Edwin Dove
Liverpool
My first memory of the Blackie will
always be the inflatable. The whole scene
was like the old breakfast television show
‘Tis Was’set,loads of noise and excitement.
There was a long tube in the basement that
ran all the way to a room where movies
were shown. We would see who could get
through the quickest and it was just
memorable as a kid.
I could never forget Radio Doom at the
Blackie. Their disco was the best in
Liverpool. They also had an amazing
light show that had to be the most
innovative in the city. They played all
the latest tunes from the States and we
spent most of our time perfecting the
latest dance moves while trying to get
copies of the tunes from Kevin Mac.
My final memory of the Blackie as a
young man was really the last time I had
contact until many years later. I
remember that we were told that the
building was going to be refurbished, and
would be closed for a short while. I was
imagining that we would be coming back
to some top of the range building, it
never happened.
Initially I started working for the Civil
Service for a while. Soon I was to be head
hunted to be involved in a local
education centre’s Music Workshop. I
accepted the position of Music Tutor at
the Charles Wotton Centre for Further
Education,providing music tuition to the
local community. I soon found myself
entrenched in community politics.
My next appointment was at the heart of
community politics - unemployment. I
became Co-ordinator for the Merseyside
Skill Training Initiative (MST). It
had been established that there were
no ‘ethnic minorities’ in middle
management positions in Liverpool.
The initiative was designed to redress
the imbalance and met with some success.
I worked for Liverpool City Council for
many years as a Community Development
Officer. My brief was to link with
voluntary groups and organisations in
the L8 area funded by the Council. The
job gave me an insight into Liverpool’s
voluntary sector. I have since qualified
as a teacher of Information Technology
and am based in Toxteth Community College.