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1 week ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
The month swings round with alarming speed and it’s time for the switch over at the Tea Amantes cafe and gallery. This time a very different photography follows on from the street snapping of the last show. David Simper popped along to see it. For once, the service 61 bus let me down and, while I had time to walk to catch the service 3 instead, this meant that I was later than usual at the Tea Amantes gallery.
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2 weeks ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
Grundy Art Gallery, Artangel and award-winning artist and Spider-Man enthusiast Hetain Patel present a new exhibition that began with a nationwide call-out inviting members of the public to share the activities to which they dedicate their spare time. David Simper heading to the town centre gallery to fine a colourful, creative and touching body of work. The show features many artists and craftspeople and is based around hobbies, from which come quirky beauty and art.
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3 weeks ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
The regular Saturday morning HIVE Jive get together at the Church Street gallery also featured an exhibition of GCSE work produced by tomorrow’s creatives from local school, St. Aidan’s. David Simper ordered his usual Americano and climbed the stairs to view this display. The 22nd of March’s HIVE Jive gathering was enlivened by the opening of this fine exhibition consisting of GCSE art and design work created by the pupils of St. Aidan’s school.
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4 weeks ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
As a participant in several of these photowalks, our regular reviewer David Simper has three pieces in this exhibition himself. Nevertheless, it was with some anticipation that he caught the service 61 bus down to the Tea Amantes gallery to see what else was on offer. Thirty strong images and good company awaited. Photography might seem like somewhat of a lonely pursuit, and indeed it can be, but it’s always good to take pictures in a group.
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1 month ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
David Simper takes a creative look back to January 2024. Lured out of his domestic fastness by bright January sun, he took his film camera for a bracing walk from Starr Gate to central Blackpool. 26 January 2024 was my post-Yuletide leave day and I wanted to use it to do something creative. Waking to sun, a photo walk was the obvious choice and some useful exercise too.
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1 month ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
David Simper travelled down to the town centre on a Friday night to catch a new exhibition from the No 12 Collective, based in the UCLan photography department. The group returns after staging an exhibition at Hive a year ago. He arrived to find the place bustling. This group’s previous show was excellent and I was keen to see this new collection as the No 12 Collective returned to The Hive gallery on 28th February 2025. The prints were generally large and well presented.
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1 month ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
David Simper reviews Stephen Daldry’s multi-award-winning National Theatre production of JB Priestley’s classic thriller after a record-breaking, sell-out tour in 2022. With its striking set and stunning performances, An Inspector Calls had a Grand Theatre audience of all ages rapt on opening night. The Blackpool Grand’s stage is covered by a particularly heavy drape. The lights dim and a small boy wearing old-fashioned, possibly school clothing, enters the stage, followed by other children.
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2 months ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
David Simper loaded a camera with film and walked to Stanley Park for some much needed fresh air and winter greenery and created a mini-photo essay on the swans and other birds that congregate around the boating lake. Sometimes the easiest subjects are also the easiest to miss – why had it not occurred to me previously to dedicate some frames solely to the Stanley Park birds? They are so striking, particularly the swans.
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2 months ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
David Simper got out in the thin winter light for some communal photography. Loading his film camera he bused down to the Blackpool centre to grab some frames with the squad. The Blackpool Community Darkroom posse gathered at the Aunty Social building, 28 Topping Street, on 4th January 2025, paid £7 and were presented with a black and white film for the exercise in hand. Recording the Blackpool urban landscape in whatever light is presented.
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2 months ago | 
blackpoolsocial.club | David Simper
The calendar has worked round to January once more and it’s time for this highlight of Blackpool’s artistic year. Doors opened at 10:00, 18th January 2025 and David Simper caught the service 61 bus to see what was on offer, and see where his own piece had been hung in this year’s Grundy Open. Last year I blew it and didn’t get a piece into this annual opportunity to exhibit at The Grundy, now a gallery of national standing. And so this year I was ready before Christmas with my watercolour.
