A "GOLDEN CLUSTER" OF HERITAGE
Our Arts and Crafts awakening meeting went extremely well this evening, 4th March. We learnt from Chris that The Arts & Crafts Trust was now fully incorporated. We have achieved our first objective! We decided to create two sub-groups – the Lettings Group are moving ahead with the Urban Village Hall plan and will be…
Friday (20th Feb) saw around 30 surveying and property management students from Salford University visit the Arts & Crafts Church, led by Simon McLean, Lecturer in Building Surveying. Conservation surveyor Rupert Hilton, who set up the trip, explained to students the repair and conservation issues being tackled, Christine Grime took them on a walking tour…
The Arts and Crafts Awakening project is now working on using the former Long Street School hall as a place for community events and activities – an urban village hall. With Lindsey and Chris from Locality, we are planning to submit a Lottery ‘Awards for All’ scheme to get things off the ground this year…
We had a good Edgar Wood Society committee meeting on Thursday (12th Feb). One of the things we decided was to set up a research group to look at the key historical figures around Edgar Wood and Long Street Methodist Church. Much of what we put together with be incorporated into the planned ‘Romantic Middleton…
There was a happy atmosphere as Arts & Crafts Awakening created a new company called The Arts & Crafts Trust yesterday evening (11th Feb). Seven people signed up as directors, with Christine taking on the role of company Secretary. This feels just the right number and allows a good number to remain as members and…
It was a cold start to the meeting as David forgot to switch on the boiler! However, we soon got going with Lindsey and Chris guiding us through the evening’s training. At one point we took a vote on whether to go for incorporation listed by guarantee – the support was unanimous. We also decided…
We had another double bill yesterday, 15th January, when at 5pm Arts & Crafts Awakening and Locality got together to work through the draft business plan for the Arts & Crafts Church. We and Greater Manchester Building Preservation Trust are presenting it to the Edgar Wood Townscape Heritage Initiative Board on 20th January. Over the…
The Edgar Wood Society is liaising with Ediciones Polígrafa, a prestigious publishing house based in Barcelona specializing in books on Art, Architecture and Design, printed in English and Spanish. Here is their web site. Ediciones Polígrafa are currently working on, The World Atlas of Art Nouveau Architecture, edited by Ivan Bercedo and Jorge Mestre. It will…
Thursday evening could not have gone better for organisers Emma and Nick of the Edgar Wood and Middleton THI team. Not only did forty to fifty people visit the candle-lit church but one of those visitors was Middleton’s MP, Liz McInnes. Liz came to express her support for the THI project and conserving Middleton’s heritage. …
The cotton had gone, the ship canal had gone, the money had gone. In episode 4 Jeannette takes an unexpected turn by delving into the last 50 years of Manchester pop music. From Herman’s Hermits to Joy Division and The Smiths, making music that moved beyond the stereotype of the northern practical man. In the…
Our final Locality workshop, let by Lindsey and Chris, was a lively and good humoured discussion about how best to develop the potential at the Long Street School. Building on the previous two sessions, we agreed a dual approach where some of the buildings, principally the main hall, would be best used for commercial functions…
Jeanette Winterson’s series on Manchester continues with Episode 2 concentrating on the industrial revolution and Episode 3 on the resulting politics. She is particularly good at moving through the big themes of the day, precisely touching the most important issues of the time. Episode 3 mentions the Free Trade Hall, Peterloo massacre, Chartists and establishing…
The second Locality workshop was taken by Zoe Goddard on Thursday 4th December. Eight people came, the same folk as last time, so the team seems to be shaping up. It was an excellent session where we began to ‘get down to business’ regarding what social enterprises are, how they differ from one another and…
The Arts & Crafts Church conservation surveyor, Alan Gardner, recently attended the re-opening of the magnificent All Soul’s Church, now converted to multi-faceted community uses. Alan was responsible for the conservation of this enormous Paley and Austin church. Can you spot him in the team photo? (back row third from right). Another, Arts & Crafts…
Don’t miss this, it’s superb… Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre. Jeanette was born and works in…
“What they know of Middleton, who never heard The Nowster [bell] toll in 1890? The clatter of lock bolt and bars at the last knoll, or the croak of the corncrake in late summer, the larks in the long grass, the cuckoo floating over the Coppice and whippets hunting hares.” Extract from Robert Howarth Hilton…
A unique 17th century map of Lancashire found at John Rylands Library has been placed on display for the first time in 400 years. The Elizabethan hand-drawn document, which shows towns and villages including Diddsbury (Didsbury), Garton (Gorton), and Stopford (Stockport) – provides a fascinating glimpse into centuries past. The map was created by cartographer…
The turn out for yesterday’s talk was amazing, standing room only, the best indoor event so far. Professor Colin Richards of Manchester University, gave an excellent and thorough decription and explanation of Thor Heyerdahl’s famous 1955 expedition to Easter Island. The audience went through stages of admiration for Thor but then the opposite – even deep…
Edgar Wood Society and Greater Manchester Building Preservation Trust are looking into the history of Jubilee Park Fountain and whether it is possible to restore it. The fountain with its staircase and curved ‘exedra’ was donated by Thomas Broadbent Wood in 1906. He was a greatly regarded Middletonian and father of Edgar Wood, who designed…
Arts and Crafts Awakening is being set up as a social enterprise to promote Middleton Heritage, including Edgar Wood, the Parish Church and Long Street Methodist Church and School. This evening we met our advisors for the next few months, Zoe, Lindsey and Chris from Locality, the nationwide network for community-led organisations. We had a…
