I haven’t checked, but I reckon that the above old shop doorway is the nearest Hoylake can offer as a ghost sign.

A ghost sign is old hand-painted advertising signage that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time and has typically faded. So strictly speaking, the sign in the tiles in the doorway of the now-closed Spotty Blue Teapot cafe don’t count. You’ll see much better examples in this site dedicated to ghost signs. I’ve forgotten what ‘Brewer & Co’ used to be …was it a large grocers?

But am I right? Are they are any other ghost signs in Hoylake and if so where are they? Hope there are more!

Oh, I’m not so sure that this one qualifies either …but there are double bonus points if you have a photo of the (in)famous Finniland. Surely someone has a photo of Hoylake’s one and only theme park?

Here’s a super view of a Hoylake sunset taken this Wednesday evening by Kate (age 11 from Hoylake).

You can enjoy views like this during this summer simply by going down to the prom – you don’t even have to pay for it. How good is that!

I’ve been browsing through my archives and stopped on this very old image kindly sent to me by Paul Doleman. I like the way the photographer has captured the people chatting on the street corners (posed perhaps?) …something we all still do today when we bump into someone along Market Street.

By my reckoning the view is toward Meols with Trinity Road on the left (or Church Road as it was then) and Elm Grove on the right. Today you’ll find Wellington-Young Insurance Brokers on the left and Ambience Hair & Beauty on the right.

Those gates must be Shaw’s Yard and Elm Grove (or at least the land around Shaw’s Yard) was then known locally as Cockle Alley with, according some of your previous comments, several local fishermen living in cottages in Elm Terrace.

In the row of shops on the right you’ll find Joseph Iles, maker of plain and fancy biscuits no less! Mr Iles, being something of a big-shot in the village, had a second shop further up Market Street. Today you’ll know it as the Indira restaurant.

I wonder if the Lighthouse Inn was around back then? I suspect it was. And ideal for a restorative pint or two of ale after a hard day’s fishing the Irish Sea.

Yes I know, it’s really not a great photo …but the potential story behind it could be quite interesting.

The photo shows an old glass jar semi-buried in a hole in one of the hills in Queens Park. Our children used to call it, and in fact we all still do call it, the Telly Tubby hill after viewing many episodes of the children’s TV show …it’s the hill opposite the playground, near to the Monkey Woods entrance. On the other main hilly bit behind the bunglows on Deneshey Road there are a few pieces of old glass (I picked-up and binned a few) and what looks like porcelain jars. I guess that after the weeks of icy weather and sledging the ground has been disturbed and these bits of glass have been disturbed. Obviously keep an eye out for glass if your children are playing in the park – there’s not lots, but still.

Now I’ve been told that these little hills in Queens Park are man-made and buried within them are piles of old, unwanted jam jars from an old nearby jam factory. I’ve absolutely no idea if that’s true or not …how about you?

Many thanks to Joan Howell for sending in these super old photos of Hoylake. Joan says of the above photo:

This was a photo from my mum’s collection (May Ball who lived all of her 95 years in Hoylake), it was a charabanc trip and the photo is dated August 1924, my mum was only 10 so is not actually on the photo.

…did they have crisps in Hoylake in 1924? Frank Smith originally packaged a twist of salt with his crisps in greaseproof paper bags, which were then sold around London in 1920 (wikipedia) so maybe?

Below is a photo of the original Hoylake RNLI station with some of the crew on a tractor in 1934.

Here’s the pupils of the old Market Street school from the class of 1953. I understand a certain regular contributor to HoylakeJunction is in this photo! (click for larger version)

And finally for today here’s the residents of Lee Road with their friends celebrating the King George VI Coronation in May, 1937 (click this one for larger version).

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Many thanks to Gerry Mort for this rare image of a WWII Victory Parade marching along Market Street. Gerry sent in the image in response to my request last week for more photos of wartime Hoylake. Commenting on this week’s photo, Gerry says:

This is a photo of the police contingent taking part in the Victory Parade passed the Council Offices in 1945. The person taking the salute can be seen holding a top hat. My father Charles Mort, is the sergeant leading the parade. The police officer in the centre of the front rank is Bill Reeves who lived in Elm Terrace and was the father of Jackie Reeves. The boy on the bicycle was the son of a police officer called Barker (I think).

Can you make out the sign to the shop in the background …I’m fairly sure it says Wine Merchants? That’s quite a coincidence as the same shop was recently Hoylake Wines and before that it was a Threshers off-licence for several years.

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On 20th December, 1940 an incendiary device lodged in the spire of the Hoylake Congregational Church (the church right on the roundabout at King’s Gap – you might well know it as Hoylake Chapel website). As you can see from the photo above the church suffered some structural damage. Good to see that one of Hoylake’s Grade II Listed buildings is still standing today.

Many thanks to local historian and author Neil Holmes for the image. You can find out more about Liverpool Blitzed over on Neil’s facebook page.

If you’ve got old images of Hoylake captured during either World War please do send them in.

It’s been snowing all day today pretty much in Hoylake. Before 7am there was quite a nice blanket of clean, white snow everywhere but by 9am it was well on its way to morphing into rather wet, off-white slush. Not nice really. Especially as my trusty B&Q wellies have started to leak.

I was in Lake Place at around 3pm today and this lovely little cottage garden caught my eye. Seems to me that the daffs have given up the battle with the strong easterly wind and the snow!

I’ve featured Lake Place before and in this post from 2009, there’s a comment that confirms that there was a pub (or “beer house”) called The Pig & Whistle in Lake Place. The pub was apparently the headquarters of the Loyal and Ancient Order of Shepherds …fascinating local history! There’s a drink in it for anyone who can send me a photo of The Pig & Whistle.

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The view could perhaps be anywhere though in fact it’s the dawn sky above Meols looking in the direction of Wallasey and Liverpool. Many thanks to Vaughan Williams for sending me this great image of the dawn sky, criss-crossed with the vapour trails from the evidently many planes that fly above our heads.

The sky can though, on very rare occasions, be completely free of aeroplanes. Remember the volcanic ash clouds …that was very nearly three years ago.

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Here’s another view of the Meols Cafe – seemingly a cafe for cyclists – that was once on the corner of Sandringham Avenue. We saw an old black and white view of the same premises a couple of weeks ago. Many thanks to Paul Doleman for this image.

Club cyclists are rather partial to cafes and most local club riders will have at least heard of the Eureka Cafe at Two Mills. I used to go in there myself many years ago; it’s about a 13 mile ride from Meols. I did have ride out that way the other week after Christmas and by the time I got back to Hoylake, cold and tired I could hardly stand straight …perhaps I should’ve stopped for a coffee!

I’m not sure what’s the preferred cafe of choice for riders stopping for a drink and a cake around our corner of Wirral?