Drawing Fleetwood’s Heritage

Inspired by Fleetwood’s past, artist Joseph Travis has been running a series of art walks in Fleetwood – history tours with drawing and painting tuition built in. He writes about his inspiration and invites Blackpool Social Club readers to join him on the final leg.

Fleetwood may not seem like it now, but it was part of a grand visionary plan by the Steve Jobs of his Day – the Abolitionist Peter Hesketh Fleetwood. This vision was brought about by the Victorian Jonny Ives – Decimus Burton an architect known for his work designing Hyde Park and St Leonards-on-Sea where the pair met and came up with a grand plan.

The creation of the town had a false start in Thornton, where plans were initially laid but both were deemed too far from the sea, and then work really started on the peninsula of Fleetwood. The town started with one industry – as a transportation hub – before moving towards military and fishing, both of which have now ended. This story mirrors my own career. I started as a potter, and have been through careers of working as a teacher and in education before moving to painting and drawing.

Now as a researcher, teacher and artist, it is researching local history that forms part of my practice. Last year I looked at parts of Blackpool HAZ and the works of JC Robinson, this year I’ve been researching Fleetwood, its development and the buildings that make the town. This led to applying for an Arts Council Project grant to get people involved in Fleetwood’s heritage through a series of art workshops – a sort of history tour with drawing and painting tuition built in.

I’ve been been joined on these art walks by Suzanne Pinder of Tenacious Press who is also a qualified teacher. As well as the Arts Council, they are partnered with Healthier Fleetwood as the workshops were designed to fit in with their goals.

The most popular walks are those around Fleetwood’s nautical heritage, which is much diminished from its heyday, with only a few fishing boats, RNLI lifeboats and the Knott End to Fleetwood Ferry really left. As an industry fishing once employed a third of the town – over ten thousand people. Now it is a town looking for an industry that can help sustain it.

The project was over a year in planning and is the first of many projects planned locally, looking at history, art and the simple exercise of moving between places of interest. The idea moving forward is looking at ways of developing ideas, taking a smaller element and running with it for longer.

The project will culminate in an exhibition of works based around Fleetwoods Heritage with themes including: The Docks and Fleetwood Boats; Lighthouses; Churches; RLNI and Rossall Point; The Mount and Memorial Parks; Marine Hall and Beach Bungalows.

But while those details are still to be finalised, there are still upcoming workshops running throughout September. Booking is possible through Eventbrite.

Read more from Joseph Travis, and why he draw for 2922 days here.