In about 1990, I went to see Bolton Wanderers v Rotherham United at Burnden Park. It was the home of Bolton between 1895 and 1997. Towards the end, it was a strange old place as they'd had to sell one end to allow a supermarket to be built, which jutted out onto the terracing.
After they sold Burnden Park they moved to a new stadium which was named for their major sponsors at the time, Reebok. When that commercial agreement ended, Bolton found new sponsors and the stadium is now called the Macaroon, or something. For me it will forever be the Reebok.
Now if you were to make me king, then a move like Bolton would involve them finding a new name, say The Horwich Bowl, and any naming rights would be appended. "The Horwich Bowl in association with Kentucky Fried Chicken". Then if the sponsorship changes, the stadium name remains the same but the appendage changes...."The Horwich Bowl in association with Cup-A-Soup".
Once that's solved, I'll move onto world peace and global warming, but I don't want to overstretch myself......<ahem>.
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This deep and meaningful contribution to civilisation came to me as my buddy Phil, and I, returned from a really good event in Wakefield. Gel and I are "Friends of The Guardian" (newspaper) and as a consequence are invited to events put on by the paper.
This one was held at The Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and was a talk by the curator of a photographic exhibition called "THE RHUBARB TRIANGLE AND OTHER STORIES".
To quote from the Hepworth website:
"The Rhubarb Triangle new commission lies at the heart of the exhibition and comprises a series of photographs taken over the last 12 months in an area of countryside known as ‘The Rhubarb Triangle’ between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell in West Yorkshire, which is famous for producing early-forced rhubarb. Parr’s photographs capture all aspects of the rhubarb business, from the back-breaking work of moving the rhubarb from field to shed, the freezing cold and exhausting labour of picking the vegetable by candlelight (or occasionally by head-torch), and the consumption of the rhubarb by coach parties and food tourists."
There is also a good selection of Martin Parr's work over the last 40-odd years.
Is was a really interesting talk, given by the curator, Dr Sam Lackey, which as well as giving insight into to exhibition process - her interactions with Martin seemed exciting, interesting and rewarding - also gave a great background to the images, how they were selected, and how they were exhibited. She was clearly buzzing with excitement (and lack of sleep, although it didn't show), the exhibition only having opened a couple of days ago.
The event, which cost only £9, started in the cafe with breakfast (bacon and egg barm, and a coffee, since you ask).
We then went through the exhibition spaces, stopping and hearing about each set as we did.
The 1980's images taken around New Brighton.
Martin's "Autoportrait" project. Whenever possible, Martin seeks out local photographers and has his portrait taken - sometimes in fancy dress, sometimes with other props, and sometimes with computer trickery.
The Rhubarb Triangle
The final gallery, a mixture of subjects.
Missing from above are the early monochrome images - principally from the Non-Conformists group - which I didn't get any pictures of.
After the event was over, I had a really nice chat with Anna who has the wonderful job of organising these events on behalf of The Guardian. It was interesting to find out how these things work, how she ended up with such an interesting and rewarding job.
Phil and I then had a coffee and a further look around the gallery, bumping into Anna and her proud parents as we did. Here are a few feeble pics I managed.
Finger.
"Have you seen my knob anywhere? It's about this length"
Stairs.
Phil, making his point.
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