A few items of Hoylake news for all starting off with an update to the Cumpsty & Miller photo that I published in May. I must thank Pat Ireland and George Shone – Mr Cumpsty’s grandson – for the above photo of the aforementioned shop. Mr Cumpsty is the chap in the plus-fours on the right.

Thanks for all the comments about the 3 Sisters greengrocers featured in Monday’s Mary Queen of Shops. As has been commented, locals should have spotted some of not quite right edits …for instance, Telegraph Road shops have always been in Heswall not Hoylake . But it was great to see Hoylake on television and the place didn’t look too shabby did it? By the way, apologies if you had trouble viewing Hoylake Junction on Monday evening …the site received thousands of visitors and the computer server that the website is hosted on (all the way in California) couldn’t cope.

It seems that filming in Hoylake of the new comedy Candy Cabs has ended – at least for now. I gather it’s based on a true story of an all-woman taxi company in Warrington. They’ve also been filming some of the show in the Cheshire village of Lymm (see this blog post). I’m informed that the old show Watching, that was filmed in Meols, was coincidentally also filmed in Lymm. And to add another tenuous coincidence I used to work in Lymm, for someone whose uncle used to have a dental practice in Carlton Terrace.

Have a look at my (somewhat neglected, I must try harder!) Meols blog for a photos a house in Meols Park and for an informative post by Ian Powers about Meols sewage!

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a couple of things! Anyways, as always feel free to send in your in Hoylake news. Look out for a couple of events listings coming soon.

Two council workers were down on the beach this morning at 8am strimming the resurgent spartina grass.

A few weeks ago the grass didn’t look too healthy, but more recently it’s been looking very green and is probably spreading along the sand. The grass is most prevalent to the left of the lifeboat station but you’ll see it in various sections of the beach.

I went past on two occasions this morning and I didn’t see anything being sprayed on the grass. So if it’s just been strimmed, no doubt it’ll grow back again soon enough.

Losing battle do you think?

The BBC are back in town again! Not for a 3 Sisters follow-up but for filming of a new comedy called Candy Cabs. The show will star Claire Sweeney (formerly Brookside) and Jo Joyner (formerly Eastenders) amongst others and is presumably about a cab company.

Filming has been taking place on North Parade and I think they’ll be there again tomorrow. Ian Hazlehurst (Hoyle Blinds) has told me that they were also filming at that cafe in Coronation Park in West Kirby on Monday. I think they are stopping traffic on the prom at some points during the day, so maybe expect minor delays.

Mark Cunningham also pointed out there’s more photos and information in this Daily Mail article.

I think I’m right in saying that the last comedy to be filmed on the prom was Watching back in the 1980′s at Meols …who remembers that then?

Last December my mobile phone died on me so I had to buy a new one. I chose a fairly simple one as a replacement but it does a camera that I now use to take a few snaps when I’m out and about. Here are three photos relating to the (Irish) sea taken with said phone.

I took this one back in January and I’d be grateful if someone could tell me what these are:

Here’s a photo of an incoming tide taken a few weeks ago – doesn’t look the most attractive does it?

And for the last photo – jellyfish! There were several jellyfish washed up on Sandhey slipway on a recent Sunday afternoon; I don’t know if that’s anything to do with the strong winds that we had the day before? Does anybody know anything more about them?

So, did you watch Mary Queen of Shops tonight on BBC2 featuring Hoylake’s green grocers 3 Sisters (also discussed here)?

Sorry if you’ve been having trouble accessing Hoylake Junction …the site crashed for around 20 minutes or so, presumably due to the volume of visitors.

Anyways, feel free to have your say in the comments below – it’d be great to hear from you!

Well known actor Timothy Spall went sailing past the coastline of Hoylake yesterday.

Spall and his wife Shane are sailing a converted dutch barge called Princess Matilda (named after their granddaughter) and are slowly navigating their way around the UK coastline (I think). The barge was a present to himself for getting through leukemia about four years ago. I don’t think this trip consists of continuous sailing as acting jobs interrupt the journey – hence the apparent slow progress.

I can’t recall how I initially found out about the whole trip but I’ve known for a few weeks that the Princess Matilda was heading towards Liverpool. And yesterday afternoon the barge arrived, passing Hoylake and the Burbo Wind Farm en-route from Llandudno and up the River Mersey to Liverpool’s Pier Head.

If you’re interested in following Spall’s  ad hoc progress then you can read this blog which I think is updated by his wife. It seems that the BBC broadcast some of the trip too, although the programme is no longer available on iplayer.