A First Visit To The John Marley Centre

Introduction

In 2010 I took part in lighting up Hadrian's Wall and our team were stationed behind the John Marley Centre. I'm not sure what its function was then, and you can read about that event here.

Since then on my walks I have often walked past it, wondering what actually happened there, and then a while back I heard that Breeze Creatives were moving from the centre of Newcastle to the John Marley Centre which is about fifteen minutes away on foot for me. You can find out about them in the link below, but this piece is about my very first impressions. There may be others that follow this, so this may be a bit skeletal.

Beyond Vinyl

Beyond Vinyl is a favourite record shop on the West Road close to Newcastle centre, but they decided to move out to the John Marley Centre. For me, that was great news, and although it may not seem a great move at first, The John Marley Centre is on several major bus routes, has a huge car park and is in the middle of a huge residential area, so the potential market for record sales is rather big.

Although I knew this was happening my friend Julie also shared the news with me on Facebook so that prompted me to have a walk down and visit.

Today I bought three vinyl albums

• "Rock On" by David Essex
• "Live" by Barclay James Harvest
• "St Dominic's Preview" by Van Morrison

I will be back there again tomorrow and it is great having a record shop so local to me.

They also told me they are going to be putting on gigs including open mikes so if I can relearn a few songs I might pick up my guitar and get myself down there.

Wandering Round The John Marley Centre

As I have said the primary reason for visiting the place was to visit Beyond Vinyl but the first place I noticed was a big ballet school and was also impressed by the size of the place with the vague art-deco feel, as I walked towards what I thought was the front door.

The front door was automatic and there was a small sign for Beyond Vinyl. Then I asked a lady where Beyond Vinyl was, she said she didn't know but directed me to the Marley Store.

When I entered I was amazed by the art and creations on display and chatted with a couple of guys who told me Beyond Vinyl was up the first stairway that I had walked past.

They told me about the many things that were happening in the Centre lots of creative classes and the work in the store was by resident artists. As well as the various creative residents, they and visitors also have the use of the gardens to sit, relax and have a drink.

I wandered up to Beyond Vinyl and took this picture from their back window, before selecting a few choice pieces of vinyl.

I visited the gardens myself and had a walk around before wandering into to art and sculpture workshops which were hives of activity but I didn't take any photographs though there were photographers on there.

They told me that tomorrow would be a fair, with art, music, food and an Easter Egg hunt so although today was my first venture into the place, I am certain that tomorrow will be my second and maybe I will get something to eat and maybe some more vinyl.

Conclusion

I am very impressed that this place is on my doorstep, and I will be visiting tomorrow and regularly in the coming weeks.

"If You're Ready Come Go With Me" by The Staples Singers seems sort of appropriate for this piece.