Now Will Soon Be Then
11th Nov

One of the photographs from our exhibition which has just finished at FACT, Liverpool. The repsonse to the work has been fantastic and we are planning to display them at the upcoming Wirral recovery event in December.

Click here to see the full exhibition

Spider Webzine – October
7th Oct

Photography

We held the launch for our photography group’s exhibition, ‘Now Will Soon Be Then’ at FACT as part of their ‘Healthy Spaces’ initiative on Thursday 6th October. The collection of black and white documentary images was originally due to be on display until 30th October but FACT have asked us to extend this for a few more weeks. The exhibition showcases one of the projects that our groups – on both sides of the Mersey – have been working on. Here are some of the comments made by members of the public regarding the exhibition…

“Enjoyed Spider Project photography group exhibition – interesting and will be looking at their website”
20/10/11

The photo’s were amazing.”
13/10/11

“Spider photographic exhibition – impressed by creativity and mood of the pictures”
6/10/11

“A great little gem – more power to your elbow”
13/10/11

We have also launched two seperate blogs on different projects. ‘Hope Street Peeps’ is linked to our Making History Group’s ongoing Hope Street Chronicles project and features random people interviewed and photographed by our group in and around Hope Street. See the bottom of this post for some examples and here’s a link to the main site….

http://hopestreetpeeps.wordpress.com/

Our Birkenhead Media project is exploring different elements of the town’s history and landscape. Here are some photos of the ‘edgelands’ around the docks and Cammel Lairds shipyards….

http://birkenheadmedia.wordpress.com/

Thanks to our photography tutor, John Lafferty for working so hard on this exhibition and all the members of our photography groups in Liverpool and Wirral for all their work. Thanks also to Joan, Kat, Ang and everyone at FACT for being so helpful and providing such a great space to display the work. Here’s a link to FACT’s ‘Healthy Spaces’ site

http://www.fact.co.uk/news/blog/2011/06/17/healthy-spaces

Making History – Liverpool’s ‘Knowledge Quarter’

The group has been looking at the development of various ‘quarters’ in and around the city centre. How many quarters can a city have? There are atleast six that we know of or are being proposed, which is not only mathematically impossible but also raises questions about what the purpose of these zones are. Here’s an excerpt from the blog which looks at the new ‘Knowledge Quarter’

What is Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter? According to the prospectus which you can get as a pdf here :

Liverpool Knowledge Quarter stretches from the City’s Anglican Cathedral to the South, through the core facilities of Liverpool John

Moores University and University of Liverpool, taking in the Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool Science Park, Hope Street‘s cultural

offering and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine at its Northern fringe. The

Knowledge Quarter also reaches out to and includes John Moores University’s City campus on Byrom Street, an important gateway

to the city centre from north Liverpool where much of their science and technology research is based. The Quarter’s role as a centre

of learning is further enhanced by Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool Community College and Liverpool Institute for Performing

Arts (LIPA). Together these institutions house a concentration of expertise, knowledge and wealth creating potential, which we

believe is unrivalled in the UK.

We can add to those locations Copperas Hill, the old mail sorting office which is now to be developed by John Moores University.

The image above taken from the top of Hope Street shows how the new road surfaces and pavements have been continued towards the knowledge quarter. It’s well worth looking at the prospectus as it shows images of Hope Street itself, even street signs, certainly restauarants and bistros. The ambience of Hope Street being marketed here is seen as an important part of the perceived ambience of the Knowledge Quarter as a whole.

http://aspidering.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/the-knowledge-quarter/

Contemporary Dance

We’ve started a new evening session in October which is aimed at any of our members who are interested in ‘contemporary dance’ or who don’t really understand what it involves but are willing to give it a go. We’ve been particularly pleased that the majority of service users who have started this group have been male as we really want to push dance as something both men and women can experience and participate in. The sessions take place at the Merseyside Dance Initiative on Hope Street between 6.30 and 8.30pm where Andrea from MDI leads the group in a series of improvised moves aimed at telling a story through movement. We hope this session will become a popular addition to our programme and that we can utilise dance in our upcoming theatrical productions.

Women’s Group

The Women’s group meet every Tuesday from 12-2pm. Over the last few weeks we have had Zumba sessions. Mandi from Ambition For All comes in and teaches the group how to Zumba. We all enjoy her sessions, it’s a fun way to keep fit also you don’t need to be a dancer to join in. The music keeps us all going, you don’t realise how hard you’re actually working. Zumba is an improvised dance and aerobics exercise. Much better than going to a boring old gym…

Drama – Film Shoot ‘No Distance Left To Run’

After a few months of intensive rehearsals, we began our film based on a James Kelman short story on 17th October. This was a great opportunity for our drama group to perform infront of a camera crew and participate in a real film shoot that places greater demands on actors. Everyone got into the spirit of the project and remained professional and patient as scenes were shot time after time from different angles as directed by the brutal task master, Paula Currie (the Stanley Kubrick of Pilgrim Street). The three day shoot took place in a very wet and windy New Brighton with most of the action taking place in the far from glamorous ‘Phoenix Club’ (no Peter Kay jokes please!) with some of the cast and our faithful greyhound, Ellie also shooting more scenes outside and during the evening. The film is now being edited and should be ready for a screening in a few months time. Thanks to everyone who took part and to James Kelman (a long-standing friend of the project) for allowing us to base our film on his story in the first place.

Outward Bound Residential 28th-30th September by Jamie Barton

Wednesday

As I stood at the bottom of the TreeTop Adventure jump in Snowdonia on our way to Anglesey, I watched Joe, Jane, Emma, Ged and Paul do the jump and I was feeling rather cocky as they made it look easy. I must say a big ‘well done’ to everyone but especially Emma as she absolutely conquered her fear of heights. Ged was class. If you’ve never seen anyone trying to run in the air whilst falling, all I can say is, it’s funny. It was just like a cartoon.

When I started the ascent I was still quite sure it was easy. Half way up, I wasn’t so sure. Third of the way up it was ‘don’t look down’ time. I really thought I couldn’t do it but I did with encouragement from everyone and what a feeling!

When we arrived we were all very happy with the place. It was perfect and the little attic bedrooms were boss. We all went for a night time walk on the beach while the lovely Andrea from Mobex prepared supper, which was lovely. She is a diamond lady. On the way to the beach we bumped into Spider’s very own Peter who was wandering the dark lanes like the lost ghost of a lonely hiker. It was a lovely night.

Thursday
We were up early but not too early, for a nicely cooked breakfast by Andrea. As we were tucking in, we realized Ged was still in bed, which was lucky because it’s possible he could have slept all day. First on the agenda today was sea kayaking with Andy from Outdoor Alternative and Carl from Mobex, who is a ‘swear down on me life lad, honest lad, no honest, spit down, I swear, sound fella, honest!’

First half of the day we stayed in the bay. It was really good with the waves and rocks to maneuver around and Joe must really like it in the water because he threw himself out the boat any chance he got. Ha Ha. We had a break for lunch, which was ready and waiting for us, then went back out. This time we went further out and round the coastline. It was loads of fun and we saw seals popping their heads out of the water to see what we were up to. As we headed back to shore we stopped for a game of water polo, which got a little bit competitive but it was great.

Later on, we drove out to the lighthouse to watch the sunset and what a sight it was. I got some great photos and so did Paul. He is a poser. That night we had curry for tea, then watched the amazing night sky. I played my guitar a bit and thankfully no one threw a cup at my head but actually said it relaxed them. Thanks. A little game of ‘snap piggy whistler’ which Paul and Andrea excelled at and off to bed, Everyone was SHATTERED (apart from Peter because he hadn’t done anything).

Friday
Up for another cooked brekky and a quick tidy up, in which everyone helped. Today was leaving day and I was nearly gonna let the tyres down on the van so we could stay a bit longer. We packed our stuff, threw the ball one last time for Smudge (Andy’s dog) and hit the road on our way to Caernarvon for a glorious walk in the hills and valleys. The views were spectacular and the scenery changes were really interesting. It took us four hours but it was worth it and the river was amazing.

We got back to the van, had butties and set off for Liverpool. We all had tired feet and Jane even asked me to massage her feet to which I politely declined. Ha Ha. Jane had really enjoyed the trip and said how it had filled her with spirituality. I think we all felt the same, I know I did.

So, to cap it off, Ged learned he couldn’t fly (although watching him try was great), I learned how some things look easy until you’re staring them in the face, Emma showed real courage and didn’t give up, Jane filled up on Spirit Food. She really is Mother Nature’s daughter. Paul nearly got puked on by Emma when climbing the free fall but had a great time anyway and Joe will insist that every time you hear a jet that it’s an RAF Tornado and I mean INSIST.

Thanks to all that made this possible, which is everyone who was there and the guys from Spider and Mobex. ‘Honest lad, seriously, spit down on me life lad, no serious, swear lad, spit down, yeah safe!’

Jamie B

Hope Street Peeps – some photos from our project

Spider webzine – September
7th Sep

Outward Bounds – Y Garn, Snowdonia Friday 16th September by PJ

A few weeks after conquering Mount Snowdon we were back in the area again, this time tackling its littler cousin ‘ Y Garn’. An 11 strong squad set off from the bottom as the weather appeared quite perfect for a trek. Somewhere near the halfway point a sudden change in conditions had us reaching for the waterproofs, and gave John the opportunity to reel off his time honoured quote “There’s no such thing as bead weather, just inappropriate clothing”.

We passed through the Devil’s Kitchen on the descent and the rain eased as the sun tried to shine through the clouds. Ellie bravely conquered her fear of heights, Joe overcame a bout of ‘moreoutwardboundsinafewmonthsthanintheprevious30years-itis’, Ged alerted us to the pitfalls of wearing denim whilst climbing Y Garn in the rain, Billy failed to notice any scenery as he couldn’t stop staring at Carls HAIR…and Jamie ate most of my Doritos.

A thoroughly enjoyable day out that somehow wasn’t even spoiled by listening to Radio 1 all the way home. The only downside to the day was that my beloved ipod got soaked. I returned home to be told that all I had to do to salvage it was to leave in a bowl of rice for 24 hours. It only worked didn’t it?!

Is rice.

Outward Bound – Moel Arthur, Clwyd Friday 2nd September by Emma Craven

After leaving a daytime treatment centre which I attended for three months, I signed up for The Spider Project and my first outing was to Clwyd to walk Moel Arthur with a minibus full of other Spider group members. When I first saw Moel Arthur I thought ‘this isn’t a hill, it’s a mountain. I was advised by the lovely PJ (Spider staff) and Carl (Mobex staff) to just take my time, which I did. The day was magical for me, spending time with people I didn’t know and also spending some ‘me time’ with myself. I felt truly at peace. The scenery of purple and yellow flowers were breath taking, seeing a village through the trees, seeing nature at its best and most beautiful. The weather was ideal for walking, looking at the sky, the clouds, the flowers, the landscape. I felt like I was a milion miles from a fast, racing city and helped me calm my mind down. Priceless! I felt as free as the sheep on the hill, free to roam where I wanted. Once at the top of Moel Arthur, I sat by an out-house. I breathed in all that was beautiful and natural. I felt alive and glad to be alive. Thank you to the Spider Project.

Drama – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Jackie Prudom

Tom Griffin, who works for the Brothers Of Charity services in Broadgreen has recently put together a performance group which consists of people with and without disabilities to produce an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the National Wildflower Centre on the 18th August. He contacted Spider looking for people who would like to be part of this production. Mark, Iris and myself from Spider Liverpool and Chris from Spider Wirral all got involved. We were made to feel welcome and valued right from the off. Not only did I enjoy the performance but I made new friends and enjoyed working as a team.

Worrying about whether or not I would be able to commit the time and also retain lines seems daft now and I thank Sandra (Spider staff) who encouraged me to phone Tom to find out more about the performance. It was a pity we couldn’t perform in the beautiful gardens at the Wildflower Centre (which was a perfect location for the play) due to poor weather but everything went well in the Visitor’s Centre. Mark was not only good at acting, he was a good hand at moving tables, chairs and art works out of the room. Iris did a great job with the fairies physical theatre, even people in wheelchairs could make meaningful movements with arms and heads. Chris was good at acting and performed a small miracle as he bonded with a person who hadn’t communicated with anybody in a long time. He spoke freely with Chris. I contributed by helping with make-up and listening as others went through their lines. I really enjoyed playing my part as Puck. Paula, our drama teacher at Spider gave some cracking tips which built my confidence tremendously. People came over afterwards and complimented me, thinking I was a professional actress.

I learnt from people with learning difficulties to enjoy the moment, they weren’t faffing around with nerves and panicking, they were loving every minute of it and their enthusiasm split over into the audience. A group of teenagers from the Childwall Valley Theatre Group were inspired by our performance and have requested to Simon, their drama teacher, that they wish to do some Shakespeare. Previously this was a definite no go area. My friends and family came along to support us and had a fun night along with everybody else in the audience and the performers.

We will be performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream again at the Contemporary Urban Centre at 7.30 on 15th September and have been invited back to the Wildflower Centre to perform there on 29th Sept at their charity night. The Aspire Theatre Group intend to create an adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for this Christmas and I feel privileged to be invited to join them and pass on the message that we are all equal and learn from each other.

Arcade Fire – Live review MEN arena Wednesday 31st August by Amanda

Was it actually that good? I found myself asking…after a night of half sleep, re-living the event just passed.YES IT WAS! How often do you come across something so special? A gig where every song is the soundtrack to a story in your life? In my case, I have come to a place where it’s time to let go of the stories and embrace reality of the present day.

It was as though they had taken my setlist. Tune after tune rolled out. The euphoria began at number one “Now I’m ready to start”. It continued with ‘Keep the car running’ from the Neon Bible album. Three albums became enmeshed into one seamless affair.

Arcade Fire are a rocking,get your groove on band that are renowned for their live performance. They bring a spiritual element to the audience. The lighting was warm, bunting slung up, two drum kits, an accordian, violins, piano, guitars, energy, limbs flying as though puppeteered, streamers and visuals flicking.

The packed out crowd, arms raised to the heavens above, singing esoteric melodies as one. They ended with the title track from their latest album, ‘Suburbs’, with a line that hums from the heart…’Sometimes I can’t believe it, I’m moving past the feeling’.

Creative Writing

We had a good session this week, very interesting. I just want to write a little bit about one of our new writers – Frank.

I was away last week and Phil Thornton took the session – he gave the group a subject to write about: departure.

It can be really helpful sometimes – particularly for newer writers – to have a subject to write about. We usually let writers write what they like, but sometimes this can be overwhelming. You sit down to write, knowing you can write about ANYTHING and it can be hard to pin one subject or idea down. You spend so long trying to decide what you want to write, that you don’t have time to write anything.

It’s like being in a supermarket and trying to buy washing powder. In the corner shop there’ll be one or two to choose from – easy. But in the supermarket you’re paralysed by choice: lemon fresh or tropical flowers, biological or non-biological. Liquid, powder, gel. Too much choice can be a bad thing.

Frank, one of our new writers was feeling a bit like that. Couldn’t work out what he wanted to write amongst endless possibilities. So Phil’s suggestion was a god-send. Taking ‘Departure’ as his theme, he wrote his first short story for the group and read it out to us.

Frank introduced the story by telling us about his Great-Grandfather – Frank – who was killed in the First World War aged 19. As a tribute to him, a family tradition began: first born sons were always named Frank. (A beautiful story in itself.)
Frank’s story was about this first Frank – who he knew nothing else about.

He wrote a short story about Frank leaving for war. His mother is in the kitchen at the sink, knowing that her son is about to leave and that he may not come back There is a spider in the sink that she can’t bring herself to kill, so she, ‘chases the little bugger down the plughole’.

She doesn’t turn round to say goodbye to her son; although she desperately wants to hold him and kiss him. She keeps her farewell understated, light, knowing that if she turns round to say goodbye she will have to face up to the fact that he might not return. He goes off to war and she never sees him again.

It is a very short story, which hinges on this one moment. I loved how understated it was. The domestic setting and the restraint in the details, combine beautifully to make the story extremely powerful and moving.

I love how much I learn from the other writers who come to the group. Frank’s story illustrated perfectly how to use restraint in a story; to resist the temptation to give the reader too much. It also showed us the power of the well chosen detail.
So thanks for that Frank. It was the first piece I’ve heard from this writer – I’m looking forward to hearing more.

Frank also does his own website and radio show entitled ‘Who’s Arsed?’ – here’s a link :

http://www.whos-arsed.com/

Wirral News

The football sessions continue to run on Tuesdays. Since our last report 3 people have completed level 1 coaching badges. We are also now taking names for people to begin taking refereeing certificates and surprisingly already have several candidates. The new season of the Imagine Your Goals league begins in October and we are well prepared for the new campaign. Friendly games have been played with the likes of The Ark in the closed season to help keep everyone focused.

SWITCH our service user group is expecting to publish the next edition of the Spider Chronicle within the next week or so. All material is in with the group though they are always open to new contributors. spiderchronicles@gmail.com

Outward bounds have continued on water sports throughout the Summer months with 8 new level 1 canoeing certificates being gained. As of Sep 19th the focus will move to land based activities such as hill walks and climbing etc.

Making History & Photography - The visit to Liverpool of the Queen Elizabeth gave our photography and history groups the excuse to walk down to the Pier Head to make some photos of the grand old boat and to discuss aspects of the city’s maritime past. Here’s a link to the site :

http://inspidered.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/queen-elizabeths-visit/

and some photos taken on the day….