HUDDERSFIELD EXAMINER Article (05/07/2011)

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Record news for Spice Girls fan Liz West

AN exhibition of the Spice Girls, made possible by a Huddersfield woman, is a record-breaker. Spiceworld: The Exhibition smashed visitor numbers at the Leeds City Museum, where it closed at the weekend. And that’s great news for Liz West, of Lindley, who loaned much of her amazing Spice Girls collection to the museum. Since it opened in January, nearly 50,000 people have visited the exhibit at Leeds City Museum.

Now she is planning to move the exhibition to Londonderry next summer and then on to Northampton. The items in Spiceworld: The Exhibition are owned by collector Liz and include a pair of Union Jack boots worn by Geri Halliwell.

The event had already created a world record for the largest number of Spice Girls items together in a collection. Liz said: “It feels surreal, but obviously I’m very proud that people have come along to see all the bits and pieces I have collected over the years. I’m still adding to it all the time and there will be more when it goes to Northern Ireland next year”.

The museum said the best-attended exhibition previously was Dr Rock’s Lost Gallery – involving minerals and crystals - which attracted 3,500 visitors in 2010. Curator of exhibitions Helen Langwick said: “The Spiceworld exhibition has proved really popular and we are especially proud to have played our part in making a little bit of history with the Guinness World Record for Liz, which is well deserved for her amazing collection”.

The exhibition was the first time Ms West’s full collection had been on public display. She was just 11-years-old when Girl Power spiced up the world. She heard Wannabe on the radio and said she became hooked on the Spice Girls. Now the 25-year-old, who lives in Lindley, has amassed a collection of 4,000 pieces of Spice Girl memorabilia. The Leeds exhibition was the first time all had gone on show in the same place.

Liz was a fan first and a collector second, but the artist is now able to make a career out of her collection. She said: “I was always extremely keen for this museum to play host to my collection, mainly because of the impressive nature of the venue but also because Leeds is Mel B’s hometown. "Sadly Mel B wasn’t able to get along to see it because she is heavily pregnant”.

Melanie Brown was born in Harehills and lived in Burley. She married dancer Jimmy Gulzar in 1998. The couple later divorced, and she went on to marry movie producer Stephen Belafonte in 2007. The other members of the pop group were Victoria Beckham, Melanie Chisolm, Geri Halliwell and Emma Bunton.

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