£150'000 given to Dance and Drama academy.
Kirkby's SRB
funds have been further depleted to the tune of £150.000 with doubtless more
to come as Kirkby's Dance and Drama academy named 'Mollywood' was
recently officially declared open. The Academy was set up by
Frank Clark who long ago wrote the screenplay for a movie called
'Letter to Brezhnev' which set his sister Margie into the heady
heights of presenting some of TV's less memorable TV shows. The
partner in this venture, it now emerges, is Maureen Dunwoody,
a local political player who seems to have jumped from one grant
to another as we reveal.
The Liverpool Echo ran the story on the 25th Nov with the headline
'Franks Mollywood For Young Hopefuls' and informed us that
Frank would be bringing 'a touch of Tinsel Town' to Kirkby.
Judging by the depraved activities of the Hollywood set in
general lets hope it doesn't bring too much of the Tinsel
Town culture here.
SRB Grants go to the same old people.
Frank Clark and Maureen Dunwoody have, according to the Echo newspaper,
been friends since school-days. Many here were surprised at her
involvement in this project given she has recently been awarded
a grant for her SRB funded 'community launderette' named aptly
for Maureen 'Busy Bees'. Prior to that she was involved in setting
up another SRB funded community business 'Material Girls' just after
she left the Woman's Community Action Group which got a massive
lottery grant awarded to them. As if by co-incidence, Maureen is
on the SRB management committee. Whether Maureen has any
talents at singing and dancing remains to be seen but it
seems that the launderette venture, only just off the ground,
has been dropped by Maureen in favour of the 'Mollywood' venture and the promise of
'tinseltown' wages no doubt. Little
wonder other locals have little chance of getting any of the
SRB funds when it seems a select circle of the same local faces
seem to be getting the bigger awards. Surely it should be made clear that people
awarded massive grants should stick
at the particular project and not 'jump ship' as soon as the next best paid job comes along.
Below, Maureen collects another SRB grant on behalf of the Busy bee's Launderette.
Frank doesn't want local kids "getting jobs as cleaners or canteen staff"
Frank says of the Academy that it could be the local kid's
'futures' and that he doesn't want them "getting jobs as
cleaners or canteen staff", or launderette staff perhaps
eh?. Franks opinion of cleaners and canteen staff stems from
the fact that unlike most of the media types that Frank has mixed with, cleaners, of which
there are many in Kirkby,
get paid a pittance despite being far more useful to society than actor's ,dancers, script-writers or directors.
Frank, who people over the age of 30 may remember directed a
comedy movie, 'Letter to Brezhnev' back in 1986, will, along
with his partner who recently left the launderette trade, be supervising classes which teach the vital
skills of 'Salsa, Tap, Drama, gymnastics, keep fit and yoga to
the Working Classes. The Center also hosts 'cinema clubs'
where the kids will be able to "watch films and then debate them"
Perhaps Kirkby's crime and drug problems will be solved as we
witness a new drug free generation of tap dancing keep fit
media wannabe's who 'debate films' Perhaps not though.
Below a nightmare future as thousands of Atomic Kitten Clones, pictured at the 'Mollywood' academy bring chaos to Kirkby
due to the lack of cleaners and catering staff!
Letter To Brehznev:Hardly a classic!
Perhaps it may be as well to debate Franks minor success
"Letter To Brezhnev', a 'romantic comedy' which Frank
wrote the screenplay for. The films portrayal of Working
Class people from Liverpool did little to counteract the
Medias portrayal of us as robbers and uneducated louts.
The movie saw the lead Woman character, after a night pick pocketing,
falling for a Russian Sailor whilst her mate, played by Margie
Clarke, just settles for a one night stand. The Movies 'heroine'
played by Alexandra Pigg, then pens a letter to the Russian
Dictator Brezhnev, who found time in between oppressing his
own people to allow the scouse girl to Marry the Russian Sailor.
Whilst some tried to make out the movie had a 'social message',
in all truth it was an instantly forgettable caricature of
scouser's, and whilst it was funny in parts, it was also
embarrassing and was likely a minor hit because of the
way it portrayed working class people from Liverpool as clowns.
Lets hope any up and coming screen writers may
choose to steer away from the 'romantic comedy'
genre. We need people with Ba**s to take a chance because
right now, we are more in need of people speaking
out than ever we were. Lets hope 'Letter to Putin'
isn't in the pipeline!
Non Profit?
There will also be guest lecturers coming to the academy
including Neil Morrissey and Julie Graham (who?) plus
casting directors from Holly Oaks (yawn) Emmerdale and
Brookside. Perhaps not too many from Brookside given
the appalling state of the soap opera which used to
be funny but is now just cr*p. The academy is a
'non for profit' organisation but doubtless those
involved despite calling it a 'Labour of love'
will be getting paid good money for it. Look out
for more grants being awarded, and possible
training schemes being involved. £10 a week
on top of our dole for tap dancing maybe?
Edited Paragraph, apologies for Inaccuracies .
Frank used to run his own casting agency 'Orion Casting' and
Kirkby times pointed out that this Agency stood
to gain if any emerging talent passes through the 'non profit
making' Academy. This is incorrect as the Agency,according to Frank, is no more.
Debate the Issues!
You can debate this and many other issues soon on the Kirkby
Times forums! Maybe Frank will join us and spill the secrets
of some of the 'stars'
