National Museums Liverpool (NML) are implementing a number of additional safety measures at their venues in response to the risks posed by the Omicron variant and the government’s new restrictions. Mask wearing is now mandatory in all of NML’s museums, galleries and shops (unless exempt), which continue to operate at reduced capacity in order to maintain social distancing. Hand sanitisers are available at entrances and key points, while venues are cleaned regularly throughout the day.

While the hope is that these additional measures will be short-lived, the worry is that rising infections could lead to the return of lockdowns and the temporary closure of museums and galleries. The other issue is that the festive season is a crucial period for most public venues and institutions in terms of income generation. Falling visitor numbers and cancelled bookings are already posing challenges for NML’s museums and galleries, which have already experienced an exceptionally difficult 20 months dealing with the impact of the Covid pandemic.

Some of the city’s most renowned museums and galleries including the Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, the Maritime Museum, the International Slavery Museum, the Lady Lever Art Gallery, and our special friends and partners at the Walker Art Gallery face a challenging winter, meaning that public support is more important than ever in helping to create and maintain memorable experiences for everyone. National Museums Liverpool offers individual, joint and family membership options, with exclusive benefits including free entry to exhibitions and the Planetarium, invitations to exclusive events and discounts. Donations and corporate support are also welcome.

Something to look forward to next year from our friends and partners at the Walker Art Gallery is The Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics exhibition, opening in Liverpool on 21 May 2022 and running until the end of August. This major exhibition will feature almost 70 of the most famous portraits from the National Portrait Gallery’s Tudor collection, paintings from the Walker Art Gallery’s own collection and a selection of additional loans, making it a rare opportunity to discover and explore the Tudors from a range of perspectives.

The Tudor dynasty reigned over England for over 100 years, and produced two of history’s most iconic monarchs in Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth. Other celebrated figures from the period featured in the exhibition include Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Mary Queen of Scots and William Shakespeare. One of the highlights will be a rare portrait of Henry VIII’s third queen, Jane Seymour, and aspects of black history and LGBTQ+ history from the period will also be explored.

The exhibition will feature around 100 objects in total, including the Westminster Tournament Roll celebrating the birth of Henry VIII’s son with Catherine of Aragon in 1511, which has not been displayed in public for almost 20 years. Thought to be the only surviving item from Elizabeth I’s wardrobe, the Bacton Altar Cloth has been loaned to the Walker Gallery for the event. Finally, the Armada Maps, recently saved for the nation and illustrating the famous Spanish naval attack on England in 1588, will also be on display.

This will be the first time that so many of the most renowned paintings from the National Portrait Gallery’s Tudor collection and objects of unique historical interest from the period have been exhibited outside of London, making The Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics a major event in the city’s cultural calendar, as well as a considerable accomplishment on the part of the team at the Walker Art Gallery.

This coming Sunday 28th November at 5.30pm, Liverpool Cathedral is once again holding its spectacular From Darkness to Light service to mark the first Sunday of the Advent season.

The service begins with the entire Cathedral in total darkness, and as the procession, accompanied by music, slowly wends its way from the west end to the east end of the building, the darkness is gradually transformed by more and more light from the candles held by the procession’s participants and the Cathedral’s natural lighting.

When the procession reaches the Altar at the east end of the building, the Cathedral is bathed in light, creating a warm, welcoming and stunning effect that symbolises both the daily rhythms of our lives, and the light which Christ and the Word of God bring into the hearts and lives of Christians. At the end of the service, the procession retraces its steps signifying Christ’s second coming.

The From Darkness to Light Advent service was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making this year’s service all the more special and heralding the start of a more typical festive season at Liverpool Cathedral. Admission is free and no booking is required. The Cathedral doors open at 4.30pm, and bell ringing will take place before the service from 4pm to 5.30pm.

Bartletts Solicitors are proud to be long-term supporters of Liverpool Cathedral, with Thomas Bartlett, a direct ancestor of the firm’s owners, leaving a bequest for the construction of the array of 13 bells for the new cathedral which was then being built in 1912. We wish our friends and partners at Liverpool Cathedral all the very best wishes for the upcoming festive season!

The Museum of Liverpool is reopening its popular Wondrous Place gallery next Friday, 26th November, showcasing and celebrating Liverpool’s internationally recognised roll call of creative talent in music, sport, cinema, TV, comedy, art, poetry and more. New displays and immersive experiences help visitors better understand the city’s array of trailblazing talent, and its genuine influence around the world in different creative spheres.

The new Stage and Screen display looks at how Liverpool has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood blockbuster films and award-winning TV shows, and also explores some of Merseyside’s less well-known cultural creators, including writers, producers and performers. Among the famous items of costume on display are iconic Beatles’ suits, one of Lita Rosa’s favourite stage dresses, a Melanie C stage costume worn on the Spice Girls’ 2019 Spice World tour and Cillian Murphy’s cap from the BBC gangster drama Peaky Blinders.

Liverpool’s sporting legacy is not overlooked, with Bill Shankly’s trademark overcoat taking pride of place alongside other more recent items such as 2019 heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s running shoes, Grand National winner Rachael Blackmore’s racing silks and Natasha Jonas’ Team GB boxing shorts. The Wondrous Place gallery also examines the region’s gaming industry and offers visitors the chance to play some of the iconic games developed in and around Liverpool.

The Wondrous Place gallery reopens on 26th November 2021. The Museum of Liverpool is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am – 4pm. Visitors can explore Liverpool’s fascinating, diverse history in this magnificent waterfront museum.

Zoë’s Place Baby Hospices in Liverpool, Coventry and Middlesbrough are hoping to repeat the success of last year’s 30 in 30 Challenge during October this year, and raise vital funds to enable the independent registered Children’s Charity to continue to provide its free services to families that need them most.

The 30 in 30 Challenge invites individuals or teams to cover 30 miles in 30 days by walking, jogging, running, swimming or cycling, and to encourage friends, family and colleagues to donate and reward participants’ efforts. You can also set your own distance target if you think you can manage more than 30 miles during the month of October.

The 30 in 30 Challenge is a great way to get fit, have fun and make a much-needed contribution to Zoë’s Place, and the services it is able to provide to infants aged 0-5 years with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. Zoë’s Place has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds during the pandemic due to cancelled events and a drop in donations, so now is the perfect time to get involved and help secure the charity’s future.

To give an idea, it costs £30 an hour for respite care for one child at Zoë’s, while £45 provides one hour of music therapy for a child, and £100 would cover a day out for four children. Every donation helps provide short-term regular care with dedicated nursing staff, in a home from home environment to give parents and carers a well-deserved break.

The highly-anticipated Sickert: A Life in Art exhibition opens at the Walker Art Gallery on 18th September (next Saturday), and will run until 27th February next year.

This major Walter Sickert retrospective will feature paintings by the artist loaned from national and international collections, as well as drawings from the Walker Gallery’s own collection of Sickert’s work, many of which are being displayed for the first time. The exhibition will showcase around 100 paintings loaned to the Walker Gallery for the Life in Art exhibition and 200 drawings.

A Life in Art is the largest retrospective exhibition of Walter Richard Sickert’s work to be held in the UK for more than 30 years, providing a once-in-generation opportunity for art lovers and anyone interested in the development of modern British art to explore the life and work of one of the country’s most radical and influential artists.

Walter Sickert was born in Munich, Germany and moved to the UK as a child in 1868. In a career spanning six decades, he became a pivotal figure in British avant-garde painting, influencing a generation of British artists as the leader of the Camden Town Group, an association of artists who advocated a rough and unromanticized vision of urban life.

The World Museum’s immersive fulldome Planetarium is currently screening a number of daily shows exploring the mysteries of the Solar System and Earth’s place within it.

The 20-30 minute shows allow visitors to travel through time and space and discover the wonders of the galaxy. The introductory screening, From Earth to the Universe, starts with a history of astronomy, and then embarks on a journey of exploration across the Solar System, out into the Milky Way and beyond. This is the perfect introduction to the mysteries of the universe for people of all ages.

A new show, The Edge of Darkness, explores the outer reaches of the Solar System and what can be found there, including the dwarf planet Pluto, asteroids, comets and other strange and mysterious objects. The Little Star That Could is a cartoon for young children about a newly formed star and how he discovers other stars and planets.

The Planetarium’s other three daily screenings cover one of the great mysteries in astronomy, Dark Matter; the ongoing search for planets orbiting distant stars (exoplanets); and a 20 minute show looking at the discovery and history of the telescope. Visitors will need to make sure they arrive at the correct time for each screening, as no late admittance to shows is possible due to the nature of the experience.

The World Museum’s Planetarium is the oldest planetarium in a British museum, and has been visited by more than two million people since its 1970 opening. The Planetarium’s opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10am – 6pm, with screenings starting at 11.30am and ending at 5.25pm.

2021 marks the 70th anniversary of Liverpool Cathedral’s record-breaking bells being rung for the first time in 1951. When Liverpool businessman Thomas Bartlett died in 1912, he left a bequest for the construction of a huge array of 13 bells for the new cathedral which was then being built. The bells were cast at Whitechapel’s famous bell foundry in 1938 and 1939. The ring of bells weighs 17 tonnes, and surrounds the massive ‘Great George’ bell which weighs 15 tonnes on its own, making it bigger than Big Ben and second only to St Paul’s Cathedral’s ‘Great Paul’ bell. Great George cannot be swung, and is instead struck with a hammer.

Visitors to Liverpool Cathedral can view a small exhibition about the bells, including video and audio content and a selection of photos and drawings showing how the bells were made and put in place from the Cathedral’s archives. Each bell was given a unique name, such as the ‘Emmanuel’ Tenor bell (pictured above) relating to bible characters, historical figures and eminent people associated with the Cathedral’s history. Each bell also bears a unique inscription from the Prayer Book version of Psalms (Old Testament), except for the Emmanuel’s inscription which is taken from the New Testament.

Thomas Bartlett is a direct ancestor of our firm’s owners, and Bartletts are proud to continue a tradition of support for Liverpool Cathedral in its current fundraising efforts. It is possible to support the Cathedral in various ways, especially by making a donation or leaving a gift in a will to help this venerable Liverpool institution continue to provide its unique spiritual and charitable services in the community.

Until the end of August, Liverpool Cathedral continues to host the major ‘mass participation’ art installation, Peace Doves, created by Peter Walker, an artist and sculptor with considerable experience of bringing inspiring large-scale artworks to historic places of worship in Britain.

Peace Doves consists of 18,000 paper doves suspended on ribbons and rising towards the ceiling of the Well (an area of the Cathedral that is regularly used as a display space for art). Before the recent series of lockdowns, Cathedral visitors, local school children and community groups were invited to write their thoughts and messages of peace, hope and love on the paper doves, with thousands of people thereby participating in the work’s staging. Peace Doves is accompanied by a soundscape created by composer and sound artist David Harper.

Peace Doves was due to be displayed in Liverpool Cathedral in spring 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, but the staging was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dean of Liverpool, the Very Revd Dr. Sue Jones commented, “This artwork builds on previous installations and enables us to continue our mission to be a place of Encounter…We feel enormously grateful to be able to host this amazing installation at Liverpool Cathedral.”

The artwork is a visual treat, particularly when displayed in Liverpool Cathedral, an unrivalled exhibition space for intriguing and contemplative artworks such as Peace Doves. With only just over a month left to view the installation and the school holidays rapidly approaching, visitors should take the opportunity to view Peace Doves, as well as the popular Angel Wings moving light projection and the interactive art installation Peace to Ourselves.

Peace Doves will be exhibited at Liverpool Cathedral until 31 August 2021, from 11am to 3pm. The Cathedral’s art installations are free to view, however, bookings must be made in advance due to COVID regulations.

A major new exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery will open in September and run until the end of February next year. Sickert: A Life in Art will be the largest retrospective of Walter Richard Sickert’s work to have been held in the UK for more than 30 years, showcasing drawings from the Walker’s own unique collection, along with paintings loaned to the Gallery from national and international collections of the artist’s work.

The Walker Art Gallery holds 349 of Sickert’s drawings, making it the largest collection in the world. Most of the 200 drawings that will feature in the exhibition have never been displayed before, and the new exhibition promises to give us real insights into how these drawings influenced Sickert’s major works and the vital role they played in his artistic practice.

Walter Sickert (1860-1942) is one of Britain’s best known and most successful artists, whose importance was recognised by his contemporaries, and whose reputation as one Britain’s most influential artists of the 20th century has only grown over time. Munich-born Sickert was a member of the Camden Town Group, a group of Post-Impressionist artists who met on a weekly basis in his London studio in Camden Town.

Sickert was a radical painter, who in a career spanning six decades repeatedly reinvented himself while maintaining a characteristic realism and rawness in his work, which often saw him tackle somewhat seedy subject matter. He profoundly believed that art should hold a mirror up to the modern world and strive to depict the unvarnished truth about society. He was also a colourful and fascinating character who was fond of courting controversy and changing his appearance. He has even been touted as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, including by well-known crime author Patricia Cornwell in her 2002 book Portrait of a Killer.

Pre-sale members tickets for Sickert: A Life in Art went on sale today, 24th June, and the exhibition promises to be one of the highlights of Liverpool’s cultural scene when it opens in 12 weeks time. The Walker Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm.