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Warrington's bid for City of Culture 2021 DOESN'T reach the FINAL 5


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2 hours ago, Freeborn John said:

We'll see the councils true position on culture in the town the day after the CoC is awarded elsewhere, we'll hear no more about statues and suchlike, bank on it.

I'd also expect the libraries strategy to return to where it was before the bid was announced. 

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PS. We all know stuff is going on in Warrington, just to be clear. This is more a comment on the people managing the bid. If they can't be arsed to spend a few minutes updating a website, what's the point? A question I'm sure that the 'Warrington 100' firms might like to raise after being asked to cough up 500 quid apiece. How many firms have paid? Gary?

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Yes it's all very strange but maybe things will start to appear on their website after the bid goes in this Friday :wacko:

To be honest their whole website is pretty lacking in any sort of info.  Have you clicked on all the page links......very sparse indeed.

The only page that actually has more than a picture and one liner is their NEWS page....and even that only has 2 items with the latest being from 6 April which says " Hundreds of people are showing their support for Warrington’s bid to become UK City of Culture in 2021 "

Hundreds though ????  With a town this size surely it should be THOUSANDS :(

http://www.warrington2021.com/

 

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Good question and how do we get behind it anyway. 

Do they mean we just have to say we support the bid somewhere or are we supposed to do something more productive like take pictures of our towns heritage and culture or things that are going on, or have been on, and say why we love(d) 'whatever'....or maybe we are supposed to suggest what we would like to happen if our 'lovely town of Warrington' should the bid be successful and we get through to the next round.

Answers on a postcard please.... 

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I'm having to google.....but Hull has seemingly done very well out of winning the status last time and with £3 million up for grabs maybe it's good that we are going for it (providing of course we are not paying a whopping huge amount just to bid and then not to be successfull)

Hull's year kicked off on 1st January but reports say it is forecast to deliver a £60 million boost to the local economy. And the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. said the city has also benefited from £1 billion in investment since winning the title in 2013.

It's starting to make a little more sense to me now......Hull's City of Culure 2017 is very good and informative :D

https://www.hull2017.co.uk/
 

Maybe the reason why there is nothing on our Warrington2021 website is that it's a holding page for if/when we do win...and events will be added in 2021 ??

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I think that the Coventry one is very good https://coventry2021.co.uk/  Perth's Video with help from Blondie http://www.perth2021.com/about-our-bid/ - I haven't checked the others yet and when Paisley have special bottles of Johnny Walker http://www.paisley2021.co.uk/ perhaps we should be drinking to our heritage. Now would that be pints of Greenall/Tetleys followed by Vodka and Gin shorts?

Following in Hull's body sculpture who's going to strip off and get sprayed in Primrose and Blue all in the name of Art? and as a supplementary where would the photographs be taken?

Just found Sunderland's war cry in this creative video for support http://www.sunderland2021.com/get-creative/ a bit different from Gary and Dan's video today :ph34r:

 

 

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No I wasn't Geoff. Somebody has obviously been busy putting a few events up today. Good in some ways but more proof that the council has to be embarrassed into doing anything. 

Isn't there a councillor capable of being Head of Humiliation to force things to happen?

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Geoff. That picture was from yesterday and the page has been like that for weeks. So somebody has obviously been told to cut and paste some stuff from Culture Warrington.

I'd volunteer for the job but I'm not the sort of person who could resist the urge to strangle someone. I assume that's a valuable skill in a local authority.

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Just found some more links of 2021 entrants

I think that the Coventry one is very good https://coventry2021.co.uk/  Perth's Video with help from Blondie http://www.perth2021.com/about-our-bid/ - I haven't checked the others yet and when Paisley have special bottles of Johnny Walker http://www.paisley2021.co.uk/ perhaps we should be drinking to our heritage. Now would that be pints of Greenall/Tetleys followed by Vodka and Gin shorts?

Hereford is championed by Jo Brand but the web site is poor http://www.herefordcityofculture.org/ which could be a reflection on their ability.

Following in Hull's body sculpture who's going to strip off and get sprayed in Primrose and Blue all in the name of Art? and as a supplementary where would the photographs be taken?

Just found Sunderland's war cry in this creative video for support http://www.sunderland2021.com/get-creative/ a bit different from Gary and Dan's video today :ph34r:

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3 hours ago, grey_man said:

Somebody has obviously been busy putting a few events up today. Good in some ways but more proof that the council has to be embarrassed into doing anything. 

Isn't there a councillor capable of being Head of Humiliation to force things to happen?

At last !!!  Maybe they have been reading this forum topic and have taken note....or maybe, like us, they too have been looking at the other bidders sites today and seen the huge amount of effort they are all putting in and thought SH*T* !!

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3 hours ago, Geoffrey Settle said:

Just found some more links of 2021 entrants

I think that the Coventry one is very good https://coventry2021.co.uk/  Perth's Video with help from Blondie http://www.perth2021.com/about-our-bid/ - I haven't checked the others yet and when Paisley have special bottles of Johnny Walker http://www.paisley2021.co.uk/ perhaps we should be drinking to our heritage. Now would that be pints of Greenall/Tetleys followed by Vodka and Gin shorts?

Hereford is championed by Jo Brand but the web site is poor http://www.herefordcityofculture.org/ which could be a reflection on their ability.

Following in Hull's body sculpture who's going to strip off and get sprayed in Primrose and Blue all in the name of Art? and as a supplementary where would the photographs be taken?

Just found Sunderland's war cry in this creative video for support http://www.sunderland2021.com/get-creative/ a bit different from Gary and Dan's video today :ph34r:

Thanks for the links Geoff and interesting to see the amount of effort others are putting in. 

I have to say I think Perths 2021 promotional video is fab and made me want to go there.  Interestingly they created and uploaded that video in August last year.

Warrington could easily have a promotional video like that, or an even better one considering the amount of wonderful heritage, local history, the towns industrial past, open space and parkland, culture and not forgetting all the artistic & musical talent we have here too......   But with only days until round one of the voting has it been left too late now?

 

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It strikes me that there are two possibilities. One is that the council has no real intention of winning this bid but sees it as a cheap way of raising the town's profile, coupled with an attempt to prove that they have an interest in culture, in the face of all the evidence. And maybe they're right.

The second is that they have absolutely no bloody idea what they're doing.  

Whatever, it doesn't look like there is any sort of coherent plan behind this thing.  

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I agree Dizzy, Perth looks lovely, and makes me want to go there too!

But, do any of you honestly believe that this competition really has anything at all to do with culture?

In these days of 'fake austerity' it seems to me like nothing more than an excuse for pouring public money into developer's pockets.  Check out how much previous contestants have spent on building 'cultural' venues in order to be a 'contestant', then check how many of these venues have become money draining white elephants only to lie empty or be converted to cheap offices etc.

WBC has for years allowed its built heritage to be destroyed, have employed a 'regeneration officer' infamously renown for destroying precious roman heritage in Chester and wouldn't know what 'culture' was if it smacked them in the face. They have embarked upon a town centre regeneration programme that CABE actively criticized and refused to support, whilst the beautiful Victorian Bridge St which could have been the town's best tourist attraction has been left to rot. They have allowed a town centre nightlife of drugs, drink and violence to flourish, have allowed the ancient home of the first Lord of Warrington to be converted into yuppie apartments and but for mass public outrage would have sold off Walton Hall and Gardens to become a 'boutique hotel'. etc. etc. etc. Notably, they were recently voted worst in the country for culture.

Yet despite all this I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were well placed in, or even won, this farce of a competition, because I think the real criteria is how much profit the contestants can generate for the developer friends of this greedy, materialistic government.   

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The council has shown at least some self-awareness with its bid.  

“Culture isn’t something we do,
it’s something we are.”

Says Dan Price. Not only a tacit admission that the council has never given a stuff about actual culture, but also the kind of faux-profound, meaningless BS idiots share on Facebook. It's so easy to discover profound thought from the world's greatest minds these days that even Joey Barton can find it. Yet even for a bid that's supposed to showcase the town's commitment to culture, the best the council can come up with is a vacuous statement from the councillor for Great Sankey. I'm sure Dan Price is a great guy and committed to the town, but give me strength.

Personally, I just hope that the bid gets laughed out by the judges and, along with the recent shoeing the council got from the RSA, means Andy Farrell and his fellow philistine wreckers in the council are pensioned off and new people brought in who can develop not only the commercial infrastructure of the town, but who also respect its heritage and understand the importance of cultural infrastructure. Might be the start of great things but I suspect it's more likely to be a blip before the council gets back to building 'executive homes', retail parks and business parks and turning the town centre into the sort of place that could be any town, anywhere in England.    

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I'm sure Dan's a great guy and committed to the town but unfortunately it won't be him who makes any major decisions.

The  £multimillion question is ....what kind of tin pot tack are they going to throw up to blight our skyline under the excuse of progressing this bid and what public services are going to be cut to pay for it?

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