Engage has been very keen to get our residents into places not otherwise visited by the public – and after more than 10 years of organising three seminars per year, that gets increasingly challenging! Read on to find out more about the venues for this year’s seminar series on Liverpool’s food culture…
Two of this year’s venues are ones that you will almost certainly have been inside before – or should have! One is the Cunard Building, and the other is the new boat, Daffodil, in Canning Dock on the Strand.
The venue you probably won’t have been in before is the City of Liverpool College, Duke Street Campus. This is tucked away inside the East Village, which fronts onto Duke Street with Il Forno, Sapporo Teppanyaki and the Indian Tiffin Room.
You might be wondering why these places? Well firstly we like to move residents around the city, so this year we start at the Pier Head for the first seminar, then travel up almost to the top of Duke Street for the second seminar, and then head back to the heart of the waterfront for the third seminar.
But more than that, each place has a reason why we have negotiated hiring their location:
Cunard building
This Italian palazzo-style building was completed in 1917, the last of the Three Graces to be finished, and served as the headquarters for the Cunard shipping line until the 1960s. It is now owned by Liverpool City Council, and is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city.
So why host a seminar there? Well, as you know, our seminars are always very well attended by residents, but sometimes less so by councillors and council officers! So this year we couldn’t have made it easier for elected members and council officers to attend by holding the first seminar in their own work place!
We’re also keen to make a statement about the importance of food sustainability for Liverpool’s citizens and society, by making sure we began our series in the city’s primary civic building.
City of Liverpool College, Duke Street Campus
Established in 1992, City of Liverpool College is the largest college in Merseyside, offering a range of training options for 16–18 year olds, from A-Levels, to Apprenticeships, and most importantly, on their Duke Street Campus, courses in food preparation, catering and hospitality. What better place to host our second seminar, than the main place where students in the city start their careers in food! We hope our series will be of interest to many of them.
Daffodil
The final and third location is another food-related producer which is the extraordinary former Mersey Ferry, the Daffodil, moored along the Strand in Canning Dock. Phil Olivier—the owner of the former Mersey ferry, who has invested his own funds into rescuing and converting it into a restaurant, bar and event space—has welcomed Engage onto the vessel for our final seminar, where we explore the food we prepare at home, and the food we eat out in the city – at venues like Daffodil!
We hope that some of you will also take the opportunity to stick around after our final seminar, and enjoy a drink in Daffodil’s splendid bar, as we watch the sun set on another fascinating Engage seminar series, with new friends from across the city.
Have you booked your tickets yet?
Please book your place on each of the seminars and enjoy being inside some of the most iconic and fascinating spaces in the city. You can register here with a suggested donation of £5 per person (students can contact us to request a free discount code).