"The Mersey is one of the world’s great rivers. It was fundamental to the industrial revolution, was poisoned by pollution and has recently made a amazing recovery. From the hills of the Peak District, through the urban sprawl of Stockport and Manchester and across rural Cheshire, it flows to the sea from its estuary at Liverpool and Birkenhead."

"Mersey: the river that changed the world is a project that celebrates the River Mersey, and the people whose lives have been entwined with it."

'Westward Ho' by Tony Wilson is one of the specially commissioned essays - probably his last published work - contained therein.

Reviewing the book on Manchester Confidential, Phil Griffen states: "He’s described on the contributors’ page, in the shortest of shorthand, as ‘broadcast journalist and regeneration consultant’. For most of his mouthy career, on and off screen, in and out of Factory Records, Dry bar and the Hacienda, he didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t know, until the last year or two, that he was a regeneration consultant. Actually, Tony Wilson, like the Mersey in flood, was an entire regenerative force of nature."

Mersey: the river that changed the world was published by, and is available from, Bluecoat Press. An exhibition of photography and audio material will be touring venues in the Northwest from December 2007.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, FAC51_The_Hacienda, Factory_Records, Tony_Wilson

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