Article date – 08 August 2018
The build will take place from 8am to 7pm and people can volunteer for the morning, the afternoon or all day.
Imagined by internationally-renowned French artist Olivier Grossetête, this is Lost Castles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM6UQ10k9Ks
The project – funded by Arts Council England, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and Global Streets Strategic Touring Programme – will see six extraordinary cardboard structures created in each area of the Liverpool City Region. The project features as part of St Helens’ 150th birthday celebrations.
In St Helens, together with arts partners Heart of Glass, we’re building an intricate section of the iconic 10th century Old Castle in Stuttgart – a tribute to 70 years of successful Twinning with the German city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Castle_(Stuttgart)
This magnificent structure will be created entirely from cardboard and tape, standing almost 16 metres high at the spire’s top, and over 16 metres wide – as long as a bus or a grey whale!
Workshops have been going on this week in the Town Hall to produce hundreds of building blocks, in preparation for the full construction on Friday.
We even appeared on BBC North West to talk about the project and our build! Take a look here:
https://www.facebook.com/BBCNW/videos/2025546174143101/
The castle will be built on Friday 10 August, 8am-7pm, on Victoria Square, and we’ll need all the hands we can get! In fact, around 150 volunteers will be needed to lift and construct the build, which is expected to take around 11 hours to complete.
The afternoon hours will require more people, as the sections get larger and heavier, so we’ll need everyone to rally together!
Once erected, the castle will stand proudly on Victoria square through the weekend, with a range of events and entertainment around the castle and across the town centre.
On Saturday 11 August, we’ll be embracing the medieval theme of our 10th century castle design, with a range of medieval street performers on Victoria Square from Fool’s Paradise. Between 11am and 3pm expect knights in shining armour, stilt-walkers and comediennes Damsels in Distress entertaining the crowds. At 1pm, there’ll be a performance by the Valley Brass Band.
Also on Saturday, it’s the big In The Street event on Church Square, presented by the Citadel in partnership with Heart of Glass and St Helens Council. In the Street is a day of interactive pop up performances, mini festivals, installations and workshops for all the family to enjoy, entirely for free.
Then on Sunday 12 August, the community will demolish the build, with the cardboard then taken away to be recycled. Volunteers are needed to help with the demolition too on Sunday, 1pm-4pm.
We’d really love everyone to get involved in this once in a lifetime project, so please come along!
Find out more about these and many more St Helens 150 events at https://www.sthelens150.co.uk/events/
