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Tuesday 11 August 2015

30,000 Reasons to visit Liverpool in August

For 11 months of the year the amazing tiled floor in Liverpool’s St. George’s Hall is covered up.

A removable floor is used to protect the tiles from damage and wear whilst allowing dancing and other events in the vast Great Hall. It always proves hugely popular with visitors when, every August, the covering is removed.

The stunning mosaic which is revealed consists of over 30,000 tiles. They were hand crafted at the famous Minton factory in Stoke-on-Trent. The mosaic was designed by architect Sir Charles Cockerell - as were most of the Hall’s spectacular interiors.

This year, for the first time since St. George’s Hall was reopened in 2007 following the lengthy £23 million restoration, there were opportunities for visitors to walk on the fabulous Minton tiles.

At its reopening, Prince Charles described the Hall as the finest neo-classical building in Europe. It should certainly be on every Liverpool visitor’s ‘must see’ list. There is plenty to admire apart from the Great Hall mosaic but an August visit would prove especially rewarding.

inside the Great Hall (also known as the Concert Hall)

the Royal Arms



Liverpool's city coat of arms
the world famous Liver bird - the symbol of the city of Liverpool
classical figures surround the various crests
stunning design and detail in Minton
the south entrance at night
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Hall,_Liverpool
http://liverpoolcityhalls.co.uk/st-georges-hall

Thursday 4 June 2015

Lennon Revealed

I went to Litherland (North Liverpool) yesterday to photograph the Beatles mural. It's a 45 minute trip up the motorway for me so I was disappointed to see that the weeds on the grassed area in front of the 'With the Beatles' portraits were obscuring John Lennon's eyes. I parked up and went to investigate. I didn't have any gardening gear so I decided to tear out what weeds I could with  my bare hands, rather than waste the trip. The passers by (it's very near a supermarket) would doubtless have found my performance entertaining.
The whole mural is amazing but it needs to be better looked after (besides the weeds and the rubbish, some of the paintwork has flaked off and there is a paint splash on Stu Sutcliffe's guitar (it's great that the original guitarist and Pete Best, the drummer before Ringo, are included too).
I will see if I can interest the artists who created the mural in giving it a small amount of restoration. I will happily help if they need it - this is a piece of public art that deserves a spot of TLC.

the Litherland Beatles mural
John (from the Hamburg days)



Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best

the 'With the Beatles' album cover portraits

Lennon before I weeded him!

Rory Storm and Joe Brown topping these bills ahead of The Beatles

here are 2 videos which describe the origins of the project and show it being created
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3kAXzBkSAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdKE5LRpF84