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"Some people have probably wondered about the relevance of organising a
Garden Festival in a derelict area of Liverpool." This quote, from Queen
Elizabeth's speech marking the official opening of the International Garden
Festival on 2nd May 1984, appears over the opening credits of Angus Tilston's
film Festival Travel Liverpool 1984. The festival was the brainchild of the
Merseyside Development Corporation (MDC), an organisation established in 1981 by
the former Conservative 'Minister of Merseyside', Michael Heseltine, to help
regenerate the south docks area of Liverpool, a part of the city which had
suffered considerable social and economic deprivation following years of
decline. The festival did indeed provoke much debate and discussion, as hinted
at by the Queen's understated remarks. Yet, with the project's detractors no
doubt firmly in mind, the Queen goes on to opine, 'I think it is most
appropriate'. So began the UK's first International Garden Festival, which took
place on a former derelict site at Dingle on Liverpool's south docks, from May
to October 1984.
Tilston's film offers a slightly oblique take on the festival events and
activities by focusing on the various forms of transport that served visitors
travelling to the site. Like many of his cine-club peers based in Merseyside,
Tilston's shared his interest in filmmaking with a passion for transport.
Tilston is a film collector, historian, and founder member of the Wirral-based
Swan Cine Club. His 'Pleasures Past' series of DVD compilations of archive and
contemporary film of Merseyside includes several titles on transport themes.
By following the different transport routes and services to the Festival
site, Festival Travel conveys the anticipation of going to the event, of
wondering what might await the visitor. In this respect, and viewed with
hindsight, the film also taps into the wider sense of anticipation attached to
the role of the MDC, and projects such as the Garden Festival, in boosting
economic growth and urban renewal in Liverpool. While, with nearly 3.5 million
visitors, the Garden Festival was one of the most popular UK visitor attractions
in 1984, its longer term legacy can in part be assessed by visiting the former
site itself: a landscape that has returned to dereliction, though now replete
with half-buried Festival architecture, such as the Japanese pagoda or huge
dragon head play slide, making it a rather more surreal urban wasteland than
that which marked the area's former industrial decrepitude.
Les Roberts
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Complete film (8:00)
