General Update:
Welcome back to Walls Weekly 6! This week will be a general update of what we have been up to for the past week! With only 4 weeks left until the York Walls Festival 2019 we are very busy over here with finalising events, activities, plans and much more!
The River Foss Society (activity):
Firstly, I will start by introducing a last-minute activity that has been added for the festival weekend! The River Foss society will be present both days of the festival to provide information about the river and its past! The River Foss Society will also be demonstrating how to carry out water tests of the river and showing individuals how to test the toxicity of the river which will show how healthy it is for plants and wildlife. They will be located on Foss Islands Rd. next to the river and will be in a Gazebo – look out for them at the festival to learn more about the river. Find out more about the River Foss Society and what they do here.
Found Fiction (activity):
We have also had another last-minute activity added which is Found Fiction! Found Fiction will be present at York Explore on both days of the festival! They will be carrying out the following activities:
Writing Desk
Having toured literary festivals across the UK, the Found Fiction Writing Desk comes to York Explore. Visit the desk and add to a short story one line at a time. Can you help co-write a masterpiece?
Writing’s on the Wall
If these walls could talk, they’d be full of stories. And during the festival they will be. There will be an incomplete sentence on the wall on York Explore’s library lawn. Finish it your way by filling in the blanks.
Found Fiction will be at York Explore on:
Saturday 10th August 2019: 9am – 4pm
Sunday 11th August 2019: 11am – 3.30pm
You can find out more about Found Fiction here!
As well as Found Fiction, don’t forget that we have Fox Lane Books at Fishergate Postern Tower! There will be a book stall in the tower with literature for all ages (including Horrible Histories)!!!!
Pre-Festival Talk:
Secondly, our first Pre-Festival talk was this week. On Tuesday 9th July 2019 John Oxley and Janet Hopton delivered a talk at York Central Library which was titled ‘York: A World Heritage City?’
Regarding the City of York, there has been a challenging history in their fight to become a UNESCO World Heritage site. The talk discussed whether York could be a potential Heritage site, the developments over the past 10 years are as follows:
2010 – York applies for admission to the UK Tentative List of World Heritage Sites on the basis of deep wet archaeological deposits.
2011 – Application refused but City of York Council advised to come back with a revised holistic application.
2019 – York Cultural Strategy adopts ambition to be a World Heritage Site by 2025
Here’s a brief overview of what was discussed at the talk:
With the advice to reapply in the future, York feels they are in the best position now to set forth a new application. The UNSECO World Heritage criteria asks for cities on the list to offer two factors: Outstanding Universal Value and the city’s ability to add something new to the list. Do you think that York has these two factors?
John Oxley discussed further that this application will be for the city to become a World Cultural Heritage Site, stating that York is the home of more than half of the UK’s medieval stained glass and therefore holds more importance than anywhere else in the UK. The future looks promising, but the tentative list has remained the same since 2010, with some cities even now being removed. This makes it a difficult challenge to become a World Heritage City, but York will continue trying.
Until early July the UK had 31 World Heritage Sites but Jodrell Bank in Cheshire has just become number 32.
York is seeking addition to the tentative list, with a 15-strong group putting together a proposal based on three of UNESCO’s areas of Outstanding Universal Value. York has over half of the surviving medieval stained glass in Britain, and masterpieces such as the Great East Window at York Minster would be at the core of York’s bid. (http://www.yorkglazierstrust.org/about-us/case-studies/york-minster-great-east-window/)
Poster:
We have also officially finalised all of our print media this week– here’s a first preview of our official York Walls Festival 2019 poster. You’ll be seeing plenty of these around York in the next few weeks – if you see one send us a picture on Twitter or Instagram using our hashtag #yorkwallsfestival
Million step man:
Brian Mullins (the Million Step Man) has been preparing for his 24-hour walk – you can follow his on Instagram for regular updates here. You can also read this earlier blog post to find out why he is doing the challenge and all of the details about where and when he will be doing it! You can also donate to his Just Giving page here (he deserves it)!
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