M20Festival - celebrating music in Withington
The
M20Festival celebrated the 40th anniversary of the
foundation of Factory Records in Withington. The festival
took place on Saturday 6th October, 2018, and was a huge
success, with bands and DJs performing throughout Withington
Village - in Deco Records, Solomons Cafe Bar, The Victoria,
Indigo, Fuel and The Orion.
The
Old Bank (the former NatWest Bank building) was open during
the afternoon to host a range of events, including an
opening presentation by Andy Burnham (Mayor of Greater
Manchester), who gave an impromptu talk recalling his
memories of the Manchester music scene; a talk, "Ain't
bin to no music school", about the history of popular
music in Withington by CP Lee; a poem recital by Vinnie
Davies;
and "Joy Division in words" - a reading by authors of
short pieces inspired by the works of Joy Division (in a
published collection We
Were Strangers, Ed. R.V. Hirst, Confingo Publishing
2018). This reading was hosted and led by Dave Haslam, who
also recalled some of this own memories of the
Withington and Manchester music scene 40 years ago and read
from his memoir Sonic
Youth Slept on My Floor: Manchester, Music and More,
Little, Brown, 2018. In addition, there was
an exhibition of music photography (Charlotte
Wellings), Hacienda posters (Trevor Johnson), Factory
Records (James Dickinson), and a history of Factory Records
(Claire Hunt and Pip Cotterill, design James
Dickinson). There was a guided tour of places of
significance to the music scene around Withington, led by
Emma Fox (Manchester Guided Tours), and showings of the film
"Cowboy Dave", recounting an encounter with Dave
Rowbotham of The Durriti Column. Refreshments
were provided by Future Perfect - a charity raising funds
for Art and Music therapy at The Christie.
The
evening was dedicated to live performances of many local
bands and DJs in venues throughout Withington Village.
The
Festival was supported by Withington Civic Society and
Manchester City Council. Also supporting the festival were
Deco Records, music-is-my-radar.com, Step Places, Future
Perfect, Assist, BIMM, Manchester University Volunteering
Hub, Love Withington Baths and Manchester Guided Tours.
Special
thanks to Esther Ford (lead organiser), Claire Hunt (who
conceived and developed the project), James Dickinson, Pip
Cotterill, Priti Shah, Dave Griff, Cllr Gavin White,
Charlotte Wellings, Yolanda Carcamo, Kim Joslin, Debbie Hey,
Zoe Rees, Emma Fox, Andy Burnham, Dave Haslam, ACR
Soundsystem, Leo B Stanley, C.P. Lee, Harinder Dhaliwal,
Christian Millington, Martin Saker, Stephanie Dick, and
all the businesses in Withington who supported the
festival.
 Andy
Burnham (The Mayor of Greater Manchester) and
Esther Ford (lead organiser of the festival).
|
 Andy
Burnham opening the festival.
|
 C.P.
Lee recounting the history of popular music in
Withington.
|
 Part
of the audience.
|
 Dave
Haslam introducing the authors
(L
to R) David Gaffney, Louise Marr and Nicolas
Royle.
|
 (L
to R) Andy Burnham (The Mayor of Greater
Manchester), Esther Ford (organiser) and Harinder
Dhaliwal (owner of the Old Bank).
|
 The
guided tour of music sites in Withington, led by
Emma Fox (centre).
|
 Claire
Hunt, who developed the idea of an Factory Records
anniversary festival in Withington.
|
 Pictures
at the exhibition.
|
 Part
of the photography exhibition.
|
 The
team at the Withington Civic
Society
stall.
|
 Refreshments
by Future Perfect.
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