intrigued by this bold claim and the opportunity to wander about in the grandeur of the town hall, i went along bright and early to book myself in to one or two of the events, watch some film footage from the north west film archive and simply meander about aimlessly in search of a society or group that might take my fancy...
there are already several superb reviews of the festival and accounts of its many highlights on some of my favourite blogs, so i wont bore you with my own day, rather refer you to richard barrett and the shrieking violet for their interesting and pertinent tales of a day in the company of dave haslem, keith warrender, clare hartwell, sheila rowbotham and jonathan schofield, not to mention engels, the scuttlers, the chartists, suffragettes, cholera and the evening news intrepid carrier pigeons!
if i havent already pointed you in the direction of these two excellent bloggers, then shame on me, they both regularly inform and delight me on their fabulous pages! between them their accounts perfectly capture the sheer chaos and delight of a day choc a bloc with mancunians eager to share their knowledge, research, enthusiasm and insights about the city. besides, as i opted for the walks i missed all of the brilliant talks, not least my all time history hero michael wood, of 'in search of...' fame. trojan war, domeday book, alexander the great, he's done them all. not bad for a boy from salford...
after my walks, castlefield in the morning and architecture in the afternoon, i indulged in the simple pleasure of mooching about the lord mayors parlour and banqueting hall, taking in the many stalls, local groups and history clubs assembled to meet and talk to. here was rare and wonderful chance to get a real flavour of the countless projects currently going on across the city that generally stay under the radar. if you have ever had a question about just about anything really, here all under one roof was probably the answer...personal favourites include victoria baths, ruinous recollections, dig manchester, friends of platt fields, memories of belle vue zoo, and granadaland television, now sadly plain old itv....
on a micro-local note, a special mention should also go to a beautiful project i spotted amongst the displays from various manchester educational departments on chorlton on medlock (my very own brunswick!) by miriad masters student elizabeth kealy-morris called mapping memory which evocatively records
the memories former residents have of Chorlton-on-Medlock before being cleared. These maps directly represent memory maps drawn by participants in this project and articulate the everyday knowledge of life lived in their pre-clearance neighbourhoods. The style is appropriated from travel maps that offer official views of the explored tourist city; my visual strategy has been to elevate former residents' memories to the level of official recorded memory and encourage engagement with their stories.
do check out her website, its fabulous!
in short, like everyone else who attended the histories day or has since written about it, i was initially dismayed at the crowds, queues and general clamour but perhaps this simply reflects a dirth of such cultural open days to enjoy, and is proof if anyone should need it that mancunians are crying out for more to do on a saturday than go to harvey nicks!!
here's to a regular manchester histories festival, not just annual but perhaps monthly. given the jam packed programme, it seems obvious that there's already enough on offer to fill a dozen such evenings or sunday afternoons - imagine the glamour of a monthly bluestocking type salon in the glorious setting of the town hall, dedicated to diverse walks, talks and conversations on all things mancunian.
now thats what i'd call a cultural city...
No comments:
Post a Comment