Claire Griffiths, Author at Blackpool Social Club

11 Dec

Council asks for residents’ views ahead of setting next year’s budget

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLocal NewsBlackpool Council, budget, community

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Blackpool is a special place coastlines, victorian piers, and an award-winning park. But how do we live, work and make the most of our surroundings? I admit to dreaming of wilder green spaces or a few trees in the town centre, pop up exhibitions, smaller boutique businesses on the high street, more amazing independent coffee shops like The Upsidown and Hive whose efforts through lockdown have lead to creating space for plant sales and fruit and veg on-site only adding to their curb appeal. [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]It feels unique to live in a place that was designed for tourists and sometimes…

06 Dec

Barry Lewis photographs of Blackpool “Warmth, excess, fun and surreal humour”

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions1980s, Blackpool, heritage, holiday, holidays in blackpool, photographer, photography, street photography, summer

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] “Warmth, excess, fun and surreal humour.” An illustrious photography career found him shooting for Vogue, but for Barry Lewis Blackpool proved a continuous draw. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Year after year he returned with his camera and the resulting body of work – brought together bursting with colour and life – bristles with a familiar friction between wholesome family daytime fun and an eccentric and hedonistic nightlife. In a series of two articles, he tells Claire Walmsley Griffiths why the town became a place to store his best memories.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image="30876" img_size="large" alignment="center"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I still love the seaside – those earliest memories are still released…

30 Nov

Artist Ocean Farini’s Front Door Residency in Fleetwood.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Around this time last year, I photographed an event in Fleetwood as part of a Residency and art collaboration called Real Estates. Turning up on what had been a wet day to find a residential road closed to cars complete with stage, large exhibition prints on huge sandwich boards, a DJ and Soundsystem, and young models and dancers dressed in Fleetwood inspired clothes. Did it remind me of Blackpool Carnivals from my younger days or street parties when communities would celebrate together with wallpaper tables and spare chairs brought out onto streets? Absolutely. I caught up with the artist…

25 Nov

Save Our Music Venues – The Waterloo Music Bar

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsMusic & Gigslive music, Music, performance, The Waterloo Music Venue

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Taking a moment to consider why alternative music venues are so important to a place like Blackpool and what we can do to support them. I never expected a pandemic in my lifetime or even thought I might and whilst I can cope with restrictions, I have thought a lot about music and venues particularly that bring an "alternative" offering to Blackpool. Places like The Waterloo and Bootleg Social who bring emerging and often established acts to our coastal town are so important as a space for resident music fans and alternative performance attracting folks from further afield. The…

27 Oct

A Graduate Filmmaker inspired by her Dad’s love of Rave Culture

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsFilmdocumentary, Film, lockdown, Rave

I came across Mischa by a chance encounter, intrigued by her influences, I found out more about what it felt like graduating in lockdown and how Blackpool and music might inform her film making. Mischa, tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Mischa Baker, I’m a filmmaker/multi-media artist/content creator, born and raised in Blackpool. Initially self-taught, then later advancing into Creative Media at Blackpool Sixth form and recently graduating from Manchester Met University with a BA Hons in Filmmaking. My dedication to filmmaking for the past 5 years has allowed me to have the pleasure of working with…

30 Sep

Anthony Briscoe talks theatre, comedy and creativity in a time of Covid

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken WordComedy, performance, Theatre

Q. Tell me a bit about you? Hello there, my name is Anthony and I’m going to try and answer this question without it sounding like an awful tinder bio. I am an artist and performance poet specialising in: Socially engaged art, motion graphics, graphic design, film, theatre, and education. I’m still trying to find a way to try and put that all on a business card without it having to be A4. I'm a graduate of Lancaster University with a Ba (Hons) in contemporary theatre and also a graduate of Edge Hill University with a PGCE in post-compulsory education.…

12 Sep

New Show at Blott Studios with a Gal called Grumpy.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsVisual Arts & ExhibitionsArt, Blott Studio Gallery, design, Exhibition

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I caught up with Becky Davies the girl behind Grumpy Girl Graphics to talk words, Blackpool as a creative space, being a woman and her forthcoming exhibition at Blott Studios. Q. Tell us a bit about you. A. Hi, my name is Becky Davies also known as a grumpy girl (graphics). I'm an interior design graduate working as a freelance designer/ artist. The majority of my works are very graphic and or spatial orientated and reflect my life experiences so far. Q. What or who inspires you? A. Being from Blackpool inspires me, being a woman inspires me, having had…

01 Sep

For Your Health and Pleasure at The Grundy Art Gallery.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsVisual Arts & ExhibitionsExhibition, The Grundy Art Gallery

There has been lots of conversation of wellbeing and self preservation in Lockdown and how elements of being socially isolated could be beneficial. Of course living in Blackpool, some residents might have found solace wandering an unaffected coastline, watching the breaking waves of the sea or roving swathes of clean beach perhaps digging out your old dusty bike, reinstating ambition to cycle miles of Fylde and Wyre promenade. The Grundy's opening exhibition following lockdown explores elements of just this thing, inspired by a heritage postcard, extolling the virtues of a visit to Blackpool. Perhaps sometimes forgotten as we became overshadowed…

03 Aug

Meanwhile over in Preston – Cold War Steve’s latest exhibition.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitionscold war steve, Exhibition, photography, Satire

Over in Preston, You, Me & Cold War Steve is in its 3rd phase of exhibiting presenting The International Exhibition of the People by the cult artist and is being shown by The Larder, a social enterprise cafe in Preston until August the 7th so please ignore the date on our header. Under the pseudonym Cold War Steve, artist Christopher Spencer has built an international reputation for his satirical artworks, which he began publishing on Twitter in 2016. His artworks, often featuring images of political leaders alongside Cilla Black, Noel Edmonds and the eponymous EastEnders actor Steve McFadden, have been…

03 Jul

Waterloo Music Venue: live streams and lockdown

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsMusic & GigsBlackpool, Music, Music Venues, Waterloo Music Venue

On a soggy Monday morning I entered the ginormous Waterloo Music Venue in South Blackpool. I wanted to find out how the notable music venue has coped with lockdown and what is on the cards for them as restrictions relax. With pubs set to open on the 4th July, manager Ian Fletcher tells us that Super Saturday for them means hosting Blackpool Music Festival – Covid-style Reputation Ian: They travel from all over the country to come here. People all over the world get in touch to play, well until Covid. You know, you could have a band that plays…