cinderella press conference

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 1:56 PM | add or read comments (0)

Press conferences - they're great.
Oh no they aren't! Oh yes they are!
I've just returned from the Empire where they were unveiling their stellar line up for the Christmas panto Cinderella.
Cinders herself, Jenny Ellison, has filming commitments and couldn't be there.
But fairy godmother Cilla Black was in attendance dressed in silver and looking like a cross between a mermaid and Elvis.

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bluecoat fire

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:27 AM | add or read comments (0)

News this morning of a fire at the newly-refurbished Bluecoat.
It appears to have started in the kitchen area and spread into the new restaurant, although the galleries and performances space aren't affected.
I was only there yesterday, having lunch in the courtyard garden as the restaurant isn't open on a Monday.
We'll have to wait and see what has happened, but it's the last thing the hard-working team at the arts centre - which has been enjoying huge popularity since its reopening - need.

the real scarlet pimpernel

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 3:42 PM | add or read comments (0)

I see him here, I see him there, I see Roger McGough everywhere.
Anyone would think the bard of Liverpool was involved in the Scarlet Pimpernel at the Empire instead of Tartuffe at the Playhouse....
Yesterday morning I was walking along Hope Street and spotted Roger sitting on the suitcases while people fluttered around him doing a photo shoot.
24 hours later, I walked into the Bluecoat garden for an al fresco lunch with a culture contact to spot the ubiquitous McGough - this time surrounded by a film crew and with Eddie Amoo.
Where next? After work at the deli in Sefton Park Asda with Mike Leigh?

statue unveiling

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:40 AM | add or read comments (0)

It was, even though I say so myself, a triumph - although as the thunder cracked around the sky I did wonder if we'd get through it unsoaked.
After three years, two months and one week, the Echo's Sheppard-Worlock statue appeal came to a rewarding conclusion yesterday when the statue was unveiled during the city's Pentecost walk of faith.
Thousands of people turned out to witness the unveiling, alongside church leaders and members of both Sheppard and Worlock families.

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petrenko poppet

• Posted by Catherine Jones at 8:31 AM | add or read comments (0)

How cute is this child?!
Now I'm not really the maternal type, but if I had a little boy half this sweet I think I'd be won over to the pushchair brigade.
Conductor Vasily Petrenko took his young family to lunch with the Lord Mayor last Friday at the Town Hall.
And that included four-year-old Alexander.

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