Unlocking Salford Quays

It's getting so close now to the end of my Easter break :( We're off to Liverpool today but, before we leave, I wanted to share another of our day trips.

If you've been reading my blog a while, you might remember that Chickpea and I have been following the Irwell Sculpture Trail (you can see all the other instalments here). Our destination was Salford Quays where there were a cluster of six sculptures to be seen. I chose this cluster because the weather was predicted to be mixed and there would be several places to shelter. Lovely blue skies greeted us though as we walked across the bridge next to the Lowry art gallery and theatre to find the first sculpture.

This is looking back at the Lowry, named after the famous painter.

Although included in the Sculpture Trail, five of the artworks, including this one, are actually part of Unlocking Salford Quays, a project in 2010 to represent the rich heritage of Salford Docks. For anyone not familiar with this area, Salford isn't by the sea, it's inland at the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Nothing remains of the industrial past of the docks, it's now all swish apartments and new media.



Casuals by Broadbent was right next to the bridge and represents the dock workers' union cards.  Dockers needed a union card to qualify for work and, twice a day they would gather by the gates to compete for jobs. The cards are arranged in two groups to represent those who were lucky and those less fortunate.



Some of the dockers who were interviewed for the project are featured on each card.

Further along the quayside we noticed some other sculptures, again representing the docks. In fact, there were artworks all around the area. I've since learned that this one is called Silent Cargoes and was part of another regeneration project.

We were particularly impressed with this unusual slide and might have sneaked a go if it was in a less public place ;-)

We walked along the quayside, past the Imperial War Museum North...

and onto another bridge, connecting parts of Media City.

MediaCityUK is home to the BBC and ITV plus a range of other media and high tech companies.

As you can see from the Blue Peter logo, the children's department of the BBC is based here.

Say hello to Upsy Daisy from In the Night Garden!

And to Pudsey from Children in Need!

 Around the front of the main buildings was the next sculpture was Nine Dock by Mor.

Nine Dock was once the largest and most important dock in Salford.

The sculpture is engraved with memories from local people.

Just across the dock outside the back of the Lowry theatre is Where the Wild Things Are. The blades of grass suggest the exotic places the ships sailed to and from.

The steel bases are engraved with words and drawings from local primary school children. We tried reading the words which spiralled round and round but it makes you incredibly dizzy!

After a refreshment stop, a 10 minute walk away was Factory Girls by David Appleyard. You can see the first bridge we walked over on the left.

For the footie fans amongst you, the girls are now looking towards Manchester United's ground, Old Trafford. I've been in there once but definitely not to see a football match. It was to see Bon Jovi :) Though I have to say that football stadiums are generally rubbish for concerts as the acoustics are all wrong - the sound bounces off the metal walls.

The girls represent those who worked at Metropolitan Vickers, once one of the largest electrical engineering firms in Europe. Each figure is named after former employees: Doreen, Edie and Margaret.

Circling back towards the Quays, we came across the penultimate sculpture, Four Corners by Noah Rose.

It's engraved with panels showing stories, scenes and the people who worked there.

And so onto the last sculpture in Erie's Basin, Erie's Rest.

Created by Ingrid Hu, the sculpture echoes the ebb and flow of the canal. It was inspired by stories of workers who had walked on the canal floor during its construction and on the surface when it had frozen during the winter.

We were intrigued by the holes, particularly as the information board nearby mentioned ceramic inserts. It turns out that the wood was embedded with several tiles by Beverley Gee containing drawings of the dock workers. It's so annoying and so sad that they are all missing, presumed stolen. Photos of some of them and Beverley's design process can be seen on her blog.

Heading back to our starting point, there were a row of metal discs with different sayings.

Another unexpected bonus.

As were all the mosaic tiles embedded in the walkways: I showed another in the last scavenger hunt.

We really enjoyed our day out at Salford Quays and saw so much more than we'd expected. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes, a shopping outlet, plus the museum, art gallery, theatre and a cinema if you wanted to make a day of it. Highly recommended.

Well. I'm off to get ready for our day out. Have a great weekend everyone. x

Dunham Massey

We're halfway through my second week of leave and I really don't feel ready to go back to work :( I guess it hasn't helped that, in the middle of the first week, I succumbed to a sickness bug which laid me low for a few days. That meant we haven't done nearly as much as I hoped. Oh well, there have been good times too and today I'm sharing the first of our days out.

On Good Friday we decided to head out to Dunham Massey to make use of our new National Trust membership. The last time I visited was with my American penfriend and her husband when they were over here about 9 years ago! I was wondering if much had changed.

It wasn't the best journey as there were hold-ups on the motorway and everyone else seemed to be heading to Dunham to make the most of the only day predicted to be sunny for the whole of the Easter weekend! A 40 minute journey took over 2 hours.

Still, we made it in the end and it was wonderful to be out in the fresh air and open spaces. Above is your first view as you walk up from the visitor centre.

We wandered around for a while to get our bearings and stretch our legs before our timed entry to the house. This is the mill which is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. Sometimes you get a bit blase about all the history surrounding us in the UK but I did get a real thrill to see 1660 carved on the millstone on the left.

Inside you could see the waterwheel in action and some of the old tools including the Dunham Ripper!

We stopped for a sandwich in front of the house..

...and slowly made our way to the entrance.

As well as the general tour of the house, there's a theme this year of Dunham's Lost Years. It refers to the scandal that erupted when the 7th Earl, George Harry, defied convention to marry a circus performer, Catharine Cox. Shunned by society they abandoned Dunham and went to live at one of their many other properties.

Each room had a theme as part of the story. Here it was the public shaming at the races when the society ladies turned their backs and parasols on the couple.

The dining room had an imagined conversation between George and Catharine.

The chapel had an exhibition by Karen Le Roy Harris around the reactions of the servants. This one represented the housekeeper, Miss Macmillan. After the Earl abandoned Dunham, only a few of the servants were kept on and the house started to fall into disrepair, represented by the cobweb.

I forget which room this was but it had lots of cardboard cutouts of all the silverware which the couple took with them when they left. They also emptied the house of a lot of its furniture, paintings and other valuables and the generations to come have spent lots of time and money trying to buy it all back.

I thought the theme was a really good idea and enjoyed all the little set pieces and artworks. I just wished they'd given us more information on the couple themselves. Catharine sounded such an interesting, feisty lady and I didn't feel I learned anything more about her.

Across the courtyard were the kitchen, dairy and washhouse.

I think the kitchen was my favourite part of the whole house. I just loved its light and high ceilings, all the shiny copper pans and domestic ware. Not that I'd probably have liked to work there in its heyday.

Back outside we wandered the gardens.

There was a whole row of these graves in memory of beloved family pets over the centuries.

And I liked this garden shelter. A sunny spot to watch the world go by.

There was still the parkland to explore but we decided to leave that for another time. We'll probably go back mid-summer to see the garden in full bloom.

One last thing. In the kitchen was an old tea cosy with a quote from the comedian, Billy Connolly:
"Never trust a man, who when left alone with a tea cosy...Doesn't try it on". Well, this (wo)man couldn't resist...

Back soon :-)