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News Report Page 3 of 15
Publication Date:-
2025-07-30
   
News reports located on this page = 2.

Art Exhibition:- "AGLĘCA"

AGLĘCA, Dread and Awe is a joint exhibition from 4 local artists, currently members of Southport Contemporary Arts (SCA), which explores how nature has influenced mythological narratives.

Artists Serah Stringer, Becky Atherton, Marion Bayliss and Tiago Da Cruz, highlight in Aglaeca, Dread and Awe, the magical stories powered by past social feelings of tremendous intensity. These moods, coupled with insecurities of circumstance, gave rise to all sorts of superstitions and folk stories, which attempted to justify natural occurrences. The exhibition displays an individual interpretation of this mythology, singularly presented by each artist.

Serah Stringer is multimedia artist from Maltese heritage currently residing in Southport following the conclusion of an MA in Fine Art at LJMU. Serah's practice highlights the artist's exploration of the connections present in the natural world and its connections with the manmade plane. Serah's multi discipline installation focuses in the habitual collection of objects and a desire to intervene in and build with organic forms.

Serah, who has found the people of Liverpool friendly and welcoming to outsiders, firmly believes their behaviour to have originated through interactions across the last century as a result of the varied businesses in Liverpool's busy port. Intrigued and equally entertained by the solace that their history can provide, for the present exhibition, Serah bestows a little nod to the concentrated emotions that the shores of the Mersey would have experienced including:- the loneliness and distance a loved 1 can feel even when standing in the middle of such clamour and how they might ask for otherworldly support. Appropriately, Serah's work proposes a series of promises and spells for Liverpool whilst consciously highlighting the 1934 poem, Eggshells, by Elizabeth Fleming.

Lancashire born artist Becky Atherton, has recently started developing her own creative practice. Following the completion of a MA in Fine Art at UCLan Preston, in 2021, Becky received a grant from the Arts Council in 2023 to develop her own artistic practice. During this period, Becky explored the life of philanthropist Anne Howarth.

Becky's re-interpretation of mythological folktales focuses on the portrayal of selkies, mythological creatures from Scottish and Irish folklore. Characterised by their shapeshifting abilities, although selkies were believed to live as seals in the sea they were also able to shed their skin to become human on land. Selkies unique characteristics are believed to origin from oral story telling traditions and early texts like the Orkneyinga saga.

Marion Bayliss recently moved to Lancashire from Somerset, in 2022, and quickly became a member of Southport Contemporary Arts, where painting has become a personal sanctuary of sorts. Succeeding the artist's education at the Somerset College of Art in Taunton, Marion studied window display and gained a diploma in exhibition design. Following the painter's decision of early retirement, Marion regularly held annual exhibitions at local churches during Somerset Art Weeks.

Marion's artwork highlights the artist's natural surroundings and consequently led to her portrayal of the 4 natural elements. For this exhibition, Marion was inspired by the fire element and the mythical Phoenix that symbolises the cycle of life, death and rebirth. This mythological character is often represented ascending from the ashes of fire to live for centuries until it dies and is reborn again. This endless cycle of life, through fire, powered Marion's imaginative artwork.

Portuguese artist, Tiago Da Cruz, has lived in Southport for the last 5 years and is also a member of Southport Contemporary Arts. The artist's practice presents an amalgamation of personal experiences, cultural influences and the exploration of detachment. Following the conclusion of a course in Visual Arts with ESFMP, Tiago is currently completing a BA in Arts and Humanities.

For this exhibition, Tiago has elaborated a series of acrylic, ink and pastel drawings focused on Hellenistic mythology and John William Waterhouse's painting, Hylas and the Nymphs. By exploring the narrative of nymphs in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Tiago has generated his own rendition of these relentless beings that now exist with their own agency, exempt from the influence of Greek divinities.

Aglęca, Dread and Awe will be on display from:- 1 August until 31 August 2025, at:- 92 Degrees Coffee, 49 Jamaica St, Liverpool, Monday, thro Friday, from:- 7am until 6pm and Saturday, and Sunday, from:- 9am until 6pm.


Hatter's Digital Agency looks forward to a bright future at new Enterprise Arcade in Southport

A pioneering digital marketing agency is enjoying its new home inside 1 of the Liverpool City Region's most impressive digital and creative start-up spaces.

Hatter's, which was founded 5 years ago, is the 1st business to move into the brand new:- Eastbank Enterprise Arcade, within Southport Town Centre.

The practical completion of the £1.5 million venture on Eastbank Street was achieved on:- 19 May 2025.

The building overlooks Southport Market and the surrounding area, where millions of pounds of investment is currently taking place to improve the public realm and attract even more visitors and businesses.

Part of the Southport Town Investment Plan, the 8,000sq ft building provides high quality workspace and modern amenities for entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in the digital and creative sectors.

Eastbank Enterprise Arcade aims to become a central hub for these businesses, providing a strong foundation to grow this vital sector of the Region's economy while creating new jobs, developing skills, and opening opportunities for the local community.

Since Hatter's arrival, immersive technology company Holovis has announced its intention to open its latest offices, development and innovation Centre there as well.



Talks are ongoing with other prospective tenants, including:- an anchor tenant on the top floor, and a food and beverage outlet on the ground floor.

This is a time of exciting change and new beginnings in Southport Town Centre, and Hatter's Digital Agency is enjoying being at the epiCentre.

The business, owned by Sarah Jackson, works with clients across the UK and beyond, and offers the benefit of over 2 decades' worth of experience helping brands to better connect with their audiences.

Sarah said:- "Hatter's was set up almost 5 years ago as a response to my frustrations with how clients were typically treated by agencies. It felt that there were a lot of poor practices and smoke and mirrors, employed for the express purpose of taking money from clients without delivering on promises. I wanted to do things differently; so I set up on my own from my house. The 1st 10 months was just me with a laptop on my knee in my living room. Then I got to a point where I needed some support, so I advertised for an apprentice and 1 of our clients offered me office space in their attic. I still have fond memories of that place, and it's where Hatter's really came into being. Our team grew alongside our client base and I realised we'd created something special. Everything we do is about people, whether that's making sure our staff can do their best work in a place they feel supported, seen and respected, or ensuring our customers are getting value and transparency at every stage, or helping to develop the next generation of local talent through our partnerships with Schools, colleges, and Universities. We've grown quite a bit since the early days, but our values haven't changed, and they never will; because we wouldn't be Hatter's any more if they did."



Looking for marketing or social media marketing can be a daunting prospect for some firms, and Sarah is happy to advise.

She said:- "Surprisingly, I wouldn't necessarily recommend outsourcing right away. That only makes sense when there's real value in it for the business. Often, in the early days, it's more than possible to manage things in-house. There are brilliant tools out there that can help you create and schedule content, and most business owners already have more resources at their fingertips than they realise. The real challenge for smaller businesses usually isn't time, it's confidence and clarity. Marketing moves fast, and unless it's your full time job, it's easy to fall behind on the latest changes. That's why we built our White Rabbit platform. It was designed to give small businesses the knowledge, tools, and support they need to market themselves well without needing to hand everything over to an agency. Because when you understand how to show up in the right way, that's when your content starts to work harder for you. It's been launched as part of our commitment to helping businesses reduce unnecessary spend on marketing, and protect small businesses from unethical practices by arming them with the knowledge and tools to do things properly."



Hatter's has now made its mark in history as the 1st ever tenant inside the new Eastbank Enterprise Arcade.

Sarah said:- "It has been a great move for Hatter's, and not just because there's air con! The concept of Eastbank isn't just a nice building with a few offices in it; it's the start of something special here in the Town, and it fits right in with our values around skills generation and creating new opportunities locally. We need more young people to stay here after they finish School, and to do that they need to view Southport as a viable place to live and raise their families. That starts with creating additional jobs beyond the traditional career paths in tourism and Hospitality etc. At the same time, attracting new business investment into the Town relies on infrastructure and talent, and Eastbank offers a clear opportunity to build on both of those. It will be largely up to the business community to support Sefton's vision to support that and make it happen. We're delighted that Holovis are set to become our neighbours. This is important news, because it shows the confidence of those outside the Region in this project, and it also sets the stage for future outside investment. I want to see this grow and flourish, and extend beyond Eastbank. I believe that will be the case with the right people working towards a shared goal."

There are plenty of exciting developments underway in Southport. On the Promenade, work is taking place to build the £73 million new Marine Lake Events Centre.

The Government has recently announced its intention to fund the restoration and reopening of the landmark Southport Pier attraction, while also providing £10 million for the creation of a new family-friendly Town Hall gardens events space.

Millions of pounds of public realm improvements will complement the £1.5 million transformation of Southport Market into a thriving food, drink and events space.



There is lots of new energy in Southport; and lots of opportunity for more businesses to invest and join what's happening.

What are your thoughts on this news topic? Email our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:- Mastodon, Facebook, or Twitter. Please do let us know as we love to hear your views....

 
      
 
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