Some Came By The Sea

September 3rd 2015 saw the launch and celebration of a brand new book called What’s your Granby Story? The directors and staff at ‘Writing on the Wall’ arranged the launch event following a six-week writing project involving the local community. The publication is a collection of monologues, poems and stories.

Granby, or if you prefer, L8, seems to have shaken off the darkened image of the infamous Toxteth Riots; an unrest that branded Granby as a predominant ‘No go area’, a place to avoid at all costs.  The repercussions of those riots led to years of national ignorance and neglect.

The launch night however did not reflect any of its notorious history and instead revealed a mixed community that still exists and continues to make everyone feel welcome. The books sentiment shows the resilience and tolerance that the people of Granby have endured over the years. It is a collection of written works that highlights real grit, determination and character.  This can be found in poems such as Martha Said and Liverpool 8 and a monologue entitled Abdi’s Story, that gives a brief emotionally charged account of settlers who came to Liverpool to avoid conflict in their homeland.

 

Another theme that underlines this book is the strength of women.  Mothers and daughters alike are the very backbone of both past and present times; each generation standing firm in order to claim and shape family identities. They are active and continue to reinvent the Granby area. There is a strong presence of the seafarer and stories are told and worn like a time-honoured badge. Settlers of Granby came from as far and wide as Trinidad, Jamaica and Somalia to name but a few places. Granby came from the sea, so a badge comes with the territory.

Ultimately, the real impact of reading What’s your Granby Story is a sense of the warmth and nostalgia that we find within these memories, displaying a human instinct for survival that makes past struggles and sorrows become bearable for those families who affectionately call Granby their home.

Miriam O’Carroll

The book is available on Kindle and in News From Nowhere Book Shop.