What Happened To The Historic Mersey Ferry Bell?

This is a picture taken in 2005 just before plans for the New Museum were passed on The Pier Head. This historic Bell had been around for a long time and was very important at one time to local Mersey navigation. It was under the care of Liverpool Museums who were empowered to keep it in good condition for future generations. They obviously were not doing this by the way they had badly maintained it.

See Picture below showing the rot that had set in. Was David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming, Herr Director of NML, so embroiled in making a name for himself with the new museum, or as we like to call it "Flemings Folly" that he has forgot  to restore it and put it in the new museum. Along with the Manchester Dock Gates that was also vandalised, on the site that they owned............that cost us 750 grand in payments for breached covenants.

Has "Fuzzy Felt" forgot his promises made in writing that the Historic Fog Bell which was rung to help the Mersey Ferries steer their passengers safely to the landing stage in 'Pea Soupers' was to be restored. Some of us old enough to remember, were a common occurrence when Liverpool had a manufacturing base. 

Enquiries should be made as to where this piece of Liverpool history has gone. It cant just have disappeared........can it? 

Museum of Liverpool-Shoddy And Defective, Another Legal Battle Commences.

Several months ago I wrote about the shoddy and defective work on the Museum of Liverpool when a ceiling fell in, injuring workmen, the local papers did not print the story.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/06/legal-row-hangs-over-liverpool-museum.html

THE architects involved in the construction of Liverpool's new £72m Museum have been accused of making a series of errors as part of a £3.5m High Court claim.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/11/05/museum-of-liverpool-architects-accused-of-series-of-errors-in-3-5m-high-court-claim-100252-29725784/   Alan Weston writes;

The court documents, now lodged in London’s High Court, accuse architects and lead consultants AEW of negligence, breach of contract, and shoddy workmanship which was both “defective and dangerous”.
It is also alleged the architects made changes without consultation – and, in some cases, planning permission – during the construction of the flagship waterfront building.
Problems with the design culminated in a large number of panels in one of the gallery ceilings falling and injuring a workman on May 25 this year – just two months before the museum opened to the public.
The claim by National Museum Liverpool states that a “material cause of the collapse was the defective design of the ceiling ... upon investigating that collapse, NML identified the said unconventional and defective support system used for those ceilings.”
NML said the poor quality of the workmanship meant that 2,000 sq m of public space had been affected, including two major galleries and significant parts of the ground floor.
It adds: “The net result is that notwithstanding the fact that over 750,000 people (including 100,000 schoolchildren) will visit the Museum over the next 12 months, it is unable to offer anything like the experience it should and would be able to had the collapse not occurred.”
NML is making the multi-million pound claim to recover its costs in correcting the defects which came to light. No date has yet been set for the hearing.
Manchester-based architects AEW took over the design of the new Museum of Liverpool after previous architects – Dutch firm 3XN – were sacked by the museum operator. This is now the subject of a separate legal action by NML.
As previously reported, the museum operator was also unhappy with the quality of the work carried out on the outdoor steps of the new building at the Pier Head. NML argued that the design for the steps and terraces was “unworkable/unbuildable”, and that work was undertaken without the organisation’s consent or not to its liking.
In particular, a plinth – designed to correct a previous mistake in the design – “did not have planning permission and is inappropriate and unacceptable in terms of safety, utility and aesthetics”.
The steps were also inadequately water resistant, leaving the plant and artefact storage rooms vulnerable to water damage. For this reason, the steps and terraces are still closed to the public while remedial work is carried out.
NML chairman Phil Redmond said: “It’s really unfortunate the only mechanisms open to us to resolve these issues is by going through the legal process.
“We have an obligation to protect the public purse and this is only the mechanism we can go to in the end.”
The board and trustees of NML have already been forced to pay back £500,000 to AEW in withheld fees.
AEW said it was unable to comment because of a “confidentiality agreement”.
A spokesman for National Museums Liverpool said: “We can confirm we have issued legal proceedings against AEW and 3XN and therefore can make no further comment at this stage.”
The Museum of Liverpool, which opened its doors to the public in July, is the first national museum to be built in more than a century. Despite its problems, the museum has received 500,000 visitors in just three months. The second phase of work at the landmark building, which includes the Overhead Railway, will be officially unveiled on December 2nd.


So at the new unveiling date.........mind your heads.
Can we also get a ceiling on the spiraling costs never mind the spiral staircase.

BBC Radio Merseyside Job Cuts-But who is Doing The Cutting. Is It Alison Hastings, David Flemings Wife?

National Museums Liverpool have written a collective letter to express support against the BBC cuts that are being made at Radio Merseyside and at local TV and Radio in general.

When you think that Dr David "Fuzzy Felt" Flemings, NML Directors, (known for a cut or three himself,)  wife, Alison Hastings is doing the cuts, isn't that a bit of a oxymoron.
She is also a member of the Press Complaints Commission etc, etc,etc
She is also Vice President of the British Board of Film Censors so she will be alright for films to be sent to her.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/who_we_are/trustees/ Here is a full list of the BBC trustees

Alison Hastings must be the networker of the year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/who_we_are/trustees/alison_hastings.shtml

Alison Hastings

National Trustee for England
Alison edited a large multi-edition metropolitan evening newspaper which, under her, won awards for campaigning and investigative journalism. She now works as a media consultant for organisations like the Press Complaints Commission and Camelot. Alison’s career as a regional journalist and her life in

Liverpool give her a valuable perspective on the interests of licence fee payers outside London and the South East, making her the ideal person to hold the role of National Trustee for
England. Her understanding of the pressures faced by the commercial media gives the BBC valuable insights into the wider industry that will help shape its role in supporting a vibrant creative sector in the UK.

BBC Trust responsibilities
• Chairman, Editorial Standards Committee
• Chairman, Audience Councils Committee
• Member, Audiences and Performance Committee
• Chairman, Audience Council (England) Current external positions
• Vice President, British Board of Film Classification
• Media Consultant
• Member, Society of Editors
• Local Governing Board member, Birkenhead High School Academy Previous external positions
• Member, Press Complaints Commission (1999 – 2002)
• Editor, Newcastle Evening Chronicle (1996 – 2002)

So we have old fuzzy face Fleming cutting jobs at Liverpool Museums and his wife doing the same at the BBC, can you imagine the conversation at the breakfast table.
"How many thousands of innocent hard working people are you going to sack today dear"

David Fleming of NML-Will He Go? Or Will He Be Pushed?

Never has there been such a case to sack a Museum Director, as the case against Dr David Fleming.
How he has managed to stay in his job is beyond me.
I said a long time ago that he will bugger off as soon as he has erected "Flemings Folly" leaving us with a huge carbuncle in the world heritage site that helped to create a chain of events that now sees Liverpool as an architectural laughing stock.
He even saw off Loyd Grossman after the pair of them helped destroy Manchester Dock, now buried under the Museum of Liverpool, showing that the reality is, Fleming is not in the slightest bit worried about Liverpool history................but his own career.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/loyd-grossman-lectures-us-on-heritage.html
It may have backfired on him this time, the national press have slagged off the misguided design, if that's what you can call it of Liverpool's new eyesore.
Nearly sixty years after the blitz more architectural damage is done to Liverpool's historic fabric by giving old Fuzzy Felt Fleming a hundred million quid to play around with than was done by the Lufftwaffe during the Blitz.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/09/museum-of-liverpool-runner-up-in-2011.html
Runner up in BD's Carbuncle Cup competition.
 “Our first reaction was that you shouldn’t build here,” Kim Nielsen, the director of 3XN, the Danish practice responsible for its original design, has said. He should have trusted his first instincts.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/museum-of-liverpool-sues-3xn-architects.html



Mistake after mistake, after elementary mistake was made by what is, in my opinion, an incompetent who, if he was doing an extension on his own house would have gone bankrupt for the lack of skill to manage his project.
He had all the Liverpool pottery removed from the Maritime Museum to make way for a cafe. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/maritime-dining-rooms-maritime-disaster.html

He called all his curators dysfunctional characters.........not the sort of people you would want to go for a drink with" he said to a interviewer in New Zealand. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/watching-detectives.html
Just how many will attend his leaving party.  

He should have been sacked when he proclaimed that he wanted all young black men to feel shit http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/10/liverpool-black-history-month-will-dr.html
Yes the Director slavery museum said what. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/dr-david-fleming-to-be-investigated-by.html
Andy Kelly the news editor of the Daily Ghost bottled it and hid the story. Trinity "Smoking" Mirror fashion.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/12/david-bartlett-come-in-number-six-your.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/museum-of-liverpool-are-trustees-out-of.html
£750,000 were paid out for breach of covenants.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/12/national-conservation-centre-closes.html

So will he now jump or will he be pushed. The local press hailed the opening of the new Museum a success but now as the winter draws in and the kids are back at school there is hardly anybody going there. And of course it draws attention from our museum district.
He is on his way I feel a Judd-er around the museum that there is something about to take place, but its too late for Liverpool. The damage has been well and truly done.

Museum of Liverpool-Were English Heritage Corrupt or Complicit In The Ruination Of Liverpools World Heritage Site?

When the Liverpool Council planners under the Riechmarshal Lee secretly slipped in the plans for the then proposed museum in Liverpool’s world heritage site on 20th December 2005, I could not believe it, I should have been shopping for socks for my Uncle Billy, I did not even know of the proposals despite being very involved in planning matters for some time and specifically World Heritage.

Armed with a report from Icomos UK and my own speech. I SHOT OVER TO THE TOWN HALL TO BE THE LONE OBJECTOR.

No one knew about this even though the Ombudsman later cleared them because a one-inch advert appeared in the Merseymart or somewhere that conveniently nobody knew of. http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=307&MId=4716&Ver=4

Now click on the picture above and see the flats, in transparent pen on the Mann Island Site.  

IT WAS STITCHED UP WELL AND TRULY BEFORE-HAND.

David Irving as Chair of the planning comittee was standing in for Lady Doreen Jones the Doyenne of Disaster, he nodded it through.

I got the list of letters sent out by the council one was addressed "the Statue Pier Head" another "The Car Park" Mann Island another to a shop next to mine that did not exist and my shop did not receive one. How strange.
I thought that Peter de Figueiredo http://www.defigueiredo.co.uk/index.html  who was English Heretics historic building advisor at the time has something to answer about because his partner was the Curator of NML, Julian Treuherz. (de Figueiredo now works for Peel Holdings on Liverpool Waters)
http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/t/14373/Julian%20Benjamin+TREUHERZ.aspx
So I wrote to the Heretics under the Freedom of Information act requesting all the documents to show how a reasonable decision could have been made with our world heritage site without public consultation. Something the toothless UNESCO would later confirm was undemocratic. Henry Owen-John was and is real nuisance, he is EH Regional Development Director see picture above
Then by chance I stumbled across a strange bit of information, that the then Chairman of English Heritage Sir Neil Cossons was working for Liverpool Museums…along with ex top knob at the Heretics bureau, Loyd Grossman who was then the chairman of NML…along with the then leader of the city council the now disgraced Mike Storey (who conveniently didn’t tell anyone, in fact it appeared to be a secret)…and the Chairman of the North West Development Agency, Bryan Gray who was to fund the museum by the sale of the land to build 3 huge blocks on the Mann Island site that they owned. They were in the plans but with transparent pen.
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=controversy-as-building-plans-set-to-go-ahead%26method=full%26objectid=17867193%26page=2%26siteid=50061-name_page.html


Copy thereof
149. Declaration of Interest
The Chairman invited Trustees present to indicate whether they had any conflicting or prejudicial interests within the items of business set out below.
Not specific to any agenda items Mr Grossman advised that he may have conflicts of interest arising from his Deputy Chairmanship of the Liverpool Culture Company. Mr Gray advised that he may have conflicts arising from his Chairmanship of the North West Development Agency. Sir Neil Cossons advised the he may have conflicts of interest arising from his Chairmanship of English Heritage. Councillor Storey advised that he may have conflicts of interest arising from his role as Leader of Liverpool City Council.
RESOLVED that the Board accepts that none of these possible interests give rise to undue conflict or could prejudice the proper transaction of the business of this meeting and the Trustees concerned should not therefore be expected to withdraw from the discussions.

150. Decisions of Trustees
Permission to accept offer of £32,700,000 from the North West Development Agency
RESOLVED that the Trustees accept offer of £32,700,000 from the North West Development Agency
The list of conflicts of interest was immense one of NMLs trustees had even had a job done by 3XN the architects the strange occurrence that not a soul in Liverpool had heard of until the plans for the WHS had been approved. Despite the Conflicts of Interest, lets move on, and ignore them, they then decided.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/about/trusteesDotNet/meetings.aspx?tid=47

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17112292%26method=full%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

How can you have a then Chairman of English Heritage working for the very perpetrators of WHS disaster. It should not have been allowed?

What the English Heritage series show is that if its convenient, it’s a stitch up right from the top down.
Thurley denied there was any conflict of interests after I wrote to him. Well he would, wouldn't he.

But what happened in reality was that Unesco took the nformation that English Heritage had put together as they were the Governments advisors so it was well and truly stitched.

Current trustees

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/about/trustees/index.aspx

Neil Cossons has just written a book about Liverpool's Heritage called Liverpool Seaport City.

I hope this man can sleep at night.

Update 30.9.2021

Liverpool has now lost its World Heritage Site Status.

Don't say we didn't tell you.

LIVER BUILDING LIES-Propagated By The BBC.

I expected a whole day dedicated to the opening of the New Museum but not a day dedicated to slagging off the Liver Buildings.

I was just getting out of my car when the crusty old ‘Soft Alec’ Stephen Guy of Liverpool Museums proclaimed, on air, there was all this controversy, when they built the Liver Buildings a hundred years ago. What a silly man. Then it was all over TV on BBC Northwest.

I don’t know how many times on air I have told Roger Philips that there is no evidence for this rumour designed to justify the new museum.

Stephen Guy who was a journalist, who covered the Miss Morecambe Beauty Competition at the Midland Hotel in the dark days when Miss World was big, is employed by Liverpool Museums as a press officer along with Claire Ryder and Dicky Bird (yes that is the name he goes under) to slag off the Liver Buildings, to justify the fact that next to our three gently ageing Edwardian Beauties, they stick a trashy tart.

A museum of Liverpool designed by a Danish Architect with no place in its current setting.

This propagation of untruths with only one scrap of evidence that Sir Charles Reilly the architect did not like it has now been said so many times on the BBC this last couple of days that people are going to believe it and that’s job done for those people who get paid to propaganda us.

There was no huge controversy, and the BBC should produce evidence, if it is to be a propaganda merchant for Liverpool Museums who are slagging off the Liver Buildings, simply, for a way of justifying the awful carbuncle they have built us, in the World Heritage Site, that should never have been allowed.
Henry Owen John of English Heritage says the same rubbish.
Cllr Paul Brant said something similar last week on BBC Northwest.
You see, they believe that by saying you hated the Liver Buildings once, and now you love them, it justifies them to say, see we are doing you a favour by giving you a carbuncle that you will all love in the future.
No, it doesn’t work like that, it is a carbuncle, part of the whole Pier Head Mann Island Development

(You know, NML wont let the Mann Island developers use a picture of the new museum on their sales brochures, or any advertising so they cant be associated with the three black coffins). The whole funding package by the NWDA is for the whole Pier Head development including the Cut that now breaks the Pier Head Vista in two, is all written on this blog.
It is a real shame that the BBC have been taken in by this, Roger Philips, friend Phil Redmond the Chairman of NML who told me, while I was talking to Tristram Hunt and I quote, “None of this should have been built here” will be very proud of them for helping muck spread lies about the symbol of Liverpool. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/mann-island-funds-new-museum-its-fact.html


This rubbish has to stop.
Just remember what they have done to the WHS next time the BBC are talking down to you.

National Conservation Centre Closes- Liverpool Museums Director David Fleming is on £109,999-This is Where Your Money Goes.

Liverpool Museums Senior Staff Pay dataset at 30 June 2010

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/about/seniorstaff/organisation.aspx
David Fleming  Director 1 DCMS National Museums Liverpool Directors office £105,000
Actual pay £109,999

1 David Fleming NA Director of National Museums Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool NA 0151 478 4201 david.fleming@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
Payband 9

2 Vacant
Payband 9


 Executive Director (Collections Management) Responsible for NML's public venues venues and collections. Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool Collections Management
 Cost of reports rounded to nearest £100,000................ £300,000

3 Sharon Granville
Payband 9
 Project director (Museum of Liverpool) Currently leading the new multi million pound Museum of Liverpool project, as well as managing the departments of Urban History and Estate Management Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool Museum of Liverpool 0151 478 4236 sharon.granville@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
 Cost of reports rounded to nearest £100000.................... £200,000

4 Amy de Joia Payband 9
Exectutive Director (Development & Communications)
Responsible for fundraising, marketing and communications, exhibitions, museum partnerships and the development of the catering, retail and conference business run by NML Trading Ltd Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool Development and Communications 0151 478 4962 amy.dejoia@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk  £351,358

5 Carol Rogers Payband 9 Executive Director (Education, Communities & Visitors) "Directs the Education Division, in the strategic planning and delivery of formal, informal and outreach learning programmes based on and relating to the collections on display across all NML's venues and oversees the delivery of front of house services across the organisation.
" Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool Education,Communities and Visitors 0151 478 4123 carol.rogers@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk  £275,073

6 Anthony Allen
Payband 9
Executive Director (Finance) Responsible for all financial forecasting and budgeting, reporting to financial and audit committes.
 Oversee's NML's Information Services and Audit functions.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool Finance 0151 478 4638 tony.allen@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
1 Cost of reports rounded to nearest £100,000............. £200,000

7 Maxine Carden
Payband 8
Director (Human Resources) Responsible for developing and delivering HR strategies alligned with business requirements. Department for Culture, Media and Sport National Museums Liverpool Human Resources 0151 478 4677 maxine.carden@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
1 Cost of reports rounded to nearest £100,000.............. £200,000

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/about/corporate/documents/organisation-chart.pdf
 
Chart of Pay structures at NML What I find difficult to understand is how David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming is on payband 9 but appears to be on less money than the others.
I also find it alarming that Sharon Granville has not been sacked http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/09/sharon-granville-of-liverpool-museumsis.html If she was in the private industry with her pathetic record on Flemings Folly, the new Museum of Liverpool she would have gone a long time ago.

Liverpool Conservation Centre To Close Its Doors To The Public-The Decline of NML Continues.

Liverpool Conservation Centre to close its doors to the public

Dec 13 2010

by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post
LIVERPOOL’S flagship conservation centre will permanently close its doors to the public at the end of the week.
Art lovers have been able to have free entry to the Whitechapel-based National Conservation Centre for 14 years.
But museums bosses facing a 15% budget cut said it has to close its doors.
The conservation work done there will continue, and its permanent exhibition – Revealed: the Hidden Stories of Objects – will be moved to the World Museum.
But several staff are likely to be affected by the closure.
NML director Dr David Fleming said: “We bitterly regret having to close one of our venues to visitors, but this is the harsh reality of government cuts. The National Conservation Centre was a very popular venue that staged many fantastic photographic exhibitions and other events over the last 14 years.”

This what happens when you let a twasser like Dr David Fleming loose with too much money, he puts all his eggs in one new museum basket and the rest of the once proud establishment starts to decline.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/10/liverpool-black-history-month-will-dr.html
Not only does he want all young black men to feel shit but everyone associated with NML.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/maritime-disaster-at-merseyside.html
Couldnt Phil Redmond-stien have found some volunteers to man it.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/phil-redmonds-house-is-featured-in.html


What a disgrace, and it will get worse.

Maritime Disaster at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Our friends at Seven Streets highlighted last week, the lack of diners at the Maritime Museum Dining Rooms at the Albert Dock. Another one of the wacky director, Dr David Flemings schemes, overseen by the trustees and their Chairman Big Society Tory Phil Redmond.                They call it a Fright at the Museum and its delicous stuff. http://www.sevenstreets.com/food-and-drink/a-fright-at-the-museum/  Served up on a platter of irony with just a touch of relish on the side. Here is what the racist comment maker "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming had to say about it in the museum insider in 2009 when it opened. click on the pics Hey he's so clever.

Maybe considering its next to the slavery museum his wishes to make "all young black men feel shit" it has worked. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-want-all-young-black-men-to-feel-shit.html
Maybe that's why there is nobody there. Seven Streets show a picture, they were just a bit late with the shutter speed to catch the tumbleweed drifting through. 
They say, "How to take a winning formula and kill it stone dead. Why Merseyside Maritime Museum's Restaurant has sunk without trace"...  worth a read.


I commented at the time. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/maritime-dining-rooms-maritime-disaster.html

 
 When the tin pot dictator, I mean director took out all the Herculaneum pottery, because in my opinion he is not educated enough to understand how important it is to Liverpool history and how volunteers painstakingly researched and built up the collection over decades. Only to see a racist comment maker, who thinks he's clever destroy their hard work for another cafe.
He should have been a director of Starbucks not our museums.

Or maybe its because of the way the Pier head looks.
Now to enter the Maritime Museum you have to go past the awful Mann Island and past the obnoxious scrawling architectural disaster that is the new museum. That some people at Seven Sheets seem to like, well there is no accounting for taste, but there are other views there too. http://www.sevenstreets.com/city-living/feature-city-living/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-mann-island/
Remember though that the Mann Island Coffins designed by Matt Brooks, http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2006/03/09/this-is-architect-matt-brook-s-vision-for-the-pier-head-is-it-right-for-the-waterfront-100252-16793395/ oh, and the museum, along with the Canal Cut are of the same funding package and were always treated as one.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/mann-island-funds-new-museum-its-fact.html

I am reliably informed that Morrissey worshiper, Dicky Felt-tip, Flemings personal PR is under instructions to distance all publicity linking the museum, the White Coffin, to the Black Coffins.    

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-now-he-is-winging.html  Whinging about budget cuts.
Don't let them get to you, if so much money had not have been wasted paying out for covenants or settling legal disputes, or wasted on overcharging http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/09/museum-of-liverpool-contractors.html     the once proud institution would not be in such a financial mess.

Well what do you expect from a regime whose directors favourite museum is The Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius and who wants "all young black men to feel shit"

Liverpool Black History Month-Will Dr David Fleming Be Taking Part?

ORGANISERS of Liverpool’s Black History Month are promising a packed programme of events.

The sixth annual festival, which starts today, aims to celebrate black history, culture and heritage.
This year’s event also coincides with Liverpool hosting the 15th MOBO awards for urban music at the Oldham ECHO Arena on October 20.
Highlights include the Black Achievers Awards and the Cultural Food Feast as well as a host of film nights, lectures, book launches and more.
National Museums Liverpool is also marking Black History Month with a series of events at venues across the city and a new book about slavery. The Black Achievers awards night is a prestigious black tie event which will be held on October 9 at St George’s Hall.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/01/black-history-month-hero-worship

The book, called Transatlantic Slavery: An Introduction, has also been launched by the International Slavery Museum.
 http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/10/01/liverpool-s-sixth-annual-black-history-month-launches-today-92534-27377424/

So after the director of Liverpool's International Slavery Museum recently said at a symposium about slavery,

 "I want all young black men to feel shit"

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-want-all-young-black-men-to-feel-shit.html should he be allowed to continue in his post and be allowed to educate us on matters of black history and slavery. I am not the son of a slaver I have no responsibility to be viewed as a slavers son.

Should the city editor of Liverpool's Daily Ghost writer for the museums and mate of Dicky Felton, PR for Fleming, be allowed to continue,  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/trinity-smoking-mirror-burying-dynamite.html for burying the story of this magnitude. 

The public deserve to know when their Representatives are behaving no more than ignorant bigot fashion, making worse stereotypes than those directors of museums, the racist museum directors of the the racist past, who used to ransack foreign shores and treat people as human loot and who now make free publicity in returning things that should never have been removed.

 It is interesting how a Dicky Felt-tip publicity shot was arranged to show what a jolly good fellow Fleming is.

 Instead of reporting the true picture of a man who in my opinion has got a racist undertone in his speak they bump him into a jolly good fellow. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/09/24/national-museums-liverpool-hands-back-human-remains-to-australia-92534-27332944/ Now I am not for one minute saying it is not right to return the human remains to their rightful place but it is a coincidence it happens now. pic courtesy of the Daily Museums at Old Hall Street.

The last time Flem went down-under he upset all his staff saying all curators are dysfunctional characters. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/watching-detectives.html

So taking one to know one, Fleming is to be investigated by Liverpool City Council after Joe Anderson was made aware of his comments. David Bartlett at Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors is aware of this fact and has spoken to the person investigating him. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/dr-david-fleming-to-be-investigated-by.html 

So now he is giving the museums assets back to their rightful owners, can we have all our Herculaneum pottery back, http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/maritime-dining-rooms-maritime-disaster.html 

Oh and the Ferry bell, http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/national-museums-liverpool-destroy.html

and the Manchester Dock gates. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/manchester-docks-obliterated.html 

Oh and the Wincham http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/05/mv-wincham-and-museum-director-in.html

But when the local press bury news what can you expect for the truth.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-daily-post-turning-into-morning.html

Museum of Liverpool-A Complete Cock Up From Start To..................When Will It Finish.

THE opening of Liverpool’s flagship new museum has been put back by up to six months.

Museum bosses had hoped to welcome their first guests in spring next year but are now not likely to open their doors until the summer.
The Daily Post can also reveal the Museum of Liverpool’s X-wing building has been plunged into a legal no-man’s land after the contract between National Museums Liverpool (NML) and its main contractor expired and was never renewed.
NML, which commissioned the £72m waterfront building, allowed its contract with builder Peel Galliford Try (PGT) to lapse in February.
It means NML, which is headed by director Dr David Fleming, has not technically taken ownership of the building and PGT is still responsible for it.
Final “snagging” works at the site are still to be completed and are now threatening to delay the project further. And because no agreement exists between NML and PGT, the taxpayer-funded museums body is potentially exposed to a huge bill. PGT is effectively babysitting the site but has not agreed what fees it will be paid to do so.
When pressed about the contract issue NML could not confirm it had taken “vacant possession” of the Museum of Liverpool building or if it was now its legal owner.
It is understood that the building is still technically in the hands of the construction company that built it and is under what is known in the construction industry as a “contract at large”.
But in February – around about the time the last contract between NML and PGT expired – NML chairman Professor Phil Redmond hosted a gala fundraising dinner in the museum’s People’s Gallery, ostensibly to mark the handover of the building from PGT to NML.
Referring to the opening being put back an NML spokesman last night said it has been reluctant to give an exact date because it wanted to “get things right”.
He added: “This is the largest new museum built in the UK for more than a century.
“We’ve been reluctant to give an exact opening date as this is a massive scheme and we want to get things right.
“We are making really good progress on site and are looking forward to opening next summer.”
Prof Redmond’s dinner was also held to mark the end of construction on the museum but NML has now also admitted the site is still an “operational building site”.
The Daily Post understands one of the reasons the contract was not renewed was because NML was not happy with how certain parts of the building had been finished off.

One of the most significant sticking points was the amphitheatre-style steps that were installed at either end of the building, which apparently did not “mesh” together satisfactorily.
After seeing them in situ, NML directors asked for them to be ripped out and re-laid.
The Daily Post understands one of the sets of steps has been taken out, but neither has yet been replaced.
It remains unclear if NML and PGT have come to an agreement about their final design at all.
Last month the Daily Post revealed how NML had been dragged through a £500,000 legal dispute by its architects, AEW, over unpaid fees.
It also emerged that the epoxy resin flooring in the museum needed attention after the surface bubbled up.
Nevertheless, NML said it hopes to continue fitting out the museum and preparing to let in visitors. Last month an overhead railway carriage moved into the building and became the first object to arrive. More than 10,000 local people were consulted on the content of the exhibits on show in the three-storey building.
And NML expect the museum to attract more than 750,000 visitors a year, and lead to more than 70 permanent jobs. Responding to the contractual issue with PGT, the NML spokesman added: “We are happy with progress being made on site. Fit-out is under way and we were thrilled when the overhead railway carriage became the first object moved into the new museum last month. This marked a significant development in the creation of what will be a world class museum.
“As we’ve stated before the Museum of Liverpool is still an operational building site. Works inside and out are continuing with a variety of contractors working on this £72m scheme as you would expect with one year to go before opening.
“The project is continuing apace and we can’t wait to open next summer.”
A spokesman for PGT was unavailable for comment.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/08/24/museum-of-liverpool-hit-by-delay-at-contract-row-looms-92534-27123299/2/


When Dicky Felton joined NML as press officer, he may have thought he was going to be employed to give packets of swizzels to kids at the new wacky warehouse-on-sea.
 I bet you he didnt anticipate that he would spend all his time pulling Fuzzy Felt Fleming out of the "shit" he has created for himself.

Dr David Fleming-To Be Investigated by Liverpool City Council

After another Dr David Fuzzy Fleming comment, this  time "I Want All Young Black Men To Feel Shit". It now seems that a full investigation has been started by Liverpool City Council after Council Leader Joe Anderson was made aware of his comments made at a recent symposium about Slavery.

He may wish to be controversial but this just shows him for what he is.

 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-want-all-young-black-men-to-feel-shit.html A Black Lady from the floor said "I do not wish this for my two sons when they visit a museum"

More to Follow.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-citadel-of-disaster.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/watching-detectives.html
He had previously said while being interviewed in New Zealand by Dr Diana Cobley.

"Why is it that most curators and museum staff are completely dysfunctional in normal society?


"Most of them you would not want to take out for a drink. They’re weird! And why is it that our sector thinks it’s appropriate to put weird people at the head of it?"
 
Yes well.........

Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors Group- Burying Dynamite

I posted a blog last week about Dr David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming who made the remark "I want all Young Black Men to feel shit". Yes you heard that right the director of the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool who has invited Barack Obama to Liverpool, said this in a public forum to the floor. What an idiot!
There are not many words that can defy the crass and imbecile twasser that has been let loose in charge of my museums, the place I used to love. No wonder they are in such a precarious state. This was picked up by a local correspondent for the Daily Ghost, writer for the museums, who questioned Fleming while on holiday, who did not deny it.
Dicky Felton Flemings personal press officer placed in charge to help him out of the holes he keeps digging himself, has asked personally that this potentially damaging comment be "Buried".
How can we trust a paper that cherry picks its news to suit its advertisers and advertorial-ists, its nearly as shameful that the local press sit on the story.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-want-all-young-black-men-to-feel-shit.html  and do nothing with it. How can we trust these people at the local press who are supposed to report and inform the public.
Picked up by Correspondent at the weekend who rightly says Fleming needs to answer questions.
http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/fleming-should-explain-himself.html

"I Want All Young Black Men To Feel Shit"- Dr David Fleming.

At a recent symposium about Slavery. Dr David Fleming made this statement.
What a disgusting little man.
He may wish to be controversial but this just shows him for what he is.
A Black Lady from the floor said "I do not wish this for my two sons when they visit a museum"

More to Follow.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-citadel-of-disaster.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/watching-detectives.html


This idiot needs stopping

Phil Redmond's House, Is Featured In Cheshire Life.

No they wont be having many Scouse weddings in this part of leafy Cheshire. In the hamlet of Utkington by Tarporly. While he is organising Camerons "Big Society" and telling us all to volunteer to run the underfunded Liverpool Museums. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/are-liverpool-museums-skint-phil.html Phil, whose wife, Alexis has been the trustee responsible for finances at National Museums Liverpool for years needs to take a long hard look at the script he has served up for those scousers that he pretends to be one of.
Phil, Lord of the Manor, Redmond, should be a little less patronising to those good people of Liverpool and stop pretending he lives here in the city when in reality he hires a team of gardners and serfs to mow his lawn, and do all his menials.
Dr Redmonds House has a history of volunteers being at one time the base for a sort of sect called the Moral Re-Armemant Movement.
Not quite a Mosely Blackshirts organisation but well a sort of "Big Society" idea to transform the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Re-Armament
It was apposed by C.S Lewis who was against the group, and said "If you try to suppress 'it' you only make martyrs".
The Oxord group was led by Frank Buchman  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buchman who once said "I thank Heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler".
Tom Dryberg described Buchman as a soapy racketeer.
Was it Oxford or Eton that Cameron attended? Anyhow big ideas Phil may well and truly be in his own world now.  But he is kidding the people of this city. All Millionares together telling us to tighten our belts.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html

Dr David Fleming-Calls For Him To Be Sacked As Director of Liverpool Museums.

Yesterdays letters page in the Echo had a letter from a A. Woods.

It sums up the mess that Liverpool Museums are in and spells out what we and all those who have to endure the NML dictatorship have known for an age. The Director should be sacked.

What a waste

PERHAPS the threatened closure of The National Conservation Centre and the Piermaster’s House (July 27) could have been avoided if so much money hadn’t been wasted on the new Museum of Liverpool?

If the press reports are to be believed, £750,000 was paid for a covenant breach and over £500,000 in an architect’s dispute. These amounts would have gone some way to covering any potential budget shortfall.

Regardless of how these projects are funded, these examples suggest just how cavalier National Museums Liverpool seems to have been with public money.

In most professional bodies the head person would have resigned or been sacked for presiding over such a scandalous waste of funds. Maybe National Museums Liverpool can begin the process of addressing its budget deficit by replacing its director, David Fleming?

A. Woods, Aigburth

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/views/echo-letters/2010/08/02/liverpool-echo-letters-august-2-2010-100252-26976266/2/

Maybe those at the DCMS need to look at pulling in the strings of this argumentative upstart who is a bit too arrogant for his own, no, our good. 

Here is a prediction. All the publicity and funds will now go towards the new museum leaving the old institution of NML, the grand old lady of Liverpool underfunded.

 http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/07/27/liverpool-s-museums-facing-closures-due-to-government-funding-cuts-92534-26936676/

The proposed volunteers don't materialise, or do, but dont have the expertise and slowly we watch as the much loved museums such as Sudley Art Gallery close...............and we go back in time, all because Fleming was not reined in, on time and was let loose with a kings ransom in funds that he argued away.

Picture of Rome MAXXI opened in 2009. (Well they do look exactly the same)

Museum of Liverpool- Is Nominated for Building Design Carbuncle Cup 2010 .

Well that must be an award in itself nominations 2 years running within yards of each other. http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/uk/nominate-your-carbuncle/5002065.article  Last year Liverpool had the embarrassment of the title of National Carbuncle cup winner for the Terminal Ferry Building plonked on the Pier Head. It was declared by Amanda Ballieu the editor of Building Design in her final summing up said “The winner is the building that shows how bad architecture and bad planning can combine to produce something truly awful — a building so ugly it can turn human flesh to stone or at the very least make grown men cry”.

 http://www.bdonline.co.uk/readers-free-classifieds/liverpool-ferry-terminal-wins-carbuncle-cup-2009/3147432.article  

The judges went on “It is such an amazing site, directly in front of the Three Graces, but the architects seem barely to have noticed. It is like letting a bad second-year student build next to St Peter’s,” said the judges despairingly.
“This is bad patronage by an ignorant council which thinks having jazzy architecture is putting the city on the map again.”
Completed this summer by Hamilton Architects (not to be confused with Hamiltons) the £9.5 million building incorporates ferry operations, a Beatles museum and a rooftop restaurant. It is cantilevered on two sides and clad in limestone to complement the new Liverpool Museum next door.

“The architect evidently once looked at a Zaha building in a magazine,” said the judges. “It is essentially a horrible sectional idea that has been extruded like a stick of rock. The long elevations couldn’t be more tedious, the Dr Caligari end facades no more grotesque. When you go there you think: oh no, I can’t believe they’ve done that.”

The awful One Park West on Chavasse Lawn came fourth just missing out on the top three.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=new-mersey-ferry-terminal-unveiled%26method=full%26objectid=18012714%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=ferry-terminal-delayed-after-call-for-rethink%26method=full%26objectid=18308623%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

Larry Neild wrote before he went to work for October Communications.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/liverpool-columnists/larry-neild/tm_headline=uninspired-design&method=full&objectid=18810407&siteid=50061-name_page.html

This year it is the new Museum of Liverpool, and it stands a good chance of winning too. The Terrible Ferry Terminal building in the words of the architects was designed to compliment the new museum !!! Yes and they managed it only, not being educated in the requisite skills to design in a world heritage site, Hamiltons, the Belfast based architects didn’t realise they were following the lines of a bigger carbuncle than theirs. Here is a letter in the BD

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/comment/letters/carbuncle-too?/3153941.article

At first glance, the new National Museum in Rome looks just like the ferry terminal in Liverpool which won this year’s Carbuncle Cup (Features August 28)

It is only when one reads Ellis Woodman’s excellent review of the building as “displaying a cynical disregard for its purpose” that it is clearly by your old favourite Zaha Hadid. Once again, one might have expected better from a total outlay of €150 million.

Still, I do like the little orange hydrant in front of the entrance.

Susan Ballinger, Sheffielhttp://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_method=full%26objectid=18910245%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

Manchester Docks was buried

So what fate await Liverpools beacon of regeneration the new museum of Liverpool can it be picked as the winner of BDs Carbuncle Cup Award 2010……You bet it can.

The picture above alongside the Terminal Ferry Carbuncle is the Rome MAXXI (which they copied an elevation for Liverpool museum) which by contrast is nominated for the Sterling Prize 2010 which is dominated this year by museums, well apart from Liverpools. http://www.bdonline.co.uk/buildings/roman-horror-day-at-zaha-hadids-maxxi/3153497.article

Are Liverpool Museums Skint-Phil Redmond Wants It Run By Volunteers.

Here is a perfect example of some-one out to feather their own nest. Phil Redmond-The Professional Scouser who lives in Tarporly, in leafy Cheshire. They dont have many scouse weddings in that kneck of the woods. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html
Now because NML is skint and to save embarrasment to the big wigs at NML of which Phil is Chairman, and his wife Alexis is trustee responsible for finances, they now hatch a giant plot to blame everybody else but themselves. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-now-he-is-winging.html
Redmond says,
One is broadening out the current volunteer scheme at National Museums Liverpool (NML) - where Mr Redmond is chairman - which helps give practical work experience and transferable skills such as First Aid training to jobless people. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//2010/07/19/liverpool-s-phil-redmond-unveiled-as-coalition-government-s-new-local-innovation-champion-100252-26882670/2/

You build a new museum and then cut back on staff, now thats clever Phil.
Despite disbanding the Friends of Liverpool Museums who were helping run the museums he now wants them to come back minus any dissenters such as Andrew Pearce.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html This is what Correspondent says.


Redmond in the usual droll manner says,
“There is a model here for us to let people run public assets such as museums, libraries and council services outside normal staffing hours.
“Such training could be used to gain an employer-recognised qualification.”
Another plan is for exhibitions to be held as a platform for people to put forward their own ideas on how local services could be improved.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-five-faces-of.html They are Skint.

Here is my idea don't waste £78,000,000 pounds on a museum that nobody wants, or needs and you will be able to have a professional service at NML.

Dr David Fleming-Now He Is Whinging About Budget Cuts.

IT just has to make you laugh. after the last couple of days when the Director of Liverpool Museums has been found out to be in dispute with yet another body working for them. The new architects for the White Elephant-On-Sea, museum in the world heritage site has claimed an extra 500k in costs. This has to be paid in 10 days. With an extra £32,000 in costs.
Now good old Catherine Jones, who proclaimed to me to be running the Oldham Echo, Stop the Rot campaign, that never stopped anything, gets the chance for Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors to placate David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming who has complained about the coverage. He knows it works everytime he complains he gets extra coverage, to placate him, even though he was wrong in the first place to complain. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-five-faces-of.html

 http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/07/16/merseyside-arts-bodies-face-armageddon-budget-cuts-92534-26865327/

Now he whines;

 MAJOR budget cuts facing Merseyside arts bodies were last night described as “Armageddon”.

And National Museums Liverpool chief David Fleming said the organisation was looking at every option including selling assets, redundancies, closures of sites and reduced opening times.
Yesterday, the bosses of Britain’s biggest arts bodies met in London to make an impassioned plea for the government to think again about axing up to 40% from culture budgets, being considered as part of the imminent Spending Review.
They argued that, while the cultural sector is willing to play its part in the country’s economic recovery with “realistic cuts”, “the 25-40% cuts being proposed would be catastrophic as they come on top of 3.5% cuts this year as well as the cultural sector’s £322m contribution to the cost of the Olympics.”
National Museums Liverpool (NML) receives £21m from central government, which forms the majority of its budget. A cut of 25% would see it lose £5.25m, while 40% would equate to £8.4m.
Mr Fleming said: “There’s sharing the burden, and there’s deciding where you do least harm. At the moment, it’s just everybody gets the same. I’ve had several meetings with staff and they are being very constructive.
“It’s Armageddon and we’ve all got to work together to get through it.”

Maybe the local papers should wake up to the fact this carbuncle in the world heritage site is the worst cultural disaster to hit Liverpool since the Second World War.

MAYBE IF HE HAD NOT WASTED SO MUCH MONEY PAYING OUT COVENANTS AND LEGAL DISPUTES WITH 3XN AND THEN ARGUING WITH THE NEW ARCHITECTS, HIS, NO, OUR, ORGANISATION WOULD NOT BE IN SUCH A MESS.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/liverpool-museums-how-much-have-they.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/david-fuzzy-felt-fleming-he-should-be.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/trinity-smoking-mirrors-advertorial-for.html

Dr David Fleming-The Five Faces of Liverpool Museums.

Lets imagine the scenario yesterday by 12 am a full two page letter would have been received at the editors office, of Trinity Mirror complaining about the days press coverage of the museums being, effectively sued by AEN, the new architects, after the previous ones, 3XN were sacked. David Fleming will have expressed concerns about where the news came from and what sources had given the news over to the papers. He will have been sick as a Dodo.

Trinity “Smoking” Mirrors had tried to delay it, purposely in my opinion to give them a chance to put some more fluffy stuff in, but they were never going to get around this one. Ben Schofield will have put his tin hat on again for fear of being sued, Fleming has threatened him before.
Last week at a Union meeting staff discussed the impending cuts to the museum services. All this while David “Fuzzy Felt” Fleming wastes more public funds. It is now generally accepted that this big White Elephant-On-Sea is lurching from one disaster to another.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/trinity-smoking-mirrors-advertorial-for.html
The new press officer at NML, Dicky Felton, yes you heard it right, would have chipped in with a few e-mails, "it wasn’t adjudication, it was arbitration" he would have said. Really who gives a carrot about this rubbish trying to scare the papers into not reporting the truth? Bullying Mark Thomas and it worked last time when the major story about the £750,000 covenant pay off the Port of Liverpool Building owners, when Phil Redmond had it suppressed with personal intervention. Alastair and Phil get quite close at times.

Will Alsop declared last week http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-faced-liverpool-museums-will-alsop.html  saying I feel that the Liverpool museums who were stakeholders in the project always had their own agenda and were not helpful. Indeed, you could say perhaps even two faced. 

Dicky Felton was not even told by Fuzzy Felt Fleming about this £500,000 dispute, and now extra pay-off to the architects. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/museum-of-liverpool-cock-up-work-stops.html
At a time when nursing homes are closing all over the city, our museums waste millions.
How many faces do you need to be a museum director? How can you be a press officer and not be informed about such a disaster. Where did Dicky used to work? At Trinity Mirror, thats a coincidence.

So on 2nd July Museum Chairman, Phil Redmond had used his column in the Daily Ghost to announce that the staff at our once great institution are under pressure in recent times. Click the picture to enlarge.
It says
"Teamwork is something we are all going to appreciate, and perhaps need help, in the coming months, if not years, as the full impact of the budget starts to sink in. Already the public sector has been told to look for cuts, sorry efficiencies, of up to 30%, as we have at National Museums Liverrpool, alongside the rest of the cultural sector".

And then they waste £750,000 paying off a covenant, half a million to the architects, then the floor needs to come up. And then they are telling the staff to tighten their belts, it does not seem right.

Morrissey Lover, Dickie Fenton has been brought in, at extra expense to try and smooth out all the extra cock up money, how much is he being payed while staff worry about their jobs. This combined with visitor numbers being down significantly, because, NML sources say, of Grosvenor-pool taking the footfall in a differing direction. Some-one needs sacking and, in my opinion, he has got five faces.

Wayne Colquhoun