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  1. A timely reflection on Liverpool and our lives

    At a time when COVID 19 has made people fearful, isolated or alone, Jeff Youngs new book, Ghost Town, offers not only a fascinating read but also a reflection on all those things that are important to us, our families, friends and communities. Its a deeply felt and beautifully written journey through Jeffs Liverpool childhood, the adult writer stalking Liverpool alone or with friends, searching for a past lost, regained, remembered so viscerally that the reader feels intimately connected to the child Jeff longing to leave the hospital where hes had his tonsils removed or to the older man out walking with writer friend, Horatio Clare, in search of de Quincey in Everton.

  2. The Ecologies of Hilbre Island - A Creative Expedition

    It has been 165 years since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, a landmark text in evolutionary biology. To mark this occasion, we invite you to join us on an expedition to Hilbre Island, a landmark in the river Dee estuary and our Galapagos in the North West of England. We embark on a creative investigation of the islands ecologies through storytelling, observational drawing, poetry and performance, looking closely at how the land, sea and humans interconnect. We will depart West Kirby on foot and walk to Hilbre island, listening to an audio guide that comprises a history of the island and oral histories from local residents. On the island, attendees will choose to take part in one of two workshops that observe and document the island: creative writing and charcoal rubbings will record the islands geology and generate a mapping of the islands geological history; a field sketching workshop will identify species of migrating birds visiting the island, before drawing an evolutionary (phylogenetic) tree. Finally, a poetry performance based on collected oral histories and poetry, will be performed in a costume that turns a performer into the native sea lavender. We will then walk back to West Kirby before high tide.