Sent To Coventry

 On Wednesday I caught the train to Birmingham's New Street Station, hopped on another and 50 minutes after leaving home I was in Coventry, the current UK City of Culture and home to my fabulous friend, Nikki. Nikki is passionate about her city and is currently volunteering as a cultural guide so I couldn't have asked for a better person to reaquaint me with Coventry. The last time I visited the city centre was as a music-obsessed twelve year old in 1978 when I bought a rare Spanish import of Blondie's album Parallel Lines (on vinyl) which I still own to this day!

Coventry has many claims to fame including that of the legend of Lady Godiva the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, in which during the 11th Century, she rode naked, covered only in her long hair, through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband imposed on his tenants. 

Its also the home of Two-tone, the music genre that sprung up in the late 1970s, its name derived from 2 Tone Records, a record label founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers and referenced a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Thatcher-era Britain. Local bands included Dammers' The Specials, The Selecter, and The Beat (all of whom we've seen live).

Coventry was an industrial city, producing amongst other things, cars, bicycles & aeroplane engines and therefore seen as a legitimate target for aerial bombing. Between August and November, 1940 around 198 tons of bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe, devastating the city. It was decided that St Michael's Cathedral, a 14th-century Gothic church later designated as a cathedral, remained a shell, to remind future generations of the devastation of war.

The current St Michael's Cathedral, built next to the remains of the old, was designed by Basil Spence.The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by Elizabeth II on 23 March 1956. It was graduation day when we visited and was absolutely heaving so we decided against exploring the interior.

From the moment of its destruction by bombing in 1940 Coventry Cathedral spoke about forgiveness and reconciliation. Almost immediately after WWII, the city set about twinning with other cities devastated by war, one of which was Dresden which suffered terrible losses from the British-American bombardment of  february, 1945. Reconciliation, unveiled in 1977, is by Josefina de Vasconcellos. The same sculpture stands in Hiroshima's Peace Park.

One of Coventry's celebrated citizens is the electronic music composer Delia Derbyshire (1937 - 2001), immortalised in graffiti (below) on a city wall we passed. She is probably best known for composing the Doctor Who theme tune.  

 

Named by Vogue as England's most eccentric dresser, Coventry was where living art work, Daniel Lismore, grew up. He moved to London at the age of seventeen where he worked as a model and photographer and in recent times, a campaigner and ambassador for climate change. His elaborate and extravagant ensembles combine haute couture with vintage fabrics, found objects, chainmail, ethnic jewellery, millinery and more, in an expression of eccentric, creative energy. Inspired by art in all its forms, history and his travels, Lismore combines and amalgamates multiple inspirations from around the world into vibrant expressions of cultural appreciation.

A huge exhibition showcasing his outfits and the inspiration behind them is currently on at Coventry's Herbert Art Gallery.

The first of the exhibition spaces has a Ted talk with Daniel projected and playing on a loop (theres a link at the end of my post) and many of his personal objects, collages, books and photos giving visitors an insight into the things that inspire him.

One of the curators warned me that I might run out of memory on my camera when we moved on to the main body of the exhibition as it there was so much to see that might just blow up my camera (and our minds...)

Amongst the myriad layers of textiles, chainmail and jewellery it was thrilling to spot familiar objects, like the antique Fattorini & Sons Egyptian Revival bangle Jon bought me for my 50th (Daniel was brought up by his grandparents who were antique dealers) and well as similar tribal pieces Nikki & I both own and textiles we're familar with from our time spent in India.

I can't imagine anyone of any gender or age not being enthralled by Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken. The exhibition is on until 26th June. Admission is free but booking is essential. All the info HERE.

After that we were ready for lunch and Nikki suggested The Pod, a social enterprise that incorporates food grown on a community allotment into their vegan menu. Somewhat ironically, The Pod is based in an 18th century former butcher's shop, just look at that tiled floor and the ancient range. 

On the menu were the option of two main courses, we chose the Vietnamese-inspired aubergine & chickpea curry served with coconut rice and an Asian side salad of pickled radishes and mustard greens. There was a Vietnamese coffee cake for dessert (I'm not into cake but this was neither sweet, sickly or too big, I can't bear large portions of food!) and a choice of non-alcoholic drinks, we both had pots of tea, Earl Grey for me and peppermint for Nikki. Not only delicious but great value at £8 a head.

Oh no, I'm turning into an Instagram w*nker!

 

Despite the devastation wreaked on Coventry by WWII, there's still absolutely loads of historic buildings alongside the Mid-Century Brutalism in the city centre, check out timbered Wetherspoons!

 And these gorgeous higgidy piggidy Medieval houses adjacent to the Cathedral.

One of the many benefits of being awarded the City of Culture is that Coventry got some much-needed funding enabling the council to restore more of the city.

I loved the Mid-Century city library and the ceramic tiles adorning the walls in the converted subway were stunning. The tiles were restored at Jackfield, the tile museum I visited HERE.

After the heat and sunshine of the previous week, Wednesday was bitterly cold and wet - as you can probably tell from the woolly hats we were wearing in the gallery! We warmed ourselves up with a citrussy IPA in CAMRA's current Pub of the Year, the Hops D'Amour Micropub, situated in a former Singer sewing machine shop.

Keen to avoid commuter hell I hugged Nikki goodbye and jumped on the 15.25 to Manchester, changing at Birmingham New Street for the Walsall bound train, arriving back in town at 16.20. 

I loved my day - Coventry rocks!

Jon and I celebrate our Never Had A Wedding Anniversary today - 30 years of unmarried bliss ! There's swimming, a haircut and a slap-up dinner to look forward to once I've published this blog. See you soon!