My parents moved to Hunsbury in the eighties when it was still a building site, and I’ve grown up in the town. I remember trips to the Oven Door bakery in the Grosvenor centre to buy iced buns and sausage rolls, and staring at the swinging monkey in the shoe shop window on Abington Street.
Even though I’ve stayed living in Northampton my relationship with the town centre has become more distant and I rarely go in anymore. I work in Milton Keynes so if I shop it tends be there. Having said that though, in recent years it’s become obvious that despite its woes of losing a lot of big name shops from its high street, Northampton’s strength is in its independent shops and cafe’s. If the town centre has a reason to visit anymore after losing the likes of BHS, M&S (no doubt Debenhams will follow sooner or later), it’s these shops and they need every bit of support to stop Northampton turning into a total ghost town.
I never knew much about Northampton apart from the Royal and Derngate theatre being there. It’s one of those places you don’t hear much about if you live further afield. The show 60 Miles by Road or Rail was an entertaining insight into the rich history of the place. I can image you could take one section and make a whole branching off story about how the various developments of the town affected individuals and their families. It did make me wonder why I’d never heard any of those stories before. It did make me more curious about exploring the town.
I feel a bit sad when I see Northampton town centre now compared to how I remember it from when I was a child. I don’t know if it’s just a growing up thing but it used to feel like a really exciting destination (to be fair, I lived in a village at the time) and it would be a ‘proper day out’. Now I tend to avoid the town centre – there’s so many shops shutting and it feels like anything independent and original doesn’t last. There’s not much I’m really interested in coming in for. Just the theatre and maybe the some of the quirky shops on St Giles. Things seem to move in cycles though, so maybe at some point people will start coming back to the town centre and it will get regenerated into the place to be again.
I have recently returned home from years of studying (years and years) and how much has changed! The town centre feels like a shell of what it once was but the people are just the same (in a great way).
I have met so many young creatives, new businesses and interesting people – I just wish the centre was more welcoming and exciting.
Can’t believe the council… what a sham. Let’s make this wonderful town better because we deserve better!
The main thing I can remember about the Northampton Development Corporation was their bright green logo everywhere, like acidic lime colour. They had huge billboards all over the eastern side of town, and offices set up in the market square too.
My main memory of Northampton is as a kid going into town shopping on a Saturday with my mum and brother and sister. Getting the bus into Greyfriars and spending a few hours in the Grosvenor centre and diving on the huge pile of cuddly toys in the Disney store. We’d get pick n mix from Woolworths and spend ages going around all the market stalls. Since growing up I don’t really go into town to shop anymore, and my mum certainly doesn’t. It’s just not the same.
My name is David and I was born and raised in Northampton, one of my passions is the history of Northamptonshire as a county and it’s links to the most important war ever to take place in England. I would like to share that history with as many other people as possible.
I have a love of history in general and a particular interest in the English civil war period which has shaped to a large extent the country of my birth.
It’s my belief that not enough visitors to our shores know about the county and what it can offer in terms of the beauty of the countryside and the number and variety of historic houses it has within it’s boundaries.
London, personally I love to visit the city, outside of York it’s probably my favourite English city and its a magnet to visitors from abroad and it’s easy to see why, rich in history, fantastic venues to eat and see shows, world class museums, glorious parks, a melting pot of people, it’s got the lot.
And if your time in the UK is limited a lot people make the decision to see London and not venture elsewhere, which given what I’ve pointed out above is understandable.
London’s success as a place to visit means other less well known destinations lose out and that’s a shame not only for the alternative destination but also the visitor because they are missing the opportunity to experience something equally interesting and stimulating without the hectic pace.
Take my own county Northamptonshire, it’s only an hours travel from London but you could very well be in another world, fantastic countryside, oodles of history ranging from the time of the Saxons, we even had our own great fire in 1675, great architecture such as intriguing follies and historic houses with beautiful gardens, old village pubs (some very old) offering some great beers, forget the image of weak and warm British beer, those days are long gone.
Northamptonshire has produced many talented people who have left an indelible mark on our country and the wider world, Poets, Composers, Scientists, Writers, even a Prime Minister of England, the only one to be assassinated.
Join us at Umbrella Fair Organisation to celebrate the past 50 years of Northampton!
You are invited to share your personal stories of our town and to experience new performances by local artists about Northampton as part of Heritage Open Days.
Sunday 16th September:
1 – 1.30 Browse our unique collection of Northampton books, photographs and rare documents about Northampton’s New Town designation.
1.30 – 1.45 Cellist Milena will play her own compositions based on Northamptonshire folk tunes
2.00 – 2.15 Councillor Dennis Meredith, one of the first people to move up from London into the Eastern District, will share his experiences of arriving in the town
2.15 – 4 ‘The 60 Miles by Road or Rail’ team will lead a workshop in which you will be invited to share your experiences of Northampton in groups over free tea, coffee and biscuits.
’60 Miles by Road or Rail’ is an arts, community & heritage project centred around the 50th anniversary of Northampton’s ‘New Town’ designation in 1968. You can find out more about the project, and share your own story of Northampton, on their website: www.60milesbyroadorrail.co.uk
60 Miles by Road or Rail is supported using public funding from Arts Council England. Their partners are Umbrella Fair Organisation, Royal & Derngate, Warts and All Theatre and Northampton Past.
Creative Director Andy Routledge will be talking about the project on Saturday 15th September at Milton Keynes as part of Situating the Groundwork Panel Seven.
Tracing the Pathway host Situating the Groundwork: Initiatives, Infrastructures and Interventions; a 3-day symposium presenting multiple perspectives from artists, cultural organisers, policy makers, urban geographers, town planners to reflect on the value, role, impact and future of socially-engaged, site-responsive arts practice in urban development. Situating the Groundwork will offer 25 provocations on how policy, labour, resources, arts practice and research are integral to cities developing fertile artistic and cultural infrastructures. The range of speakers will give particular consideration to the examination of:
Cultural Infrastructures: asking what are the necessary components for developing a city with a strong artistic identity.
Artistic Networks: looking at methods for establishing, supporting and developing the growth of creative communities within urban areas.
Grassroots/artist-led/artist-centred: what types of approaches can different stakeholders adopt when working with residents and community groups.
The Impact of Participation: assessing cultural demographics, market analysis and evaluating the impact of arts on urban societies and alternative strategies for creating programmes and facilities that attend to these people’s needs and interests.
Cultural Migration: reflecting on why artists leave their hometowns to seek communities in major cities, making enquires into the phenomena of cultural drain, and contemplating how can we plug this drain.
Identity Crises: How do maligned towns overcome a sense of negativity and build an identity as an artistically vibrant place?
Art and Culture in New Towns: Plans for art provision in the development of new towns, artistic provision in new towns today, and the future of new towns in the artistic landscape.
Art vs Heritage: The relationship between art, culture, heritage and urban or suburban landscapes.
Social Explorations and Interventions: Examples of political, architectural and performance interventions that activate sites or invite residents to engage with sites.
On Friday 14th September the symposium will be held at MK Gallery, where we invite you to join our gathering of speakers as they share their experiences, knowledge, methodologies and anecdotes for implementing creative initiatives and interventions across the UK.
Presentations, panels and debates will then continue in multiple locations on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th as the symposium moves in line with The Groundwork Weekender festival’s journey across the city of Milton Keynes. Conversation will be sited and contextualised in response, and at times in counter-point, to the Groundwork artists’ artworks, offering audiences the opportunity to simultaneously examine the initiatives and interventions one might make in order to situate the groundwork for a thriving cultural infrastructure, whilst visiting many of Milton Keynes’ cultural and artistic hotspots that are at the heart of this cities’ artistic network.
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