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Heritage Open
Day at Edge Hill Station
COME and explore the
buildings at the oldest working passenger railway station in the
world! As part of Heritage open days, arts organisation Metal
will be opening its doors to the public on Saturday, 14 September
2013,
11am to 4pm.
Built in 1836, Edge Hill Station is the oldest working passenger
railway station in the world and it currently houses the arts
organisation Metal. For Heritage Open Day they will be opening their
doors to the public and hosting tours of the station buildings.
Interestingly, the spaces were originally used for machinery that
would power steam trains up the incline from Lime Street. Since the
decline of steam however the spaces became unused and remained that
way for over 40 years until 2008 when Metal began renovating them.
Now they have become a creative and cultural hub at the heart of
some of Liverpool's most dynamic communities and in a space
representing some of its most interesting heritage.
Do not miss the opportunity to further explore the Edge Hill Archive
(edgehillstation.co.uk)
to learn more about the railway and its pioneers, the landmarks and
landscapes surrounding the station and its impact on the social life
and the communities.
Furthermore as a special feature of the day they will unveil a new
community garden gate, which was especially designed by local
schoolchildren as a memorial project to the Blitz attack of November
1940 on Durning Road, the largest loss of life in Liverpool during
the Blitz. The Metal community garden at Edge Hill station is a
lovely place amongst the train platforms where you can spend a few
peaceful hours gardening by yourself, or with a group of other
dedicated volunteers, who will be there to meet people during the
Heritage Open Day.
Families are most welcome to
attend, there will be creative activities outdoors and indoors for
children to take part in. Visual artist in residence Anna Mulhearn
(winner of the Liverpool Art Prize studio award), who primarily
works with video to explore historical events and archival material,
will do a workshop that will invite people to animate part of a
train ride from Edge Hill to Manchester.
Do not miss the chance to also visit Metal's new library space,
where there are lots of arts and heritage related materials that
Metal have collected over the years, as well as chance to swap one
of your own books as part of a 'book swap' initiative.
Attendance to all activities is
FREE and to make it all a bit
sweeter there will be some tea and cakes!
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FANCY DRESS
FAVOURITE COMES TO BIRKENHEAD
A FANCY dress and party
store which supplies prime time TV soap Hollyoaks and top stage
shows at Liverpool Empire theatre is coming to Birkenhead.
Merseyside's biggest party store, Smiffys, is opening a new store at
Pyramid Shopping Centre, with a grand opening planned on 7 September
2013.
Whether you want to look like you stepped out of the Abba movie, an
extra in a FrightFest or just a cuddly Santa Claus, Smiffys has
thousands of costumes and party gear.
Derek Millar, Commercial Director for Pyramids Shopping Centre,
said:- "The new Smiffys store will be a chocolate box for
party goers and their new store in the indoor part of Pyramids
Shopping Centre will be a fantastic addition.
It is one of several new businesses opening with us over the coming
months, including a brand new H&M store later this year, and it is
all part of our determination to drive forward some really positive
developments at the centre.
We have recently announced a £1m investment programme which includes
a huge face lift and rebrand, an updated website, major
modernisation at our two car parks, and a brand new heating system.
By investing in this way, we are making the shopping centre at the
heart of Birkenhead really stand out to potential new tenants and in
turn improving the shopping experience for our many loyal shoppers."
Business management graduate Adam Boyars is heading the new Smiffys
venture. Adam's father, Neville, opened the Smiffys store in Bold
Street, Liverpool, almost nine years ago, and believes there is a
gap, in what is a growing market place, across the Mersey in
Birkenhead. "The first shop was opened as a franchise
but we are now independent," said Adam, 23.
In fact the original Smiffys fancy dress business was founded nearly
120 years ago. "We hope the store will be open the first
week in September and plan to have a grand launch day on Saturday, 7
September 2013.
The demand for costumes just gets bigger and bigger with Halloween
the biggest time of the year for us. At Halloween we get queues
outside the shop for costumes, which is why we want to be open in
Birkenhead before October 2013. Halloween is now the 3rd
biggest holiday after Christmas and Easter."
Chances are many of the costumes you see on your TV shows are
supplied by Smiffys.
"Hollyoaks come in regularly for stuff," said Adam.
"I know the Smiffys brand is also the fancy dress of choice for
shows such as Celebrity Juice, EastEnders, The Apprentice and Big
Brother.
We also deal directly with the Liverpool Empire Theatre who come to
us - particularly for make up. I don't know that we have a
favourite outfit but we have thousands of products and it depends
what time of year it is, what the event is. We get requests for fake
blood come Halloween and the Santa suits at Christmas of course," said Adam who decided to join the
family business after he completed his business management degree at
Birmingham University.
Apart from the bewildering array of costumes, Smiffys even does
life-sized cardboard cut-outs of your favourite film stars and pop
idols. This means youngsters could get One Direction's Harry Styles
to "attend" their birthday party!
Since opening in 2004, Smiffys is belived to have become the largest
and most popular party store in Merseyside.
"All of our costumes are to buy, meaning you can use outfits
time after time, providing great value and savings on your purchase.
We say 'Why hire when you can buy for less'..." says Adam.
Party products include both online and in-store fancy dress for both
adults and children, accessories, wigs, masks, footwear, make-up,
hen and stag, celebrity cardboard facemasks, hats and jokes and
novelties. In store there is also a huge range of balloons,
decorations, party ware and life-size stand up cut-outs.
All the costumes are also fully licensed.
To contact the store go to:-
smiffys-liverpool.co.uk or call:- 0151 647 3129.
Go to:-
grangeandpyramids.co.uk for
more information. |
