18 Feb End of Term Visits to Three City Attractions
As a reward for our learners hard work and to celebrate the end of this term Peregrinate School took learners to three Liverpool City Attractions.
Liverpool Central Library
We started our trip at the Liverpool Central Library on William Brown Street. The Liverpool Central Library is a beautifully re-modelled building with Wi-Fi access throughout the building with 150 computers for public use.
Liverpool Central Library is one of the largest public libraries in the United Kingdom. It’s also one of the most beautiful libraries in the UK having undergone a redevelopment the was complete in 2013, it’s position on William Brown Street means that it joins the UNESCO World Heritage Site Area alongside St George’s Hall, The Walker Art Gallery, World Museum, Steble Fountain and others.
Inside, visitors will find extensive collections built up over the last 150 years, including many rare and important examples of fine printing and book illustration. Find famous collections of rare books inside the magnificent Hornby Library and Oak Room and the even more magnificent Picton Reading Room.
Liverpool Record Office, housed within the Central Library, collects, preserves, and makes available archives and printed material relating to all aspects of the history of Liverpool. The extensive collections range in date from the 13th century to the present day, and include records of local, national and international significance. Inside the library there is access to WiFi, computers and an Xbox 360.
World Museum – Aquarium
From the Liverpool Central Library we went to the Aquarium within the World Museum, also on William Brown Street. Featured withing the World Museum is an incredible Aquarium with a rainbow array of beautiful tropical fish, expert staff are on hand to answer questions and run demonstrations in which visitors can observe and learn more about live marine creatures. Get closer than you ever thought possible to creepy crawlies at the bug house. The bug house displays a selection of specimens from the museum’s vast research collection alongside real live colonies of leaf cutter ants.
St. Georges Hall
Finally Learners visited an old favourite of Peregrinate School, St. Georges Hall. Situated opposite Lime Street station, St George’s Hall provides a magnificent welcome to Liverpool, reflecting the pride and passion of the Victorians who built this landmark venue.
The Hall is one of the finest examples of a neoclassical building in the world and stands majestically over the city skyline.
St George’s Hall opened in 1854 and is an outstanding expression of the confidence and ambition the Victorians had for their city, their delight in profiling their achievements is particularly personified by the stunning architecture of the Concert Room and the grandeur of the Great Hall. Those who designed, built and funded this extraordinary building, sought deliberately to lift the human heart beyond the here and now, beyond the everyday and the ordinary.
The Hall can rightly claim to be the emotional heart of the region; it has been the spontaneous gathering place for the people of Liverpool in times of celebration, vigils, and commemorations. Important moments happen here from commemorative city gatherings following the deaths of the Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison, to historic homecomings for Liverpool FC and Everton FC following Cup Final victories. St George’s Hall also hosted the Peoples’ Opening of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008, when Ringo Starr played from the roof of the building to over 50,000 people.
St George’s Hall is a building of beauty and grace that boasts many firsts: it is the world’s first commercially air conditioned building and when built, had the largest barrel vaulted ceiling and the largest piped concert organ in the world. Behind the gold leaf and porticoes, the Hall has one of the greatest brick arches in the world and also houses a priceless Minton mosaic floor of over 30,000 tiles.
When St. Georges Hall was designed the architect, Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, was asked to design the hall and also a court room and jail. Instead of designing two buildings, Elmes included the Court Room and Jail within the outer building of St. Georges Hall.
Visitors can see where the accused were held before court and actually follow the same steps the prisoners took into the court room.
This was a real eyeopener for our learners as the exhibition includes examples of meals, punishment and typical smells of the time.
The History Experience
We planned the visit to coincide with The St. Georges Hall Experience, The History Experience. The History Experience transports visitors to a time when this extraordinary building was the meeting point of both opulence and destitution.
Just like this city, our History Whisperer, Livie, is full of heart, humour, emotion and dreams. Join her, as she leads you through the sights and sounds of prison life, in an immersive journey through Liverpool’s social history…
