Community Post Type: News

Best-selling author & award-winning screenwriter, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, has launched his first reading report as Waterstones Children’s Laureate – it’s a milestone moment in Frank’s ‘angry and political’ tenure as the most prestigious role in children’s books.

The report shares an urgent roadmap to turn children’s reading from ‘an invisible privilege to a universal right’ – as well as a stark warning from Frank about the consequences of continuing to neglect addressing the ‘indefensible’ reading inequality in the UK.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2024–2026, said:

“Britain is not an equal society. 4.3 million children are growing up in poverty. When I was named Waterstones Children’s Laureate, I knew I wanted to use my position to campaign for these children, the ones that are being left behind.

I started the ‘Reading Rights’ campaign to highlight this indefensible inequality, but also to say that we can do something about it. We have an astonishingly powerful tool in our hands – shared reading. If you’ve been read to,  as a child, by someone who cares about you, you have been given an enormous invisible privilege. If you haven’t been given that privilege, then you’ve been left with an enormous mountain to climb.

During my travels as Waterstones Children’s Laureate I’ve encountered brilliant people and ideas who are already making a difference. We just need to make sure that every child gets a chance to experience that difference. To turn that invisible privilege into a universal right.

This report contains a stark warning. If we vacate that space – where child and story meet,  where human love slows the world down and makes it a bit more navigable – we will hand it to something that is not human, that will not slow down, that does not love us. We will be ceding the territory of clam and connection to confusion, anxiety and fury. The mission is urgent. Childhood is fleeting. But the mission is also achievable. And it is full of joy.

I’m asking for government support on a local and national level to make sure this simple, vital experience is available to all. To help us remember who we really are – the storytelling species.”

Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Reading Rights Summit report from January 2025 can be read here.

A new stage show which celebrates the life and music of John Lennon is set to take Merseyside by storm next week when it plays three key venues as part of its inaugural UK tour.

Something About Lennon – The John Lennon Story will entertain audiences in St Helens, Southport and New Brighton.

The show, from Something About Productions, comes to St Helens Theatre Royal on Tuesday 27 May before moving on to the waterfront Floral Pavilion at New Brighton on Wednesday 28 May and then The Atkinson in Southport on Saturday 31 May (two performances).

And as an extra treat, Lennon fans are being invited to drop in to the Fab4 Café at the Beatles Story this Saturday 24 May to experience a FREE intimate preview show.

West End performer and musician Daniel Taylor will perform several iconic Lennon numbers during the event which will also feature Something About Lennon writer and co-producer Jon Fellowes.

It takes place at the Royal Albert Dock attraction at 1.30pm.

Meanwhile the 26-date tour ends at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre on Sunday 6 July, and today it can be announced that an extra matinee performance has been added to the date due to demand.

The Epstein will also host a closing party for the tour in the theatre’s newly refurbished bar following the evening performance on 6 July, with special entertainment promised.

West End performer and musician Daniel Taylor fronts the production’s band of five and tells the fascinating story of Lennon along with performing his best-known, best-loved hits. The band are Joe Smithson (MD, Guitar and Vocals), Callum Macmillan (Percussion/Drums), Jesse Eigen (Base Guitar and Vocals) and James Breckon (Keyboard and Vocals).

Weaving together songs and stories, Something About Lennon is not a tribute show as we know it, but rather one musician authentically telling the tale and honouring the music of another in a story that will reveal a life that wasn’t always filled with peace and love.

A tale of controversy, genius, politics and protest, Something About Lennon charts John’s life from the breakup of the Beatles at the end of the 1960s to his shocking murder in New York in December 1980 and features an irresistible soundtrack of incredible songs including Woman, Instant Karma and Imagine – although of course the story wouldn’t be complete without a few of those Fab Four classics along the way too.

Something About Lennon is brought to audiences by producers Bill Elms, Jon Fellowes and Gary Edward Jones of Something About Productions.

THE ATKINSON

Lord Street, Southport, PR8 1DB

31 May 2025 – 2.30pm & 7.30pm

www.theatkinson.co.uk

A joint exhibition by talented local artistic sister and brother, Carole & Martin Dawber will open at The ArtHouse in Southport at the end of May, with a display including stitch, collage and ceramics, each reflecting their individual perspectives on contemporary arts and crafts.

Now living in Birkdale, both are graduates of the celebrated Liverpool Art School (now Liverpool John Moores University) from the 1970’s – a time when former student, John Lennon’s initials were still in evidence carved into the Lecture Theatre desks.

Carole describes her time at Liverpool as ‘magical’.

“All I did all day was draw and paint, work with fabric, design clothes and be pioneering by taking risks and having fun. The most inspiring artists, tutors and musicians surrounded me. It was awesome. There were no limits to imagination.  I met such amazing people, all of whom just loved creativity for the idea of invention.”

Education was also key to pointing Martin towards the right path.

“I owe where I am today to my six formative years in art education.  It subsequently spring boarded me all over the world and I would always urge anyone to stick to their dreams and do the same.”

During the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, Carole’s research into fabric dying from natural sources, while still a student at college, earned her the accolade of being awarded a lifetime Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts.  Carole’s final garment collection at Liverpool was subsequently put on display in London at the Dickens and Jones store in Regent Street and was applauded by fashion editor, Prudence Glynn, in a TIMES’ editorial.  However, she confesses that her lasting memory will always be selling knitwear samples at the ‘INDIGO’ trade fair in Paris to none other than the Yves Saint Laurent Couture studio.  “I loved every minute of it!”

Attention to colour has always played a vital role in Carole’s design ethic.

“I love the alchemy of colouring cloth through dye. Even before undertaking my journey through Art School I learned to stencil and print images on my own clothes.  Using my mum’s twin tub washing machine (causing a myriad of tints in the weekly white washing load!) I experimented with very rudimentary tie-dye techniques.  The Aladdin’s cave that the Dye Lab opened up at the Art School was just further encouragement in my need to colourise fabrics for my art practice. The training I received in mixing commercial dyes, and extracting and experimenting with natural dye stuffs, has lead to a life long passion of transforming yarn and fabric into jewel-like colours.”

As a freelance fabric designer during the 80’s, Carole regularly exhibited at trade fairs in Europe.  “Dying my own yarns rekindled my love for the inner glow that Acid Dyes brings to wool and silk fibres. The luminosity in the shades of colour that emerges within the fibres is so intense that it often takes my breath away. Often in a week of dying I would become addicted to what would emerge from the next dye test.  It was at this point that I finally let go of the rulebook and allowed instinct and, perhaps experience, take over.”

Carole has now thrown off the commercial demands of industry and believes she has discovered her ‘own’ artistic voice that allows her to unrestrictedly articulate her personal concepts and ideas.

“Composition and content have been a struggle because design training focuses on pattern, rhythm and repeat rather than allowing a single unified image the indulgence of its own space. In developing ideas I usually work within linking themes.  Often they overlap, or emerge from previous stimuli, that I have exploited throughout my creative journey.”

For her exhibited stitch pieces on display at The ArtHouse Carole advises:

“My starting point as always has to be revisiting my previous painting and collage research. My go to style of work when painting is always that of abstraction to convey feeling and mood more than reality. The trigger also must involve assessing earlier artwork and finding elements that can be developed further and accomplished in new ways. For reference, although I rely on previous sketchbooks, colour experiments and computer ideas, by not slavishly following them I’m letting the fabrics dictate their own form in loose landscape constructs so that the viewer can find their own story.”

She further explains: “My process for this recent series of work has been to create a palette of newly invented silk cloth, felted using a dry felting embellisher, that turns some of my vast range of dyed silk via fusing and felting into fabric sheets. I then employed these as fabric collages to shape the fractured Vorticism influenced landscapes. Using this technique helps drive and inform the dynamism of these freshly abstracted landscapes. The quick mark making achievable with paint I am able to translate through free machine stitch to create a distressed stitched line that generates less surface visibility by being buried in the construction of the pre-fabric. This allows me to ‘draw’ the rhythm of the composition but only hint at what ‘could be’ in the landscape for the viewer.”

Martin, best known as the international author of over 10 books including the BIG BOOK series (www.amazon.co.uk/martin-dawber) that he describes as ‘a type of Yellow Pages of inspiration for artists and practitioners”, also says he owes a lot to his initial training.

“Opting for art at the Grammar School in Wigan was a not viewed as a serious career pathway, and it was only when I went on to Liverpool Art School and subsequently to The Royal College of Art in London, that I felt that I was in any way being taken seriously. My years in art education pointed me in the right direction.  It never ceases to amaze me what a trigger that proved to be.”

Entering the world of ‘art’ from a sheltered and traditional academic background threw a lot of unpredictable surprises his way.

“The shock of being offered a drink of tea in a glass jam jar at my Art Foundation interview in Liverpool through to drinking a different beverage five years later with the likes of David Hockney at the RCA in Kensington Gore are memories that I will always hold dear.”

Although now ‘officially’ retired, Martin has no signs of letting up from his heater-skelter existence that has seen him conveying his skill across the world, from exhibitions across Europe to academic work at institutions in Istanbul and Singapore.

Currently, he has swapped his pen and paper for the modeling tools and wet clay on offer at Southport Contemporary Arts ClayWorks workshops which he attends weekly and where has generated the decorative bowls and vases that will be on display.

“Although I don’t possess any traditional training in ceramics (throwing on the wheel, etc) I enjoy the tactile and almost therapeutic value of working with your hands in wet clay.  My hand-crafted bowls and vases, featuring contemporary patterning and glazing, could equally be well employed as wine-coolers and for housing fresh fruit or cut flowers”.

From Both Sides Now will be on display 27^th May – 14^th June 2025 at The ArtHouse, 65 Eastbank Street, Tues thro Fri 10.00 – 15.00 and Sat 11.00 – 16.00.

May Half Term Arts & Crafts at Liverpool Cathedral 🎨

Join Liverpool Cathedral for free family-friendly craft sessions this 27 & 28 May, led by their brilliant Education Team!

⏰ 45-minute sessions at 11am, 1pm & 2pm
🎟️ FREE entry – just pre-book your space
🧒 Ideal for children of all ages
⛪ Explore our incredible building while you’re here!

Spaces are limited, so don’t miss out!
👉 Book now here.

The subject of firesetting is to be explored for the first time for audiences in a gallery space, as part of a photography exhibition opening in Liverpool in September.

Firehawks opens from 26 September to 16 November 2025 at Open Eye Gallery, one of the UK’s leading photography galleries. Photographer Stephen King’s exhibition will feature approximately 20 photographs, aiming to bring about an understanding of firesetting and the complexities of trauma associated with this destructive behaviour.

The exhibition is the culmination of years of work for Stephen, who himself has a lived experience of firesetting in his younger years. Beginning as an Arts Council-funded research project in 2021, Stephen and the exhibition’s producer Angharad Williams, have worked closely with Open Eye Gallery’s social practice team and leading specialist in the field of child firesetting, Joanna Foster, to develop a larger scale project, looking at firesetting, its triggers, impacts and personal stories of those affected.

Most recently, this has involved Stephen undertaking four short residencies with London Fire Brigade, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Merseyside Probation Service as well as numerous conversations and workshops with individuals, to develop an exhibition of work that will veer away from the documentary style that one might expect. Filmic and dreamlike in quality, the images won’t depict individuals’ stories but will be an amalgamation of different people’s experiences, told through a creative visual language, allowing audiences to connect with the issue of firesetting in a metaphorical way.

Stephen said: “From a deeply personal point, I have reflected upon early experiences with firesetting and the often-criminal framing surrounding it. This exhibition specifically explores the complex psychology of child trauma and its connection to firesetting, offering an overview of the evolutionary aspects of this behaviour. The work attempts to examine the broader relationship between children and fire, shedding light on the intricate psychological processes that shape our understanding of this primal connection, and why they are drawn to this element during a traumatic experience.

“Carrying out residencies with a number of teams from fire services across the UK, including shadowing front line engagement with young people with firesetting behaviour, individuals with lived-experience and professionals who work within the sector such as psychiatrists, researchers and academics, I have been struck even further by the need to tell their collective story. The language of photography has the ability to bridge barriers and destigmatise what is an incredibly sensitive subject, and the culmination of this project will hopefully bring a positive platform to those who are working through their trauma, those who have overcome it, and show audiences that the work of frontline services goes much further than ‘putting out fires’.”

Elizabeth Wewiora, head of social practice at Open Eye Gallery said: “It is so exciting to see the ‘Firehawks’ project become a reality this year within our galleries, as we’ve been discussing the project with Stephen for more than five years. Like most good, socially engaged projects however, this shouldn’t seem a surprise, as working collaboratively with communities to shape and visualise stories which are important to them takes time. And ‘Firehawks’ is a very particular story, which needs to be explored with care and sensitivity; something we hold real value in at Open Eye Gallery.

“Stephen’s approach considers the anonymity of all involved whilst still opening up a visual conversation for our audiences as it explores why people can be drawn to fire during traumatic experiences in their lives, and moreover how wider society and our frontline services respond and deal with this. Stephen’s photographic work leans into the metaphorical and surreal which is also a welcome alternative approach to socially engaged photographic imagery, which can tend to sit more within a documentary style. We can’t wait to see the work come together in the gallery this September.”

The root of the exhibition’s title links to the phenomenon of the Firehawk, an Australian bird that creates bushfires by dropping already burning sticks in an attempt to direct prey fleeing an original blaze. They actively transform their landscapes to ensure their nourishment in times of drought and trauma. The Firehawk bird has never been digitally captured, and most accounts are from first nation experts in Australia. As well as exploring the psychological triggers of firesetting, Stephen’s exhibition will explore the correlation of the act of the Firehawk bird with children and adults who set fires in the UK.

Reflecting on the project to date, Joanna Foster, author of ‘Children and Teenagers Who Set Fires: Why they do it and how to help’ commented: “I was very cautious when first approached to collaborate on this project; a man named Stephen King contacting me via my website with an intent to produce photographs about firesetting behaviour conjured up all sorts of macabre images in my mind. Happily, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Stephen has approached the subject with a curiosity and empathy that is allowing this often deeply misunderstood and very hidden behaviour to be brought into the light in a compassionate, creative and much-needed way”.

Development of the works for the exhibition will continue over the coming months following the residencies for the project and will be supported by a public progamme of events and in-person learning opportunities during the seven weeks of display at Open Eye Gallery.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

This Ean Flanders photographic exhibition at the Everyman Theatre is part of a wider exhibition and pays tribute to outstanding creatives, artists and activists of African and Caribbean heritage in Liverpool.

People from the African and Caribbean communities have shaped Liverpool since its early origins and have formed the UK’s oldest and longest established Black communities going back generations to the 1730s.

Plan your visit: https://everymanplayhouse.com/visit/

Africa Oye present two classic bands at two Merseyside fundraising shows in June ’25

Orchestra Baobab
Sunday 15th June 2025, Doors 7pm / Concert 7:30pm
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

“Responsible for some of the world’s most sublime and truly distinctive music”  – Black History Month UK

TICKETS ON SALE – CLICK HERE

The critically acclaimed Senegalese group Orchestra Baobab will play the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall this summer, as part of a fundraising series of shows for the Africa Oyé festival.

With a historical mix of Afro-Cuban style, international pop, and traditional griot music, and an after-dark nightclub ambience of lilting, mellifluous rhythms, Orchestra Baobab are now embracing the 21st century with a renewed international fame, sure to get both old and young audiences dancing to their classic tunes in Liverpool.

Orchestra Baobab’s story began back in the 1960s. In a fashionable club in Dakar, built around a baobab tree, the band developed their distinctive take on a raft of styles – and set the tempo for a new era of Senegalese and African music.

“It is this willingness to consistently push their lush yet imaginative sound forward that stops Orchestra Baobab simply existing as a nostalgia act.” – Songlines

Described by The Guardian as ‘one of West Africa’s most iconic musical acts’, Baobab’s show on 15th June is presented by Africa Oyé and Liverpool Philharmonic.

Orchestra Baobab themselves said: “We can’t wait to play at the iconic Philharmonic to celebrate the Africa Oyé festival. We can’t wait to premiere some of the new music live, and to introduce you to our new members”.

Orchestra Baobab plays the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 15th June 2025 with doors opening at 7pm. Tickets are available now from the venue’s website.

Black Uhuru
+ support TBC

Friday 27th June 2025
Future Yard Garden (outdoor show), Birkenhead

TICKETS ON SALE – CLICK HERE TO BOOK

Roots reggae legends Black Uhuru will take over the Future Yard Garden on Friday 27th June in association with Africa Oyé as part of the Liverpool festival’s fundraising season of shows.

The pioneering second generation outfit are set to perform on the outdoor stage under the Wirral sun this summer before they make their way down to Glastonbury.

Still lead by their founder, Derrick “Duckie” Simpson, the iconic group have earned several achievements in the music industry including winning the first ever Grammy Award for reggae music. Their long success along with having the highest reggae record sales after Bob Marley – and the most songs sampled by other artist over the years – has allowed them to become true ambassadors of reggae music and culture.

Black Uhuru play Future Yard in Birkenhead on 27th June 2025 with doors opening at 7:30pm. Tickets are available now from the venue’s website.

Africa Oyé’s Paul Duhaney said: “With no Oyé festival this year we jumped at the chance to team up with the Philharmonic to bring this iconic band to Liverpool and then with our friends at Future Yard to bring some bonafide roots reggae legends to Birkenhead. Both nights are set up to be the perfect summer evening and the success of these shows will help Africa Oyé come back stronger in Sefton Park for 2026 so please bring all your family and friends to enjoy these amazing bands this summer”

Liverpool composer and multi-instrumentalist Neil Campbell will release his forthcoming album, The Turnaround, on Friday 30th May.

Produced with Jon Lawton and Marty Snape, The Turnaround is Neil’s sequel to his 2021 Klee Records vinyl release The Great Escape, and consists of a series of 13 travelogue-style instrumental tracks. These include collaborations with After the Flood musicians Roger Gardiner (Overwater bass) and Marty Snape (guitars/production) and two tracks written with and featuring trumpet player Martin Smith (Wizards of Twiddly/The Weave).

The 13 cuts explore a range of styles not only referencing Neil’s own work, as musical sequels, but also the music of artists from whom he particularly draws inspiration, including Ennio Morricone, Nick Drake, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Philip Glass.

The pieces range from compositions for solo guitar to full blown production epics, taking the listener through the realms of classical music, jazz and soundtrack music.

The Turnaround will be released on CD and in digital format on Friday 30th May and will be available to listen to and purchase at: https://neilcampbell.bandcamp.com/album/the-turnaround.

Neil can be contacted directly at neilcampbellcomposer@gmail.com and his artist website is https://neilcampbell.music/