Very excited about the opening of The Atkinson in Southport.
The Arts Centre, art gallery and library have all been undergoing a major refurbishment the last couple of years and they are due to reopen under the name of The Atkinson in April 2013. Southport definitely needs this project. Hopefully it will be a major boost to the community, encourage tourism and offer a great place for people to meet and socialise whilst taking in some culture.
I’m looking forward to seeing what activities they will hold that my daughter can join in. She can be very dramatic, so hopefully something along those lines. I’m also looking forward to taking her to the new library, which opens on 2nd April. She is a total bookworm so hopefully it’ll be somewhere we can spend quite a bit of time in.
Sefton Arts states that “The Atkinson will deliver high quality arts and cultural entertainment from dance and drama to fine art and music, whilst supporting community art groups with their development and performances. The facilities will be open to the public from 10am to 10pm, offering constant activities and events to a range of audiences.”
You can read about the redevelopment here.
The Atkinson will be holding some of the Southport Jazz Festival gigs. The festival will take place from 10th to 12th May – it offers a range of different concerts to attend as well as free gigs throughout the town centre. A weekend ticket for The Atkinson concerts is £98, if you book before 30th April though you get £10 off. Full line up of what concerts are on is here.
My personal favourite is Perfectly Frank who is holding a free concert in Wayfarers Arcade on Sunday 12th May. If I found a genie to grant me wishes, one of them would be to go back in time and go to a Rat Pack concert. I just love their music and their stage presence. In the absence of finding aforementioned genie, Perfectly Frank is an amazing substitute. It actually freaked me out how much he was like Frank Sinatra when I first saw him. It still amazes me now. Well worth a trip to see him.
CAMRA will also be holding one of their beer festivals over the three day weekend. So for those of you who don’t have kids or can find a babysitter for part of the weekend, why not make a day/evening of it, relax, enjoy some beer, go to one of the restaurants hosting a live band for a meal and take in some jazz.
(Atkinson picture from: http://www.britishtheatreguide.info)
(Southport Jazz picture from: http://www.safeconcerts.com)
Seaside, hills and the family 