Clancy, Author at Blackpool Social Club

07 Oct

#Make Like A Poet for National Poetry Day

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

National Poetry Day: 8 October 2015 - #Makelikeapoet Famous voices Professor Stephen Hawking, Sean Bean, Samantha Morton and Juliet Stevenson call on the nation to ‘make like a poet’ to light Blackpool Illuminations with poetry. So why not dream, speak, love, live, act and think “like a poet” as the day approaches? The most creative public responses, shared through #nationalpoetryday and #makelikeapoet will be selected by leading graphic artist Anthony Burrill to appear in the Blackpool Illuminations on National Poetry Day. The nationwide celebration of poetry and all things poetical marks its 21st anniversary on Thursday 8 October 2015. The day is an…

07 Oct

Light Up Your Night for National Poetry Day

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Visual Arts & Exhibitions

Throughout October, Blackpool Museum Project, in partnership with Blackpool Libraries and Grundy Art Gallery, are putting on a series of evening classes in creative writing, fashion and design using the Illuminations as the inspiration. Full details are on the attached flyer. NATIONAL POETRY DAY SPECIAL OFFER: Combined Lisa Wigham and Mark Grist ticket for £5, including tour of Grundy’s Sensory Systems exhibition. 8 October 2015, 17.30-18.45 £3 Central Library Join Lisa Wigham for a wax casting and poetry writing workshop. Please bring along a small object which could fit inside a match box and holds meaning for you. 8 October 2015,…

07 Aug

Roll up, Roll up for Blackpool’s Treasure Trove!

Clancy0 CommentsHeritage, Visual Arts & Exhibitions

Blackpool’s Treasure Trove will be ‘popping up’ in various Blackpool locations over the coming months, presenting their three new pop up museums. The project has brought local people together on a journey to discover Blackpool’s world famous entertainment heritage, marking this with pop up museums created by local groups and regional artists. These mobile museums exhibit a variety of historic themes in creative ways, including quirks and eccentricities only found in Blackpool. “The time and effort put into Blackpool’s Treasure Trove by the local groups involved has been incredible. Hours of hard work have been put in to create three…

22 Jul

New: See & Do Discover and Explore Arts Award

Clancy0 CommentsLocal News

Grundy Art Gallery in partnership with Blackpool Library Service are providing two opportunities for Children and Young People to take part in Arts Award starting this July. The See & Do Saturday workshops are now Arts Award Discover and Explore sessions which means that all children aged 6-12yrs taking part in the sessions will have the opportunity to complete their Discover, and then Explore award through the programme. The £3 fee per child, per workshop will go directly towards the cost of official log books and moderation. Furthermore, Grundy Art Gallery are now recruiting young people age 11+ years to take part in this…

09 Jul

Record Breaking Summer Reading Challenge

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

Blackpool Library Service launched their Summer Reading Challenge yesterday with help from pupils from Thames Primary Schools and local storyteller Dan Worsley. The Summer Reading Challenge is an annual national reading campaign running in libraries across the UK for 4-11 year olds. This years theme is Record Breakers, and what better way to celebrate the launch than with Dan Worsley previewing his latest story about a record breaking swimmer in front of the UK's largest Mirror Ball, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, on Blackpool Promenade. It's really easy for young people to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge. Children sign up at…

21 Apr

Interview: Hannah Gaunt

Clancy0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Visual Arts & Exhibitions

Hannah Gaunt is the newly appointed education officer at the Grundy Art Gallery. I met up with her to find out who she is and what we can expect: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I was born in Milton Keynes, home of the concrete cows and roundabouts. My parents moved there from the north west in the late 1970s, after being taken in by the national marketing campaign for a new utopian ‘City of Dreams’. My father hails from Stockport and had a very tough upbringing, though you wouldn’t know it to meet him. He is the…

10 Apr

Blackpool Embroiderers’ Guild

Clancy0 CommentsSports & Wellbeing, Visual Arts & Exhibitions

Blackpool Embroiderers' Guild is the local branch of a national organisation which has been running for over 100 years. Originally, the guild was aimed at teachers but for many years it has welcomed anyone who is interested in embroidery and other textile related arts and crafts, whatever their level of expertise. I spoke to guild chairman, Seonaid Elliot, to find out what it’s all about: What is Blackpool Embroiderers’ Guild? The aims of the guild overall are to: nurture an enjoyment of embroidery and enable anyone to participate at any level, whether they are young people learning to stitch, a professional artist,…

19 Mar

Interview: John Simpson Wedge

Clancy0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions

I caught up with the Blackpool Museum’s Project newly appointed Learning and Skills Manager, John Simpson Wedge, to find out how he is adjusting to life in Blackpool: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Sure, I was born in Leicester in 1988. My mum and dad were re-enactors so as a child I spent a lot of my weekends dressed up in strange historic clothing. At eighteen I went to the University of East Anglia in Norwich to study philosophy. I fell in love with the city and very nearly fell into being an eternal student. However, I…

03 Mar

National Science Experiment- DIY Maker Kits

Clancy0 CommentsLocal News

Blackpool Library Service is participating in the Common Libraries National Science Experiment. You can borrow one of five Maker Instruction Sets from Blackpool Central Library and learn how to: Finger knit Make a pinhole camera Create cross stitch Bake macaroons Build a digital contact microphone You can borrow a kit and share your progress and results or get in touch with Common Libraries and tell them about a craft you would like to share via your library. Shout about your kit, and have a nosey at other projects, on Twitter: @commonlibraries @BpoolLibraries If you are wondering what a Common Library is all about,…

05 Feb

Artist Talk with Horse and Bamboo

Clancy0 CommentsVisual Arts & Exhibitions

Alison Duddle, artistic director for Horse and Bamboo Theatre, will be delivering an artist talk at Blackpool Central Library on Wednesday 11 February at 5.30pm. Alison will be bringing with her a number of masks and puppets as examples of her work. She will explain to participants elements of performance and how Horse and Bamboo use them and give an overview of how they are made. This is a hands on talk where the audience will get to try the masks and the puppets. Alison is not only the artistic director at Horse and Bamboo, but also puppet maker and writer. Previously, Alison has worked…