Public Engagement

It was foggy all day, I’ll always remember that. The mist still swirling outside, I went to bed and went over in my mind all the places I’d visited.

We met in a small cafe – always a good idea to start off with coffee! It was a short walk to our first stop, the place where much of the city’s music was printed.

A minibus took us to our next port of call – by the river – and then across the river to see where one of our publishers got married. (This raised a few eyebrows, but in fairness, it might have looked different 150 years ago!) From there – to see where he traded from, and then (wishing it was open) past a museum and on to the premises of another local publisher. Again, faded glories, I’m afraid. But it would have been very handy for the shipping!

Our new businessmen would have used trams to get into the city, until the subway started in the 1890s. We took the subway – no trams nowadays! It was time to visit a couple more publishers’ premises in the city centre, not to mention the former Athenaeum. Time for the minibus – there were a couple of former churches to visit (one still standing, another very definitely not); another educational institution, and the street where three music publishers finally found themselves merged into one single entity.

Where next? The Mitchell Library, with all its historical collections, or a nearby cafe? Or indeed, the library cafe? What would everyone prefer? We talked about what we’d seen, and whether it had changed our opinions of all that cheap music, so popular with earlier generations.

I dozed, until finally my busy mind gave in to sleep.

It’s time to confess – the whole story is simply a figment of my imagination – I was dreaming. It never happened – but I’ve thought about it so much that maybe it might have some mileage after all. Would you be interested in such a tour? There are few places we could could actually go into, but I am convinced that a tour of key places would bring the history alive in a way that books can only hint at. It would certainly tie in brilliantly with my second, recently published book. I’m going to think about it a bit more imaginatively … watch this space!