the British Waterways administration to keep his pub open. Hurst left land to Bootle FC but the club started fighting over which side of the prospected Canal to play on, they split up in anger before the Canal was even built. The land was then sold to Charles Jenkins who purchased it to build a summer home for himself and his young family and the park became the dream of his beautiful, beloved wife Amelia. After her untimely death, Roberts father had fallen into a grief stricken dispair and must have terminated the proposed project of the summerhouse with the Indian garden. In 1773 after the Canal was built, two football clubs, Oriel and Strand, were founded. They asked the Earl of Liverpool for permission to use the land once more. He agreed and on both sides of the Canal the clubs opened a clubhouse, later moving into two pubs, the Oriel Wharf and The Strands Castle. They both still exist today as The Wharf and The Merlon.
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The strange object...
THE INDIAN Even though the original plans of Carolina Park were lost, evidence is left in a description by Ram Mohan Roy, a friend of Lord Liverpool, whom he had consulted on the designs of Jantar Mantar (the large observatory in the centre of the park). Ram was an Indian intellectual and reformer and Lord Liverpool spent many evenings with him discussing human rights issues such as the abolition of slavery and religious reforms. Ram Mohan Roy wrote in a letter to the great mogul in 1813
THE ARCHITECT Lord Liverpool (Robert to his friends) commissioned no less than William Nash to design the Park for him on the Bootle side of the Canal. Nash was Prince George’s favourite architect, he was the director of the Regents Canal Company and had made many designs for buildings in and around Regents Park. Nash produced a layout of a park and adapted the elements of Amelia’s plan onto the Bootle site. He spent a lot of time researching Indian architectural design and finally handed the plans for this new park to Lord Liverpool in 1813. Lord Liverpool was delighted and decided to name it Carolina Park, after Princess Caroline, the then future Queen of England, who had given him such wonderful advice. By the time Lord Liverpool received the plans he was very occupied by his job as Prime Minister. Napoleon was causing many problems on the continent and an alliance had to be built up with the Prussian King. By the time Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo a new problem emerged...
THE CAROLINE CASE In 1814 Caroline had left Britain for a long journey around the Meditteranean. She bought a house in Italy and rumours reached the Royal Court that she had had an affair with her servant Pergamo. It was becoming obvious that George IV wanted a divorce from Caroline and Lord Liverpool became the one who was to collect evidence of adultery. He became entangled in a schizophrenic situation: his friendship to her on one side and sending spies after her on the other. Caroline was not at all amused when she discovered what he was up to and sent him several angry letters. Lord Liverpool then became afraid he might draw attention to himself as too close a friend of Caroline’s so he decided to cut all his ties with her, including the plan to build the Park named after her in Bootle. Nash’s plans were finally lost when Lord Liverpool ordered to hide them in 1820 just before a trial had begun against Caroline. Even though witnesses came from all over Europe, with over 800 petitions and nearly a million signatures Caroline won the trial due to her popularity. Over 800 that favoured her cause were collected. William Nash, however, had fallen in love with the Indian architecture he had worked on for Carolina Park and adopted it to his Royal Pavilion in Brighton, a bullding that George IV commissioned to spend romantic nights with his lover Lady Fitzherbert.
“I have seen the plans that the terrific architect William Nash has drawn for Carolina Park. Lord Liverpool is eager to realise an imagination of his mother who grew up in the Raj: a Park on two sides of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in the town of Bootle close to Liverpool. On one side of the Canal there will be a forest in which replicas of particular sights in the United Kingdom will be represented: the Abbey at Holywell in Wales with a herb garden, the tea house of Catherine Cranston in Glasgow, the Hampton Court Maze, the imaginary King Arthurs Castle off Tintagel Head in Cornwall and a swan shaped ferry boat that takes you to the Indian side. The Wharf is a large basin surrounded by little houses, an abstraction of Fort William. Directly behind the landing bridge there is an amazing building that reminds me of the greatest architecture in our country, with elaborate columns and wide wings on both sides. Nash imagines here the house of Lord Liverpool’s grandmother in Fort William. Behind it starts a wild Rose Garden with roses of all sorts from all over the world. In the four corners of the garden there are small replicas of the Taj Mahal of Agra, the Qutub Minar of Dehli, the Golden Temple of Amritsar and Christ Church in Shimia. The centre of this beautiful arrangement shall be the Jantar Mantar of Jaipur.”
CAROLINA WHARF AND ST WINIFRED’S Though the park was never fully realised, Lord Liverpool had commissioned some work to be done to the site. The basin on the Indian side was constructed with a little mansion for the warden in the shape of St Winifred’s Well in Holywell. The strange object still remains today on Carolina Wharf and it has very close similarities with the column before Holywell Well. The column was moved from the other side when very much later St Winefried’s School was built here. After Lord Liverpool’s death in 1828 the land in Bootle was passed to his his younger brother Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool. Before Charles died he sold the land in 1849 to British Rail for the construction of the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. After the construction of the viaduct that divides the land from North to South, British Rail sold the 4 shares of land to different owners: West India and East England were sold to the British Ministry of Education to build schools for the fast growing community of Bootle. West England (the smallest share) was sold to the owner of The Wharf pub, who later sold the bigger part to a scrap metal enterprise. East India was sold to a coal vendor, who brought coal from the mines of Wigan and sold them to the industry in the docks. This man was a Spanish immigrant named Manfredo Garcia-Perez. When the sales agent of British Rail told him the story of the land he was about to purchase and what he knew of Carolina Park, Garcia-Perez decided to give his enterprise the name Carolina Coal Company. Amelia Watts 1769 by Sir Joshua
Reynolds
“I have seen the plans that the terrific architect William Nash has drawn for Carolina Park – a park on two sides of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in the town of Bootle close to Liverpool.” RAM MOHAN ROY 1813
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Canal Club The architects Public Works have created a floating “Canal Club” which will be moored at St. Winnie’s School from Thursday 17– Saturday 20 September. The Canal Club will be open each day from 11am – 4pm. The Canal Club is a floating office, production and display space designed to bring the conversation about the canal to the canal itself. The Canal Club is a visitor, to the canal and to the work done by artists, community workers and local organisations so far. In its short life it tries to bring together all the different stories and experiences of the spaces along the canal combined with local knowledge to create scenarios that start to hint towards future regeneration of the canal. Join us for workshops, conversations and drinks.
Dual Module House
Imagine walking down the Canal on a clear day with the water as still and reflective as a mirror, the buildings and houses can be seen in the water but upside-down. It almost seems like there are two worlds, the real world up above the water and the reflected world in the Canal. The illusion is only broken by a few ripples from a breeze or a duck swimming along with his family. Next to Portoallegro at Bank Hall, the Polish artist Maciej Kurak has fixed this illusion by building a house that includes it’s own reflection. Right-way-up and upside-down have become part of the same thing, and once reflected in the water it becomes quite hard to distinguish what is what. If right is part wrong, if good seems impossible, but wrong is not real, if they are the same thing and we turn it around it all gets terribly confusing and we better let go of simple oppositions.
This installation is part of POLSKA! YEAR. POLSKA! YEAR comprises over 200 projects presenting the most interesting achievements of Polish culture to the UK audience. The cultural programme is coordinated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, which is responsible for the promotion of Polish culture abroad. To find out more visit www.PolskaYear.pl
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Taxi Launch Prompts Email
Hi! lt of your own, Whilst I appreciate it may be no fau upside-down taxi I couldn’t help but observe that the kney cab licence. wasn’t displaying an appropriate hac procured one I have therefore this ver y afternoon Department, in g ncin Lice i Tax from Sefton Council’s w holes for ease of tasteful perspex complete with scre in the appropriate fixing. Please collect it and display upside-down taxi. location as soon as possible on the ber is ‘2 DUX’. For your records, the licence num an Borough Council In this instance Sefton Metropolit . is making no charge for this service Tom Clay, Sefton Council
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Rob Sweere’s Silent Sky On Thursday 17 September at 5pm Rob Sweere stages his Silent Sky action at St. Winnie’s School. Rob invites participants to lie on the top of a boat for 30 minutes and have a silent conversation with the sky. If you would like to participate come to St Winnie’s from 3.30pm to find out more. Photographs of Rob’s other actions all over the world will also be on show along Bank Hall; you can view them from the opposite towpath between 16–20 September.
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Wild Wild Flowers
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9 To date Kerry Morrison and botanist Alicia Prowse have recorded142 different wild flowers growing along the Canal, including; rare and protected species – orchids, broomrape and purple rampling-fumitory; edible plants – water mint, potatoes, wild rocket, blackberries, and many more. (Trees are not on their species list but plums, hazelnuts, and elderflower grow in plenitude and Kerry has knocked up several bottles of cordial and lots of jam). Here are the top 21…
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.
Bittersweet Ivy leaf Orchid Gypsywort Balsam Aster Red Campion Funitory Broomrape Vetch Thistle Crane’s Bill Periwinkle Agrimony Willow Herb Clover Catkin Dock Water mint Lavender Budlea
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We’re Lovin’ It! The Sea Cadets have been getting really stuck into boat building this summer. Kenny Griffiths, Commanding Officer of the Sefton Sea Cadets told us ‘they’ve been having such a great time. Previously they had only constructed things like rafts using oil drums but for this project they have been able to work far more ambitiously. There have been a few in particular that have practically spent their whole summer working on the boats’. It’s back to school soon unfortunately but not before the Boat Parade on Saturday 19 September which will have the Sea Cadets featuring in pride of place. Come along and show your support!
Klondyke Kaleidoscope Tuesday 17 November 2.30pm – 4pm have The Klondyke Residents’ Association erve the pres to l eria mat rce sou of collected lots ell. Orr in te history of the William Jones Esta DVD a and k boo e pag They produced an 80 of residents. with over two hours of oral history ood and urh Discover more about the neighbo her furt For s. orie contribute your own mem t visi e plac r you k boo to information and or call Bootle Library at 220 Stanley Road 0151 934 5781.
Mmm... I’m gonna’ try (with a little help from my friends) Our Fab 4 swan pedaloes had an eventful summer. Just six days on the water offering families the chance to explore the Canal at a leisurely pace they took off for a flight of fancy. Yes, they took off from their moorings for an evenings jaunt along the Canal. We think some friends must have wanted to take them into Liverpool for a bit of site seeing. Or, is it that the Newcastle-born swans just wanted to go home? But it’s hard work manoeuvering a
swan pedalo and they got left in Bankhall for us to give them a lift back home. No damage was done, and soon they were ‘grounded’ (a little more firmly) back in Bootle to make sure they only come out to play in the daytime. The swans will return during Urbanism from 16 – 20 September between 12pm – 6pm and for the Boat Parade on 19 September, pedaled by some fantastic young people who enjoyed the canoeing
Still in the boatyard...
The Bade Chairity Boat In February of this year David Bade spent a month in residency at Seaforth, creating an extraordinary series of portraits of local residents. The Bade Chairity Boat takes this project a step further, putting a painting studio on the canal and adding a sculpture studio and a gallery in the process. David invites all artists from the area, professional or amateur to show their colours and contribute to the evolving installation. The Bade Chairity Boat will be on the canal from the 16 – 20 September, welcoming you on board!
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The Sketch and Pedal Ride with
Kerr y in July stayed sunny!
g Sea Watchin mber you can join a
On Saturday 19 Septe event at Crosby. What collective sea watching the beach looking at? n on are those 100 iron me rly winds to bring the ste we g on str for Hope rm, wind and migrating seabirds. Wa must! Meet in the a waterproof clothes are ge Road, Crosby rid mb Ca at rk pa r first ca m 0p 2.3 –1 Coastal Park. 9am join r to look at the stars Or, for those who prefe de sli a for mical Society the Liverpool Astrono star gazing – wrap up me so by ed show follow ar skies! Meet at the warm and hope for cle 7.30pm – 9.30pm Alt Centre, Hightown,
Teahouse in progress
(Floating Mint Teahouse) A teahouse or tea room is a space for drinking tea. This ritual occurs in many cultures but happens in different ways. In Japan the tradition of the tea ceremony takes place in a specially designed teahouse. These spaces are used for meditation, discussion, calligraphy, or simply to talk to friends and drink tea. The Floating Teahouse tea ceremony is a mixture of tea drinking traditions from around the world, the Salon de The’s of the Middle East, the Orient Tea Houses of Tajikstan, the Russian Tea Rooms of New York and the British tea culture of a brew, a cuppa or a tea break.
For our ceremony we selected fresh mint, an essential of Moroccan tea culture known as a Whisky Berber. The mint plants are integrated into the architecture both because it is beautiful and they provide the leaves for the tea made on a small wood-burning stove inside. The Floating Mint Teahouse aims to be selfsufficient, the weather provides both power to the boat (via a solar panel and electric outboard) and grows the raw ingredients for the tea. It is a mobile hand-made self-propelled structure made from reclaimed furniture, drawers, tables, beds and wardrobes collected from houses across Liverpool. Come aboard!
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The Romans considered beetroot
juice an aphrodisiac...
Sean in Morocco’s Moroccan Mint Tea INGREDIENTS Loose green tea Young fresh mint Sugar ed in Moroccan Mint Tea is always serv small glasses. green tea and Add a heaped tablespoon of loose ium-sized med a to ar sug of on espo a heaped tabl a nice Add er. teapot and pour over boiling wat all. ndks-a stal t, big bunch of fresh min r it back in Pour out one glass full and then pou tea brew the s help to the top of the pot – this is a tea the il unt ess proc nicely. Repeat this ur. colo n gree owyell ht nice brig s from Once the tea is ready, pour each glas the tea se cau to s glas the ve abo ugh high eno to foam a little. tea strong Remember – Moroccans like their and very sweet!”
Sefton Produce: The Future ‘Sefton Produce’ is an exciting, creative urban food project concerned with growing and cooking local food in Bootle. Taking an arts and health focus, it has emerged from Squash’s commission by Liverpool Biennial to create a temporary community food garden and kitchen by the canal in Bootle this summer. Squash envisage a 3 year inter-generational project working with residents living through regeneration; amongst temporarily vacant brownfield sites. They will work together to build temporary allotments to produce fresh food for local people. A mobile kitchen pod will provide an inspiring space to make fantastic food, including more pots of Bootle jam and chutney.
From this...
to this...
Working with gardeners, chefs and artists, residents of all ages will be able to explore personal, family and community well-being through getting involved in local food production. Squash will also be sharing the fruits (and veg) of their labour during the Urbanism conference. There will be interactive garden and pantry tours and of course food! Expect to see ploughmans lunch with St Winnie’s grown chutneys, cream teas with lovely ‘Sefton Produce’ jam. There will also be a soup kitchen serving up vegetable soups and salads – sample the freshest green leaves, potatoes and tomatoes. For more information contact Squash on the vegetable phone 07791 155 998 or email squashnutrition@yahoo.co.uk
to this.
RARE PLANT FOUND! Tim Rice – the UK expert on the wild flower species Fumitory has confirmed we have a rare and protected plant growing along the canal verges. The purple ramping-fumitory (Fumaria purpurea) is “nationally scarce, found in only 16 – 100 different 10 x 10 km grid references in GB”. It is classified as “rare” and is one of the 5 plants on the Liverpool B.A.P. (Biodiversity Action Plan) We have found three varieties of fumitory growing – but the purple rampingfumitory, pictured here amongst the wild flowers commonly known as mouse-ear, speedwell, and a nettle, is a glorious find indeed! Who would have thought!
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Portoallegro – Bank Hall Marina
Liverpool’s area of Bank Hall was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. The area has seen the progression from man-powered machines, to steam power, to the fast-paced world of electricity, motorways and high-speed railways all in the last 150 years. Today, the area is no longer such a symbol of innovation. Following the decline of the areas factories in the 1980’s, Bank Hall remains mostly forgotten, waiting to be invited into the new era. Portoallegro is exactly this – a newly imagined Bank Hall Marina, which offers a fascinating taste of industrial heritage, even without a boat! The vision was created by Naples-born artist, Danilo Capasso, who was inspired by three months of research into creating a new identity for the Liverpool canal. Danilo’s aim is to transform a disused tarmac parking lot into a fictional canal port, complete with Post Office, café, wharf garden and boatyard. Visitors can sit and chill out whilst listening to good music, watching a film or simply enjoying the views. Apart from the beautiful architecture that surrounds Portoallegro, the story of the area’s past and heritage will be told through photographs, stories, readings, interviews and a novel. Portoallegro will also be guest to works such as the Dual Module house by Polish artist Maciej Kurak (see page 12) and an experiment to view the sky by Rob Sweere (see page 14).
Portoallegro will be open to the public from 10 – 20 of September. It sits minutes from Bank Hall Station – a short train ride from Moorfields. A variety of canal posters line the pedestrian walkways that lead to Portoallegro. A taxi boat is also available (can be hailed from St Winnies, Merton Street). Portoallegro will host its grand opening party and the final reception of the ‘Happy City’ conference on Friday 18 September from 8pm. It will also be the final stage of the Canal Parade on Saturday 19 September. The Portoallegro design and contents are developed in collaboration with Italian journalist and curator Diana Marrone. If you want to find out more about Danillo’s work in Naples visit www.napoliest.it
Making a port will breathe life into this stretch of the canal. The more people and barges that visit Bank Hall, the faster the area will be restored to the proud site it once was. DANILO CAPASSO
Entrance to Portoallegro is on Syren Street, off Brasenose Road via Bank Hall Street.
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Let the Honey Flow By Kerry Morrison I wrote a list of the flowers bees like, but it’s actually easier to say what they don’t like. They don’t like concrete or stone slabs, lots of mown grass, bark chipping, gravel chippings and mulch or decking (unless – there’s lots of flowers too!). They can’t tolerate insecticides or weed killers.
Diary of a Barge
They love the blossoms of trees, what we like to call ‘weeds’. Pollinating our fruit and veg and any flowers they can clamber onto or into, they love dandelions – an early source of food in the spring. They love clover, supplying sweet nectar from late spring all the way through to late summer. And they love himalayan balsam – one of the best sources of pollen and nectar at the end of the flowering season and a last feast to produce a food stash of honey to take them through the harsh winter months. If Sefton blooms – in gardens, on verges, in parks, on roundabouts, in pots and in planters on pavements and in yards, in baskets and on rooftops, and along the canal – then honey will flow!
Diana Marrone has been inspired by the gloomy romance of canal barges and their forgotten histories to write a poetic novel about a fictional barge called Murillo. The novel will be recorded and available to listen to in one of the containers at Portoallegro. Below is an extract. CANAL DIARY ‘Some know that barges are often given names by their owners. But every Barge has a soul, it transmigrates over time, epoque by epoque, driver by driver, Souls never forget the stories they have witnessed. I have been so many things, from a pirate to a work horse, a luxury cruiser. Would I like to begin another life? Of course but first I have to succeed in leaving this place, here from underneath. Knock, Knock. Please can you open me? I am here under your feet, under the Bank Hall Wharf.’
Our beehives have now been installed up and down the Canal and our beekeepers have been trained to take good care of them. Expect to see some Sefton Honey coming to a shop near you!
Watersports Roll On Water Rollerz...
What a month its been... our drive to get more and more people on the canal has been exciting, exhilarating, hilarious, sometimes with colourful language and exciting collisions... We shouldn’t expect anything less from a vibrant urban environment. Over the August period, 600 young people from the Bootle area have taken part in canoeing activities on the canal. They haven’t gone to West Lancashire or the Albert Dock to do this, but they stayed right here on this great waterway in their own neighbourhood. Novel Heh! The weather has been crap... lets be honest, but young people don’t care about that, and the feedback has been 100% positive. It is clear people love going on the Canal. So lets make the most of it and get them using it more! The Canal Taxi proved an interesting talking point. If you haven’t had a ride make sure you get a go and the Water Rollerz were loved by all (except for the punctures). A special mention should go to the group of young women from YKIDS in the Klondyke who undertook a weeks training in canoeing and kayaking. Certificates were achieved and a great week was had by all. Well done. Great summers activities on OUR stretch of water. Let’s look forward to next year.
B A C K PA G E
Spirits of the Water By Stephen Jubb A body of slow water That bends its way From Pier Head to Leeds, A curving line on the map. Smooth flowing water road Taking barges here and there, Dotted with anglers and families Taking their time on the banks.
The Amphibious Skip buoyancy and a combination of the two could make a useful amphibious vehicle in crisis situations like flooding, natural or man-made disasters. Parry’s skip is cunningly disguised as a skip, the walls are made high with wood, rubble is piled on-top and the pilots are hidden within.
The iconic ubiquitous roadside skip is everywhere. They are a sign of construction or demolition, clearing out rubbish or renovating a house, something to fill up or something to scrounge in – for one man’s rubbish is another man’s gold. They look rather like a tank, but if artist Ben Parry is right they also have excellent
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And, in the present, We can remember all The thousand and thousands Working the everlong days To make their daily bread On the canal of life.
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If you go down to the canal today, And if you listen very hard, You can hear the canal of old Groaning with the weight Of heavy industrial burdens.
Liverpool Biennial and all the Artists would like to thank: Asia Maldachowska, Max Skorwider, Kuba Szreder, Craig Mcchesney, Rotunda College, Vera Boggan at Atlantic Corner Hotel,Pride of Sefton (particularly Barbara Hardwicke), Dave Flynn, John Kelly, Sefton Council HMR team (especially Tom Clay, Lee Payne), Sefton Council Environmental Protection Dept – Kerry Connon and her wonderful team, Local Solutions, Steve Higham, Brian Gates (Morrisons), Seaforth Residents Group, South Seaforth Residents Group, The Expect Centre – The art group and John Furlong, SING, Crosby Housing Association / Maritime Housing especially Mandy Elliott & Claire Lomas, Lorraines Florists – the best in North Liverpool, Merseytravel and Seaforth & Litherland station, Cllr Gordon Friel, Cllr Doreen Kerrigan, LinacreOne (especially Chris Sullivan), Linacre Mission, Riverside Housing, especially Nick Stephenson, St. Leonards Youth Club, Brunswick Youth Club, Plus Dane Housing especially Paula Thompson, Irene Crone, Vikki Finnigan, Bowersdale Park, Alf Draper, Gregory Gurner, Andy Foulds, Sara Smith, Graham Parry, Chris Cameron, Liver Boat Company, Barry’s Skips, Cosmopolitan Housing – Diane Maddocks, Julie McNally, Queens Bedford Residents Advisory Group, Queens Community Centre, Bedford Community Centre, Adactus Housing – Stephanie Roberts, Chris Richardson, YKids, Commodore Bill Cheatham and all at Mersey Motor Boat Club for their enthusiasm, Dave Webster and boat builders, Bulky Bobs, Peter Woolley (and all of the very welcoming history group), Waterways Trust Museum (Ellesmere Port), MerseyTravel, Cycle Solutions and all the individuals that have walked, talked and cycled this summer. DESIGN BY MIKE CARNEY. WWW.MIKESSTUDIO.CO.UK