Is it me?

[LinMM]

Now you're testing me!! I remember a nice church (that I didn't attend) but if there was a pub nearby we were probably in it!!

 

On Saturdays we used to either go to the "Phil" in town looking for a party......went to some great ones!........or what seems strange now but the RAFA club.....may have been in Bold Street but can check. They had a dance on every so often sometimes on a week day but somehow made it into school having been up till 2-3 am!! Some of the Liverpool Poets went there occasionally..Adrian Henry and Roger McGough! But they also had a downstairs room where you could go to poetry readings at a little theatre up near the Philharmonic Hall.....can't remember the name now.

 

For a while when teaching in Speke I had the same year group as Simon Rattle's dad and he used to invite my class into his room for a good old sing song....he was very good on the guitar. He always said his son who was still at Music College then would be famous one day but we just thought he was a proud father!!

 

I even restarted ballet lessons again at the Elliot-Clarke school in town somewhere.

My friends first lived in Huyton and then on the Wirral in Wallasey so seemed to be forever on buses either going to work or seeing friends etc.

I'll find out if anyone in our group taught at Childwall Primary at any point as I was one of the first to leave (after three years). Two of us wanted to get down to London where all the Dance seemed to be happening in the early seventies!

 

 

..

[Katymac]

I went to Vernon Johnson's school (like both my parents & my grandparents!!)

 

But I think our eras were too far apart (& you are younger by far than my parents - they were clubbing (& at school with) with The Beatles & the Cavern)

 

Oddly enough I have also lived in Huyton (well Roby) & In Wallasey - it seems such a long time ago I lived there

[LinMM]

Yes it's another lifetime ago for me now too!

 

My time in Liverpool was 1969-1972 so the real Beatle era was over by then. The Merseyside magic was just beginning to fade. And the shipbuilding there had also all but ended which had a knock on effect.

Just before I left in 1972 we went to the Cavern club and I didn't much like the place then....had a slightly sleazy feel but I'm sure it was quite different 10 years before!!

 

I went back to Liverpool in 2010 after not having been back for years and didn't recognise the new Liverpool one area down by the docks at all!! Went to the Tate there but whole area quite amazingly transformed. I also went to the library as I used to really love that place and never found the equivalent in London for an ordinary member of the public. The Walker Gallery is still there.

 

Still can't remember the name of the little Theatre up near the Phil......there was a nice cafe there too!!

[Jan McNulty]

The Everyman, currently being rebuilt

[LinMM]

I have a feeling it might have been the one up in Hope Place......this is called the Unity Theatre. I actually don't remember this name but its a long time ago will have to check out with friends! But it was nearer the Cathedral and the Concert Hall than the Everyman is....which I had no idea was being rebuilt!

I do remember the main artsy theatre.....the Playhouse.....are they on the same site? The Everyman? But I think any of the big shows or musicals etc seemed to go to the Empire.....I'm sure Ive seen the ballet at the Empire.

[Jan McNulty]

Oh yes the Unity.  I didn't realise it had been around that long.  I was at a performance there last week.

 

The new Everyman is looking good from the outside!

 

Yes, even Scousers get ballet!

[Jan McNulty]

Although it was before I was a ballet watcher I gather that ballet was usually on at the Royal Court Theatre rather than the Empire.

 

In the mid-1980s the Royal Court had a turgid time when Merseyside was looking at major cuts in funding (no change there then) and could only save one of the two big theatres.  The council chose to save the Empire.  The Royal Court was eventually saved by some local businessmen and became a major venue for bands appearing in the city.  Gradually it has got back on its feet and now has shows of all types.  The Empire hosts major touring productions and it is where English National Ballet and Matthew Bourne's company appears.

 

The Playhouse went into administration in, I think, 1999.  After a review it was decided to join the company with the Everyman so both theatres run with a common artistic directorship and administration.  The Playhouse now hosts both in-house productions and touring events as had the Everyman (which will presumably continue in the same way when it reopens).

 

I had never heard of the Unity Theatre Movement until this morning and had no idea of our Unity Theatre's illustrious history.

 

I assume by Concert Hall you mean our magnificent art deco Philharmonic Hall.

 

In terms of geography the Everyman is on Hope Street, very close to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King and the Philharmonic Hall is on Hope Street very close to the Anglican Cathedral.  The Unity is close to the Phil.

 

The Neptune Theatre is now known as the Epstein Theatre and seems to do a lot of comedy and still hosts amateur theatre as well as the annual panto.

[dramascientist]

We used to do the comps at the David Lewis theatre. As a Kid I thought it was a hotel, its only as an adult I found out it was actually a home for "street" people. I always wondered why there were so many old men there when we went in early in the morning through the "hotel". Such a crime when they knocked it down!

[LinMM]

Ahaa.....now you've got me really in a twist!!

I do remember the name Neptune theatre......which you say has been renamed.....perhaps it was that one. Whichever it was it was a very fringe in the early 70's

 

Yes I do mean the Philharmonic Hall.

There is also a pub nearby which we always called the 'Phil' but whether that was short for its name or whether it had a completely different name and got that nickname as was near the concert hall I don't know.

 

Either the pub or the concert hall had very decorative and grand loos!!

 

I'd love to get Simon Rattle conducting in his home town at the Philharmonic! He's no doubt done it before and Ive missed it but would definitely consider a trip up for that!!

[Jan McNulty]

The pub is called The Philharmonic and it is the toilets there that are very grand! Ladies can book appointments to see the Gents but I never have. The Neptune (now Epstein) is upstairs from what was Cranes Music Store in Hanover St.

[LinMM]

Friends have just emailed to say that the theatre we used to go to then a lot was the Everyman!!

 

Presumably this was on a different site at that time than The Playhouse which is apparently now combined with it.

 

On Saturdays used to shop in the Birkenhead market just so could go on the ferry!

[Huddsballetmum]

It's funny the things we remember from our childhood - I have never forgotten this poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, but it was written in 1913 so long before daylight saving hours were introduced.......

 

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light.

In summer quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

Oh I too remember this poem from my childhood.  It was in a brown annual of childhood verse that I remember being given when I was very young.  This poem really touched me as I identified with it so much - not the candle light obviously - I'm not that old!

[Jan McNulty]

Friends have just emailed to say that the theatre we used to go to then a lot was the Everyman!!

 

Presumably this was on a different site at that time than The Playhouse which is apparently now combined with it.

 

On Saturdays used to shop in the Birkenhead market just so could go on the ferry!

 

The Playhouse and the Everyman are both where they have always been.  They share artistic direction, funding and administration.

[zxDaveM]

 

... or are those £5 tins of Quality Street etc getting smaller every year?

 

 

not only smaller 'tins', but more full of air to boot!

[tomuchtallent]

Going back to the time!it gets dark here about 4.30pm.We change the clocks the same as the Uk.Soon it will be earlier!So when the kids come out of school at 4 it will be dark!I don't see the sense.What time does it get dark in the Uk at the moment?

[LinMM]

About 5pm

[tomuchtallent]

So not much difference then!

The one thing i do like about it getting darker is that my kids get tired and think its so late that they go to bed without looking at the time!great peace and quiet for me!

[LinMM]

It's a good job there is a festival like Christmas in December as its a very sombre time of the year otherwise. By Christmas Day it will be dark by about 4. 15 pm and not light till 8am.........far too much dark!! So Christmas does brighten things up a bit.

 

As Turkey is further south am puzzled would be darker than UK

I know they don't get the long summer Eve's and in summer darkness falls slightly more quickly than UK am surprised its darker earlier at this point.

[tomuchtallent]

LinMM

When i moved here 9 years ago, im sure it did not get dark so quickly!

 

I find it so funny when i face time or skype England and its dark in Turkey and  sunny in the UK especially in the summer.  

[taxi4ballet]

As far as I know (and remembering from my one-and-only trip to Africa) at the equator you get 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness all year round.

 

Because the Earth wobbles on its axis the northern hemisphere gets far more light in the summer and far less in the winter.

 

If you live somewhere inbetween, then the difference is less marked.

[Jan McNulty]

The timezones and hour changes can also mix things up!

 

One thing I have noticed as you go southwards towards the equator is that there tends to be much less dusk than we have; it seems to go straight from day to night without that lovely in-between stage that we enjoy.

[alison]

About 5pm

I think it'd be nearer 4 pm by now. I know I switched the light on well before that today.

[2dancersmum]

Can confirm that it was dark well before 5pm today.  DD needed to take photos for a school project - outdoors - and it was already getting dark when I collected her from school at 4pm. 

[Jan McNulty]

We had the most fantastic sunset this afternoon around 1600.  I could see it as I was driving along so couldn't photograph sadly.  It was dark when we were driving home at 1645.

[LinMM]

Official sunset today was 4.04pm

 

It usually......although may be gloomy especially if overcast.....gets dark .......sky is black....45 - 50 mins after sunset. So probably about Quarter to 5 already now.

 

It changes quite a lot by the week about 15-20 mins by the week until December when it slows down a bit......so that from Dec 17th to about Christmas Day it does not change at all ......or maybe about one minute that whole week....the solstice week.

[tomuchtallent]

I also noticed in recent years here that when summer comes it happens over night!one day i have my jumper on and then the next day full blown heat bikini weather!No gradual build up.

[LinMM]

Wish that was the case here!! It's more like jumper off then jumper back on then jumper off then back on again in UK

Most years you can usually go without a coat by June at least but even then not always!

 

But at least you get those long light evenings! Pity it's often too chilly by 7pm to fully enjoy unlike the Med where those warm or even hot evenings are so great for going out for meals etc or if at home presumably getting out the barbecue!

[tomuchtallent]

must admit the evenings are great.

If anyone ever comes to Antalya you must try to see a ballet at Aspendos,an amazing ancient open air Theater.The dancers,music,setting,warm evening with the stars and a glass of wine!Heaven.

[LinMM]

Don't tempt me!!!