Tag: Sennen

Kirkcudbright Wickerman Festival Fringe – Part 2

This week I complete the tale of the Kirkcudbright Wickerman Fringe event held in September 23.  Kirkcudbright Harbour Square is located in the centre of town and was built in 1911 when the old dock was filled in and the new quay created. Many fun fairs and festivities have taken place there and, on this occasion, an outdoor stage had been set up.

We could watch the proceedings from seats outside the newly revamped Steamies Bar, where their attempt to capture the ‘yoof’ crowd had been partially successful.  The first band up was Cherry Pinks from the nearby town of Dumfries whose sound revolves around singer/songwriter Julie Ward, they were followed by the local folk duo Wyrdy Women and also Rangatang.

Fringe facing Harbour Square stage with ‘Steamies’ in the background. Image Credit dailyrecord.co.uk

At that point, a group decision was made to have an intermission to walk over to St Mary’s Park to watch the town’s football team St Cuthbert Wanderers play Dalkeith Thistle in a preliminary round of the Scottish FA Cup.  As we passed through the quaint turnstiles, we were encouraged to enter the half time lottery draw to which we acquiesced and were invited to sample some sandwiches from a mini buffet in the ‘clubhouse’.

A bizarre incident occurred in the first half when a home defender caught the full force of the ball in his face and was out cold on the turf. After some medical action he stumbled to the touchline with us fully expecting him to be substituted. However, he remarkably and probably foolishly returned onto the pitch, with us concluding that they are obviously made of stern stuff in these parts!

At half time, we somewhat inevitably won the lottery draw with Uncle George having the golden ticket and we sheepishly and suffering a little from ‘imposter syndrome’ went up to collect our cash prize. Whilst there, we were tracking the PNE score which resulted in an away win at Stoke which astonishingly and unprecedently took us to the top of the league which put us all in fine spirits. We left the match before the end as the away team were heading towards their comfortable 5-0 win.

The ‘Main’ stand at St Mary’s Park. Image Credit flickr.com

We traversed down the river back to the Harbour Stage where we witnessed the Gang of Three from Perth. They actually had four members but were not the Gang of Four! They were a folk combo and were engaging and played three Neil Young covers which suited myself including closing the set with ‘Rocking in the Free World’.  

I remember a pal of mine Steve Berry who always used to skit me about my lifetime devotion to Neil Young. However, he then approached me one night in the Olde Black Bull pub in Preston town centre and outlined that the aforementioned song had caused him to have a ‘Road to Damascus’ conversion experience, better late than never I say!

After grabbing some tea, we headed onto our next destination at the Kirkcudbright Parish Hall. It was originally built alongside St Andrew’s and St Cuthbert’s church in 1843 and subsequently renovated in 2009. It was a long thin function room and was packed when we arrived, so we perched in a corner near the stage. The band playing was a noisy five piece rock band with a female lead called Shardlake who derive from Glasgow.

Shardlake on stage. Image Credit shardlakerock.com

We then trotted the short distance to Kirkcudbright Bowling Club to see Alan Bissett. Alan is an author, playwright and was also for a spell a creative writing lecturer at Leeds University. He has a musical background in that he collaborated with Malcolm Middleton writing the lyrics and performing spoken word on the Ballads of the Book project alongside Roddy Woomble. He has also undertaken spoken word support slots for the Vaccines and at the short lived but excellent Connect Music Festival in Inverary.

On the night, he was staging his one-man Edinburgh Fringe Moira Monologues set. This is based on stories and characters Alan engaged with growing up in the Hallglen area of Falkirk featuring her pal Babs and her wee dug Pepe. It was original and highly amusing and us English lads were hooting at the section where Moira was celebrating one of England’s many penalties defeats.   

On the Sunday three of the lads headed into Dumfries to watch the Celtic v Rangers old firm match whilst I headed home and was glad of Jez Catlow’s company on the long drive back. En route I treated Jez to the sonic soundtrack of the fabulous Sennen’s back catalogue.  

Manchester Venues 121 to 122 Deaf Institute – Part 1

One of my favourite Manchester venues is the Deaf Institute situated on Grosvenor Street off Oxford Road, almost equidistant between Manchester Oxford Road train station and the Academy venues.

The Deaf has a long history, initially being built in 1877 by a chap called John Lowe (not the darts player!) and the foundation stone laid by local MP Hugh Birtley was engraved and is still in situ. Also still inscribed over the doorway is its original name of Adult Deaf and Dumb Institute. No expense was spared at the time, and the initial build cost a princely sum of £5800. There were annual soirees arranged including the institute performing Romeo and Juliet in sign language in Hulme Town Hall as early as 1900.

Deaf institute entrance. Image Credit Tokyoindustries.com

It served an integral role in the city by helping individuals with speech and hearing difficulties. However, when the Institute moved to new premises in 1975, it resulted in the original site falling into disrepair and it lay unused, abandoned and reputedly ghostly for many years. The next activity was that planning permission was provided in 1987 to convert the building into a wine bar and bistro.

In 2006, the local promoters TROF took ownership and sensitively upgraded the building by utilising its existing grand features, including the stone gothic exterior. It was subsequently reopened in 2008 and was renamed as simply The Deaf Institute.

It is a three-tiered Grade II listed building with high, lavishly decorated rooms. The ground level is the Manchester Deaf Institute Bar which had a seating area which you could visit as a standalone bar. They had food options available, including a Sunday Vegan hangover menu, in this area they also staged DJ sets and periodically bands played there.  

Deaf Institute Bar. Image Credit headbox.com

I have seen three acts in this space, the first on 14/11/16 prior to attending a gig at Trof’s sister venue Gorilla, the performer being an acoustic singer called Rafiq B. The second gig on 05/12/21 was as part of a Record Vinyl collectors event organised by the Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess, who is a keen advocate and supporter of the Manchester music scene.  

The band undertaking a decent acoustic set that day were Apollo Junction who are an indie band from Leeds. They formed in 2015 and within a couple of years were appearing live in session for the Janice Long show and their music has been used as the soundtrack for Match of the Day. They released their debut album ‘Mystery’ in 2019 and have since released two further albums and even played at the Tan Hill Inn (Britain’s highest pub).

What impressed me most was their engagement and inclusivity with their fans resulting in an avidness and dedication within their fanbase that you don’t witness very often, the last time I sighted that was with Hold Steady and their followers. The other band I saw there were called the Mottleys.   

Apollo Junction. Image Credit radio30org.fr

In 2022 a reorganisation took place, and the ground level area was closed as a working bar area and is now used more as a rehearsal space. The downstairs room was originally an events space that could be hired out for functions and regular club nights called Girls on Film took place there. This area has now been recalibrated into a smaller gig space called the Lodge, a venue I have not yet visited.  

Within the 2008 reopening the upper floor area was converted into the Deaf Institute Music Hall complete with a huge disco ball, parrot patterned wallpaper, raised stage and a small outdoor smoking balcony. There is an upper viewing balcony and there are wooden blocks to perch on at the rear of the venue that are reminiscent of the layout of the University of Central Lancashire’s original venue back in the 1990’s.

It has an intimate capacity of 260 and the likes of Kate Tempest, 1975 and Florence and the Machine have played there. Additionally, Johnny Marr held a residence there in 2011 when he was relaunching his solo career.

I have attended gigs there on 11 occasions, though I did miss one of my favourite bands Sennen playing an early tour date there. In retrospect, that turned out to be a blessing as speaking to them a couple of years later they outlined that it had been a promo event and they had only been allowed to undertake a very late post-midnight short set in front of an unresponsive corporate audience.