People’s memories really add to the value of their St George’s Hall

Oct 4 2008 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post

Is St George’s Hall the best-loved building in Liverpool? Laura Davis samples a new exhibition

IF YOU had poisoned your husband or cheated your boss, then the sight of the stone columns would weigh on your sub-conscious like guilt.

But if the purpose of your visit was for a lighter pursuit, to listen to the story of the three ghosts of Christmas recounted in its author’s own voice perhaps, then the lavish decoration would lift your spirits.

“Impressive,” generations of visitors to St George’s Hall have agreed. But homely? Surely it’s simply too big for that and far too grand – you could fit several houses in the Small Concert Room alone.

Maybe not, because the affection with which local people speak of the building is usually reserved for their own homes.

This is what Julia Carder, the hall’s curator of collections, discovered as she prepared a new exhibition of people’s memories of the 19th century neo-classical edifice.

“People think of it as theirs,” she explains. “It’s a civic building so you wouldn’t expect people to be so attached to it. You can’t see anybody going to the Municipal Building and saying ‘this is our building’ but they say that about St George’s Hall.”

Julia began collecting people’s memories when the building was reopened in April, 2007, after a programme of refurbishment.

Visitors had so much to say about their experiences, from attending tea dances in the 1950s to watching Punch and Judy shows on the plateau, that she decided to collate them.

“Anything that tickled me I put in. The ones I really liked were from the people who worked here, like an old caretaker who seemed to really love the building,” says Julia.

“I asked him why he kept calling the basement the catacombs and he said it was because ‘that’s where the cat’s buried’. It turns out there was a cat here called Mr Jinx who was buried in the basement in 1962.

“It’s so valuable to hear people’s memories because it adds to the value of the hall.”

The exhibition is made up of a series of boards featuring people’s recollections, as well as photographs of events held in and around St George’s Hall right up to the present day, including the recent La Machine project.

There are also recordings to listen to and a memory book to examine, as well as the opportunity to add your own experiences to the archive. Although the exhibition will run until mid-November, Julia will continue collecting memories beyond that date as a social history of the hall.

Julia divided the memories into sections inspired by an inscription on the Lime Street side of the hall – Artibus, Legibus Consillis (arts, law and counsel).

Prof Ian Tracey, city organist, shared his memories of playing the hall’s Henry Willis organ late into the evening:

“I would often come in on a Friday night to practise. Often, the law courts were still sitting. Once or twice, I was startled by a policeman who would shine his flashlight at me and threaten me with contempt of court if I didn’t keep the music down.”

Another contributor, a Mr Bartley, recalls a less formal sort of entertainment: “I remember the local impromptu street performers in the outside area of St George’s Hall.

“One chap used to entertain the crowds by breaking concrete against his chest. Another was an escapologist.”

Other memories include a man meeting his future wife at a New Year’s dance in 1958 and of being involved in feature films shot at the hall.

The lengthy process of restoring the building, at a cost of £23m, also featured in people’s recollections.

“In the south staircase in 1998, stepping over the collapsed plasterwork as water ran down the walls,” recalls Rob Chambers, of architects Purcell Miller Tritton, which oversaw the restoration work.

“Contemplating the magnitude of the task which lay ahead. The re-establishment of St George’s as Liverpool’s cultural heart seemed a long way away.

“ It’s been a privilege to be involved with it. I suspect I will never see another like it.”

Although St George’s Hall is so well-loved today, it has not always been in favour. After the law courts closed in 1984, just the Great Hall was in regular use until the building’s relaunch last year.

Wirral-based artists The Singh Twins, who created a new coat of arms for the hall, also offered up their recollections:

“One of our fondest memories of St George’s Hall has to be when we got to shake the hand of the man who saved it from certain destruction by speaking out against plans to demolish it – Prince Charles himself – on the occasion of its official reopening in 2007.”

SHARE your memories of St George’s Hall at the Pool of Life local history blog at http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/pooloflife

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