We're Open!
Celebrating our Building Launch Event after our 2024-2025 Refurbishment
We had an unforgettable evening on Thursday 18th September! We celebrated the opening of our new building and the launch of our new exhibitions — a huge milestone, and made all the more special by the amazing crowd who came out to support.
Exhibition Opening Times:
Fri 19 Sep – Sat 1 Nov | Tue – Sat | 10am – 5pm
Location:
Signal Film & Media
Cooke’s Studios
102-104 Abbey Road
Barrow-in-Furness
Cumbria
LA14 5QR
Our Opening
The Speeches!
Transcription from Opening Night Audio...
LOREN SLATER
Hi, everybody. I’ll get started. I think that’s most of you in the one room. So, yeah, welcome. And thank you so much for coming this evening to celebrate the launch of the refurbishment of the Cooke’s Building, and also the two amazing exhibitions that we’ve chosen to mark this milestone for the building.
I’m Loren Slater, one of the directors of Signal. We’re based, we have the gallery and we also have the space on the far left. And I’m also joined tonight by my fellow speakers, and we’re just going to say, we’re each just going to say a few words.
So I’m also joined by Jane Beardsworth from Arts Council, England and Peter Anstice, from Team Barrow. Tom Viggar, who was one of the architects, and also Jean McSorely, who’s one of our fantastic Sankey team members. So, yeah, to celebrate the launch, we’ve got community work in the middle of the building, and also these two amazing exhibitions, which are so fitting to mark this occasion.
And I was just going to say a few words first of all…that I stood in this building two rooms across and two floors up 14 years ago to celebrate what we thought then was an amazing achievement. So it was 2007, we took over a completely derelict falling-apart building. It had no roof, the floors were falling in. Anyway, three hard years it took to turn that building into a home for some of Barrow’s creative and community organisations. And it was brilliant. And for 10 years, we had an amazing time in it as it was.
And it was home to fantastic creative organisations. We’ve got Theatre Factory. Rachel, where’s Rachel? Wave, wave, Rachel, Theatre Factory, and we’ve also got Furness Multicultural Community Forum. I can’t see Janine anywhere, but also Sir John Fisher Foundation. Super happy for ten years. There was one problem, I don’t know if any of you remember. It was like a rabbit warren, and as soon as you got to the door, there was just this massive staircase.
You didn’t know where anybody was. You couldn’t get anywhere. And even though all of us were doing amazing things in our spaces, it was hard for people to find us, it was hard for people to get in, it wasn’t welcoming enough, it wasn’t accessible enough. We were very welcoming in our little spaces, and everyone still is, but it just wasn’t open enough and I feel like people just didn’t get that big, hello, we’re here.
There are great things happening. So, skip to the end. And so 14 years later, we’re just so over the moon. Hopefully I won’t cry. But to now have that open, accessible space, that as soon as you come in, you can see that creative, amazing things happen in this building.
So we’re just so over the moon. And, you know, also, I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone who’s involved in that. It wasn’t just Signal, although the Signal team are amazing and have just worked so hard. But also the architects have been fantastic. The builders were brilliant. All of the tenants putting up with everything that was going on. Laura, our amazing interior designer and also, of course, our funders, the Arts Council and UK Government for making it all happen. And then, last but not least, the Killip family and Martin Parr Foundation for supporting us and putting on this really amazing exhibition.
You know, sorry, I don’t want to talk too long, but it all started with that little picture on the wall on the grey there, the boy holding a pigeon. And years ago, we wanted to show that picture and Chris Killip we were in contact with him and he said that we could show it. Since then we’ve wanted to show the work and then this is just the perfect time because hopefully we’ve had a chance to look at his beautiful photographs and they just talk so, not talk, speak about, you know, they speak about community, they speak about place and they speak about resilience.
And I think that that’s what we’re all about in this building as well, as well as all the creative stuff, that’s what’s at our heart, as well as building a community. So it’s just perfect to be able to show it. So Mary Killip is here, well, I can’t see her right now, but thank you so much for working with us to put the beautiful exhibition on. And I’ll stop waffling now and I’m going to hand over now to Jane Beardsworth, who’s going to say a few words. Thank you. Thank you, Jane.
JANE BEARDSWORTH
Thank you. It’s really unusual for them to put me up first. I normally get the last gig, so everybody else has usually said everything I wanted to say. So you’re really unlucky because you’re going to get my full speech now. I can’t cross any of it out.
But I’m so glad to be here. I’ve seen the building go through various iterations and I’m just blown away by what everybody has achieved here. For those of you that don’t know, Arts Council England is the National Development Agency for creativity and culture. And we work all over England. And we just know that culture and creativity makes people’s lives better, happier, healthier, and more fulfilling.
And giving talent wherever it’s found and it’s found everywhere, the chance to be nurtured and to flourish is absolutely vital. The role that culture and creativity has in building and sustaining communities sits squarely at the heart of our work work. Barrow is one of our priority places. It’s a place we committed to spend more time on and to bring in more investment. And so we’re delighted to have supported this capital project.
It’ll allow creative people and cultural organisations to innovate, to take risks, to be bold. And it’ll surprise, challenge, and delight local audiences, participants and visitors. Taking on a capital project is not for the fainthearted. So I have got the utmost respect for the team here.
When they first came to see me and said, “We’re thinking of doing a capital project. Have you got any advice?” I said, “Don’t. Run, run.” Anyway, I’m so glad that they didn’t take my advice for once. So I just want to thank you all on behalf of the people who will benefit from this building for your hard work.
You have done an amazing job. And thanks should also go to the other funders, because you don’t create something like this on your own. There are funders, there are partners, there are the people that worked on the project, the design team, the build team, they all go in into making a place like this. So to all of you, thank you for supporting cultural engagement here in this place. You’ve all done something really special and I just can’t wait to see what the next chapter of this lovely building brings. So thank you.
And now I’ll hand over to Peter Anstice, who’s the CEO of Team Barrow. Thank you very much.
PETER ANSTICE
Good evening, everybody. For those of you who are aware of the activities of Team Barrow, I think it’s probably understandable if you have the perception of an organisation that’s charged with making its contribution to the transformation of Barrow to attract more people, to retain people who are here, and to living here, you know a fresh look, a fresh start in many ways.
I think it’s understandable also if you believe that it’s all about science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and stuff so on, because, you know, the biggest employer in the area obviously requires a lot of those skills. But the reality is, when we do our sort of analysis of what people really want when they they live here or are attracted by, if they’re thinking of moving here, they want a broader range of opportunity for themselves and for their children for the next generation.
So not everyone wants to get involved in building nuclear submarines and so on. Of course, a large percentage move for that reason. So we’ve attached a fair bit of priority in the partnership between central government, local government, BAE systems, and around 100 other partners. We’ve attracted a lot of priority to culture, arts, entrepreneurship, and so on, to be really balanced in the opportunities here in the town.
So this is the perfect sort of manifestation of that, you know, and when I first visited here, what, four or five months ago, thereabouts, it was just this a rather awkward staircase as you came through the front door. It was a huge task, and to come back, you know, a few months later to find this amount of work done, it’s a tremendous achievement. And I think as well as supporting this activity and the exhibitors within it, I think the other thing we want to do is be a customer.
So one of the policies of what we do is to try wherever possible to use local companies. We don’t have, for example, in-house catering, we go and get people out on the high street and buy the coffee from Coffee d’ash next door or Gregg’s down the end of Portland Walk.
And we want this to become one of our primary sources of places where we can bring visitors, we can rent conference rooms and so on. So we also want to become good customers, if you allow us. So in short, congratulations, thanks very much, and for inviting me this evening, and we wish you all the best with the ongoing sort of business opportunities that you face.
It’ll make a change from decorating and grappling with listing building conservation offices and so on all, that perhaps more the architects…Tom’s in charge of that. I can only imagine the amount of work that you’ve had to undertake, so congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you.
TOM VIGGAR
Thank you. I feel like a bit of a charlatan because none of this really has that much to do with me. It’s mainly Yun Wing, who is a colleague of mine, who isn’t here, who, because she’s not here, I’ll embarrass her.
She’s been absolutely super. She’s just chucked in hundreds of hours of overtime, constantly poking and pulling everybody together. And I am very privileged to be able to work alongside her. So it’s just nice for me to be able to say I’ve got some nice staff.
Whilst I have a huge amount of faith in her, she clearly has none in me because she’s given me an entire speech, along with, uh, it’s got jokes and it’s got gestures and things like that that I’m supposed to say, and judge what’s going on in the whole room. So, thanks for that. She’s so diligent. In 2023, you guys got in touch with us, and you wanted to do something, to change the welcoming experience, make something more ambitious and transformative to improve the building.
And we get loads of clients who come to us and say, we want one of these, and what you guys have done that is really different, and makes you exceptional clients, is, you’ve recognised the limits of what you have, and you’ve said, we want it to be better and feel like this, but we don’t know how to get there. Go and do whatever you want. And we’ve been given completely carte blanche to approach it however we want, and it’s amazing.
And I can’t tell you how refreshing and how much of a difference that makes, especially when the values behind why you want it are so nice. The world is very different, I feel, already compared to 2023 with Trump and roundabout flags and all sorts of things going on at the moment.
And to be able to deliver something that has such a community focus and so much welcoming at the heart of what the goal is behind it, I think is really special, and that is entirely down to you guys. So thank you very much. And yeah, indeed.
And if there are builders here, I will happily say well done to you later wherever you are. But. I don’t. They’re not the types. They’re not the types. Right. I will get off there, but it’s been an amazing experience. You’ve been brilliant clients. We’d be very lucky if all of our clients were like you guys. So thank you.
JEAN MCSORLEY
Thank you. Blimey, I’m always nervous as a kitten when I start these talks, not because I’m not used to public speaking, but because I want to say the right words to do these people proud. So I’ll thank you for asking me to speak tonight.
Now, I’m a Barrovian, born and bred, and so I just wanted to tell you a few of my earliest experiences of passing this building. We had the Duke of Edinburgh, big posh place. This place, ooh, big nice building. Wonder what’s going on in there.
Not very lovely two-story building, the concrete Travellers Club, a gap, which has always been a gap. The evening mail offices, co- op bakery -cakes. Now, at that point, my memory becomes quite hazy, because me and cakes are we’re show an affinity, which is quite unusual. Fast forward a few years, from when I was a child, just a few years. And now I know what is going on in here.
I’ve been involved for a number of years, and I can really say this from the bottom of my heart, I really wish there’d been a Signal in Cooke’s with an amazing group of people like the Signal crew Volunteers when I was growing up in Barrow. I would have relished being with groups of welcoming people with the know-how to help broaden my thinking, which is something Signal does very well.
How lucky groups of all ages in the town are now to have this place and these people. We’ve all benefited from the drive and determination of those who run Signal, in particular, these fabulous women, Loren and Kerry. Big up, Loren and Kerry. But more than that, everybody I know, young and old, appreciates this building, and all that’s gone into restoring it, expanding it, and keeping it going all these years. They’ve enjoyed seeing the building brought back to life, to see exhibitions in it, and to know a key part of Barrow’s heritage is loved and used, and that the spirit of creating culture is thriving within.
There’s something about this project, many years in the making, that captures the essence of this town. It’s about determination, resilience, and looking forward. I know it, and many others’ feelings too. Here we have a place with dedicated staff and some fabulous volunteers who share their knowledge and their time. People are keen to share this place with other organisations and embrace the community as a whole.
I can say all this because Signal people are oddly reticent about the great work they do. They are not shouty, boastful people. I know I put that in capitals. Yet the art and films they produce and the creation of this space shows real professional professionalism. They’ve set a high bar for the future of developments in this town. You’ll see some of the results of all this hard work and the talent of how Signal brings things together in the two exhibitions of amazing photographs around you.
You’ll also see some of the results of the Sankey Lives Through the Lens project. I reference that in particular, because in this time of turmoil, why not an exhibition named seen the world through Signals’s eyes? Seeing the world as Signal does.
Something real and true, a beacon, sending a message of a future with creativity and coming together. Long may that Signal the purpose of this building. These people shine and prosper. Thank you.