Richie Hornby
Liverpool
We used to collect old bricks from
demolition sites, in a red van, for the
Blackie. We would take them back and
clean and stack them ready for the
bricklayers to use. Sometimes we had
to do this on the same day and our
hands would be numb with cold.
I had first met Bill Harpe in the Royal
Court Theatre after entering a drawing
competition with a picture of
Superman, I came third. Bill asked me
what I had thought about the dance
performance and he put my opinions
in his Guardian review.
I went to a school in Abercromby and
they would bring us down to the
Blackie. I was only 10 and liked the
atmosphere and the big balloon. We
had to go at 4.00pm and Ed George
would take us home. I was soon a
regular. The swing was unusual, made
of car parts, board and rope.
The Access is a State of Mind project,
which explored the senses, was held in
the Blackie for a few weeks. It was very
interesting to see how people use
different senses to identify an object.
Actually watching someone with no
sight identifying objects by smell or
touch was a new experience to me.
I was the Drummer in a band called
Heavy Wood. My interest in drumming
had stemmed from me practising on
equipment that had been donated to
Blackie by superstars Sting and The
Police.
The birth of my son Paddy in 1981. We
thought we could never have children
due to medical grounds. So the birth
of my son was one of the best
moments in my life.