Proud citizens of a world apart

Mar 4 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

But the main purpose of the leaflets is to celebrate Liverpool, as it is, facing the future with renewed confidence.

So the statues and monuments were chosen, photographed and expertly described by Robin Riley, 75, the acclaimed sculptor and another dedicated Liverpudlian from one of the city’s old families. He first wrote to Liverpool City Council in 1964 complaining about the condition of some statues.

“I feel very strongly that we have got to publicise what is in Liverpool. It has great quality, but we don’t shout about it,” he says.

Raising money and support for the leaflets, the first of which features 37 statues and sculptures on the World Heritage Site, has been a lengthy process bringing together the Civic Trust, English Heritage, Liverpool 08, the Lottery, National Museums Liverpool, the Merseyside Civic Society, the Friends of Liverpool Monuments and Unesco, which selects the World Heritage Sites.

“We are approached by John Hinchcliffe (World Heritage Site officer), who was impressed by a walk and talk that I did and he was also impressed by one I did about Herbert Tyson Smith,” says Patrick Neill, 54, of the Friends of Liverpool Monuments which, since starting two years ago, has been able to exercise influence through its website and publicity.

In addition to being a hero to Fred and Louise, Tyson Smith (1883-1972) was a man of immense importance in the Liverpool story, whose work on the Cenotaph, at St George’s Hall, should be seen by all visitors wishing to understand the culture of Liverpool.

He became an assistant to sculptors before starting on his own in a studio in Sandon Street, Liverpool, in 1912.

In 1925, Tyson Smith moved into the Bluecoat Society of Arts building in Church Alley, which was to establish an international reputation as the home to 20 working artists, 10 cultural societies and four firms of architects. He was to stay there for more than 40 years and then his son Geoffrey continued the business.

His work provided the standard by which modern British engravers and sculptors are measured. He has always been a model to Fred, himself an engraver, typographer and designer, who likens Tyson Smith’s work in Liverpool to that of Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), the greatest Italian sculptor of his generation, the chosen one of popes, famed for the baldacchino at St Peter’s, Rome.

Tyson Smith, who carved the foundation stone for Liverpool Cathedral when only 21, is perhaps most highly regarded for his war memorials, but his figures also adorn pubs, shops and banks.

“Anyway, John Hinchcliffe thought it would be nice to produce a walk and talk on the World Heritage Site and that started the ball rolling. Robin, with the help of the Civic Trust, started the paperwork for a grant. This went into Awards for All (Lottery funds), who gave us £9,000. We got £500 from English Heritage and £500 from the World Heritage site and we have been promised money from the Culture Company, which we are still waiting for.

“The first two leaflets cost about £11,000. That covers the cost of 10,000 in each set, but we are still looking for funding for the third leaflet.”

They are now available in St George’s Hall and at tourist outlets. But the anticipation is that hundreds of thousands more leaflets will be needed when the tourism rush begins in the summer.

“The leaflet works really well,” says John. “It is good to get something to encourage the public to go and appreciate the wonderful statuary and sculptures and monuments that we have got. But what is also good from our point of view is that it is a partnership between all the organisations and particularly the Friends of Liverpool Monuments, who have put in so much work.”

Massive international publicity has been given to Liverpool’s year as the European Capital of Culture, but the World Heritage Site status is more important in the long run.

“It is,” says Robin, “the import- ant thing is that it’s inherited history by sculptors of the day in the 19th century, who were the top dogs producing great quality stuff. That should be remembered. If they are looked after, they should be there for another two or three thousand years.

“In the first leaflet we have concentrated on the bit of Liverpool bounded by St George’s Place, St John’s Lane, across the front of the tunnel, up William Brown Street, and then back down Lime Street and Commutation Row. That bit takes you an hour and a quarter to walk round, if you look at each piece. I chose the pieces because I liked them and because they are good pieces of work. I had to leave a lot of things out, including Tyson Smith’s letter to the French PoWs from the Napoleonic wars in St John’s Gardens because it has been so badly damaged.”

So, some Liverpudlians don’t feel English. But the real ambition should be to make the people of the world feel Liverpudlian.

davidcharters@dailypost.co.uk