Wordpool: Opening Ceremony

In a move that surprised nobody, the weather decided not to play on Thursday 4 July as a keen group of skaters and lovers of literature gathered on the Comedy Carpet.  As the wind tried to fool us into thinking October had arrived, the Wordpool opening was moved into the Beach House Bistro Bar to avoid catastrophe.  This was a great disappointment to those of us who were eagerly anticipating the ‘word jam’ by Blackpool’s roller derby team, the Roller Coasters.  They were prepped and ready to go, with knee pads, helmets and fiersome spirits, daring the wind to come and have a go.  Unfortunately the healthy and safety monster stepped in and their skate was cancelled.

Gathered in the laid back ambiance of the Beach House, the Revoe Community Choir took their places against the backdrop of a rabid Irish Sea.  The group practically glowed with enthusiasm and the red blooms which they wore in their lapels reminded those gathered that it was, in fact, July.  Before they could regale us, deputy mayor, David Owen addressed the gathering to praise the endeavours of the Wordpool team and all those involved.  His tie bore a cheerful forest scene and rather outshone his glitzy chain of office.  Councillor Owen spoke of his love of literature and the influence of the English language across the globe.  He came across as an enthusiastic proponent of the festival and declared the event officially open.

The choir attempted to cheer the scene with their renditions of Bring Me Sunshine and Zip-Ah-Dee Doo-Dah which went down well with the former being sung a second time to allow the audience to join in.  They were followed by the head of the Blackpool Council Arts Service who thanked everyone who had made the festival possible, in particular the Arts Service Team, Aunty Social, AltBlackpool and the many volunteers.  After that it was time for coffee and mingling with much anticipation about the upcoming events.  Author Matt Hilton was in attendance to talk shop, as was David Riley who is running the extremely popular One Act Play workshop.

The blue Wordpool t-shirts were being sported by volunteers and the AltBlackpool Wordpool brochures were being distributed.  And with that, Wordpool 2013 was underway.