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T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 1
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
V OLUME 19 - I SSUE
J ANUARY 2015
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS
2014 was a most exciting year for Manchester. Those of
us who watch for things to happen occasionally left the
glow of the cosy fire in the Portico Reading Room to
venture into the mean Manchester streets and there,
last March, we found that we had a rival – Central
Library.
Vincent Harris’ 1934 Portland Stone-clad structure on St
Peter’s Square re-opened after a £50 million refit, but
the first thing that was noticeable on entering was that
the clock was still an hour wrong: no one had changed it
the previous October. Clearly you don’t get much for
your £50 million, but why didn’t they hire our legendary
clockman, John Dalton, who sorts out ours twice a year
in keeping with his right to free membership?
The Portico stand in the splendid Great Hall of Manchester Town Hall
during the Histories Festival event in March
It was a great year for cultural events in Manchester.
There was the Manchester Histories Festival, also in
March. A number of events linked with the biennial
extravaganza, mostly historical talks, took place inside
the Portico. And if the re-opening of Central Library
wasn’t enough, a few weeks later in April, the vacated
Coronation Street set in Granadaland opened as a visitor
attraction four months after the last filming took place
there. In case you’re wondering what this has to do with
the Portico, apart from the fact that everyone in
Manchester is obliged to watch Corrie by law, a couple
of faces from the show have been members in recent
years, and it wasn’t so long ago that Sean (Anthony
Cotton) brought Nick (Ben Price) in for lunch. Some of
I NSIDE THIS ISSUE :
R OUNDUP OF 2014 … E D G LINERT
1
C OUNTERVIEW … E MMA M ARIGLIANO
3
F ROM THE C HAIR … L YNNE A LLAN
4
I N P ROFILE : S HEILA W ILD …E D G LINERT
6
C REINA M ANSFIELD & G RAHAM G REENE ... H ANS M OCK
10
P ORTICO F RIDGE M AGNETS
13
P OETRY AT T HE P ORTICO … S HEILA W ILD
14
N EW F ACES ….. N EW S TAIRLIFT
15
E VENTS AND E XHIBITIONS
16
P OPPING UP ALL OVER THE PLACE …C HARLES B LEASDALE
20
you, sadly, won’t understand any of the previous
sentence.
May was a dramatic month for Manchester. At the city
council elections Labour won every seat – all 32 – for the
first time. That means 95 of the city’s 96 councillors now
take the Labour whip. The one that doesn’t sits as
Independent Labour, and he’s called Henry Cooper.
Really. He had to fight for the right to do so. Of course all
partisan political talk is proscribed at the Portico, but I’m
just saying.
The same month saw Manchester Town Hall taken over
by a distinctly non-political crowd: the actors filming the
TV show Ripper Street in the building’s inner courtyard.
The sight of the cast, led by Matthew Macfadyen,
dressed in 19th century garb milling around Lloyd Street
during a break in filming understandably excited
passers-by, who began snapping away with their
phones. It all got out of hand when one member of the
public, who was videoing the scene, promptly got
himself arrested and was told by the constable that as
he was illegally filming his phone would have to be
confiscated. The latter smelt a rat when he noticed the
arresting officer was dressed in Victorian policeman’s
garb.
In October Elizabeth Gaskell’s mid-19th century villa at
(Continued on page 2)
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 2
(Continued from page 1)
One of the newly renovated rooms at 84 Plymouth Grove,
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
the southern end of Chorlton-on-Medlock reopened as a
visitor attraction after an expensive refit. The Gaskells
did of course enjoy significant links with the Portico.
William, Elizabeth’s husband, the minister at the
Unitarian Cross Street Chapel, was also chairman of the
library here. Elizabeth wrote some of the best-loved
novels of the 19th century, but could not be a member of
the Portico as that entailed proprietorship, and in those
days married women could not own property in their
own right. 2015 should see more of Gaskell in the news
for November 12 marks the 150th anniversary of
Elizabeth’s death.
The re-opening of the Gaskell House coincided with the
annual Manchester Literature Festival during which the
Portico, as usual, played a leading role. It was a coup to
land Radio 4 broadcaster James Naughtie to promote his
new book, the spy thriller The Madness of July with a
talk at the library.
Have you ever noticed the Portico Library shake and
rattle every few moments, as if the floor was caving in?
It’s those blasted trams passing on their way to the
Mancunian Bermuda Triangle known as Cornbrook
Junction, or to give it its full title “Cornbrook Points
Failure Junction”. There, from November, one could for
the first time board a tram to Manchester Airport on a
new line. The Airport line is an ingenious invention if
you’re starting from the Portico and catching a plane in a
week’s time. First you leave the library and take the
short walk to St Peter’s Square. Eventually a tram turns
up and heads for Cornbrook. There you must change to
pick up the Airport tram – if you can ever find one. And
then, after snaking through the back end of Sale Moor
and parts of Wythenshawe that nobody had ever
previously found the tram arrives at the Airport tram
stop, a mile from your terminal, several days later. They
actually have sleeping berths on this service.
At the end of the year in December came the good
news. No, not that Good News, from Mark 1, but good
news from the Government. All the talk was of “A
Northern Powerhouse”, Manchester as the leading city
outside London in terms of jobs, investment, culture and
ingenuity, with science central to this vision. Quite right.
Manchester has a long and proud history of scientific
achievement. Here the computer was first programmed,
the atom split and graphene invented. Here John Dalton
devised Atomic Theory, in a building just behind the
Planned site of the new multi-million pound theatre and new national science museum for Manchester
(Continued on page 6)
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 3
C OUNTERVIEW
I am frequently asked
the means by which
the Portico Library
came by its Collection.
Did we buy all the
books one by one, by
library, or were they
donated, bequeathed
to us? The truth is that
we
amassed
our
collection much as we
are continuing to this
day. Some we have
purchased,
by
recommendation,
discussion, awareness of what’s available and suitable in
the publishing industry, or by simple browsing—virtual
or physical. Other volumes are bequeathed to us,
generally by our members and, occasionally, we receive
books by way of donation. The Library, too, has always
enjoyed its fair share of authors within its membership,
and we have often received copies of their books. Peter
Roget, Elizabeth Gaskell and, more recently, Alan
Garner, Val McDermid are amongst the many writers
who have inscribed their books to the Portico. Thus does
our collection grow as it always has.
Nowadays we are in the unfortunate position of
accepting donations with caution because of the serious
lack of space—a problem experienced by many
repositories of special collections. And our collection
management and development policies help us to focus
on what we can and can’t accommodate. We have,
however, received many lovely volumes from members’
libraries, either bequeathed to us in their wills or,
sometimes, to make room on their own shelves! We are
always grateful to have been considered as recipients of
these additions to our treasures, although we are
constantly aware of our space restrictions.
It was with this in mind, then, that I experienced a tiny
feeling of apprehension when one of our members
contacted me recently to offer a number of books, some
of which came from their own collection and some
which had been inherited. So I arranged with Henry and
Lynne Simon to look at these books in their home in
Alderley Edge. When I got there they welcomed me and
settled me in their dining room and proceeded to empty
box after box onto the table whilst I looked on in delight
rubbing my hands in anticipation of going through these
beautifully bound volumes which were just waiting to be
taken with open arms into the Portico Collection. The
photo at the top of the page shows just what I was
looking at.
I set to, with the camera I always carry with me, my
mobile phone as a back up (because it takes very good
close-up pictures), pad and pencil and ticked each
volume (except for a small single volume of a 1765
edition of Philip Francis’ translation of the works of
Horace, which was worm damaged) as most worthy
additions to our Collection.
Mitford’s History of Greece (1838, 8 vols, full leather),
Gibbon’s … Decline and Fall … (1776-8, 6 vols, full
leather), The Works of Laurence Sterne in Ten Volumes
(1780, full leather) are just a small sample of what was
set before me. There were, of course, some particular
favourites that I came across, such as a beautiful first
edition (1755-9) of La Fontaine’s Fables Choisies, in 4
volumes and with gorgeous illustrations by Oudry.
Then there was the stunning, rather scarce, single folio
illustrated volume of Icones plantarum rariorum, Nicolao
Josepho Jacquin, 1781) containing sumptuously handcoloured plates of rare plants of the world; and I mustn’t
forget the wonderful first illustrated edition (1688) of
Milton’s Paradise Lost with 16 plates by at least three
(Continued on page 13)
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 4
F ROM
THE
C HAIR
and education in Art, History, Literature and
Where to start? 2014 was a momentous year at The
Science.
Portico Library. September marked the mid-point of my
(first) three-year term as Chair. A great deal has been
AIMS
achieved during these twelve months but there is so
1.
To preserve the historic building and
much more to be done to secure the future of the
collection
Library. Last year saw necessary and great changes in
2.
To provide access to knowledge and
the governance of The Portico but there was also
learning
continuity in the form of our long-serving and able
3.
To provide culture and inspire creativity
Librarian Emma (now Chair of the Association of
4.
To engage with the community through
Independent Libraries) and a stable Main Committee
outreach activity
eager to play its part in the development of the Library.
5.
To provide and enhance membership
In December, the Portico Library Trust held its AGM and
activities
its new Chairman, Ken Phillips, spoke about the
Space will only allow me to comment briefly on each of
symbiotic relationship that exists between the Library
these but there will be a much fuller account in the
and The Trust and this has been reflected in the past
Annual General Report.
year by the positive working alliance that exists between
the two bodies. Notwithstanding this welcome
Regarding our mission statement and aims the
development all parties have been mindful that the
Cataloguing project is of paramount importance and we
charity has to work within the constraints of its Trust
are within striking distance of achieving the completion
Deed and demonstrate its charitable concerns and
of this essential project. However, to complete the task
independence from the Library.
we still need several thousand pounds and a request has
been made to the Trust.
I would like to thank the Trust Committee, Ken Phillips,
Nick Money, Walter Nicholls, Edward Thorp and
As far as the preservation of the building is concerned
Reinmar Hager as well as the Main Committee and also
we have received a fabric inspection report and we are
our most supportive membership for their efforts and
in the process of prioritising essential repairs.
hard work in helping to
2014 saw the success of The
forge a new governance
Portico Brotherton Open
for The Portico which
Poetry Prize, the Portico
will
withstand
the
Prize for Young Writers and,
challenges that faces all
in particular, our outreach
Libraries at the present
event within our Conflict and
time. In the words of
Community Project with St
John Alcock, our valued
Edmund
Arrowsmith
member
and
legal
Catholic High School, Wigan,
adviser, “It is important
earlier in the year. This was a
to have the right people The participating pupils of St Edmund Arrowsmith High School. Photo and link to article
huge success that not only
sitting in the right
by kind permission of the school.
established clear links with a
chair”, and I feel that
regional school which we hope to work with again, but
has been achieved in the last year. Tribute must also be
also resulted in a very moving anthology of monologues
paid to our new Trustees, Arthur Bostrom, Pauline
from the pupils, on the theme of conflict. The
Randall and Libby Tempest, all of whom have made
attractively produced booklet is available from the
invaluable contributions to the life and running of the
Library and the excellent article written by participating
Library since their appointment to the Portico Library
pupils is linked here - http://tinyurl.com/kt8pjfz.
Trust.
I am very excited about our plans for 2015 which,
At this juncture, it might be apposite to remind
amongst others, include The Portico Prize for Literature
ourselves of the mission statement and aims of the
2015. We will be celebrating its 30th anniversary so we
Library as presented in our annual subvention claim to
are working towards a very special event in the literary
the Trust, for 2015, to measure our success in achieving
calendar of the library and of the City.
our objectives.
We will, of course, keep you updated with progress.
The Portico Library is open to all and aims to
Lynne Allan
enhance and develop life-long learning by
providing and promoting access to knowledge
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 5
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 6
I N P ROFILE : S HEILA W ILD
sessions, book launches and expert writing seminars.”
In an earlier life, Sheila was an Equal Opportunities
executive and spent 27 years at the former Equal
Opportunities Commission, whose headquarters was in
Manchester, first on Quay Street and then at the Arndale
Centre. There she became Director of Employment Policy
and she still carries out consultancy work on equal pay.
Sheila reading her poetry at John Rylands Library in November 2014,
during the Poetry and Players: New Voices
Sheila Wild is chair of the Portico Library Book Committee.
Did you not realise that this is just one of scores of Portico
committees (there’s a Catering Committee, Events
committee, Finance Committee…and, of course, the
Committee)? But the Book Committee at a library is really
the big one – “to look after the collection,” Sheila explains.
She has held the post for nearly a year and has revitalised
its role by re-introducing regular meetings.
Sheila has lived in Littleborough for three years. She grew
up in Uxbridge (which will soon be best known for being
Boris Johnson’s seat) and later moved first to Leigh, then
Eccles. “But I always wanted to live in the Pennines. It’s in
my blood.” She has two grown-up children and a
granddaughter, and works with the Elmet Trust which looks
after Ted Hughes’ house in Mytholmroyd, used as a holiday
let for part of the year. We digress for half an hour on West
Yorkshire’s exciting literacy legacy: the Brontes; the various
Ted Hughes locations; Sylvia Plath’s grave. She then plays
her trump card. “My great-aunt’s great-aunt used to take
tea with Charlotte Bronte.” I can feel another exhibition
topic coming on already.
Ed Glinert
(Continued from page 2)
Portico. A few weeks earlier HOME had announced they
would be opening their new arts complex – a new home
for Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre in their huge,
multi-purpose new complex on Whitworth Street West,
right opposite the long-lost Hacienda, on 21 May 2015.
Her personal mission is “to make the collection come
alive”. One way of doing this is through exhibitions – and
indeed next summer the Portico is staging a major
exhibition of literary anniversaries. Also in her sights is the
legendary Portico catalogue. Despite the recent departure
of our two wonderful cataloguers – Alex and Kirsten – the
library hasn’t forgotten about this vital work. “We do need
more money,” Sheila reminds me and explains that only 20
books a day can be catalogued, “because the books are so
old and fragile, and that has extended the cost. Illustrated
books take more time. Each illustration had to be
catalogued separately. And we’ve discovered lots of
valuable books we never knew we had.” I think
immediately of The Gilbart Prize Essay on the Adaptation of
Recent Discoveries and Inventions in Science and Art to the
Purpose of Practical Banking by Granville Sharp, 1851, [Kl
25].
Which leads me to the next new coup. The Hacienda
was owned by Tony Wilson and Factory Records, and
“The Factory” is the name for yet another new but this
time unstarted arts centre that is going to be located at
the old Granada TV site. What a perfect name, given
that Factory was the city’s greatest ever record label,
founded by Tony Wilson in 1978, named so to
counteract the deindustrialisation of Manchester, and
that Wilson worked on this site for Granada TV as one
of its best known presenters.
All this good news from the government. There can’t be
a general election in the offing (one in which Labour
won’t win every seat) surely?
Can there be any more? Yes. At the end of the year the
Portico Library proudly calculated that it had just
catalogued its millionth book. Sort of. Happy New Year.
Beyond the committee, Sheila is a poet, and she will be
introducing a programme of poetry at the Portico in the
New Year. “We’ll be working with the publisher Carcanet
and organisations such as North West Poets and MMU’s
Creative Writing School. We’ll be hosting poetry reading
Ed Glinert
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
S AMUEL R OGERS
P AGE 7
AND HIS
With some justification the last three or four decades
might be described as the Age of the Literary Biography.
To such names as Hilary Spurling and Claire Tomalin,
Michael Holroyd and A N Wilson could be added perhaps
half a dozen other first-class exponents of the genre.
Their ability to relate life events to their subjects’ work,
psychological insight to critical analysis, in a fascinating
and stimulating way has thrown fresh light upon the life
and work of Herbert and Milton, Austen and Dickens,
Shaw and Woolf and many more, and has drawn readers
back to original works of literature. Their Victorian
forerunners, by contrast - well represented on the
shelves of the Portico - inhibited by different standards
of decency, often lack the same depth of understanding.
Unsurprisingly, they seem….well, pre-Freudian.
Yet when they wrote of writers of their own century
they are often able to communicate the quality which,
earlier, had made Boswell so good on Johnson proximity. Whilst they may not necessarily have
breathed the same air, they often lived a recognisably
similar life. If they were not personally known to their
subject, they certainly knew people who were and when
they wrote about authors who have fallen out of fashion
today, their work is especially valuable. Such a case is
that of the banker, collector and poet Samuel Rogers
who for half a century was at the centre of literary life in
London, whose breakfasts attracted the likes of
Sheridan, Byron, Coleridge, Tom Moore, Charles Lamb
and Washington Irving and whose own verse was much
admired, not least by the young Romantics..
Rogers’s earliest and probably best known major poem
was The Pleasures of Memory (Ab11-9a in the Portico
Catalogue), which was published in 1792 and as a
consequence of which he was often known as ‘Memory’
Rogers. Jaqueline appeared in 1813 in the same volume
as his friend Byron’s Lara (Ab9). Italy (Ao13) appeared in
various forms before, in 1834 he published what he
regarded as the definitive version with illustrations by
Turner, Stothard and others.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Rogers had
fallen so far from favour as to be excluded entirely from
Quiller-Couch’s Oxford Book of English Verse. When
Helen Gardner made a new selection in 1972 she
included one short verse, The Wish, which begins:
Mine be a cot beside the hill;
A beehive’s hum shall soothe my ear:
The Pleasures of Memory has a similarly pastoral
beginning:
Twilight’s soft dew steals o’er the village green
With magic tints to harmonize the scene.
C ONTEMPORARIES
Whatever his poetic ‘wish’ Rogers in fact lived most of
long life in a very different environment. In 1803 he
moved into a house in St James’s Place with large bay
windows overlooking the Green Park. The drawing room
mantlepiece was made by his friend Flaxman and the
sideboard and cabinet in the dining room by Chantry
(yet to make his name as a sculptor). He lived there until
his death 53 years later, surrounded by old masters
(including works of Raphael, Titian and Giorgione),
valuable items of virtu and such curiosities as Milton’s
receipt for the £5 he received from the publisher of
Paradise Lost. It was there that the famous breakfasts
were held and where the wit of Sydney Smith, Henry
Luttrell and Richard ‘Conversation’ Sharp sparkled.
The Portico has a typical Victorian biography of Rogers.
It is by P W Clayden and consists of The Early Life of
Samuel Rogers (Fz229) and Rogers and his
Contemporaries in two volumes (Fz161-1, Fz161-2).
Clayden was a Unitarian minister, journalist, friend of
Harriet Martineau and husband of Rogers’s great-niece.
He wrote well but what is especially enjoyable about the
biography is the correspondence from Rogers’s literary
friends from which he quotes extensively. There are
letters from Byron, William and Dorothy Wordsworth,
Scott, Crabbe, Macaulay, Dickens and many others.
Those from Uvedale Price - he of the ‘picturesque’ - I
found especially good; informative, light-hearted, selfdeprecating. On one occasion Rogers had described to
Samuel Rogers by John Linnell, 1833-5
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 8
letters he wrote to his sister. Among the family friends
with whom he corresponded was Hannah Greg of Styal
and in a letter dated 9th November 1818, following Sir
Samuel Romilly’s suicide (who took his life a few days
after the death of his wife), he makes reference to the
Portico’s first secretary, who was Romilly’s nephew - “I
am sure your heart must have ached for the family and
for poor Dr Roget. Of those that are left, I think I feel
most for him at present….”
Although notoriously sharp tongued, Rogers was at the
same time the most generous of benefactors. “Borrow
five hundred pounds of him,” said the poet Thomas
Campbell, who spoke from experience, “and he will
never say a word against you until you want to repay
him.” When his bank was robbed of £40,000 in 1844, a
sympathiser wrote - “It is the only part of your fortune
which has gone for any other object than those of
benevolence, hospitality and taste”. It was thanks to
Rogers’s intervention that Wordsworth gained his place
in the stamp office and in Rogers’s court suit that he was
made poet laureate. Something of his kind heartedness
is also to be found in the opening sentence of another of
his books Recollections of the Table Talk of Samuel
Rogers (Ll 21): “I was taught by my mother, from my
earliest infancy, to be tenderly kind towards the
meanest living thing; and, however people may laugh, I
sometimes very carefully put a stray gnat or wasp out of
the window.”
Samuel Rogers died in 1855, ninety-two years after his
‘earliest infancy’ and just one year after the death of his
greatest companion, his sister, Sarah.
An undated letter from Rogers to Magdalen Bowles, wife of the clergyman-poet William Lisle Bowles, inviting her to join them for breakfast
Price a visit he had made to Lord Lansdowne at Bowood
where he met ‘the grand chorus’ of Wiltshire Bards William Lisle Bowles, Tom Moore and George Crabbe. Of
the last Price wrote back:
Crabbe, I once saw and that’s all. I might have
been acquainted with him, for Sir Joshua invited
me to dinner and told me I should meet Crabbe
and Johnson. I had some engagement,
probably…….at some fine house to meet fine
gentlemen and ladies: whatever it was I was
blockhead enough not to break it, and I have
never forgiven myself. The dinner I went to and
the company there I have never thought of from
that time to this; the dinner I did not go to I
never should have forgotten, and if I had gone
should now be recollecting every circumstance
with pleasure and satisfaction, instead of crying,
Oh, fool! fool! fool!
Rogers’s own movements, including trips to Scotland,
the Lakes and Italy - can be followed thanks to the
Martin Brayne
W HAT
ABOUT
.....
giving a gift of Membership to your nearest and
dearest? From £58 you can make a reader, writer or
bibliophile very happy by giving them full access to a
world within a world!
A 19th century collection, a wide selection of
magazines and journals, a marvellous Reading Room to
inspire your writing and reading are just some of the
pleasures to be enjoyed. And, of course, what better to
win friends and influence people than bringing guests
in for lunch and impressing them with one of
Manchester’s great cultural institutions?
Visit our website for more information about
membership or contact us by email or telephone.
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
C ONSERVATION A PPEAL
The Portico is lucky enough to hold a complete
set of the 92 volume duodecimo edition of
Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire produced by
Beaumarchais at his Kehl press (1785). Over the
years the individual bindings have deteriorated,
and each volume has becomeincreasingly fragile.
We are appealing to individuals to sponsor the
conservation of this set; each individual volume
within the set will cost approximately £58, and in
return for your support a permanent bookplate
will be placed within your chosen volume(s), with
a record on the online catalogue, recording your
name, date, and a small dedication of your
choice. The volumes will be sent to our
conservator Cyril Formby, in Rambsottom.
P AGE 9
THE PORTICO LIBRARY
IS AVAILABLE FOR HIRE!
Delicious homemade food,
afternoon tea parties, suppers,
buffets, dinners, meetings and
more, in a truly unique setting...
Choose The Gallery for up to 100
people approximately or the
Reading Room for around up to
30 people. Soak up the tmosphere
and impress your guests!
Contact us on
0161 236 6785
If you take an interest in current social and economic issues, why not come to one of the following
meetings arranged by the Manchester Statistical Society this winter:
Tuesday 13th January—Prof Alan Jackson of the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre,
University of Manchester: "Painting by numbers - interpreting medical images"
Tuesday 10th February—Derek Bird, Head of Prices Division, Office for National Statistics:
"Should we discount official Consumer Prices Indices?"
Tuesday 10th March—Prof Rachael Griffiths, Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the University
of Manchester: "Gluttony or Sloth: what are the driving forces behind obesity?”
Meetings are normally held at Manchester Cathedral Visitor Centre, 10 Cateaton Street, M3 1SQ and
start at 5.30pm. Non-members are very welcome to attend but should e-mail the Secretary
([email protected]) beforehand to check availability of places.
www.manstatsoc.org
[email protected]
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 10
R EVIEWS
T HE Q UIET S OLDIER ; P HUONG ’ S S TORY
BY
C REINA M ANSFIELD
An email interview between Portico member Hans Mock and the author
Many members will remember
the powerful novel The Quiet
American by Graham Greene
and if not the 1958 film then the
2002 one starring Michael Caine.
Phuong was the beautiful trophy
Vietnamese
woman
surrendering first to the English
journalist and then to the
eponymous
American.
Macclesfield
author
Creina
Mansfield has now stepped into
the skin of this young woman
and cast the story in a different
light reflecting the realities of
Vietnam’s troubled history from
a Vietnamese perspective. I
know Creina as an extra-mural
lecturer with MANCENT (the
successor to the Manchester
University Courses for the
Public). According to the blurb
her special interests are the
modern novel and the theory of narrative structure. But
don’t let that put you off – it’s a good read!
Hans Creina, according to the O’Brien Press website
you were born in Bristol in 1949,studied literature at
Cambridge and became a teacher of English at
secondary school level. You lived in Dublin for a number
of years and are now living in Macclesfield with your
husband and two teenage sons. Your first book, Fairchild
was published in Hong Kong and your first book with The
O'Brien Press, Cherokee, was published in 1994,
followed by My Nasty Neighbours in 1995. Your last
books are It Wasn't Me, the story of how Jack deals with
the school bully, and Snip Snip for younger readers. Am I
right in thinking that all your previously published books
were children’s books ? Why have you left it so long to
write a novel for adults? And are the challenges so very
different ?
Creina That info’ is out of date: my sons are no longer
teenagers, which makes your central point about the
length of time it’s taken me to have a novel for adults
published even stronger. Explanation—the first piece of
work I had published happened to be for children so that
kept me for some years in that ‘ghetto’ as Mark Haddon
has called it. Then, when they grew up and I felt I
couldn’t write for children as I was losing touch with how
they spoke, behaved and so on, I
wrote a couple of novels for
adults that have not been
published. I had no trouble
getting a good agent but
nevertheless she failed to place
either with a publisher. While this
was going on I was getting
increasingly interested in writing
what is known as a ‘revisionist’
novel, but I knew it would take a
lot of research, including trips to
Indo-China.
H
I bought The Quiet
Soldier: Phuong’s Story on the
principle of always buying a book
written by a friend or
acquaintance. It can sometimes
be a little embarrassing if I don’t
like it but not in this case – I
thought it was brilliant! At first I
thought the idea was a bit of a
gimmick but in fact it is an
excellent way of penetrating the barrier that separates
us in the West from our dubious history in the East and
you managed, in a short book, to outline the realpolitik,
the moral complexities on both sides, and the story of a
beautiful and intelligent young woman whom I, and I bet
most others who had read the book or seen the film,
viewed as a willing partner to Fowler (Fowlair (!) was the
phonetic Vietnamese) and then Pyle but who was, in
fact, disgusted by the performance of this patriotic duty
as a spy. Your book builds on The Quiet American by
borrowing the characters but casting them in a light
from the East rather than the West. Graham Greene
would have been impressed. How did you first
encounter Graham Greene and what aspects of his life
and writing particularly appealed?
C
Thank you for your insights into the novel Hans.
You’ve got my aims spot on. I’ve been familiar with
Greene’s novels ever since I encountered the triumvirate
from that era: George Orwell, Evelyn Waugh & Graham
Greene fifty years ago. It’s not particularly his great
‘Catholic’ novels that make me a fan. I think his political
writings, especially The Quiet American are superb and
as relevant today as when he wrote them. [The Quiet
American was published in 1955 in Britain and 1956 in
the USA]. Some years ago President George W. Bush
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
referred to the novel. He seemed to think that ‘the
Graham Greene argument’ as he called it was that
America should have withdrawn earlier from Vietnam,
that America should never involve itself in any country’s
affairs. But read the novel President Bush! Greene is
saying understand before you interfere. Don’t arm a
tyrant just because he’s anti-communist or anti-Isis.
Comprehend before acting. Good intentions are not
enough.
H
Can you say a bit more about The Quiet
American and how the central idea of The Quiet Soldier
came to you.
C
I’ve always liked to think around a narrative. For
example I remember watching Colombo episodes when I
was young and wondering whether the detective was
really scruffy or was it a persona he assumed as he put
on his old raincoat and left his (of course, immaculate
bachelor) apartment. I found this note recently:
The Quiet American is a novel that I admire
tremendously, but I dislike the depiction of Phuong as
vacuous and self-interested. She’s prepared to sell
herself to the highest bidder, is wonderfully ignorant
and interested in nothing more than gossip about
Princess Margaret. Her portrayal conforms to the
stereotype of the passive Oriental woman.“She never
spoke of herself, she never represented her emotions,
presence or history. [The writer] spoke for and
represented her.” To counter this, I want to show a
taciturnity born of trauma, a terrible caution induced
by experiences and situation. Phuong is often silent
because she is fearful.
I must have written this as I embarked on the writing
of The Quiet Soldier
H
Please say something about the “lot of research
including trips to Indo-China”. How many trips did you
make and what form did the research take ? Was it
mostly impressionistic and did you speak to any people
with memories of the conflict ?
C
Before I began writing I spent over six weeks
travelling around the country, which was essential to get
the feel of the place. Since many Vietnamese women still
wear the ao dai, it was possible to imagine Phuong
walking along the rue Catinat. I rarely felt I could ask
people about their experience of the wars, although I
visited the war museums. Returning home I did a lot of
reading and was fortunate that a number of friends also
made trips and brought back information that I asked
for.
H
The book is quite short (195pp). Did you find it
difficult to leave out so much of the material you must
have gathered ?
C
I didn’t want to make the novel research-heavy,
but was conscious that readers needed to be informed
P AGE 11
about some historical events. The narrator isn’t of the
omniscient kind; a device that I used quite often was to
have conversations between characters who informed
each other about various events.
H
When Vietnam opened up to tourism my young
nephew was spat at in the street but now, according to
friends, the locals are charming. Aside from your literary
interest do you have any feel for how the country has
come to think of its past? And in particular of the
Americans?
C
We encountered only friendliness. We often had
guides and of course they gave the party line, which was
‘let bygones be bygones’—not that this was necessarily
false. The Vietnamese have never received compensation
from America. On the contrary, until restrictions were
relaxed under President Clinton, they couldn’t even buy
such medical items as chutes for children suffering from
hydrocephalus due to Agent Orange. Many American
veterans have returned to Vietnam, trying to help those
who still suffer because of war. Some children of
American servicemen and Vietnamese women have been
allowed to emigrate to the States. They would certainly
suffer in Vietnam, I feel, as reminders of the conflict.
H
Unusually for a novel you have a suggested
reading list at the end of the book. If you had to
recommend just one for me to read which one would it
be and why?
C
I felt I had to reduce the list as it is! David Marr’s
history (Vietnam 1945; The Quest for Power) is
excellent—very detailed. Tobias Wolff’s In Pharaoh’s
Army is beautifully written, but if I had to choose one I’d
say The Tunnels of Cu Chi (Tom Mangold and John
Pennycate) because those tunnels are fascinating.
Incidentally, I managed about ten minutes down them.
How people lived in them for weeks on end I do not
know, but then I wasn’t frightened or fighting.
H
Thanks Creina.
Readers may be wondering about our author’s name
and the back of the book says her mother worked in
Buckingham Palace and named her after one of Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s ladies in waiting. The
name means “precious one” in Gaelic. Phuong means
“phoenix” in Vietnamese. Well, I did work with trade
marks so names are always interesting to me!!
If you have any comments for Creina please send them
to the editor and we will pass them on. Perhaps we may
be able to publish one or two in the next Quarterly. But
the last word should go to Creina who, after reviewing
the above, including the introduction for the first time,
commented: Narrative theory is great fun, I promise
you!
Hans Mock
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 12
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T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 13
(Continued from page 3)
NEW! PORTICO FRIDGE MAGNETS!
European artists including John Baptist Medina and
Peter Paul Bouche.
Look out for the launch of our new and unique fridge
magnets inspired by the Collection. The British presses
of the 18th, and particularly the 19th, centuries
produced some of the most attractive and beautifully
illustrated books in Europe and the Portico Library is not
short of superb examples of these. The pages of our
books are rich with rare steel and wood engravings,
monochrome and coloured lithographs and hand tinted
plates, many of which are not easily available elsewhere.
Space prevents me from waxing lyrical on these lovely
volumes and on the generosity of the Simons in
donating them to the Library. But it did bring home to
me that little changes from century to century. (I think it
was Marcus Aurelius who pointed out that “almost all of
the transactions in the time of Vespasian differed little
from those of the present day”). So it is with The Portico.
Although in the 19th century we received a substantially
larger donation with the Adlington Pamphlets, collected
and probably donated to the Library, by Mr Charles
Leigh of Adlington, this latest donation from the Simon
family is also amongst the most important we have
received within our collecting history. The Adlington
Pamphlets, were sold to John Rylands Library for about
£500 during the first or second decade of the 20th
century. It happens to be an invaluable collection of
around 1000 or so polemical and political pamphlets
dating from around 1720 to 1760. There have been
many times when we have regretted that sale and, as
our collection defines our purpose, we must ensure that
we look after our assets rather than strip them!
Such donations as that given by the Simons continue to
demonstrate so well how the volumes on the Library
shelves reflect the culture of the prevailing society
around us and we are committed to caring for the books
in our guardianship. In the meantime our sincere thanks
go to Henry, Lynne and Oriel Goldsmith for such great
additions to our Collection.
Emma Marigliano
Illustration to Book I of 'Paradise Lost' (1688)
We have chosen illustrations from subjects as wideranging as corpulency and leanness, cosmology, ancient
paintings and natural history and will continue to
introduce new designs, transferring them to fridge
magnets, postcards, greetings cards, posters and wall
art. Below is just a small selection of fridge magnets
which will retail at £3.50 each and are sure to make your
friends envious! Buy them as gifts or even instead of
cards! You can build up your own Fridge or Boiler
Gallery!
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 14
P OETRY AT T HE P ORTICO
Although the Portico is well-known for its literary events,
supporting writers and poets from the region and
beyond, 2015 sees the introduction of a programme of
events devoted entirely to poetry. The Portico provides
a unique and beautifully bookish setting for what is the
most intimate of arts, a setting which I know has been
much sought after by writers and publishers.
We begin our Programme at 11am on the 17th January
in the Cobden Corner of the Library, and subsequent
third Saturdays of every month, by hosting Pass-on-aPoem, where people come along to read a favourite
published poem aloud, or simply to listen to what others
choose to read. Pass-on-a-Poem has been absent from
Manchester for the past couple of years, and I’m
delighted to be bringing it back. I can’t think of a
pleasanter way to spend a Saturday morning than
reading poetry in
the Portico.
We continue the
year
with
our
hosting of the
County Round of
Poetry By Heart,
the
national
competition
designed
to
encourage pupils
aged 14-18 and at
school and college
in England to learn
and to recite
poems by heart.
The judges will be
Kaye Tew (above),
Director
of
Manchester
Children’s Book
Festival, Mandy
Coe (right), award
-winning poet and
myself, also an
award-winning
poet!
Throughout the year we will be hosting a series of
readings by poets from Carcanet, Manchester’s
outstanding literary publisher. The featured poets, so far
confirmed, will include Carola Luther, David Morley,
John F Deane. We are also extremely fortunate to be
able to welcome Michael Schmidt OBE, FRSL, founder
and managing director of Carcanet, as patron of Poetry
at The Portico.
In addition, we will be featuring new poetry from North
West Poets, beginning with welcoming Andrew Forster
to the Portico for the official launch of his third
collection Homecoming, in which he explores what it
means to make a home. This book is firmly rooted in the
north of England. Sheffield born, multi-award winning
poet, Helen Mort will also be reading
And we will, of course, be running the Portico
Brotherton Prize, which in 2014, as in previous years,
produced such a good crop of poems.
For all of these events it will be my very great pleasure
to seek out books from the collection that are in some
way relevant to the poems written by the poets we’ll be
welcoming to the Portico. The 1853 edition of Thomas
de Quincey’s Biographic Sketches, for example – Andrew
Forster’s The Homecoming includes a poem entitled De
Quincey’s Letter to Johnny Wordsworth 1809. Forster
works as Literature Officer for the Wordsworth Trust, so
it’s not surprising that, as the blurb says, Wordsworth
haunts many of the poems. The books I select will be on
display during the events, thus helping to bring the
collection to life for new audiences.
Full details of dates, times and ticket prices will be on
the website, on a new page, Poetry at the Portico.
Sheila Wild
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 15
N EW F ACES ...
From around the latter half of 2014 we began to see
how advantageous it was to land a job at The Portico!
Although we’re not known for financially enriching our
employees we do seem to get it spot on when providing
great building blocks for career advancement. Losing
our Gallery Organiser, then Cataloguer No. 1, followed
by Cataloguer No. 2 and ending with our Assistant
Librarian we were left with just our Librarian (awww …).
BUT our recruitment drive yielded an Admin Assistant,
our lovely Aoife Larkin
– who some of you
have already met; and
on the 12th January we
welcome our new
Gallery Organiser, Neil
Douglas, who has
some great ideas and
plans for the Gallery,
being a successful
artist himself. So, we
are getting a great
new team together
again. We hope they will stay with us for some time to
come, even though we shan’t be slacking on our
training and knowledge sharing.
We hope you will join us in making Aoife and Neil feel
very welcome. We’re sure you’ll be hearing from them
both in these pages before very long.
...
AND A NEW
S TAIR L IFT !
At last! We’ve finally done what so many of you have
been asking us to do for years. Thanks to the generous
grant from The Lawrence Harris Estate, through Walter
Nicholls (to whom we are extremely grateful), we have
had a stair lift installed. Walter is a member of the
Library and of the Committee of The Portico Library
Trust. The stair lift is located on our back stairs
accessible via Back George Street and, although it is no
Concorde (nor will it suffer a similar end!) it will mean
that all those patient people who have either been
unable to visit the Portico because of mobility issues or
those who have been defeated by the 39 steps
(nearly…) can get to the first floor with a little more
ease and comfort.
Anyone wishing to take advantage of the stair lift
should just press the intercom and when we answer
just let us know that you will be walking round to the
Back George Street entrance to use the stair lift and
we’ll come and open up for you to settle you in the
chair for your journey onwards and upwards!
Reader Cards for The
Portico Library now
available!
Category of Reader
Month Reader Card
£17.50
Entitles the named individual only to use of the
library space and collections for one calendar
month. Renewable at the stated fee.
Week Reader Card
£5.00
Entitles the named individual only to use of the
library space and collections for one week
(Monday to Saturday). Renewable at the stated
fee.
Benefits
 Access books from the 16th century to the
present day
 Access 41 journal and periodical subscriptions &
5 daily newspapers
 Consult an extensive mainly 19th century
collection of more than 25,000 volumes & a
select contemporary collection
 Reference enquiries and research assistance
 Access to 19th century Reading Room, Cobden
Area, and Reading Corner
 Lunch & refreshments available daily
 Free, secure wireless internet access
 Photocopying and digital imaging services at a
competitive cost
Readers may not borrow from the collections and
are not entitled to bring guests to the Library. A
letter of reference from a teacher, tutor or other
appropriate professional is required before the
Reader Card can be issued.
Please contact us if you wish to apply
for a Reader Card.
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 16
E VENTS & E XHIBITIONS C ALENDAR
J ANUARY
Exhibition continuing to 28 January 2015
Free Admission
On the Fold—the Art of Paper Engineering
An exhibition of cut, folded scrunched, glued and sculpted paper, pop-ups, hangings, upcycled and
recycled books, focusing on the fascinating and growing art of paper engineering. The exhibition
includes works on loan, display and for sale by Tom Bevan, Natalie Connolly, Chloe Davies, Andrea
Hamer, Danielle Hitchenor, Paula Sandham, Elizabeth Willow and Catherine Wilson. Pop-up books
from a private collector are also featured and laser cut greetings cards designed by paper engineer
Sue Blackwell are selling out fast! The exhibition captures the excitement and complexity of these
multi-dimensional works which have a universal appeal.
http://porticopaperengineering.eventbrite.co.uk
____________________________________
Saturday 17th January - 11am (and every 3rd Saturday of the month)
Free Admission
Pass-on-a-Poem
Settling down in the Cobden Corner of the Library, people can come along to read
a favourite published poem aloud, or simply listen to what others choose to read.
Pass-on-a-Poem has been absent from Manchester for the past couple of years,
and Sheila Wild, Chair of the Book Committee, heading the Poetry at the Portico
programme, is delighted to be bringing it back. Spend a most pleasant Saturday
morning reading and listening to poetry in the Portico.
Tea, Coffee and delicious home-made cake will be available for purchase.
Admission free, but donations are welcome.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pass-on-a-poem-tickets-15238062455
F EBRUARY
Northern Exposures Exhibition for February to be confirmed. Look out for updates!
____________________________________
Wednesday 18th February - 6.00pm for 6.30pm start
The Murder of Patience Brooke - with author, Jean Briggs
£8/£5 (conc*)
Jean Briggs is a Stretford girl educated at Sale Grammar. She taught English and Drama in various
schools, from Hong Kong to Lancashire. She enjoyed writing plays, especially spoof murder
mysteries: A is for Arsenic, B is for Bludgeon, C is for Cyanide were all set in ridiculously clichéd
country houses, featuring sinister butlers and half-mad aristocrats poisoning or bashing their way
to inheritances. Jean left her teaching behind when she retired to Cumbria but couldn’t give up
the writing - or the murders! Inspired by Charles Dickens and his bicentenary in 2012 she has got
him detecting in partnership with a professional Bow Street policeman in this first of a series of
three and published last year. Jean has been described as a “riveting and very entertaining
speaker” and she is a must for whodunit fans everywhere. Come and listen to her at the
Manchester launch in the Portico.
Chorlton Bookshop will be on hand to sell the books, which Jean will be happy to sign for you.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-murder-of-patience-brooke-tickets-15238295151
____________________________________
Saturday 21st February - 11am
Pass-on-a-Poem (see January)
Free Admission
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 17
E VENTS & E XHIBITIONS C ALENDAR
Thursday 26th February - 6.00pm for 6.30pm start
North West Poets - Andrew Forster and Helen Mort
£8/£5 (conc*)
The first in our collaboration with North West Poets and Lindsey Holland,
leader and founder member of the group, which profiles new poetry from
established and emerging poets from across the region. This forms part of
our Poetry at the Portico programme.
We begin with welcoming Andrew Forster, Literature Officer at The
Wordsworth Trust and working towards developing the Trust as the Poetry
Centre for Cumbria. We are delighted to host the official launch of his third
collection Homecoming, in which he explores what it means to make a
home. This book is firmly rooted in the north of England. Helen Mort,
Sheffield born, multi-award winning poet and hailed as ‘the new star of
British poetry’ will also be reading
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/north-west-poets-at-the-portico-tickets-15238525841
M ARCH
Tuesday 3rd March - 6.00pm to 8.00pm
Exhibition Preview
Free Admission
Form and Line - an Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by Simon Manby
Exhibition continues from 4th to 30th March
Simon Manby was born into a family of artists. Son of R.M. Manby, an architect of Scottish
and Derbyshire descent, and of Judith Da Fano, a distinguished Lakeland artist whose mother
Dorothea Landau was a late Pre-Raphaelite painter and sculptor.
Simon studied sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art under the guidance of Eric Schilsky .
Early figurative work in various media, gradually led to simplified and abstracted use of the
human form in larger scale carvings in wood and stone and more recently Simon turned
again to predominantly working in clay, in order to have the sculpture cast in bronze.
Because these are cast in small limited editions, his work can be simultaneously exhibited in
galleries here and abroad.
Simon has exhibited nationally and internationally and His sculpture is widely collected. New
explorations in charcoal – landscapes, portraits and life drawings, as well as prints and
sculpture will be on show.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/form-and-line-an-exhibition-of-sculpture-and-drawings-by-simon-manby-tickets15239152716
____________________________________
Monday 16th March (and every 3rd Monday of the month) - 1.30pm £8.50/£5 (tour only)
Portico Library - The Grand Tour
Meeting in the foyer of Manchester Art Gallery at 1.30pm, the tour starts with a short history of
Manchester’s old Georgian streets, moving on to The Portico Library for an in-depth exploration of
its collection, curios and characters led by the inimitable Ed Glinert, well known Manchester tour
guide and author. The tour ends with coffee and cake (famously home-made and delicious!).
All-in ticket price £8.50 (Tour only: £5)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/portico-library-the-grand-tour-tickets-15239539874
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 18
E VENTS & E XHIBITIONS C ALENDAR
Saturday 21st March - 11am
Free Admission
Pass-on-a-Poem (see January)
____________________________________
Thursday 26th March - 6.00pm for 6.30pm start
Churchill and Manchester - an illustrated talk by Ed Glinert
£8/£5 (conc*)
He was the greatest prime minister Britain ever had, according to many public polls, and
certainly the most famous internationally. He is the only PM to have been born in a
palace (Blenheim), switched from the Tories to the Liberals and back again, and was MP
for a Manchester seat from 1906-08. But was Winston Churchill simply the statesman
who led the allies to victory in the Second World War or a repressive, authoritarian figure
who opposed women having the vote and shamefully used tear gas on Kurdish tribesmen
in Iraq in the 1920s? As part of the commemorations surrounding the 50th anniversary of
his death, Ed Glinert, Manchester tour guide and author, details the life of a legend in this
illustrated talk.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/churchill-and-manchester-tickets-15239873873
BOOKING FOR EVENTS
To book for any event visit our Eventbrite page and click on the desired event(s)
http://www.eventbrite.com/org/1321223273
Eventbrite levies a small charge starting from £.78p/person - to avoid this please book directly:
0161 236 6785 / [email protected]
The Portico Library Events Policy

Events are open to everyone

* Concessionary tickets apply to STUDENTS AND UNEMPLOYED ONLY and will require presentation
of student card on attendance of the event

Tickets are NOT issued for events when booking directly through the Library as reservation will be
confirmed on booking

Attendees are asked to arrive no earlier than 30 minutes prior to the start of the event to allow setting up of
the venue

Booking is strongly recommended (or essential if stated!)

We are unable to issue or accept returns of books during events

Ticket prices are inclusive of VAT unless otherwise stated

Please inform the Library of any cancellations ASAP so that places may be re-allocated

Refunds can only be made if notice of cancellation is received up to 72 hours before the event

If payment has not been made after 72 hours before the event the named attendee will be liable for the
full amount of the ticket and an invoice will be raised

The Portico Library is independently funded and our events programme assists in our sustainability
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 19
Did you know ...?
The Portico Library welcomes all to
any of its events, but did you know
that the public may visit exhibitions,
enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a
slice of delicious cake, perhaps even
stay to have a spot of lunch? All our
food is fresh and home made and the
Gallery is a perfect setting to relax in
and enjoy some peace and harmony
within a book-lined oasis in the
middle of the city centre. You can find
out more about how the Library
operates, opportunities that exist for volunteers and interns (as well as any staff vacancies that may
occur) when you visit, and also if you go to our website (www.theportico.org.uk).
The Portico Library is one of many such independent libraries scattered throughout the United Kingdom
and Ireland, with a few in Europe, Africa and the United States. The Association of Independent
Libraries website (www.independentlibraries.co.uk) will not only give you lots of information about
these libraries but will also link you directly to their websites. Next time you’re in London, the West
Country, East Anglia, Scotland or most other places in the UK you might be tempted to visit these
wonderful historic libraries. In an age where the identity of libraries and durability of books is being
questioned these libraries may well provide the answer.
Do also remember that our collection is open to researchers - affiliated or independent - who wish to
consult our collection, much of which can be searched via our online catalogue (http://
catalogue.theportico.org.uk/). Just give us a call or send an email if you want to arrange a visit (also
note that you will need a reference from your tutor/supervisor or appropriate other professional).
THE PORTICO QUARTERLY IS NOW SEEN BY MORE THAN 1500 PEOPLE
AND ITS DISTRIBUTION IS STILL GROWING.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO USE THIS SPACE TO ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS,
SERVICE OR PRODUCT PLEASE CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
OUR VERY COMPETITIVE RATES. WE CAN ALSO OFFER AN ART WORK
SERVICE AT LOW COST.
WE OFFER, TOO, A SCANNING AND COPYING SERVICE AND YOU CAN
CONTACT US FOR MORE DETAILS AND COSTS.
T HE P ORTICO Q UARTERLY
P AGE 20
Free Admission
OPENING TIMES
Monday & Friday
9.30am - 4.30pm
Tuesday,
Wednesday,
Thursday
9.30am - 5.30pm
T HE P ORTICO L IBRARY
Saturday
11.00am - 3.00pm
VOLUMES OF CULTURE
57 Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HY
Entrance on Charlotte Street
(press the intercom)
Tel. 0161 236 6785
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
WWW. THEPORTICO. ORG. UK
P OPPING
Transport
Tram:
Closest stops:
Peter’s Square
St
Piccadilly Gardens
Bus:
Bus stops in Piccadilly Gardens.
Free Metroshuttle service (No 1) stops in York Street and Charlotte Street.
Train:
To Manchester Piccadilly.
Car:
Follow signs to City Centre. Car parking is available at the NCPs Arndale, Church
UP ALL OVER THE PLACE !
Pop-up restaurants seem to be all the range in some areas. Not
in Birkdale. Here we have Pop-up Libraries. In common with
other towns, Southport has suffered the closure of many
branch libraries. To help overcome this shortfall the Civic
Society persuaded Merseyrail to provide a bookcase in the
Birkdale Station waiting room. No provision was made,
however, for books. I think it was Cicero who said that a room
with no books is like a body with no soul. How much worse,
then, a bookcase with no books. As a former qualified librarian
(and a Portico member) this bibliographically bereft bookcase
offended my professional instincts (or something). I therefore
collected a small number of surplus books from friends and
other sources. A notice was prepared explaining the voluntary and community nature of the activity and awaited
donors and results. These were forthcoming and the service welcomed.
The project has been running for over a year and is being extremely well used. Demand exceeds supply. In order to
maintain the stock at a level of about 100 titles I used Books for Free, begging surplus titles from church fairs etc and
any other means of liberating books that come to me. I am negotiating with Merseyrail to provide a bookcase on the
opposite platform waiting room.
Call me an empire builder, but also ask ‘what next?’ and ‘where next?’
Charles Bleasdale
F IND
OUT WHAT’ S HIDDEN ON T HE SHELVES W ITH THE P ORTICO’ S
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