Mike Morris:
Co-Director of Writing on the Wall
You’d have struggled to get evens if you were trying to place a bet on my favourite WoW moment. No doubt much to the amusement of the rest of the WoW staff, I can now confirm my favourite WoW moment comes from the George Garrett Archive Project, of course. But, as there have been so many, the question is, which one?
Easy choice really – the launch of the archive at Central Library on May 3rd, as it bundled together each aspect of the project; the launch of the archive exhibition, the short film narrated by Alexei Sayle, the publication of our ‘Introduction to George Garrett’ book, and the unveiling of the magnificent installation: Shore Leave - Garrett in the City, designed by 2nd year student Chloe from LJMU: It was the culmination, from our first contact with the artefacts through to the writing of the Heritage Lottery bid, of over two years hard work. It was such a pleasure to share the moment with the Garrett family, and also with the volunteers, our ‘Garretteers’, who have donated so much of their time to the project. I have enjoyed our weekly workshop sessions so much that I could easily have chosen any week of working with the ‘Garretteers’ as my favourite moment. I’m sure they would agree with me that the public launch of the archive was very, very special. The afternoon rolled by with a series of launches and cheers as the covers were firstly pulled off the archive itself, followed the unveiling by a bunch of kids, some of them young Garrett’s, others who just happened to be in the library at the time, of the installation. By the end of the day my cheeks were sore from smiling. We are always so busy – the launch of the archive exhibition was a precursor to 30 days of festival events – that this event, like so many others, feels now as though it was a lifetime ago. It’s good to step back and think again about the enormity of the achievement of Writing on the Wall and the impact of rediscovering the work of this great Liverpool writer.
Easy choice really – the launch of the archive at Central Library on May 3rd, as it bundled together each aspect of the project; the launch of the archive exhibition, the short film narrated by Alexei Sayle, the publication of our ‘Introduction to George Garrett’ book, and the unveiling of the magnificent installation: Shore Leave - Garrett in the City, designed by 2nd year student Chloe from LJMU: It was the culmination, from our first contact with the artefacts through to the writing of the Heritage Lottery bid, of over two years hard work. It was such a pleasure to share the moment with the Garrett family, and also with the volunteers, our ‘Garretteers’, who have donated so much of their time to the project. I have enjoyed our weekly workshop sessions so much that I could easily have chosen any week of working with the ‘Garretteers’ as my favourite moment. I’m sure they would agree with me that the public launch of the archive was very, very special. The afternoon rolled by with a series of launches and cheers as the covers were firstly pulled off the archive itself, followed the unveiling by a bunch of kids, some of them young Garrett’s, others who just happened to be in the library at the time, of the installation. By the end of the day my cheeks were sore from smiling. We are always so busy – the launch of the archive exhibition was a precursor to 30 days of festival events – that this event, like so many others, feels now as though it was a lifetime ago. It’s good to step back and think again about the enormity of the achievement of Writing on the Wall and the impact of rediscovering the work of this great Liverpool writer.
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