St George’s Hall: Great symbol of a city of contrasts

Jan 16 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

“This is a link to a key tradition that I’m very keen to champion today, namely, the long tradition of lectures at the hall, which I’d like to revive on a fortnightly basis.

“I could lecture forever on the sensational murder cases tried at St George’s law courts, like Maybrick and Warwick, but I want to go beyond that.

“There are a fascinating variety of stories that go outside mere tourist-type subjects.

“This includes Victorian prisons, the legal system and the music programmes.”

Sitting in what he calls his “hayloft” office, above where horsedrawn carriages used to transfer prisoners to the courts, Steve describes his fascination in biography, exemplified by the hall’s statues.

They range from world-famous figures like railway engineer George Stephenson to forgotten Liverpool characters, whose memory should be re-examined.

“These days, there’s a terrible fear of talking down to people,” says Steve. “But Dickens wasn’t frightened of losing ordinary people by assuming they couldn’t understand what he had to say.

“Because people have not heard of some historical figures does not mean that person is of no interest or has no bearing on our times.”

Steve also wants to combine his hall-based lectures with going out into the community to speak to any group in social centres, church halls, or hospitals about the St George’s Hall.

“Like my hero Dickens, I want to inspire people who perhaps don’t think this sort of historical subject matter is for them. I’m sure there are thousands of people out there, who when they hear what I’ve got to say, find their interest is stimulated.

“I’m a mouth for hire, with the mission to go out and get them involved and want to come into St George’s Hall, which belongs to them.”

One of the first lectures after the hall opened in 1854 was on the practical subject of life saving. Such subjects were mixed in with the more imaginative and intellectual talks by the likes of Dickens.

“Using all the amazing strands that this building encompasses means it is an ideal subject for lecturing to people who actually live nearby.

“This is the answer to criticisms that Capital of Culture is only aimed at visitors. If local people are engaged by what I say, then I feel I’ll have done my bit.

“Even if all we achieve this year is to get more people involved in understanding their city’s history, let civilisation triumph.”

* STEVE BINNS’S St George’s Hall Lectures, Education Room, Third Floor, at 12.30 – 1.30pm, plus questions and answers; Liverpool Legal History, Thu, Jan 24; Liverpool Prisons Thu, Jan 31. Series continues through to March; for details, tel: 0151-225 6916 or visit Liverpool.com

peter.elson@dailypost.co.uk

The bigger the better >>>