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ST HELENS RESIDENTS INVITED TO TRAVEL AROUND THE BOROUGH AS PART OF A TREASURE HUNT WITH A DIFFERENCE
This summer , Heart of Glass is inviting residents to take to the streets for a treasure hunt across St Helens as part of an arts project called Street Hunt .
Described as a kind of “ visual crossword puzzle ”, Street Hunt is a treasure hunt where the riches are road names : a story emerging from the page and a chance for St Helens residents to win up to £ 6,000 .
From Saturday 9 July , individuals , families and groups will be able to collect their Street Hunt book , in order to start their search . Participants must look for the road signs shown in photographs in the book , where the vital name of the street is blanked out .
The aim is to figure out the missing names and add them to the book . The street names reveal a poem and participants can use their local knowledge , and clues in the photographs and the poem ’ s emerging story to help them .
Originally planned for April 2020 , Street Hunt had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 . This time the organisers are partnering with community bookshop The Book Stop , who will be selling Street Hunt books . Books are available via heartofglass . org / uk / street-hunt .
The first person to submit a correctly completed book with all the right answers wins . The more people that play the game and join Street Hunt , the bigger the prize . There ’ s a guaranteed minimum prize of £ 1,000 and a maximum of £ 6,000 if all the books are sold .
Artist Joshua Sofaer created the project . He worked with Heart of Glass previously on the Your Name Here project ( 2015 ), which saw the renaming of Ravenhead Greenway Park as Vera Page Park . For
Street Hunt , Joshua travelled across the borough to find street names he could craft a poem from and took photographs of the street signs as clues . Joshua previously ran the project in Colchester and Norfolk . The winner in Norfolk was a nurse who did it with her partner . They used the money to go on a holiday to East Asia .
Artist Joshua Sofaer says : “ It ’ s wonderful to see this project being realised nearly two years after it was originally planned . It was a pleasure to be able to travel around St Helens , discovering more about the town and the wider borough . There are all sorts of interesting stories to be discovered in the streets and their names . How well do you know St Helens ?”
Kat Dempsey , Executive Director at Heart of Glass says : “ The past 2 years have demonstrated just how important it is to get out and about to connect with our communities and enjoy our green spaces . We ’ re thrilled to welcome Joshua back to St Helens and to see this fun , creative project happen . With lighter summer evenings and ( hopefully !) warm weather ahead , Street Hunt will be a fun familyfriendly way for anyone to explore St Helens , be creative and be in with a chance of winning up to £ 6K .”
Nik Loewe The Book Stop Manager says : “ The Book Stop was established in November 2021 , as a hub for the community and independent bookshop , and we ’ re so excited to partner with Heart of Glass and be part of this inspiring art project . Our vision is to inspire people through reading , and can ’ t wait to see how people in St Helens respond to this poetic treasure hunt !”
Full rules and T & Cs are available at heartofglass . org . uk / street-hunt .
18 merseylife . com