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Organisers of the second Wigan Food and
Drink Festival have announced that they will this year, pay a very
unique homage to the region’s purveyors of the bacon butty and toasted
tea cake.
Café Culture will be one of the 2008 Festival’s key events and will look
to celebrate the street café and its contribution to northern life and
Wigan Borough in particular with a specially commissioned photographic
exhibition.
‘We are bringing art and brown sauce together’. Says Festival Organiser
for Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust - Keith Bergman. ‘The Food and Drink
Festival is a celebration of the Borough’s quality restaurant sector;
the talent that works in them, the food and the tradition that they
provide. But it is not just about fine dine. Wigan Borough and our
region have a proud working class heritage. The high street café played
its part in fuelling the workers, providing places to meet and places to
relax. Café Culture will celebrate this’.
Documentary photographer and Wigan resident – Paula Keenan, whose
previous works have formed exhibitions at the Lowry Centre, Imperial War
Museum North and Sale Arts Centre, has been commissioned to photograph
Wigan Borough café life.
‘I want to capture the people and character both sides of the counter. I
want to find images which celebrate the warmth, humour and northern
hospitality that exists in what are unique and proud establishments’,
said Paula.
‘I have found at the very start of my work with this project, that cafés
are more than the place for that quick cuppa. They are a wonderful and a
relied upon community resource. People need cafés as much as the cafés
need the people and I want to try and capture that connection’.
Once Paula has completed her photographic expedition of the high street,
back street and road side cafes, she and a panel will then select images
which will be mounted and taken back out to a number of cafés; creating
a special Wigan Borough-wide photography exhibition and trail.
One of the first of the cafés to be visited by Paula this week was the
Courtyard Café, Jaxons Court, Wigan. Proprietor, Lesley Leyland thinks
the idea of art in a café is unusual but one that is likely to be
popular. ‘Its about time that people recognised the value of the street
caf’. I’m not sure what my regulars will make of the images. It will
certainly be interesting to see their reaction. And you never know, it
might just attract visitors to Wigan and to the café to see the images
and that would be great’.
Local poet, Peter Street has also been employed as part of the project.
Specially written prose will accompany each of the café installations.
Although the Food and Drink Festival takes place from 3rd – 13th
October, Café Culture - sponsored by Park Inn Hotel – Leigh and Leigh
Turnpike Centre, will be in cafes throughout the month of October. The
full programme and venue list will be announced in September.
More details about the Wigan Food and Drink Festival 2008 are available
on the Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust Web Site
www.wlct.org
Alternatively contact Wigan Tourist Information Centre on 01942 825677.
-ends-
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: There is a photo
opportunity with Paula Keenan at the Copper Kettle Café. Library St.
Wigan. 12.00 noon. Thursday 26th June 2008. Paula will be photographing
visitors to the Café and the Café environment. Confirm attendance by
contacting Keith L Bergman on the number below.
NOTES TO EDITORS: For further information on this press release please
contact Keith L Bergman (Wigan Tourism Unit), on 01942 486951 (mobile:
07958 461421) or at
k.bergman@wlct.org Alternatively contact Phil Green, Public
Relations Officer for Wigan Council on 01942 827369.
Paula Keenan can be contacted on: 07979 961820
SPONSORS: The Wigan Food and Drink Festival 2008 is sponsored by Hitchen
Foods. Wigan Borough Markets. FISWAL Catering. Rigalettos Restaurant.
Park Inn Leigh. Fresher Foods. Allgates Brewery. Wigan Leisure and
Culture Trust and Wigan Council.
MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES: WLCT Food and Drink Festival are happy to arrange
photo opportunities and arrange access to events. Access to some events
will require Press Passes. Passes are available by contacting Keith L
Bergman.
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust: Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust is a
charitable trust working on behalf of Wigan Council to manage and
support leisure and cultural facilities, initiatives and events for over
300,000 residents in the Wigan Borough. See
www.wlct.org
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