©2011 Rob Devenish
WHAT IS THE FESTIVAL OF FIRSTS?
It all started innocently enough... with a suggestion by poet and former Scaffold member John Gorman to use Hoylake’s mile-long promenade to stage a lively summer arts festival. Now, THE WIRRAL FESTIVAL OF FIRSTS is gathering serious momentum. With a £5,000 kick-start from Wirral Council’s Coastal Regeneration Fund, we’re all set for a prime weekend that will bring in thousands of visitors and really show off our town’s talents.
This was how the idea of a Wirral Festival of Firsts, a festival to realise never-before-seen arts and cultural events, began at its genesis in late summer 2010. Now, here we are over a year later after a massively successful Festival which took place between 8th and 10th July 2011.
John Gorman stated after the 2011 Festival: "A seemingly simple idea: A Festival of Firsts. The idea of a Festival was first muted in the late summer of 2010. There were monthly discussions, and volunteers came and went. It wasn't until early in 2011 that the ideas discussed at those meetings began to coalesce into a structure. Two groups of volunteers were set up: one for the management of the Festival and one for its content. The Festival Management group took on the task of making sure that the content was publicised, promoted and had somewhere it could be presented; for this there was an army of volunteers taking on a wide variety of jobs: including hosting venues, stewarding events, putting up posters, distributing leaflets.
The content of the Festival was defined and implemented by a number of Steering Groups: Art, Poetry and Music. The principle of the Festival was that it should be unique in that it should feature 'Firsts', either Wirral or World. The seed of the idea of the Festival was planted in January 2011, and, between the Festival Management and Arts Steering Groups, it grew into a remarkably successful tree."
The 2011 Festival saw an enormous variety of cultural events, performances and attractions over the weekend last July. As a result of the Festival weekend, several businesses recorded 'best 2011 sales', local residents were very praiseworthy and proud of the Festival and there were 1000s of extra visitors to the town over the weekend. Apart from the Edinburgh Festival, there isn't another Festival throughout the country which had so much arts culture over 48 hours. It would never have happened without the help and support of the local and greater communities, and to these the organisers of the Wirral Festival of Firsts 2011 owe their thanks.
And now, let's look forward to 2012! This is the bare bones of the new Festival of Firsts' website and will be frequently updated with news and exciting developments of next year's events beginning on Friday July 6th 2012.
The Wirral Festival of Firsts Supports Claire House Children's Hospice
One of the aims of the Wirral Festival of Firsts was to raise money for the outstanding work done by Claire House - a hospice dedicated to the care of children with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses.
“The aim of Claire House Children’s Hospice is to enhance the quality of life for the child with a life-limiting condition, offering a high quality service with both personal and professional support. In partnership with the child and family, each child’s individual needs will be met; those of their family and significant carers will be recognised and respected in a safe ‘home from home’ environment.”
John Gorman and Stirling Dutton presented Lynn Taylor of Claire House with a variety of cheques which, when added to Claire House's own street collection, came to £2,000.
How about taking part or attending next year's Festival & help to exceed 2011's wonderful total?
