I’m excited to be telling people’s stories in a totally new way - via an audio trail of memories through Liverpool City Centre - in a few months time. My organisation Raised Voices CIC is being supported by Liverpool BID Company’s Arts and Culture Fund to collect people’s memories and turn them into a trail you can follow in your own time. We’ll be holding some memory-collecting sessions soon and it would be great to see you there - more details to come.

These 5 Cultural Things to Do This Week posts are free for everyone. Paid subscribers receive an extra more in-depth email most weeks including longer reads, interviews, Meet the Creator features and Curator’s Picks. It’s just £6 per month or £60 annually for full access.

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5 things to do this week

FILM: On the Sea, Storyhouse, Chester

A new film exploring masculinity, identity, desire and belonging set in a remote yet savagely beautiful North Wales fishing community is getting a special Q&A screening in Chester. On the Sea’s writer and director Helen Walsh and one of its stars, Celyn Jones, will be answering questions fielded by host Jordan King, from Empire magazine. Sunday 9 August, tickets £9.90 adults, concessions available

ACTIVITY: The Other Bennet Sister Trail, Grasmere

A new self-guided trail inspired by the BBC adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel takes visitors from Dove Cottage, through the Garden-Orchard, along the Woodland Walk to the Wordsworth Grasmere Museum. There are opportunities to try on Regency costume, read the poetry so loved by Mary Bennet and discover the Lakeland landscapes that inspired Wordsworth. The trail is free to download. Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum are open seven days a week until September 6. Tickets last for a year and are priced £13-£16 adults, £8 children

THEATRE: Dear Zoo, Lowry, Salford

Rod Campbell’s lift-the-flap book has been a favourite of generations of small children, and it can now be enjoyed in three-dimensions with the stage version. Kins can join the fun as each surprising animal is delivered - from a cheeky monkey and a jumpy frog to the perfect puppy in the end. Tuesday 11 to Sunday 16 August, tickets £19.50

EXHIBITION: Bodies in the Water, PINK, Stockport

A new exhibition by Manchester-based artistic duo greenandowen (Katheryn Owens and Chris Green), exploring human relationships with water through swimming. Responding to Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) in North Wales and the rich mythology that surrounds it, it brings together sound, text, moving image and sculptural objects. Saturday 8 to Tuesday 25 August, free entry. The website says PINK doesn’t have fixed opening hours so I would call ahead to make sure you can get in

FESTIVAL: Penny Lane Weekender, Liverpool

Coughin Vicars, This or Suburbia and NW Burlesque have been announced as part of the final wave of acts for this weekend’s festival, which spotlights local and independent artists and bands. Now in its fourth year, Penny Lane Weekender will feature a mix of indie, rock, punk, electronica, dance and pop. It takes place across four venues - Foghertys, LEAF, Penny Lane Wine Bar and Neon Jamon. Friday 7 to Sunday 9 August, tickets from £11.55

And one thing for the diary…

FESTIVAL: River of Light, Liverpool

A giant outdoor art gallery of works made of light will return to Liverpool in October, this year on the theme of “Together”. The first three art works have been unveiled - POP! by Gentilhomme, a collective experience made up of five monoliths hiding playful inflatable puppets who you wake up by clapping or singing; Dream Herd by Amigo and Amigo, a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of counting sheep; and LOOP by Olivier Girouard & Jonathan Villeneuve, made up of six giant zoetropes that bring short flipbook-style films to life through movement, light and sound. Friday 23 October - Sunday 1 November, free

In case you missed it

Thank you for reading the 200th edition of Stored Honey (can you believe it?!). If you enjoyed this week’s edition then please click ❤️ to help it get shown to more people.

I’m off now to write next week’s Stored Honey as I’m going away and need to have it ready to go in advance.

Have a great week,

Laura

If you’re an artist, actor, theatre maker, curator, director or producer who would like to take part in Stored Honey’s regular Meet the Creator feature, please answer the questions in this Q&A or if you don’t like filling in forms I can send you the questions via email.

Stored Honey is a member of the Independent Media Association, and adheres to its Code of Conduct.

This curator’s picks feature is one of the extra editions paid subscribers receive most weeks that include longer reads, interviews and Meet the Creator. It’s just £6 per month or £60 annually for full access. If you would like to join us and receive it straight to your inbox, you can subscribe using this button…

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The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery, Rossendale

The story of The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery is one of rags to riches. Built in 1840 as the home of George Hardman, owner of New Hall Hey textile mill, and named Oak Hill, it was later bought Richard Whitaker in 1899. Whitaker had been born into poverty and began working in the textile industry when he was just six years old. He later gifted it and its surrounding grounds to the people of Rossendale.

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These 5 Cultural Things to Do This Week posts are free for everyone. Paid subscribers receive an extra more in-depth email most weeks including longer reads, interviews, Meet the Creator features and Curator’s Picks. It’s just £6 per month or £60 annually for full access.

Subscribe now

5 things to do this week

EXHIBITION: Wild Things, Lowry, Salford

A celebration of animals in children’s books, this exhibition takes families on a fun‑filled adventure through some of the most loved stories of all time. Illustrations range from old classics including Elmer, Dear Zoo, Poo in the Zoo and Meerkat Mail to new favourites such as Time for Bed, Fred!, The Steves and The Great Unicorn Rescue. Ends Sunday 1 November, free entry but you have to prebook a time slot.

MUSIC: Summer of Sound, Museum of Liverpool

The summer-long series of gigs and special events continues this weekend with Tom Kelly’s Musical Bingo tonight (Friday 31 July) and Dave Monks BBC Introducing presents Stone - “one of Liverpool’s most exciting rising bands”. Entry to Musical Bingo is £10 including a bingo ticket, Tickets for Stone are £20-30

MUSIC: Recomposed by Max Richter - Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, Stoller Hall, Manchester

Mystery Ensemble presents one of its most popular programmes, which includes film composer Max Richter’s minimalist take on this famous classical work. The group will also perform his On the Nature of Daylight. Saturday 1 August, tickets £31.50

EXHIBITION: Oh I Do Like To…, The Hatch, New Brighton

How would you finish the first line of this famous song: “Oh I do like to…”?Independent art gallery The Hatch, which is indeed by the seaside, has invited artists to create a piece of work that completes the sentence with something they love. The exhibition is inspired by the colour, character and nostalgia of the British seaside. Ends Saturday 12 September, open Fridays and Saturdays 10am-4pm

FESTIVAL: Lake District Summer Music Festival, various venues

World class performers and emerging artists perform at venues across the region. This week’s highlights include chamber musicians Trio Bohémo performing an all-Czech programme at Ambleside Parish Church and Nadejda String Quartet’s concert of Ravel and Elgar at St John’s Church in Keswick. Friday 31 July to Sunday 9 August 9

And one thing for the diary…

FESTIVAL: Liverpool Irish Festival, various venues

The UK’s largest Irish arts and culture-led festival is back with more than 30 events on the theme of I Am Here. Highlights include the return of Dublin seven-piece Kíla to Liverpool for the first time in eight years and Don Wycherley starring in the award-winning The Life and Times of Paddy Armstrong, inspired by the Guildford Four memoir Life After Life. Thursday 15 to Sunday 25 October.

In case you missed it

Thank you for reading the 198th edition of Stored Honey. If you enjoyed this week’s edition then please click ❤️ to help it get shown to more people.

I’m off now for a day at a theme park with the kids. It’s a relief to be of an age when you no longer have to pretend to enjoy rollercoasters, although I’m not sure I was ever fooling anyone.

Have a great week,

Laura

If you’re an artist, actor, theatre maker, curator, director or producer who would like to take part in Stored Honey’s regular Meet the Creator feature, please answer the questions in this Q&A or if you don’t like filling in forms I can send you the questions via email.

Stored Honey is a member of the Independent Media Association, and adheres to its Code of Conduct.

There are also theatre shows, a festival and the photo of a pair of cat toys/sculptures that will either have you signing the adoption papers or backing away nervously. Let me know which in the comments.

This monthly guide is one of extra more in-depth emails paid subscribers receive most weeks including longer reads, interviews, Meet the Creator features and Curator’s Picks. It’s just £6 per month or £60 annually for full access. If you would like to join us and receive it straight to your inbox, you can subscribe using this button…

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What many of you probably don’t know is that, as well as writing about the arts and heritage as a journalist, for about a year now I have been working as an associate of a company that puts together interpretation plans for heritage buildings and museums.

Seeing interpretation - the stories a museum is telling and the way in which they tell them - from the other side has given me a new perspective, which I think has enriched my arts journalism. At Erdigg, they hadn’t done anything particularly different with the interpretation - information panels, well-informed guides - but their focus on servants who worked there was really engaging, and reflected the way the family who lived there seemed to feel about the people who worked for them.

Along one corridor are photographic portraits of Erdigg’s staff, taken around 1911-1912, properly posed as if they were members of the family. And on the mounts around them are poems written about them by Philip Yorke II, who was following in a tradition started by his father Philip Yorke I. So intriguing - I definitely want to find out more.

These 5 Cultural Things to Do This Week posts are free for everyone. Paid subscribers receive an extra more in-depth email most weeks including longer reads, interviews, Meet the Creator features and Curator’s Picks. It’s just £6 per month or £60 annually for full access.

Subscribe now

5 things to do this week

EXHIBITION: Linder - The Return of Linderland, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool

A reconceived version of Linder’s landmark exhibition, Danger Came Smiling, which has toured across the UK since premiering at London’s Hayward Gallery in 2025. In collaboration with Grundy Art Gallery, the show has been adapted to reflect her heritage and influences. Linder was born in Liverpool and studied graphic design at Manchester School of Art. It features work by LS Lowry including rarely seen, atypical drawings of mannequins and dancers and a 1952 seascape. A selection of Linder’s trailblazing photomontages explores the range of her artistic practice, while early drawings and ephemera trace the development of her artistic production to her now renowned visual style. Ends 3 October, recommended for ages 16-plus due to depictions of nudity and images of a sexual nature, free entry

EVENT: Spirit of Summer - Rest, Play and Recreation, Chester Cathedral

Who could resist trying out artist Wolfgang Weileder’s 10m marble run/sculpture in Chester Cathedral’s South Transept? It has been created as part of a season-long programme of installations, exhibitions, activities and events, with “something for every age and every pace”. Other highlights include Postcards from Rhyl, a photography exhibition evoking the golden age of the British seaside holiday, a climbing wall at the West Doors and a Roll Into Summer trail through the Cathedral and beyond into the city. Saturday 25 July to Monday 31 August

EXHIBITION: Toxteth - ‘The Harlem of Europe’, Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool

Last chance to see this celebration of black musicians from Toxteth in the 1950s and 1960s, with many of them influencing The Beatles and beyond, featuring portraits by Liverpool-based photographer Ean Flanders. Alongside striking new images of musicians from that era, Flanders also captures portraits of their descendants. You can read my interview with Ean Flanders below. Ends Saturday 1 August, free entry

MUSIC: Re:Sound, The Tung Auditorium, Liverpool

Milap presents Re: Sound, a culmination of young performers’ dedication and hard work in the organisation’s ensembles programme this year. Blending Indian classical music with contemporary music, it will showcase a new generation of artists working between traditions, cultures and sound-worlds. The programme features award-winning ensembles SAMYO & TARANG, made up of exceptional young musicians billed as the future of Indian Music in the UK. Thursday 30 July, tickets pay-what-you-feel

INSTALLATION: Light projection, Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool

To mark 180 years since the Royal Albert Dock was officially opened by Prince Albert, the Maritime Museum’s façade will be lit up with a light projection of photographs of dockside moments across the decades. The images are by Mark McNulty⁠, who is renowned for documenting the city’s music, nightlife and cultural renaissance since the 1980s. Thursday 30 July to end-August, 9.45-11pm

And one thing for the diary…

DANCE: Johannes Radebe - Finally Home, various NW dates

The Strictly Come Dancing host and star of the West End smash-hit musical Kinky Boots will be touring the UK next year with his show Finally Home, which he describes as “joy, fun and celebration”. With ballroom classics, South African rhythms and pop anthems, it brings together the music and moments that have shaped his journey. Liverpool Empire Theatre on Sunday 4 April, Blackpool Grand Wednesday 7 to Thursday 8 April, tickets from £50; Manchester Palace Theatre on Friday 9 to Saturday 10 April, tickets from £42; tickets from £42 The Sands Centre in Carlisle on Thursday 29 April, tickets from £46.20.

In case you missed it

Something I’ve created for you to do in the summer holidays (free for all subscribers)…

Thank you for reading the 196th edition of Stored Honey. If you enjoyed this week’s edition then please click ❤️ to help it get shown to more people.

I’m off now to find out more about Erdigg’s poetry.

Have a great week,

Laura

If you’re an artist, actor, theatre maker, curator, director or producer who would like to take part in Stored Honey’s regular Meet the Creator feature, please answer the questions in this Q&A or if you don’t like filling in forms I can send you the questions via email.

Stored Honey is a member of the Independent Media Association, and adheres to its Code of Conduct.

Here’s little treat if you’re looking for something to do over the summer holidays - or any time if you’re reading this at a time other than when it was first published. It’s a self-guided Liverpool Sculpture Scavenger Hunt - where you gather facts about public art works along and close to the city centre waterfront. Unlike most extra Stored Honey conte…

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Taking place at John Moores University’s Exhibition Research Lab Gallery, The Refuge showcases the work of contemporary photography artists from across the diaspora. Together the works reflect on different ideas of ‘home’ in the context of today’s Arabness - some rooted to a particular place, others connected to family and sociocultural heritage, some shaped by memories.

Meanwhile, The Other Refuge looks at ‘belonging’ through the wide-ranging perspectives of UK-based artists of Arab origin, from Sudan, Syria and Yemen, who have experienced displacement.

Toufik Douib, creative producer (international) at Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, says: “Whether they are based in the region or they live and work there, or whether they are part of the diaspora, the artists have different perspectives of what home means to them, and by extension to their communities or people within the same journey as them.

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Button Up! is not just the title of the show but also feels like a warning - a play on the phrase ‘buckle up’. There’s a lot to unpack and introspection to face in this exploration of the legacies of British imperialism, Chinese and British relations and the rise of globalisation.

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What is on your own list of must-sees for July? Let me know in the comments.

This monthly guide is one of extra more in-depth emails paid subscribers receive most weeks including longer reads, interviews, Meet the Creator features and Curator’s Picks. It’s just £6 per month or £60 annually for full access. If you would like to join us and receive it straight to your inbox, you can subscribe using this button…

Subscribe now

Visual art: opening this month

Jalsaghar by Debjani Banerjee, Bluecoat, Liverpool: Banerjee reimagines the idea of a ‘music room’ - which is the exhibition’s Bengali title - and transforms the gallery into a sensory space where you can reflect with music, stories and artworks that connect the past and the present. Her work playfully merges traditional craft, religious imagery and modern culture, encouraging audiences to think about what it feels like when different ways of life interplay. Saturday 11 July to Sunday 6 September, free entry

Ai Weiwei: Button Up!, Aviva Studios, Manchester: Ai Weiwei’s first major exhibition in the North of England will confront 200 years of turbulent world history in a show centring on two major new commissions created especially for the venue, including the world-leading artist and activist’s largest 2D artwork to date - made from more than one million toy bricks. Thursday 2 July to Sunday 6 September, tickets from £20, concessions available. Early bird deal of £15 tickets ends today (30 June).

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I was particularly interested in what he had to say about how the Tung’s “mid-size” provides “a platform for artists on their career journey”, which as Richard says is a crucial part of the music ecosystem. If any musicians or promoters out there would like to talk about this more - what’s missing locally, what’s working - please get in touch.

The regular Meet the Creator feature is published exclusively for paid members to thank them for their support, which is needed to keep Stored Honey running. If you would like to join us and receive it straight to your inbox, you can subscribe for £6 per month (£60 for an annual subscription) using this button…

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The regular 5 Things to See feature is curated exclusively for paid members to thank them for their support, which is needed to keep Stored Honey running. If you would like to join us and receive it straight to your inbox, you can subscribe using this button…

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University of Salford Art Collection, Salford

The collection brings art into the heart of campus life - with visual art, digital innovation, and regularly changing exhibitions that connect students, staff, and visitors to contemporary art and ideas. If you only have a short time to explore, here are five highlights chosen by the curatorial team:

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This year I am helping Wirral Open Studio Tour (13-14 June) with its publicity, sharing the stories of its brilliant artists with the media - and I’m doing the same with North Yorkshire Open Studios (8-9, 13-14 June), which would ordinarily find its natural place in the “Worth a day trip” section of this monthly guide. If, like me, you love exploring behind the scenes then between them they offer hundreds of artists’ working spaces in all sorts of interesting locations.

This monthly guide is curated exclusively for paid members to thank them for their support, which is needed to keep Stored Honey running. If you would like to join us and receive it straight to your inbox along with regular Meet the Creator features and curator’s picks of objects and art works, you can subscribe using this button…

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