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Lindley’s Liz West becomes a record breaker for her Spice Girls memorabilia exhibition
SHE is the world’s biggest Spice Girls fan – and now she’s a record breaker too. Liz West, of Lindley, is currently exhibiting more than 2,000 pieces of memorabilia devoted to the girl group. And the exhibition at Leeds City Museum has earned her a place in the record books.
The collection of memorabilia and merchandise was officially counted last weekend in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record. The 2,066 items was comfortably higher than the previous best of approximately 1,000 making it officially the biggest number of Spice Girls items in a collection together anywhere in the world. Liz said: “It’s all been very exciting, I applied to have Guinness come in and see if it’s the biggest collection. “We spent a month counting everything and making check lists to make it easier for them as they went round, but it took them half a day to go through everything. “The exhibition has been going really, really well, it’s beyond expectations. “It is fantastic to break the record and I am pleased we did it at Leeds City Museum as part of the exhibition. “Everything went really well and a special thank you to all the Leeds Metropolitan University students and volunteers who took time out of their weekend to help.”
With only items related to the group able to qualify for the count, it meant the items on display from the group’s solo careers were not able to be considered. And her collection has proven to be a massive hit – so far more than 25,000 people have visited the exhibition at the museum off Millennium Square. Liz added: “Mel B keeps teasing us saying on her website she’s going to come and I really hope she does, I know her mum came along to see it." Liz’s exhibition includes a range of outfits worn by Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm, who quickly became known by the nicknames Posh, Baby, Ginger, Scary and Sporty. There are also accessories, platinum discs, books, magazines and dolls sourced from all over the world. Leeds City Museum curator of exhibitions Helen Langwick said: “We are delighted that Leeds City Museum has played its part in breaking a Guinness World Record. The exhibition has gone really well so far and we look forward to welcoming more visitors to it in the coming weeks.”
The exhibition runs until July 3 and admission is free. In the summer of 2012 it will go to the Tower Museum in Londonderry. Liz added: “If any museum wants to fill in the gap they’re welcome to contact me, it’d be great if it went to the Tolson Museum, but we can take it anywhere.”
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Friday 15 April 2011
MY SPICE GIRLS COLLECTION BEATS GUINNESS WORLD RECORD
World record success for Spiceworld exhibition in Leeds
The exhibition devoted to the Spice Girls currently on display at Leeds City Museum has successfully become a world record holder.
The collection of memorabilia and merchandise from collector Liz West on show devoted to the most successful girl band of all time which makes up ‘Spiceworld: The exhibition’ was officially counted last weekend in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record.
The result of 2,066 items was comfortably higher than the previous best of approximately 1,000 making it officially the biggest number of Spice Girls items in a collection together anywhere in the world. With only items related to the group able to qualify for the count, it meant the items on display from the group’s solo careers were not able to be considered.
Since the free exhibition opened at the Leeds City Council-managed museum off Millennium Square at the end of January, over 25,000 people have visited to see the range of outfits worn by the group as well as accessories, platinum discs, books, magazines and dolls sourced from all over the world.
Spice Girls memorabilia collector Liz West said:
“It is fantastic to break the record and I am really pleased that we did it at Leeds City Museum as part of the exhibition.
“Everything went really well with the count and a special thank you to all the Leeds Metropolitan University students and volunteers who took time out of their weekend to help.”
Leeds City Museum curator of exhibitions Helen Langwick said:
“We are delighted that Leeds City Museum has played its part in breaking a Guinness World Record. The exhibition has gone really well so far and we look forward to welcoming more visitors to it in the coming weeks.”
Running until Sunday 3 July, ‘Spiceworld: The exhibition’ is free to enter and celebrates the success of the Spice Girls as well as examining what it takes to be a modern celebrity.
For further information on Leeds City Museum, visit the website at http://www.leeds.gov.uk/citymuseum/
For media enquiries please contact:
Roger Boyde, Leisure media relations officer,
Tel 0113 247 5472, Email: roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk
The exhibition devoted to the Spice Girls currently on display at Leeds City Museum has successfully become a world record holder.
The collection of memorabilia and merchandise from collector Liz West on show devoted to the most successful girl band of all time which makes up ‘Spiceworld: The exhibition’ was officially counted last weekend in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record.
The result of 2,066 items was comfortably higher than the previous best of approximately 1,000 making it officially the biggest number of Spice Girls items in a collection together anywhere in the world. With only items related to the group able to qualify for the count, it meant the items on display from the group’s solo careers were not able to be considered.
Since the free exhibition opened at the Leeds City Council-managed museum off Millennium Square at the end of January, over 25,000 people have visited to see the range of outfits worn by the group as well as accessories, platinum discs, books, magazines and dolls sourced from all over the world.
Spice Girls memorabilia collector Liz West said:
“It is fantastic to break the record and I am really pleased that we did it at Leeds City Museum as part of the exhibition.
“Everything went really well with the count and a special thank you to all the Leeds Metropolitan University students and volunteers who took time out of their weekend to help.”
Leeds City Museum curator of exhibitions Helen Langwick said:
“We are delighted that Leeds City Museum has played its part in breaking a Guinness World Record. The exhibition has gone really well so far and we look forward to welcoming more visitors to it in the coming weeks.”
Running until Sunday 3 July, ‘Spiceworld: The exhibition’ is free to enter and celebrates the success of the Spice Girls as well as examining what it takes to be a modern celebrity.
For further information on Leeds City Museum, visit the website at http://www.leeds.gov.uk/citymuseum/
For media enquiries please contact:
Roger Boyde, Leisure media relations officer,
Tel 0113 247 5472, Email: roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk
ITV CALENDAR Report (14/04/2011)
LINK TO VIDEO
Spice up your life
5.30PM Thu Apr 14 2011
A woman from Huddersfield who's collected thousands of pieces of Spice Girls memorabilia has landed herself a place in the record books. After an official count up, Liz West's collection has been confirmed as the largest in the world. It's currently on display at the Leeds City Museum.
By: Tom Brown
Friday 1 April 2011
SOSOGAY.COM Review (31/03/2011)
LINK TO ARTICLE
Exhibition Review: Spiceworld The Exhibition
Rating: ****
Although I’m unashamedly a Spice Girls aficionado (I always wanted to be the sixth one as a child – with the combined sultry vampiness of Geri and the butch attitude of Mel C) I didn’t really think that an exhibition of years of collected Spice memorabilia could ever actually work – simply because there’s so much of the stuff. This was, after all, a girlband whose image appeared on everything from crisp packets to bedside lamps. An exhibition would simply be too cluttered, too lowbrow to actually work, right?
Wrong. Liz West’s collection, lovingly amassed over the years from the day Spice bric-a-brac first went on sale, has been painstakingly (and endearingly nerdily) catalogued. Everything you could possibly want to see is there, waiting to visually transport you back to the hours of Girl Power. Particularly impressive is the range of costumes that Liz has managed to hunt down, including several of Mel B’s Doctor Who-villain-style outfits. There are also magazine covers of the group across the walls from long-dead Nineties publications, alongside covers of the individual Girls during their later solo efforts. Throughout the exhibition, which takes about 35 minutes to see in full, there are constant ‘did you know?’-style sound-bites of trivia that can surprise even the most dedicated fan, giving the exhibition a scarily academic edge. To make up for this there’s also a dressing up box towards the end for all ages (see the picture at right for my own Halliwell effort).
Zig-a-zig-ah.
To sum up, this is a dedicated and detailed exhibition that gives a real sense the global scale of the Spice Girls phenomenon. We might now look back now with slight embarrassment at how five over-boisterous, vocally-passable lasses with rather awful dress sense conquered the planet. But they were the most successful music act of their day and arguably embody the era of Cool Britannia more than the grungy yelps of Oasis – and that’s something that should be celebrated. Granted, if you absolutely loathed them back then, you’re hardly likely to want to wander through acres of Spice gubbins today. But if you’ve got even the smallest inkling of nostalgia or just fancy a trip down memory lane to when things were enjoyably garish, then you’re sure to have a ball.
Spiceworld: The Exhibition runs at Leeds City Museum until 3 July 2011. Entry is free.
Exhibition Review: Spiceworld The Exhibition
Rating: ****
Although I’m unashamedly a Spice Girls aficionado (I always wanted to be the sixth one as a child – with the combined sultry vampiness of Geri and the butch attitude of Mel C) I didn’t really think that an exhibition of years of collected Spice memorabilia could ever actually work – simply because there’s so much of the stuff. This was, after all, a girlband whose image appeared on everything from crisp packets to bedside lamps. An exhibition would simply be too cluttered, too lowbrow to actually work, right?
Wrong. Liz West’s collection, lovingly amassed over the years from the day Spice bric-a-brac first went on sale, has been painstakingly (and endearingly nerdily) catalogued. Everything you could possibly want to see is there, waiting to visually transport you back to the hours of Girl Power. Particularly impressive is the range of costumes that Liz has managed to hunt down, including several of Mel B’s Doctor Who-villain-style outfits. There are also magazine covers of the group across the walls from long-dead Nineties publications, alongside covers of the individual Girls during their later solo efforts. Throughout the exhibition, which takes about 35 minutes to see in full, there are constant ‘did you know?’-style sound-bites of trivia that can surprise even the most dedicated fan, giving the exhibition a scarily academic edge. To make up for this there’s also a dressing up box towards the end for all ages (see the picture at right for my own Halliwell effort).
Zig-a-zig-ah.
To sum up, this is a dedicated and detailed exhibition that gives a real sense the global scale of the Spice Girls phenomenon. We might now look back now with slight embarrassment at how five over-boisterous, vocally-passable lasses with rather awful dress sense conquered the planet. But they were the most successful music act of their day and arguably embody the era of Cool Britannia more than the grungy yelps of Oasis – and that’s something that should be celebrated. Granted, if you absolutely loathed them back then, you’re hardly likely to want to wander through acres of Spice gubbins today. But if you’ve got even the smallest inkling of nostalgia or just fancy a trip down memory lane to when things were enjoyably garish, then you’re sure to have a ball.
Spiceworld: The Exhibition runs at Leeds City Museum until 3 July 2011. Entry is free.
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