8am, it’s cold and wet and ahead of me lies another shift on the day job, however despite all that I’m already in town and crowded under the patio concourse of the Council House along with dozens of others who have made their way out early.
The reason we’re all here is a special event organised by local group the Creative Quarter to celebrate Nottinghams art and culture scene and to be a part of #bbcgetcreative a new campaign aiming to celebrating art across the UK.
I’m here as part of the City of Literature group, which is being headed up by my friend, and member of the CoL team Matt, who also happens to be editor of the excellent The Beestonian magazine. We’re just one group of over twenty covering various arts and culture groups including Mouthy Poets, City Arts, Nottingham Playhouse, NOMAD and the City of Football team.
After a short briefing – and a bit of a bollocking from the council for blocking access to the entrance of the Council House – we made our way out onto the Market Square lead by a group of brilliant drummers.
After posing for pics we made our way to the Nottingham Wheel and up into the air we went.
Photograph by Matt Goold – City of Liteature
Now I have to say trying to read a book while sat in a swinging “pod” with freezing cold hands is not easy but hey we’re readers (and in many cases writers) it’s what we do so we battled on as the wheel completed a full rotation – then another and another, four times, I think, we went round and we began to wonder if we would ever be let off (and I began to wonder whether I’d make it to work on time).
Eventually we were allowed off the wheel and were able to celebrate a job well done. All in all it has to be said it was a fantastic event and it was great to see so many people brave the weather and come out to celebrate Nottingham’s fantastic creative community.
It’s no secret that Nottingham has a truly great, not to mentioning welcoming, creative community and the new #bbcgetcreative campaign is a fantastic way to share that with the wider world so please be sure to get out and check out some of the amazing creative things going on across Nottingham every single day from the art gallery to the library, the theatre to the live music venue. There really is a HUGE amount of choice.
Oh and the book I was reading, that would be “Look Back in Anger” while tells the story of the 1984 miner’s strike in Nottingham, written by Nottingham based author Harry Paterson and published by Nottingham publishers Five Leaves – be sure to grab a copy from Five Leaves wonderful independent bookstore , which you can find up the small alleyway beside The Works, off Long Row.
You can find out more about the Creative Quarter by checking them out on Facebook here
For more on Nottingham City of Literature check out their website
Darren Patterson
