20/08 (Today)

[Kev]

LIVERPOOL is gearing up to mark the city's Capital of Culture win in grand style.

On August 20 the city will for the second consecutive year celebrate capturing the title.

The date reads 20/08 - the year Liverpool will reign as Capital of Culture.

And top attractions will mark the event by slashing prices, with some even opening their doors for free.

Today, just two weeks after culture bosses appealed for help in staging the city's big party, 17 events have already been lined up. More are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

This year culture bosses are offering a mystery prize to the business, group, or individual with the most original offer.

Already signed up to take part in this year's celebrations is First Take, who will offer youngsters the chance to make a movie in a day at its Hope Street studios.

Jaguar will offer a one-off evening tour of their Halewood Plant, Liverpool FC will give free admission to the first 100 people who pre-book for the Museum and Stadium Tour, and Cains Brewery will provide 20 free places on its brewery tour.

Council leader Mike Storey, said: "A huge variety of organisations got involved to make last year's celebration very special indeed.

"This year there is room for all sorts of celebration ideas and we hope people will let their imaginations run wild."

A list of events lined up for August 20 is available on www.liverpoolculture.com

[Kev]

CHINESE lion dancers, Arabic dancers and a jazz orchestra will all entertain the crowds celebrating Liverpool's Capital of Culture crown today.

This is the second annual party to be held in the run-up to the city's Capital of Culture year in 2008.

The celebrations will see free entertainment, exhibitions and cultural events across the city.

The Merseyside Dance Initiative is offering free Hip Hop dance classes at their studios in Hope Street, while a mobile photographic studio on Paradise Street will allow members of the public to process photos taken of he festivities. Meanwhile, film and animation enthusiasts will be able to attend workshops at First Take video equipment shop on Hope Street.

Eight of the city council's swimming pools will be free of charge and historians will be conducting tours of St George's Hall and the Town Hall.

And public entertainment including clowns, magicians, human statues, an opera singer, jazz orchestra, Chinese lion dancing and Arabian dancing will be held throughout today on Church Street, Clayton Square, Whitechapel and Queens Square.

City council leader Mike Storey said: "The idea of celebrating our 2008 status on 20/08 has really captured people's imagination in Liverpool.

"With four years still to go to '08 we are already showing what we can do through engaging the Liverpool community."

He added that the 20/08 celebrations would continue to grow in size until the city reaches its Capital of Culture year.

He said: "No other city in Europe has this range of cultural activity on a single day - but this is only the start." Bus company Arriva will give away a free year's travel for the 2,008th customer to alight from three bus stops in the city centre.

Dawsons Music on Ranelagh Street will offer music lovers free guitar and keyboard lessons, while the city's libraries will have a one-day fines amnesty for anyone who returns overdue books.

Each year between now and 2008 has a theme for cultural events. This year's theme is faith, while the theme for 2005 will be the sea and Liverpool's maritime heritage.

[Howie]

CPRE Liverpool Press Release - Capital of Culture Day 20/08
Pamela Leadbetter - CPRE Liverpool , 20.08.2004 09:59

The Capital of Culture is a great prize for Liverpool but must be
about more than just high profile (and high cost) icons to benefit
the business and tourist market of the city centre, vital though these
employers are.


CPRE Liverpool Press Release - Capital of Culture Day 20/08


The Capital of Culture is a great prize for Liverpool but must be
about more than just high profile (and high cost) icons to benefit
the business and tourist market of the city centre, vital though these
employers are.

It must reflect the spirit of the whole city and bring regeneration
to the historic residential communities beyond the central shopping
streets and offices.

The Victorian Parks at the core of Toxteth, Kensington and Anfield
are jewels in a world class cultural crown to be proud of and still
sustain the health of often troubled places, even in their current
faded state.

But not only has £7m of Heritage Lottery Funds offered to the council
for restoration of listed Stanley and Newsham Parks been turned down,
these cherished green lungs are now being carved up by development
actively encouraged by the local authority and promoted by the Bishop
of Liverpool, who claims to be a committed environmentalist.

This erosion of parkland breaks a clear pledge to place all the
city's open spaces 'safe forever' in a land trust 'beyond the reach
of politicans and officers'.

At the same time local cultural landmarks like churches, pubs and libraries
lie in decay across the inner city, and potential tourist attractions
beyond the centre are being left to rot.

The latest news is that the house where Beatle Ringo Starr was born
is earmarked for council demolition, and the imposing Welsh Chapel on
the roundabout Paul McCartney immortalised in Penny Lane is to be
taken down for a block of flats.

The huge Seaman's Hospital overlooking Newsham Park lake was
designed by 19th century Liverpudlian Alfred Waterhouse famous as the
architect of Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in
London. Those cities cherish his ornate Gothic designs but his greatest
hometown masterpiece is fast slipping into decay despite its
associations with the World Heritage Site.

Ken Dodd's proposed venue for his museum of comedy, historic
Thingwall Hall has been pulled down after several 'mysterious' fires.
It was not saved by being in city ownership, which turned out to be a
rather bad joke to end on!

And a string of derelict libraries in inner-city communities like Everton
and Lister Drive do little credit to a 'learning city'.

Such squandering of the generous civic legacy left by past
generations is compounded by high handed treatment of modern
cultural institutions like Quiggins and the Flying Picket, the kind
of places that spawn bands and artistic talent of the future and
which any truly forward thinking cultural capital will try and
encourage rather than alienate.

There is still time to switch the focus from nebulous ego
boosting vanity projects in the commercial centre to imaginative,
grass roots cultural engagement with Liverpool's bewildering array of
peoples and places.

Tearing the heart out of the city's parkland heritage is the wrong
way to start about this.

ENDS - 480 Words

Enquiries: Pamela Leadbetter CPRE Liverpool Chair 0151-421-0305
Campaign to Protect Rural England


Source: Liverpool Indymedia