Morecambe’s socially distanced Sparkle

Morecambe Business Improvement District (BID), in partnership with Lancaster City Council, will be lighting up five of Morecambe’s iconic buildings this year with the technical expertise of Brent Lees, the man behind some of Light Up Lancaster schemes, the Ashton Memorial and The Dukes theatre lighting. The five buildings, all on the promenade are The Winter Gardens, Hitchens, B&M, The Platform and The Midland Hotel and will be visible throughout December.

Additionally, BID has engaged Deco Publique, More Music and the White Elephant Studios to create a unique light display.

Following on from the community workshops hosted in October as part of More Music’s Fun Palace event, artist Ash Murphy presents a series of Festive Pixel Art Projections with the help of the young designers who attended the Fun Palace workshops. There’s still time for you to get involved too, follow the More Music Facebook page and see how you can make your own pixel art using a smart phone and see your designs come to life.

As an extension of the currently closed gallery show Eye Hurters by Alex Giles, White Elephant Gallery and GAP Studio present two weeks of projections on Market Street, Morecambe. Alex’s work draws on playful simplicity and vibrant colour to bring a highlight of visual stimulation. The projections will be in place Monday to Saturday 4pm to 6pm each day for the next two weeks.
Councillor Jean Parr, cabinet member with responsibility for Arts, Culture, Leisure and Tourism, said: “In these darkest of times this excellent initiative is bringing some much-needed sparkle and cheer to these dark winter nights. It also serves as a reminder that brighter times are just around the corner and I’d like to thank all involved for the enthusiasm and hard work they have put in to making this project a reality.”

As usual this year’s standard Morecambe Sparkle will consist of six spaceflowers, the street catineries with dropping LED sparklers, and lighting Barclays and St Laurence’s Church with colour-changing light emitting diodes (LEDs).

John O’Neill, Manager of Morecambe BID, commented: “We will continue to invest in lighting schemes in Morecambe as we believe it will not also benefit the local economy with residents and visitors alike, but will also add to a sense of well-being amongst the local population. We have a couple of exciting installations planned in future but these things take time from conception to installation”.

Morecambe was one of first seaside resorts in the United Kingdom to introduce an illuminations scheme. They ran from 1919 until 1996 until budget cuts and safety issues caused them to be cancelled.

Due to the Pandemic, unlike recent years, there will be no live Switch On event and Morecambe BID asks people to respectfully view the lighting installations with social distancing in mind.

Photography by Johnny Bean.