In 2025, LeftCoast commissioned Stephanie Ridings as Artist in Residence for Claremont, Blackpool.
Claremont is often described as one of the town’s most transient neighbourhoods, and Steph began her residency by asking a simple but powerful question: what keeps people rooted here, physically, emotionally, and creatively?
Her first conversations were with a wonderfully eclectic mix of local groups – Claremont Park Gardening Club, Star Mental Health, Metropole residents, The Sassy Sewers, and Liberty LGBTQ+ Church at St Paul’s. She found that people kept saying the same thing: there was plenty happening in Claremont, but it didn’t feel joined-up.
Out of these conversations grew the idea of a living map of Claremont, a map that wouldn’t just mention the streets and buildings, but the stories, myths, and hopes for the future. A map that could weave together the vibrant groups, hidden places, and the people that make up the area.
As one resident said: “Let’s put Claremont on the map!”
Inspired, Steph began to blend history with imagination, unearthing real tales from Claremont’s past and intertwining them with new legends. One story told of HMS Foudroyant, Nelson’s former flagship, which was wrecked off Blackpool’s North Pier in 1887.
As Steph writes: “In the end, she was broken down where she lay. Built from a thousand oak trees, her wood was too valuable to waste, it was salvaged and sold, turned into furniture, souvenirs and artefacts that still get sold around the world today.
“But here in Claremont, so the rumours say, people crept to the wreck by night and claimed what they could carry, boards, beams, planks. They turned that old salt, soaked timber into fences, gates, doors, wall panels, chairs, walking sticks, everyday things.”
Other tales surfaced closer to home of a man seen wandering Claremont with a crow perched on his shoulder. This tale also became entwined in Steph’s writing.
For this year’s Lightpool Festival, LeftCoast and Steph have joined forces with artist Sarah Harris to create The Crow and the Wood of Wishes: A Claremont Tale, a lightwork and performance inspired by Steph’s writings and powered by the voices of local residents.
In October, the Claremont Park Community Centre will be transformed into a storytelling space of light, performance, and the myths of the neighbourhood. And residents are at the heart of it all, helping with site dressing, costume-making, building and decorating the installation, and welcoming audiences as stewards and guides.
LeftCoast delivers highly-engaging and socially-useful arts and cultural projects in Blackpool. We discover and celebrate the everyday wisdom found in the lived experience of the town’s residents and sensitively elevate the collective skills and ideas of the people that live here through creative and purposeful endeavours.
Established in 2013, we are one of 31 Creative People and Places (CPP) programmes funded by Arts Council England. We are steered by Blackpool Coastal Housing, Blackpool Council, local cultural partners, participant volunteers and community grass roots organisations. Additionally, alongside both national and international artists, we collaborate with local creatives with intrinsic knowledge of the neighbourhoods we work in.
