Retracing Salford

MAKING A DRAMAOUT OF A MEMORY

It's Heritage Weekend this Saturday, and all over the country churches and historic buildings will be open to the public. Only inSalford, however, will you find young people acting out the past, having turnedpeople's memories into short dramatic pieces.

The action takes place at Chapel Street and Hope UnitedReformed Church on Chapel Street in Salford. Not many people know the name, butmost will recognise the ancient brick building on the opposite side of thestreet from Salford Central Station. It has a distinctive pair of staircaseslooping up to the front door, and has the date sign 1819 over the front door,the same date as the Peterloo Massacre in nearby Manchester.

The church will be open from noon to 4pm on Saturday, 12September 2009, and the first thing to greet visitors will be old family snapsand photographs collected and arranged by artist Lawrence Cassidy. This displaywas opened on 14 February this year but has been substantially re-arranged andadded to, with photos that people have brought in during the open days of theexhibition.

The photographs will be in the lobby area. In the main bodyof the church will be tables piled high with old maps of the area, so thatpeople can identify the houses they used to live in, which have subsequentlybeen demolished. However, all is not lost: artist Lawrence Cassidy has startedto archive photos and family snaps he's been given, and has begun to arrangethem into a new collection – The A to Z of lost Salford streets. This archive will beavailable on the internet eventually, if funding can be found to support allthe work needed to make it complete. Meanwhile, Lawrence has the 'pilot'version available on his laptop computer, and it will be showing on 12September.

Between this main area of the church, and the Coffee Bar atthe rear, there will be a number of strolling players, young actors who havebeen trained by Blueberry Youth, the young people's drama coaches at SalfordArts Theatre on Liverpool Street in Salford. With the help of a grant from theArts Council, the adults have been working with the children to transformverbal memories that have been collected since the exhibition opened inFebruary into short dramatic works. These will be presented informallythroughout the afternoon, and visitors will be invited to follow this up with avisit to Salford Arts Theatre in late October, when a longer version of thework will be available on stage.

It's a first, the first time that Salford residents have hadtheir reminiscences portrayed as drama, and the first time that all their oldphotos have been collected together, to start the major piece of work – The A to Zof lost Salford streets.

Further details: Lawrence Cassidy 07946 176291

website: http://www.RetracingSalford.com