Archives for January 2021

Merseyside Maritime Museum’s stunning new Life on Board gallery explores the moving and fascinating stories of Liverpool’s seafarers and passengers over the generations, including during the period of the city’s greatest prosperity when Liverpool was a beacon of world trade and a magnet for investment.

The new permanent gallery features the stories of both merchant sailors and leisure line passengers, from the 1700s to the present day, and looks at the lives they led on board, from the dangers and joys of seafaring, to the culture and sense of community it provided.

One of the gallery’s highlights examines the story of the sinking of MV Derbyshire, the largest British-registered merchant ship ever to be lost at sea during typhoon Orchid in the South China Seas in 1980, and the 20 year search for the truth about the disaster.

(Merseyside Maritime Museum is currently closed due to the pandemic, but is normally open from 10am – 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday. Admission is free and advance booking is required for both visitors and members.)

We are sad to say that the Walker Art Gallery is now closed once again (along with all of National Museums Liverpool’s venues).

As long-term supporters and sponsors of the Walker Art Gallery, we appreciate the blow this latest closure represents, particularly after all the efforts of the charity organization to provide a safe environment for visitors.

During these challenging times and now more than ever, National Museums Liverpool needs the support of those who share its vision of great museums for everyone, caring for some of the world’s most important collections, and providing an illuminating, fun and inspiring experience for millions of visitors every year.

One ray of sunshine during the latest confinement is the organization’s 3D virtual tour function, which enables you to explore collections at your own pace, including the Walker Art Gallery’s ‘An English lady’s wardrobe’ virtual tour of clothing and accessories, uncovering style and shopping trends in Liverpool during the interwar years.

Our commercial property department represents the award-winning company Marldon, which is looking to the future with new development projects at Prescot Street and Chamber Street in London E1.

Marldon continues to learn about the area’s fascinating history. In the late 1700s a watchmaker called George Prior worked at 31 Prescot Street. Prior is believed to have designed a watch that belonged to Ludwig van Beethoven, now part of an important collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth fell on December 16, 2020, and Marldon was no doubt happy to celebrate this proud if distant connection to the great composer!

Find out more about our commercial property team:

Expertise at Competitive Fixed Fees

After a huge amount of endeavour on the part of the team at Liverpool Cathedral, we are delighted to report that our friends and partners have received just over £600,000 in crucial funding from the government’s Department of Digital Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Cultural Recovery Fund.

At what is obviously a difficult time for cultural and religious institutions across the country, the grant enables the cathedral to save jobs and break even for the financial year, helping this magnificent Liverpool institution to continue to play its important role in the cultural, tourism, economic and spiritual life of the city.

While the grant is extremely welcome, the cathedral’s income has been badly hit by falling visitor numbers due to the pandemic, and needs our ongoing support to continue its vital work, including the efforts of Micah Liverpool to feed the poor in the run up to Christmas.

Continuing our exploration of the Walker Art Gallery’s treasures, Room 6 hosts one of the world’s best collections of Pre-Raphaelite art, including paintings by Rossetti, Millais and Holman Hunt, the radicals who changed art in the 19th century.

William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were the three leading members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, formed in 1848. As the name implies, the group opposed the influence of Raphael (as well as Sir Joshua Reynolds) on the contemporary academic teaching of art, instead pursuing the idea of ‘truth to nature’, exemplified by bright colours, attention to detail and traditional themes.

Despite widespread initial condemnation, the group rapidly became influential and gained significant support in Liverpool during the mid-1850s. The Liverpool Academy repeatedly awarded its annual prize to Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and the artists’ works were bought by many of the city’s leading merchants and industrialists.

Known as ‘the National Gallery of the North’, the Walker Art Gallery is among the finest art galleries in Europe, and is also home to the UK’s leading painting competition – the John Moores painting prize. Our firm is proud to be associated with this jewel in the city’s cultural crown, and feel extremely lucky to have world-leading collections like The Pre-Raphaelites just a stone’s throw away!

Our friends at Age Concern Liverpool & Sefton are acutely in need of volunteers to help run the charity’s Befriending Services – a vital lifeline for people aged 50+ living in the area who are feeling vulnerable, lonely and isolated.

The anxiety and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in demand for Age Concern’s Befriending Services, including the organisation’s telephone friendship service. The 200 current volunteers play a vital role in the lives of older people in Liverpool & Sefton, including visits to those who are housebound.

More volunteers are now needed to represent the community and improve people’s lives by sharing their experience, skills and knowledge. Contact Age Concern Liverpool & Sefton to volunteer or share the opportunity with anyone who may be interested.

Share your stories of special museum visits and contribute to the ‘Night at the Museum’ project.

Our friends at National Museums Liverpool are in the process of creating a new immersive adventure experience called ‘Night at the Museum’. Based at the World Museum, the experience will combine theatre, storytelling and gameplay with the latest immersive technology to go deeper into the various extraordinary collections that the curators and staff take care of.

As part of this new project, National Museums Liverpool would like to hear your stories about memorable visits to its museums, and the strange and wondrous objects you found there. What secrets and myths are attached to these objects? What is the combination of fact and fiction that brings these objects to life? Some of the most interesting stories will be woven into the ‘Night at the Museum’ project and become part of the learning experience – so get sharing your thoughts and ideas today.