Claire Griffiths, Author at Blackpool Social Club

02 Jul

No communal chanting: Dirty Blondes in Lockdown

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsFood and DrinkBlackpool, Venues

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Following on from my visit to Bootleg Social, I went to meet Jake Truman at the fairly new Dirty Blondes. Sandwiched between Church and Birley Street, Dirty Blondes had gone down a storm on opening with its SNES' and Mega drives adorned booths, amazing pizza and walls pasted with old skateboard mags. I'd photographed Sophie Aspin here, Blackpool's female Grime artist back in January for Big Issue North and wanted to see what their plans might be for opening their doors again to the public. I spoke to Jake Truman one of the partners in the business.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="29413" img_size="medium"…

30 Jun

Bootleg Social’s Stephen Skelly on emerging from lockdown

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsMusic & GigsBlackpool, Music, Venues

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] I grew out of the rave era, thousands of kids finding a way to have a shared experience, bending the rules and flaunting law and order. Throughout lockdown I've thought a lot about how Blackpool would come out of these times, particularly our underground music scene, and how restrictions have impacted small music venues, the people that run them and how we find that shared experience again. In a series of articles I spoke to Stephen Skelly of Bootleg Social, Jake from Dirty Blondes and Ian from The Waterloo Music Venue to try and find out. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="29333"…

12 Sep

Heritage Open Days – Starting Tomorrow

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsHeritageBlackpool, blackpool families, community, entertainment, Exhibition, heritage, library, local history, show, Theatre

Blackpool's hidden heritage is impressive, and often uncommented on as many articles throughout the UK discuss Blackpool's shortcomings. AltBlackpool wants to uncover instead the most interesting and unique happenings across the Fylde Coast, and you would be hard pushed to find more interesting happenings than the Heritage Events and drop-in sessions. From the 13th of September, there are a number of free drop-in sessions, and some with a minimal charge. The joy of getting an access all areas pass to places such as Blackpool Town Hall, a place I had never visited until last year, is encouraged whilst the doors are…

11 Sep

Preview – Felicity Means Happiness (Abingdon Studios)

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLocal News, Visual Arts & ExhibitionsArt, artist, Blackpool, community, Exhibition, photography, Theatre

This coming Thursday at Abingdon Studios, Felicity Means Happiness arrives in Blackpool. Felicity Means Happiness is a video piece exploring the background of a 98-year-old woman and her time as a former chorus girl, something that might have a strong relationship with Blackpool and its own heritage of performance. Alison J Carr, the artist behind the work, spent time interviewing Felicity about her experiences as a chorus girl in the thirties when she was one of the Bluebell Young Ladies. As a Bluebell Girl, Felicity toured Europe until WW2 was declared in Italy. The video work demonstrates Felicity telling her own stories and the…

29 Aug

Lancashire Encounter Photography & Film Call Out

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsFilm, Local NewsArt, Film, photography, preston

I caught up with Amy Dean the person behind The Lancashire Encounter Film project to find out more about her and the ideas behind the forthcoming film. Q: Tell me a little bit more about what Lancashire Encounter is. A: “Lancashire Encounter Festival is an authentic voice for Lancashire, celebrating the breadth of the County's diverse cultural offer with high quality and high profile arts. Taking place every other year at the end of September, Lancashire Encounter sees the city of Preston buzzing with life and alight with creativity.” It’s a great opportunity for the community of Lancashire as well…

25 Aug

The Osmosis Gloop Machine lands at Grange Park.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitionsadrian pritchard, Art, slime, The Grange

Slime and gloop launched itself as a trend with dozens of children, my own nephew included since it has got a bit of bad rep with warnings of products having hazardous side effects which was kinda' sad considering its popularity and it's positive attributes of science and creativity away from screens and devices. This, however, has not put the trend to rest and from the 28th August at Grange Park "Slime Artist" Adrian Pritchard will be installing his impressive gloop machine. The art piece has toured the UK including residencies at Art Festivals and workshops in shopping centres giving rare opportunities to children…

20 Aug

A Taste of Money – Blackpool. Fracking and The Working Class Hero.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsColumns & Opinion, Local NewsArt, creative blackpool, electric sunshine project, working class

Do you think Fracking effects you, or are you even that bothered or just bored about hearing about it. I mean industry and commerce have to move on, right for the sake of money? I guess we are ignoring the buried reports by an Air Quality Expert Group, do we care that it has been proven that there are health issues attached to fracking and it has since been banned in New York, Scotland, Germany and a number of areas in California. Whats really shocking about Fracking happening locally is the way communities, myself included look the other way and go with the…

09 Aug

Applications open for creatives in Blackpool.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLocal News, Opportunities, Visual Arts & ExhibitionsArt, commission, community, leftcoast

Leftcoast's continuing creative legacy in Blackpool has thrown a number of opportunities across the creative community in Blackpool and in recent times further afield. Earlier on in the year Leftcoast placed a call out for a long term socially engaged artists residency in Fleetwood and Haweside. Born from these placements new micro commissions have come to light. The third bedroom micro residencies invite artist to respond with an initial expression of interest to take part in the residencies from December 2018 to June 2019. Described as an opportunity to be experimental and test ideas the successful applicants are encouraged to…

01 Aug

Blackpool Summer Shenanigans and Things to do. A Stay-cation.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLocal NewsArt, Blackpool, blackpool families, entertainment, free, The Grundy Art Gallery

Well Blackpool is the place to be entertained but what do you do when you live here? Take advantage of the entertainment or look for the alternative. AltBlackpool has put together some ideas of things to do and see over the coming weeks to inspire and showcase what could be in store for the residents through 2018's endless summer. Blackpool Libraries offer a whole host of free and inexpensive sessions and this summer you can check out all manner of excitingly titled events such as Mischief Makers or perhaps you feel tempted by Mama G a story telling drag artist. The libraries…

27 Jul

Rob Lock, Flying High with ‘Murmurations’. Book Launch Interview.

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Local Newsauthor, Blackpool, book signing, books

I caught up with Rob, a familiar face around Blackpool, as he works as a press photographer across the Northwest. But this year his forty three year old dream as been realised, a book publication based on the metaphor of bird murmurations, Blackpool being one of the best places to view these amazing spectacles. It crossed my mind how the written word draws common themes with the visual language of photography, so it is no surprise that one of Rob's long term ambitions of writing a novel has been met. Rob said: I have been a professional photographer for over thirty…