Wednesday 29 June 2011

In Memory Of...

Over the past couple of months, Carole and Sophie of Halewood Arts Association have been organising a celebration event. A few years ago, working alongside, St Marys Care Centre and Halewood Centre for Learning, Halewood Arts Association helped to create a beautiful book called In Memory Of...

There is nothing so evocative or immediate as history told by those who lived it. This book gathers together almost a century of memories of a number of elders now living in Halewood. The stories begin in 1908, and they describe times of great hardship, of childhoods in the streets of neighbourhoods now lost to us, of war, evacuation and the Liverpool Blitz and of work on the land and in the factories. The memories collected in this book are accompanies by images of the time and together they create a unique and vivid insight into life in the twentieth century. 


The event itself was lovely and Halewood Library allowed us to use the venue. We had a great turn out from the St Marys Centre, Local Residents and Halewood Arts Association. There was a lovely afternoon tea, readings from members of Halewood Arts Association and U3A and some brilliant story telling from John Hughes.

Fiona Martin, Chair of Halewood Arts Association introducing the Event
Liz Owen reading one of her own pieces from the book.
Bill McNeil, from U3A reading his own piece from the book.
Dave Ward of The Windows Project, reading a piece from the book.

John Hughes, Story Teller.
We also had John Hughes come along for the afternoon and entertain us all with his brilliant story telling. He got everyone involved and it was a great end to the event.

Anna Jackson, from Halewood Centre for Learning accepting two cases of the book.
The book will be used by students within the drama classes in Halewood, allowing the stories to live on and be used on a regular basis.
It was lovely to hold this event and give a final congratulations to all the people involved and celebrate the brilliant work produced.

We received a wonderful letter from Halewood Library afterwards saying;

"The work that Halewood Arts Association put into the event as well as the work that went into producing the book was excellent. It was so nice to see an event aimed at the older generation, that was well attended and to which so many of that generation had made a contribution. Thank you for all the work you put in to arranging such a well attended event."


Overall we are extremely happy with the final outcome of the event and we also have a number of the books left. If you are interested in purchasing one of our books, drop into Halewood Arts Association or give us an email at halewoodarts@gmail.com. The books retail at £4.99 and include some wonderful stories and poems.