This is my last one of these. And I’ve saved my favourite thing until last. Now I have a great affinity with the River Rea, that runs right the way through Digbeth. So much so that with John Mostyn, Adam Crossley and a few others I attempted a walk from the source (in Rubery) to confluence (in Gravelly Hill).
Unfortunately our unfit legs and failure to walk past a pub without stopping for a pint meant we only made it as far as Digbeth, where it resembles a drain more than a river. Director of Planning Clive Dutton promised to ‘give Birmingham a river’, Moses-style, but as yet this hasn’t happened and shows no sign of doing so before he moves down to London. So Birmingham’s river is largely hidden after it hits Highgate.
Belfast also has a hidden river, the River Farset, which busts through the city’s floor in jets for teenagers to play in.
It also has a much more visible one in the shape of the River Lagan. Me and Karen Strunks got a lovely sunshine boat trip along this courtesy of a Titanic Boat Tour, seeing Belfast’s boat-building heritage in all its glory. It was here we met Alan, who invited us to his home, a boat called The Confiance for the evening – where ‘culture is our cargo’.
It’s the fantastic Homeplace Project set up by the Lagan Legacy – they’ve bought an old Dutch barge to Belfast and are transforming it into organisational headquarters, a floating gallery and creative space for Belfast’s city centre on The Waterfront.
As a platform for current and future Lagan Legacy projects it seemed logical to equip the vessel, not just as offices, but as a venue to cater for as many types of projects as were likely to be included within the aims of the organisation. Hence, the Lagan Legacy Board decided to create a venue which would house a digital maritime heritage gallery and an extremely versatile and multifunctional Arts performance space with the potential to support a whole range of cultural events and programmes… Music, Theatre, Cinema, Art Exhibitions, Workshops and Conference and Seminar facilities.
Meanwhile, as work on developing this gets underway, lucky caretaker Alan gets to live on it.
Spending the evening on a boat, watching the river light up as darkness descended and drinking 45% whisky, was a lovely high-note to our weekend, made all the better for me by getting to drive a highly historic tug-boat at 4am. I’ve never driven a boat before – navigating a path between the foundations of bridges was a little hairy but I did fine and went to bed as the sun was rising feeling a little proud, not least because we worked out I was probably the first woman to have gotten behind the wheel of the 85 year-old vessel.
So, because it gave me a night to remember, I’m afraid the River Lagan wins it for Belfast. Yes, I know we have beautiful waterways with more canals and Venice, with their cute old barges and narrow boats. But we don’t have boats that look more like spaceships.
A Tasmanian designer obsessed with Star Trek designed the Enterprise, Voyager and Discovery vessels, the last of which is above. Lagan Legacy Director Derek Booker took great pleasure in telling us the man at the helm of the Voyager is a Mr Kirk. Yes, that’s right. Captain Kirk, who, upon entering any harbour has to say over the radio, “Captain Kirk requesting permission to enter.” You can imagine the responses.
We also don’t tend to have hot sailor-boys like this one:
Birmingham did have one cute man who lived on a boat in Birmingham in the shape of writer Steve Coxon, but artist Melinda Schwakhofer went and enticed him down to Devon like a siren after her special Digbeth holiday here. And they’ve gone and created a love-nest lifestyle for themselves down south.
So that’s where I’m off to this weekend, to see Melinda and Steve in his new habitat, and find out what he does and doesn’t miss about his old stomping ground of Digbeth.
Oh yes. You’ve had #brumvsbelfast. Now it’s time for #digbethvsdevon.
Of Comic Nerds and SteamPunk – The Digbeth Slacker posts his thoughts and photos from the Birmingham International Comics Show at Millennium Point – ‘by far the best graphic novel shindig this side of London’.
Artist Curator Gavin Wade – NP Exclusive Video Interview – Billed as ‘an exclusive video interview with artist curator Gavin Wade at the opening of the new gallery Eastside Projects in the heart of Digbeth the new cultural quarter of Birmingham UK’. It’s actually someone who filmed their brief moment with Gavin on a mobile phone, but what he says is interesting. “There’s a lot of references from…radical exhibitions that have never been carried through.” Eastside Projects intends to do just that.
Artist Melinda Scwakhofer visited over the weekend as planned, and it was grand.
One of the great things about having her here was the brilliantly positive way people reacted to her. When she explained she was an artist from out of town who likes old stuff, people felt compelled to share their treasure troves with her.
On Friday we went to The Spotted Dog, and before we’d finished our first drink landlord John Tighe had dug out the original old deeds to the place:
Nowhere else could you touch an old parchment like this with your bare hands, let alone on a damp pub garden table covered in drinks and ashtrays. The Old Crown keeps theirs well hidden and customers only get to see a colour copy from behind a glass frame on the wall. However John did lend me some reading material that will let me delve deeper into the old Tudor pub:
I can’t wait to learn about the traditions of The Old Crown House in Der-Yat-End.
Melinda bought the second round of drinks with Art Money, after convincing John to become the first pub in Birmingham to accept it. Art Money is original artwork that works as a global, alternative currency and is a lovely idea. Thanks to Melinda taking a shine to a broach I was wearing, I ended the night getting some of my own (I did try to give it away, I promise):
Now I just need to try not to get drunk and desperate enough to use it for drinks in The Spotted Dog.
It’s strange how an outside eye can make you aware of things that have been under your nose for years. I’d never noticed these pretty, blue-tiled art-deco toilets hiding behind a billboard on the High Street, but Melinda clocked them straight away:
These were the ladies backing onto the River Rea, whilst the mens opposite are about to be knocked down as part of the building work next to the Irish Club:
By far the best aspect of Melinda’s visit was seeing a healthier approach to approaching people. When she told people she was interested in them, their places and their things they were naturally pleased as punch and I realised how stupid it is of me to sometimes feel awkward about indulging my curiosity. It’s a lesson learnt, I’m now determined to swallow my fears and be more intrepid with strangers. If I start talking to you, please be nice!
Tuesday – okay so there is some rest for the wicked. After a hard day’s work at ACE dance and music, I’ll get to spend the evening at home, which I’ll undoubtedly spend blogging.
Wednesday – The Irish Heritage Group conduct their monthly meeting at The Irish Club. I keep intending to go to this and never make it, so now I’ll say I will on the internet to make it happen. I will, I will, I will. By the way, if you fancy becoming the Irish Heritage Group’s new Chief Executive, you’ve got until this Friday to hand your application in.
Thursday – The preview of the new Andy Warhol exhibition at the Ikon Eastside The Eternal Now: Warhol and Film ‘63-’68 is at 7.00pm-9.00pm. The exhibition carries on until 19th October.
Friday – Melinda Schwakhofer comes back to Birmingham to do Digbeth. Sounds like she fancies a visit to The Spotted Dog to check out John Tighe’s junk record-player collection.
