Floral Civilians

Phil Olsen in a blue blazer with workshop participants sitting around a table. In the bottom left there is a Floral Civilians logo and a Lottery Community Funded logo.
Phil Olsen with creative writing workshop participants at District House, New Brighton, on Wed 23 Oct 2024.

Creative Writing Workshops

In October and November 2024, Phil ran creative writing workshops at District House — Jayne Casey’s new venue on Victoria Road in New Brighton — as part of the Floral Civilians project. He collaborated with artist Colette Whittington who ran zine-making workshops alongside. These workshops have been made possible with funding from the Community Lottery Fund.

Keep an eye on Phil’s Workshops page for future creative writing workshops.

Zines

As well as running free zine-making workshops as part of the Floral Civilians project, artist Colette Whittington is also producing zines to promote the activities. Edition Two of the zine features Phil Olsen’s short story, ‘Do Not Point at the Sun’, which is set in New Brighton.

Floral Civilians zine Edition Two. Orange and yellow lettering on a white background.
Floral Civilians Edition Two zine produced by artist Colette Whittington and distributed around New Brighton, Merseyside.
Editions One and Two of the Floral Civilians zine, designed and produced by Colette Whittington.
Floral Civilians zine promotion with pink text that reads 'Featuring a pull-out short story by Phil Olsen in the centre fold'
The 8-page zines are made using a single sheet of A3 paper. When folded out, there is a poster on the reverse.

About the project

What is the aim of the Floral Civilians project?

Our core aim is to improve the planting in the 24 brick containers in New Brighton’s streets. We’d love to expand our work across town, turning unused spaces into vibrant growing areas and improving existing plantings. Along the way, we’re hosting fun, creative workshops to bring people together and spark new ideas for our local community.

This year, we’ve collaborated with other local groups including New Brighton in Bloom, Friends of the Marine Lake, Friends of the Gorse Park, and Charlotte’s Brightside to win Gold in this year’s New Brighton in Bloom Competition. We have been given an award for the Best Small Coastal Town in the North West along with Crosby in Bloom.

Find out more by following Friends of Victoria Quarter New Brighton on Instagram.

Place writing exercise

There is a ‘New Brightons of the World’ sign down on the front that lists the distances to other New Brightons… from as far away as New Zealand (11,724 miles away) to as nearby as Flintshire in Wales (just 18 miles away). Without knowing what you might find in all of those other New Brightons, think about what could (more than likely) only be here in this New Brighton. What are some of the distinctive landmarks? If you had a pen pal in the New Brighton in State Beach California or Ocean Shores Australia, what would you tell them about this New Brighton?

'New Brightons of the World' sign
'New Brightons of the World' sign.