The artwork was developed by the Townsend Lane steering group and is the work of artist Alistair Eilbeck and will feature lots of portraits of local people waiting at bus stops along the many bus routes in the vicinity of the new health centre which is a real artery of the community. The piece will also contain memories from local people remembering the Townsend Lane of their lives, memories of traveling around on the many buses that move around the area and photographs of Townsend Lane past and present taken by groups and individuals from the local neighbourhood.

We held our first sharing workshop sessions at ABCC this week and had a great couple of hours remembering Townsend Lane which became a thoroughfare as far back as 1850 when most of the surrounding area was farm land. In fact, as we discovered that the word Breck literally translates as ‘area of uncultivated land’ pointing to the look of Breck Road before it became the familiar thoroughfare it is today.

Look out for the artwork in the new year, Townsend Lane Neighbourhood Health Centre waiting room.

I had my wedding reception in the Farmers Arms on Townsend Lane, my wedding cake was a copy of St Georges church on Everton Road.

Last week we witnessed the harvest of some of the potato’s Jennifer had sown some 34 weeks back – the first potato’s to ever call FACT their birth place!

Rotters from Gina Czarnecki on Vimeo.

Here’s a link to a Community film produced by Gina Czarnecki, Sam Meech and Rotters Community Composting, supported by tenantspin.  The films feature within the South Liverpool Treatment Centre garden and Waiting Room, in Garston.

Go visit the centre to see the film as part of the stunning South Liverpool sub-tropical garden…or watch on here.

Go forth and compost!

We are very pleased to be given this award as the LMH.tv project has only just come out of its pilot stage, its great to be working in partnership with LMH and the award is very heavy and shiny!

The project incorporated a technology output via “>arduino sensors measuring humidity, rainfall and other environmental factors which may effect any planting in this part of the city. After the group moved on Jennifer was approached to reinvigorate the Plot and she came up with the concept of the Mediated Garden. The project would follow on from some of the work already done by The Plot participants and artists but attempt to expand on the kind of produce nurtured and encourage participation from staff and visitors to FACT as well as working with our partners in Anfield/Breckfield and developing a database of recipes, tips and tricks and arduino feeds which act as an experimental space for urban growers everywhere.

You can also stay in touch with the garden via our twitter feed www.twitter.com/themediatedgarden and facebook group search ‘themediatedgarden’ and keep your eyes peeled in the building for news of upcoming events including potato tasting and much more!

We presented a breakout session titled GET SWITCHED ON TO TENANT TV alongside our colleagues from LMH .  The session was about how tenants and housing associations are increasingly using Digital Media and the Internet as a means of communication and service improvement.  Being the social media evangalists that we are we guided our breakout session through a history of the Internet, and tenantspin itself and talked about some of the ways we use technology in our daily practice.

We met some nice folks, and look forward to attending again.

A couple of months ago me (Jonathan Turton) Edwin Pink and Laura Yates found ourselves foraging through the possessions of Charlie and Norman Howarth in their nephew’s cosy, semi-detached house in Crosby. The Brothers had passed away a year before leaving a catalogue of items behind in their home on 18 Ludwig Road, Anfield, which their nephews had readily retrieved. We spent hours sifting through the estate which included LFC season tickets dating back to 1907, swimming accolades, love letters dating back to World war Two and a plethora of other personal belongings. Their items were infused with personality seeming to capture moments in time perfectly, and gave a fascinating insight into the lives of the two men.

Charlie and Norman’s home on Ludwig Road was like a time warp. The Howarth family had lived in the house for one hundred years and from the 1950′s/60′s onwards, very little had been done to update the surroundings. The Howarth’s remained loyal to old appliances and fashions, pretty much all of the furniture and fittings were unchanged from that mid century epoch. The brothers found a period in time that they were comfortable with and stayed there in many ways, although it’s important to point out that they were far from reclusive men. To visit the house was like stepping back in time and in our exhibition space we tried to recreate this setting; hanging photographs of the Ludwig Road house (taken by photographer Stephen King), inserting furnishings from the same time period and displaying artefacts recovered from the Howarth abode in an antique cabinet. The brothers refused to throw away even the most arbitrary items; old rent books, train tickets, newspapers. Through their meticulous retention of stuff we got a fascinating look at the era they lived in. However it is an exceptional case. The physical items of ordinary people tend to be discarded or deteriorate over time. Many tales of the past, especially personal stories, have been lost through a simple lack of documentation. However with the capabilities of technology and the internet that needn’t be the case anymore.

In our gallery space, tenantspin invited all interested parties to come to our weekly workshops and share their stories. Through the physical items of the Howarth brothers we have a tangible record of their human experience, however via digital means, the same can be achieved. Through digital archiving it’s possible to leave a legacy of our lives online. Through writing, recording audio, photographs and video we can record a picture of our lives for future generations to see and enjoy, which is exactly what we have done in our workshops. Everybody has a story to tell and you never know who may be interested in it, be it today, tomorrow or twenty years down the line. The space has attracted people of various ages and creeds, and the material we have produced has been diverse, informative and entertaining.

The entwined concepts of time and human experience have encompassed our project. The culturally rich, physical estate of the Howarth’s inspired us to create a similarly captivating archive of tales through technological means. The project has given engaged individuals a creative platform to share their stories and express themselves through art, and represented a starting point in terms of interacting with digital technology. The internet gives the individual an outlet to express him or herself, to whom ever may be interested, and that expression is saved in cyberspace for future generations to see. It’s an inspirational concept and has been central to the success of the project. Coming soon will be a designated area of the tenantspin website where all material produced in the space will be accessible. There will also be a showcase afternoon in The Box (FACT) sometime in late August, where all material produced in the space will be displayed. Knowledge truly does live everywhere.

Jon Turton.

The resulting stories have been a rich tapestry of human life and endeavour from the tales of a 94 year old woman, who has lived in the neighbourhood all her life and remembered, amongst many other things, the time she was conscripted to build breach-blocks for sten guns in World War 2 to a scouse miner, a sailor, an evacuee, tales of work, happiness and above all what it has been like to grow up and in some cases grow old in the heart of a suburb so famed for its football connections, cakes, parks and rows of densely packed terraced streets.

You can view some of the stories at the North Liverpool digital story-telling channel on youtube here or have a listen to our audio boo collected voices here collected during the workshops described by Jon Turton in his post above.

Plus Dane Young People

Back in 2010 tenantspin project workers Patrick Fox and Laura Yates where approached by Plus Dane Housing Group and partner organisations including Anfield Detached, Merseyside Youth Development Services, Merseyside Youth Association and Liverpool City Council to take part in a new film for the Anfield Area. The project would be working with an intergenerational group from across Anfield on a new narrative for the district, something that would incorporate elements from the past, present and future of this changing neighbourhood.

Part of tenantspin’s work focuses on the Anfield/Breckfield area and so it was fantastic for us to be involved.

As part of the project Alex Harrison, a long-term collaborator with tenantspin and former FACT Young Persons Programme graduate was brought in to fill the role of lead artist and filmmaker. Along with Chris and Peter from MYDAS, Sue from Anfield Detached and Lisa and Julie from Plus Dane we engaged with a group of young and older people from the area and began to develop ideas for the film.

The project was a brilliant success and an accolade to the fantastic relationship and shared vision of the young people, older people and project leaders involved.

It finally premiered at FACT on the evening of March 24th 2011. Since then the film has been playing on a continuous loop in Gallery 1 @ FACT as part of the Anfield Pavilion in the Knowledge Lives Everywhere exhibition running at FACT until the 12th June.

We thought that was the end for now of a partnership which taught us so much about the power of collaborative working. However this was not to be! Imagine our surprise when we got an email informing us that we had been shortlisted for an award by the Plus Dane Young Persons forum! Alex and I went along to the interview which lasted 10 minutes and covered everything we did as a project as well as asking us about This is Anfield.

We went along nervously to the awards night, held in Liverpool’s Contemporary Urban Centre not expecting to win. We where the first award up and couldn’t believe our ears when tenantspin was called out.

The award was a brilliant coo for us and was presented in part for our role in This is Anfield but it also recognises the fantastic work tenantspin through FACT and Arena Housing has been striving at now for coming on 12 years, art for people and by people.

Alan Kelly is a member of tenantspin, in particular our North Liverpool Digital Stories Group. We recently held a webcast to celebrate the launch of Kevin Casey’s recent publication ‘Closing Time’ which documents the decline of the Liverpool Pub over the last 3 years.

As a response to the book Alan has written the below review from the perspective of a citizen who has seen the decline of the pub over his life.

“A picture speaks a thousand words. The saying could not be more appropriate to explain the subject matter of this book. The photography is a stunning reminder of days long gone.

The sad thing for me is that at 75 I can recall a number of the pubs personally. The Gregsons Well (both of them) bring back memories of my younger days of Family Get togethers, My Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents all lived in the Low Hill area. Weddings, Funerals, Christenings and the like all celebrated in ‘the local’.

The ‘Cradoe’ amongst others on the Dock Road recalled my time in the Merchant Navy with many a mad rush to rejoin the ship before she sailed.

The words of the author unfortunately rings true, apart from slum clearance, industrial decline etc he makes no bones about the early days abuse, of the menfolk drinking their wages away and later the criminal element, including drugs and violence and anti-social behaviour that came with it, also contributed to the closure of a number of pubs.

The chapter that really brings it home is ‘Confessions of a Landlady’ May Grocott brings it all back like it was yesterday, nostalgia ‘aint innit’ Football was a big thing in the 50′s/60′s with pub teams being a member of a the local Saturday/Sunday leagues. Looking back it seems that the pub was the community centre of the time. Music also played a big part especially at weekends, the guitar gradually replaced the piano for a saturday night sing song. Quite a few Liverpool Groups emerged from the skiffle group era but life moves on. Now its juke boxes, gaming machines and maybe a quiz night.”

Thank you to Alan for his insightful review. Closing Time is available for sale in the shop @ FACT, 88 Wood Street, Waterstones and News from Nowhere.