Some of you may have noticed the large printed words on the side of our factory wall. It’s hard not to miss them really – unless you’ve lost your glasses or have a sore neck that stops you from looking around (you should really get that checked out you know).
All over Stoke-on-Trent, poetic phrases have been popping up all over different buildings since September 27th which was National Poetry Day.
This is all thanks to B-Arts. B-Arts (Beaver Arts ltd) is an arts organisation founded in 1985. They use media such as theatre, carnival, animations, food, eco-construction and gardening to bring more art and culture to the UK. In 2014 they set up an ex-industrial building in Stoke on Trent and created a new front door for the organisation with our community-led real bread bakery, Bread in Common.
You may be aware of the large face mural just outside the bus station, bringing thousands of Stoke citizens together in one collage. That was B-Arts project a few years back when the Stoke City Council commissioned the piece to support the city’s bid to be the UK’s City of Culture 2021.
Their new art piece of poetry seems to be baffling the city, even as far as getting an article in the local newspaper ‘The Sentinel’ (which you can read here).
I drove past the Royal Stafford factory building this morning on my way to work as usual and noticed this on the side of the factory wall. It intrigued me so thought I would Google it when I got to work. Glad I did.
We have a lot to be proud of in The Potteries, it’s just a shame that most of the pottery firms that are synonymous with the area have closed down. As a 49 year old who grew up in Newcastle-under-Lyme, I am very proud of our heritage and look forward to a new golden age of manufacturing, not just here in Stoke-on-Trent, but in the UK as a whole.