Life Let's go hyperlocal now and search in the archive for my general area in Sefton Park, Liverpool offering a short history of the review field which is now the home of the festivals and over the Easter weekend, Billy Smart's Circus.
"Item title reads - Liverpool "Terriers" reviewed by RUSHTON, A. LORD MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL And MAJOR GENERAL H. DE PREE. Sefton Park. Merseyside."
"Liverpool: WS. Lord Derby, Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire representing the King takes the salute at the Review Field in Sefton Park WS. Pan across dignitaries and officers saluting. WS. troops marching past. LS. Detachment of the Mersey division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve passing the Lord Mayor with shouldered rifles. MS. The lighting of a beacon on top of Moseley hill. WS. Beacon burning brightly. WS. Beacon burning."
Opens with a policeman's parade.
Showing posts with label sefton park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sefton park. Show all posts
"major subject areas"
Photography In surprising move, Getty Images have made 35 million of their images embeddable on blogs, websites and the like for non-commercial purposes. As a way of testing this new service, here's a selection covering some of this blog's major subject areas. The top one is in Sefton Park.
Keisha seems happy about it all at least.
Keisha seems happy about it all at least.
The Bread Shop.
Geography Every so often the superlocal intrudes on the national and so is the case with the emergence of The Bread Shop on Aigburth Road in Liverpool, walking distance around Sefton Park from us and its advertising which has amused Esther Addley who on Monday said:
"Supermarket Waitrose offers free coffee and newspapers to shoppers, and small retailers complain that the retail giant is squeezing them out of business. Perhaps a new approach is needed. We applaud the example of the small grocery on Aigburth Rd in Liverpool, for instance, which tempts customers with a free coffee when they buy a paper (we approve) and, this being Liverpool, the vow: "We do not sell the Sun". But it's the tantalising promise, on a board outside, of "Crap sweets and rude staff" that surely has the crowds flocking. We try to call, to check rudeness levels reach the desired mark, but when we finally locate a number, it reaches a fax. Refreshing, in this day and age, to get what you are promised."Later in the week she managed to phone back and ....
"Reader Liz Semeonoff gets in touch about our item earlier in the week about The Bread Shop, a small bakery on Aigburth Road in Liverpool, that flogs its wares under the slogan "Crap sweets and rude staff". "It's a fabulous shop which sells a huge range and the staff are great," she says. "The shop owner always has a smile and a hello for customers." We try once again to call and this time reach Alan Gordon, whose grandfather Len and father Frank have been running the shop since 1958, now joined by next door sweet shop (The Sweet Shop) and cafe (The Cafe). Turns out he's not rude at all. "We've always had pretty good banter with the customers," he says. "Not like Tesco where they don't look at you". You can also buy T-shirts and mugs reading "Terrible service and lousy food", while the shop's carrier bags carry the slogan "I've just supported a family business" along with a picture of Gordon's three-year-old daughter Ava and the words, "I'll be the boss one day." Lovely."Yes, indeed, lovely.
Fire. But not the god of hellfire...
That Day The music for tonight's display in Sefton Park was themed around "fire" with Adele's Set Fire to the Rain arguably the most recognisable track.
Jose Feliciano's cover of Light My Fire was in there too, which is eclectic.
But no, no The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Shame.
Anyway, the whole display went off without a hitch, organised by Walk The Plank and Bay TV caught up with them during set up.
Jose Feliciano's cover of Light My Fire was in there too, which is eclectic.
But no, no The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Shame.
Anyway, the whole display went off without a hitch, organised by Walk The Plank and Bay TV caught up with them during set up.
we haven't had one of these
Life Over the years we've had all manner of visitors to Sefton Park. Circuses. World music concerts. Food festivals. Dozens and dozens of athletics events. But in the twenty years since we moved here, we haven't had one of these:
Those dodgems do look tempting. From up here it looks like a photo realistic game of Sim Theme Park. Rain has stopped play for much of the time they've been here but students and families have all drifted through in small numbers. The most prominent soundtrack when one of those thingys is spinning people vertically is Haddaway's What Is Love. The song's lyrics are pleasingly ironic in this context.
Those dodgems do look tempting. From up here it looks like a photo realistic game of Sim Theme Park. Rain has stopped play for much of the time they've been here but students and families have all drifted through in small numbers. The most prominent soundtrack when one of those thingys is spinning people vertically is Haddaway's What Is Love. The song's lyrics are pleasingly ironic in this context.
all kinds of useful things.
TV My only experience of BBC Blast, the corporation's youth broadcasting initiative has been in seeing their megatruck park on the field in Sefton Park in Liverpool for a few days once a year, so when the Strategic Review suggested its closure I didn't pay it much mind, at least not as much mind as 6Music.
Turns out, as Laura Snapes argues, its work is vital, offering a range of community and educational services unavailable within the commercial sector, not least in terms of work placements. As a previous employee she knows full well the positive effect it can have on a young life and says that it's what led to her being in the position she is now:
So Save BBC Blast, yes?
[follow @saveBBCBlast here]
Turns out, as Laura Snapes argues, its work is vital, offering a range of community and educational services unavailable within the commercial sector, not least in terms of work placements. As a previous employee she knows full well the positive effect it can have on a young life and says that it's what led to her being in the position she is now:
"In May 2005 I was appointed BBC Cornwall’s Blast Reporter, which entailed spending the summer running my own section of the BBC Cornwall website. I interviewed bands, jewellery designers and the inventor of the first biodegradable surfboard, took photos of the Eden Sessions and played at being a real journalist for the summer. The same scheme went on in the majority of the BBC’s local newsrooms. With our sections being primarily arts-based and aimed at fellow teenagers, our duty as reporters was to file at least one article and diary entry per week in exchange for rigorous BBC training in internet content management systems, professional recording equipment, and safety procedures."In other words, BBC Blast gives teenagers the chance to properly experience the business of working in the media across an extended period (rather than an odd week's work placement), and even if they don't subsequently go into the media, their life aspirations will at least have been increased, it having been illustrated to them that they have the ability and potential to do all kinds of useful things.
So Save BBC Blast, yes?
[follow @saveBBCBlast here]
Metacrisis?
Liverpool Life Crisis. The yellow wheelie bins have gone.
From the field!
The wire mesh thing remains.
In the field!
Confusion spreads throughout the kingdom.
Metacrisis?
Updated! 16/7/2010 Yellow wheelie bins have returned. They're now lining the pathway near the bowling green. This is becoming strange.
From the field!
The wire mesh thing remains.
In the field!
Confusion spreads throughout the kingdom.
Metacrisis?
Updated! 16/7/2010 Yellow wheelie bins have returned. They're now lining the pathway near the bowling green. This is becoming strange.
end game
Liverpool Life Those yellow wheelie bins which were left in the field at Sefton Park (after but probably not because of my litter dismay) have been moving around a lot in the fortnight since and employed as everything from goal posts to ... no ... mainly goal posts.
When we got home from Costco this afternoon, all but one of them had been knocked over.
At some point in the past hour a wire mesh thingy has been put in the centre of the grass.
Best we can ascertain, it's to keep the wheelie bins in so that they remain upright.
The end game is finally upon us.
But thanks to the council for at least trying to keep the park tidy.
When we got home from Costco this afternoon, all but one of them had been knocked over.
At some point in the past hour a wire mesh thingy has been put in the centre of the grass.
Best we can ascertain, it's to keep the wheelie bins in so that they remain upright.
The end game is finally upon us.
But thanks to the council for at least trying to keep the park tidy.
Igloos.
Liverpool Life Further to my post the other day about the cleanliness of Sefton Park's visitors, the council have delivered about ten yellow wheelie bins which are now dotted about the field ...
... and are generally being used as goal posts. We passed one earlier which has been upturned even though it is full of rubbish.
Meanwhile, on a brighter note, In The Night Garden Live have arrived and erected the staging igloos which we can just about see hidden behind some trees on the far side. Here is a time lapse video of the installation:
Lovely.
... and are generally being used as goal posts. We passed one earlier which has been upturned even though it is full of rubbish.
Meanwhile, on a brighter note, In The Night Garden Live have arrived and erected the staging igloos which we can just about see hidden behind some trees on the far side. Here is a time lapse video of the installation:
Lovely.
sounding like a bore.
Life Some of you may remember that I live on the edge of Sefton Park in Liverpool which means that I enjoy the best of both worlds, city living and wide open spaces.
Despite being in a flat, I’m still able to joke about having a garden, even if that garden is about ten acres. We pay host to all kinds of events; last week the Africa Oye festival filled the atmosphere, we enjoy food festivals and circuses and we’re soon to give the In The Night Garden tour somewhere to plonk their igloo.
As a municipal park, it also offers a haven to passing trade, a perfect sun trap for everyone else in the area and beyond. It’s what it’s there for.
What I hadn’t realised is the lack of respect many of these people have for the place.
Walking across the parade field area this lunchtime I found myself stepping onto the cumulative remains of an hour in the sun here, an evening out there. The ground is strewn with cigarette butts and beer cans, coat-hangers and plastic forks.
There are small oblong areas of charred grass where a barbecue has been, and indeed in some places, the actual disposable barbecue, presumably too hot to handle, which will take weeks to grow back if at all. Bits of paper. There are bins, and the bins fill up quickly, especially in hot weather.
At the risk of sounding like a bore, none of these visitors have thought to simply bag their detritus and take it home even though they often have cars with boots, the spaces that brought the mayhem in the first place.
The attitude is that it’s someone else’s problem, presumably the council’s, little understanding the process required to pick the litter from an acre or two, the man hours that they’re paying for, assuming they think at all.
Most of them probably aren't aware that park also recently been through an expensive renovation project which included the repair of the fields.
I was always brought up to put my litter in the bin, even now carrying empty bottles around in my bag for hours, perhaps even all the way home. Even if they were too, they seem to have forgotten.
It’s the heat making me ratty, I suppose, but I simply can’t understand the mentality.
I was asked up front the other day why I’ve become so cynical and amongst the panoply of reasons, this kind of tiny ignorance must be in there somewhere.
I know this sounds like the kind of letter sent to the Daily Mail or column written for them "professionally", of the kind I’d usually laugh at, that include phrases like "I simply can’t understand the mentality".
I also know that almost all of these litterers will be nice people.
I’m just asking for them to be just a little bit nicerer, just so that when I do want to go to the park myself to read a book, I’m able to find a patch of grass to stretch out without staining my trousers with charcoal.
Despite being in a flat, I’m still able to joke about having a garden, even if that garden is about ten acres. We pay host to all kinds of events; last week the Africa Oye festival filled the atmosphere, we enjoy food festivals and circuses and we’re soon to give the In The Night Garden tour somewhere to plonk their igloo.
As a municipal park, it also offers a haven to passing trade, a perfect sun trap for everyone else in the area and beyond. It’s what it’s there for.
What I hadn’t realised is the lack of respect many of these people have for the place.
Walking across the parade field area this lunchtime I found myself stepping onto the cumulative remains of an hour in the sun here, an evening out there. The ground is strewn with cigarette butts and beer cans, coat-hangers and plastic forks.
There are small oblong areas of charred grass where a barbecue has been, and indeed in some places, the actual disposable barbecue, presumably too hot to handle, which will take weeks to grow back if at all. Bits of paper. There are bins, and the bins fill up quickly, especially in hot weather.
At the risk of sounding like a bore, none of these visitors have thought to simply bag their detritus and take it home even though they often have cars with boots, the spaces that brought the mayhem in the first place.
The attitude is that it’s someone else’s problem, presumably the council’s, little understanding the process required to pick the litter from an acre or two, the man hours that they’re paying for, assuming they think at all.
Most of them probably aren't aware that park also recently been through an expensive renovation project which included the repair of the fields.
I was always brought up to put my litter in the bin, even now carrying empty bottles around in my bag for hours, perhaps even all the way home. Even if they were too, they seem to have forgotten.
It’s the heat making me ratty, I suppose, but I simply can’t understand the mentality.
I was asked up front the other day why I’ve become so cynical and amongst the panoply of reasons, this kind of tiny ignorance must be in there somewhere.
I know this sounds like the kind of letter sent to the Daily Mail or column written for them "professionally", of the kind I’d usually laugh at, that include phrases like "I simply can’t understand the mentality".
I also know that almost all of these litterers will be nice people.
I’m just asking for them to be just a little bit nicerer, just so that when I do want to go to the park myself to read a book, I’m able to find a patch of grass to stretch out without staining my trousers with charcoal.
a mysterious blue light
TV On the 10th February this year a mysterious blue light appeared amongst the trees in Sefton Park:
It hovered there for nearly an hour before I decided to go and investigate, stepping out into the park from the safety of my home. As I drew closer, my heart pumping because after watching seven seasons of The X-Files (before it became convoluted and rubbish) I knew a blue light could mean only one thing. My hands were shaking:
My eyes blurry (!):
By then (obviously) I could tell that the blue light was fixed to the top of a crane overlooking a garden. Further round I could see some catering vans, a make-up and costume truck and a pile of equipment. It was one of the film crews we regularly see around the park taking advantage of our fabulous period architecture. There was a lighting engineer. I asked him what they were filming. "Some kind of spooky adventure for kids" was all he would tell me. I didn't press him further -- wasn't really any of my business.
Turns out they were filming a new BBC Two series called The Well, the headline being that it features new Doctor Who girl Karen Gillan. I was within papping distance of the new companion and didn't even know it. Enquiries about the photographs featured here, the only three photographs I took, should be directed to the email address at the top of the blog. Etc.
It hovered there for nearly an hour before I decided to go and investigate, stepping out into the park from the safety of my home. As I drew closer, my heart pumping because after watching seven seasons of The X-Files (before it became convoluted and rubbish) I knew a blue light could mean only one thing. My hands were shaking:
My eyes blurry (!):
By then (obviously) I could tell that the blue light was fixed to the top of a crane overlooking a garden. Further round I could see some catering vans, a make-up and costume truck and a pile of equipment. It was one of the film crews we regularly see around the park taking advantage of our fabulous period architecture. There was a lighting engineer. I asked him what they were filming. "Some kind of spooky adventure for kids" was all he would tell me. I didn't press him further -- wasn't really any of my business.
Turns out they were filming a new BBC Two series called The Well, the headline being that it features new Doctor Who girl Karen Gillan. I was within papping distance of the new companion and didn't even know it. Enquiries about the photographs featured here, the only three photographs I took, should be directed to the email address at the top of the blog. Etc.
Cricket in the Park
Well, there is something you don't see every day. A ruddy great video screen in your back garden. It's part of a two day event in Sefton Park with the Ashes being made available free to anyone who wants to come and watch. Couldn't they leave it up for a few more days and show some films?
Easter Circus
The Moscow State Circus arrived in the park yesterday morning.
This morning they've begun to put the tent up.
It will probably take most of the day.
Is that the same red car?
it's more complicated than that
Life Realising I was missing quite a nice day, I decided I needed to get out, to see something, somewhere with fresh air. So I've been to visit 'Eros' now that he's returned to Sefton Park. If you're a Londoner, and this looks familiar that's because it's a replica of the statue that stands as part of the Shaftesbury Memorial in Piccadilly Circus, though for years I was under the impression that this happened the other way around. But since that was erected in 1893 and this turned up in 1932, I've been reminded that you shouldn't believe everything you hear.
Actually, it's more complicated than that. The reason I've put its 'name' in inverted commas, is because I've discovered that shockingly (having looked things up on the internet) this isn't a representation of Eros, god of love at all but his brother Anteros, his appearance symbolising Lord Shaftesbury's love for the poor, and has nothing to do with romance, which should be a disappointment to the lovers that have met both here and at the Circus over the decades hoping for it to pass on some good will. That's two misconceptions set straight today. Not bad.
Also, what's been placed in the park this week is a replica of a replica. 'Our' original was removed in the late nineties and taken to the Conservation Centre in Liverpool for restoration because of weather damage and vandalism and now heralds the entrance to the (now inaccurately named it seems) Eros Cafe at the centre. This version is an excellent substitute, its shiny surface gleaming in the sun. Once it's been dulled by age and rain and gained a more familiar patina, it'll eventually be difficult to tell the difference.
The fountain on which it sits isn't quite repaired yet, so the whole memorial is still ringed by block-a-mesh and still looks a bit like a building site. But once the water's running again it should be amazing. Even so it was drawing a crowd (mostly sitting on the patio of the nearby cafe), and I heard a many positive comments and memories, like the woman who remembered 'running around it as a teenager'. Here's a video report from the Liverpool Echo about it being placed and the work involved:
tasted like oily chicken
Liverpool Life I’ve just spent the morning and lunchtime at the launch of the Liverpool's Food & Drink Festival '08 which as you can see is at Sefton Park and within walking distance of home. Most of the main restaurants and café’s are represented with free samples galore. Diet out of the window, I proved definitively that there is such a thing as a free lunch, with lamb and beef burgers, pizza, cake, pan au chocolate, strawberries and cream all passing my lips, washed down with Fijian water which according the short lecture I was given by the stall holder is the cleanest in the world, untouched by human hand from aquifer to bottle.
I’m no Chez Pim, but there wasn’t anything too objectionable except perhaps for the stewed goat which tasted like oily chicken and had the consistency of lamb shank. It’s a wonder I haven’t got indigestion. Of course the problem with actually living above something like this, is that even when you’ve trotted away for the sake of your own health, it’s still temptingly within your own eyeline. Dare I risk returning later? Perhaps I'll just curl up with my goody bag, all Jacobs crackers and Green and Blacks chocolate topped off with green tea. Yum.
I tend to be the quiet one.
Soderbergh In The Park To Stage Production Of 'Ocean's Twelve'
I think this is probably even funnier if you really do, like me, thing Ocean's Twelve is a work of experimental genius.
Extroverts, please speak up!
This seems to work for me on a case by case basis -- in some cases I can be very open and hello and how are you total stranger, but at other times, often if there I sense that everyone knows everyone else, I tend to be the quiet one. Museum private views are a nemesis. House parties are better.
Watchmen DVD May Be Even Longer Than 3 Hours
It's a Lord of the Rings style double dip.
Manchester and Liverpool: A different dimension
Simon Calder traverses the canal. Spends an entire paragraph extolling the virtues of Sefton Park, and he's right, it does look like an ear, even from where I'm sitting.
Countdown Launches Search for new Arithmetician
Seems as though they want to nurture another mathematician -- apparently they originally found Carol through a newpaper job add so they're trying the web equivalent. Application forms asks potential number pickers to describe why they they'll be the best person for the job in less than fifty words. If they google for an answer (it happens) they'll no doubt find this. Yes, that'll probably do it.
Bookstores in Tokyo
The Olympics with MST3k
For Neil. Not a spoof either judging by the comments.
Blonska thrown out of long jump
Old news just twenty-four hours later (the relays!), but I still love Kelly's attitude which is basically 'I told you so, nyer-nyer-nyer.'
Mobile phones go all superspy in Spooks Code 9
I can just about rationalise that after that kind of attack even the security services would be using whatever technology they can get their hands on, except the production team clearly want us to think that its all hi-tech (so therefore dated within five minutes).
Interview: Blockbuster CEO: Skeptics Aside, Confident Of Physical’s Digital Future
Or Blockbuster CEO: can't understand why people would want to watch old movies, and spends most of the interview demonstrating why Blockbuster are losing traction against Netflix in the US and Lovefilm in the UK. It's sad. He uses phrases like 'the long tail' but doesn't really seem to know what they mean and misunderstands the fact that these days it's so expensive to rent a film for a single night in his stores/shops that people are just going out and buying the things instead or happy to have the random alternative.
3, 2, 1 ... blogs relaunch!
Announcing some exciting changes to blogs and commenting
The Guardian reworks its blogging platform and finally updates its RSS feeds so that everything goes through the same pipe -- no need to subscribe to two or three different feeds for the same writer and looking stalkerish in the process.
Meet Leland Chee, the Star Wars Franchise Continuity Cop
Following on from my rant of the other day, here's an interview with the very man. His reaction to the question about Alan Dean Foster's novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (written before the Endor Holocaust and in which Luke and Leia become very, very good friends) is priceless. I came away with the impression that actually it's not a useless job and that its a good thing that Lucasfilm at least pays some attention to this stuff even if there'll always be the spoddy uberfan who'll find something to complain about. 'But it's been established that the X-23b Land Fighter has four guns, yet in the new novel Engagement on Loobo Shopa (that title's copywrite me) it's described as having two. Fail.' etc.
LJ Kruzer > Since I Took A Taxi
Strange, dancie, techno but soothing. Thanks Robin.
No consumer advice is available for this work
Though I've not entirely forgiven the BBFC for giving The Dark Knight a 12A rating (really? the knives? the bit with the pencil?) this report page for a classification confirmation of Robert Altman's The Player placates me a little bit for the satirical usage of the words "The cast for this work includes" before going on to list what looks like every cameo...
I think this is probably even funnier if you really do, like me, thing Ocean's Twelve is a work of experimental genius.
Extroverts, please speak up!
This seems to work for me on a case by case basis -- in some cases I can be very open and hello and how are you total stranger, but at other times, often if there I sense that everyone knows everyone else, I tend to be the quiet one. Museum private views are a nemesis. House parties are better.
Watchmen DVD May Be Even Longer Than 3 Hours
It's a Lord of the Rings style double dip.
Manchester and Liverpool: A different dimension
Simon Calder traverses the canal. Spends an entire paragraph extolling the virtues of Sefton Park, and he's right, it does look like an ear, even from where I'm sitting.
Countdown Launches Search for new Arithmetician
Seems as though they want to nurture another mathematician -- apparently they originally found Carol through a newpaper job add so they're trying the web equivalent. Application forms asks potential number pickers to describe why they they'll be the best person for the job in less than fifty words. If they google for an answer (it happens) they'll no doubt find this. Yes, that'll probably do it.
Bookstores in Tokyo
The Olympics with MST3k
For Neil. Not a spoof either judging by the comments.
Blonska thrown out of long jump
Old news just twenty-four hours later (the relays!), but I still love Kelly's attitude which is basically 'I told you so, nyer-nyer-nyer.'
Mobile phones go all superspy in Spooks Code 9
I can just about rationalise that after that kind of attack even the security services would be using whatever technology they can get their hands on, except the production team clearly want us to think that its all hi-tech (so therefore dated within five minutes).
Interview: Blockbuster CEO: Skeptics Aside, Confident Of Physical’s Digital Future
Or Blockbuster CEO: can't understand why people would want to watch old movies, and spends most of the interview demonstrating why Blockbuster are losing traction against Netflix in the US and Lovefilm in the UK. It's sad. He uses phrases like 'the long tail' but doesn't really seem to know what they mean and misunderstands the fact that these days it's so expensive to rent a film for a single night in his stores/shops that people are just going out and buying the things instead or happy to have the random alternative.
3, 2, 1 ... blogs relaunch!
Announcing some exciting changes to blogs and commenting
The Guardian reworks its blogging platform and finally updates its RSS feeds so that everything goes through the same pipe -- no need to subscribe to two or three different feeds for the same writer and looking stalkerish in the process.
Meet Leland Chee, the Star Wars Franchise Continuity Cop
Following on from my rant of the other day, here's an interview with the very man. His reaction to the question about Alan Dean Foster's novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (written before the Endor Holocaust and in which Luke and Leia become very, very good friends) is priceless. I came away with the impression that actually it's not a useless job and that its a good thing that Lucasfilm at least pays some attention to this stuff even if there'll always be the spoddy uberfan who'll find something to complain about. 'But it's been established that the X-23b Land Fighter has four guns, yet in the new novel Engagement on Loobo Shopa (that title's copywrite me) it's described as having two. Fail.' etc.
LJ Kruzer > Since I Took A Taxi
Strange, dancie, techno but soothing. Thanks Robin.
No consumer advice is available for this work
Though I've not entirely forgiven the BBFC for giving The Dark Knight a 12A rating (really? the knives? the bit with the pencil?) this report page for a classification confirmation of Robert Altman's The Player placates me a little bit for the satirical usage of the words "The cast for this work includes" before going on to list what looks like every cameo...
Liverpool Life National Museums Liverpool are recreating some of the bronze reliefs that are missing in Sefton Park: "The project to produce the clay master models that will be used to cast the bronze relief panels that will reconstruct the memorials to William Rathbone and the right honourable Samuel Smith is now well under way. As seen in the first pictures in the Flickr slideshow the wood supports were fixed into place to support the clay and create a rough shape. The clay has been applied and then the design was sketched out in the clay before building out the 3D contours. More wood and metal armatures have been added to support parts of the relief which are almost free standing, such as some of the arms, legs and the occasional head."
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