UK City of Culture 2021

Breaks my heart to read your post but I have to agree with most of it. A great pity that Coventry's City of Culture time came at an unfortunate time in world history. As for the shops, shopping used to be a lot of fun and online purchasing doesn't come close. I'd take the big shops along with the entrepreneurs and markets to mooch through. I'm guilty of buying from Amazon but only for fairly mundane things. I like to walk around to shop and it's great exercise. I regularly walk my local indoor mall from end to end when I can't walk outside because of the heat or rain and I occasionally find something I like. For some people this might be their only interaction with another person so I try to smile or nod as I go by.

Has anyone any firm idea when St Mary's Hall will open? On the boards it says December 2021 online it says early 2022.

Sorry folks. I tuned into the City of Culture programme the other night and 10 mins from the start turned off due to discomfort I was feeling. It was alien to me.

Apparently St Mary's Hall is aiming to open at the end of April, beginning of May... this year.

Various events including an open day in the restored gatehouses on the Fri 6 May 2022 | 10.30am-1pm. No booking required. I might be a bit peeved that I could have looked round rather than book two nights but I quite fancy a few hours exploring rather than minutes. Additional, mention of the medieval conference is particularly minimal across obvious sites. Maybe it's been advertised in historical music and drama web sites, because it's heavily slanted towards those subjects?

Hi all, or should it be Ahoy! I enjoyed this yesterday - it was entertaining watching a sea battle at the canal basin.

I was right to be dubious of the opening of St Mary's. It has now been pushed back to the summer (bets accepted as to which year). Good job the City of Culture wasn't concentrating on Coventry's medieval past eh?

Hi Helen To be fair to the Trust, St Mary's is nothing to do with 2021. It's the Council who were given funds to do something and chose to refurb St Mary's.

Hi Ben To a certain extent it's my disappointment talking. Partly because it was made clear that Coventry's history wasn't really going to feature in the City of Culture, which was probably a good thing given the small demographic overlap between history buffs and those who were low risk from the disease. I'm very sad that the whole thing was blighted. I also think that Coventry's history is cracking and has been sorely neglected. I'm itching to go see the restored hall and had hoped to include it in my next visit. I am planning to view your exhibition and the Caludon Castle exhibit at the Herbert.

Let us know when you are planning to come down, Helen!

A summer visit to St Mary's Hall has to await further notice but I've bumped my next breakfast notice.

Hi Helen, I hear you and do have this conversation frequently. My response is always that 2021 was awarded on the city's youth and diversity, so that was the focus. Secondly, it brought a lot of non-Coventrians into the city. Imagine if they'd come to tell the city its own history - there would have been uproar. Instead, the city's historic stories have been left to those that know Coventry, and, more Covid notwithstanding, in a much better position to welcome visitors in the future with that historic focus. I appreciate that this is a rosy view - they could have done more perhaps with local groups to tell the history - but where we are now, the City of Culture has been a decent springboard for the city to use. It's up to us now.

I've pinched this one off the web to show Earl Street today - might come as a surprise to some. That's the Assembly Festival Gardens in place of the old Civic Centre block.

I wondered what that was all about. I'm tempted to book a ticket for the Dragons and Beasts show - I saw War Horse which used the same technology and that was amazing, but there will be kids so maybe not. Might get some lunch there though while I'm at the Herbert. I'm ridiculously excited about my short stay. I've bought a new little trundley suitcase and a laser thingy for measuring stuff.

Today's "This is the City" parade - really enjoyed it