Driftwood
There have been a few pieces of driftwood washed ashore in the last week but the one pictured (taken on my mobile – the day wasn’t actually that grey) above takes the award for biggest piece ever! Actually, I think Hoylake RNLI pulled this big branch ashore.
Cafe Closure
I happened to notice a bailiffs notice earlier today in the window of the Somethings Brewing tea room in The Row. The notice was dated 31st Jan but I don’t know if the cafe was open last week or not.
Hoylake Community Centre – Manager Vacancy
Following the news that Hoylake Community Centre will be managed by a charitable company named Hoylake Parade Ltd a vacancy has arisen. The centre now requires a Centre Development Manager and using the reference HOY/14514 you can read more about the position starting here. Best of luck if you apply!
Power Cable
I’ve read a couple of reports about the high-voltage power cable proposals, stating the cable will come ashore at Hoylake. It seems that the proposed cable will actually come ashore at Leasowe. More information about power cable proposals at the BBC. Any thoughts on this?
PC Tommy Simmons
Leo Simmons (in British Columbia, Canada) would like hear from anyone who recalls his father PC Tommy Simmons who was a policeman in Hoylake and West Kirby as well as Moreton between 1968 and approximately 1981. Leo hopes that some of you might have stories relating to his father (who is rather unwell at the moment). Leave a comment below or email your memories (good or indifferent!) to HoylakeJunction and I’ll forward them on to Leo.
St John’s Meols Centenary
I’ll soon be updating this Meols site to include various items and photos related to the forthcoming centenary for St John’s Church in 2013. As the church at one time managed the old Meols School in School Lane, I’ll be including the photos that I’ve already published here. Great Meols Primary will also be having input to the project with St John’s and are interested in the history of the old school.
Planting
Behind the telephone exchange in Queens Park a hedge row/trees have been planted – anyone know any more? It’s probably a hedge I guess.
Pot Holes
If you’ve spotted, ridden or driven over any big pot holes then did you know that you can report them? There are a couple of sites including Fill That Hole that let you report offending pot holes – you never know, it might even get filled in!
Hi John, thank you so much for including the request about my father! Also I was interested to see your picture of the driftwood on the beach near to Hoyle Road. I thought you might be interested to compare it with the driftwood ‘problem’ we have in British Columbia! I will send the photo to the email address.
Leo
Around 1950 there was an amazing amount of flotsam and jetsam which came in with each tide. My father always carried a rope in his carrier bike when there was a big tide. I have seen hatch covers, timber, kapok life-jackets, flares, canned cigarrettes (they had a blade in the lid which would open the tin when you rotated the lid), canned beer (no means of access, you used whatever tool you could find and invariably squirted the stuff on your ceiling). Needless to say at age of 7 I did not partake in this booty! The interresting find was two boxes of stearate which my father brewed up in a tin bath with caustic soda. Presto! we had bars of that awful soap we used to see in school, but as rationing was still on, it was very welcome and being so hard was great to rub on your shirt collars prior to washing them.
Can you take driftwood from the beach?….I would love a bit for my garden as I am also from British Columbia where driftwood is part of the landscape.
Thanks to a number of maritime laws (probably prompted by Cornish wreckers) items of value found on the beach should be declared to the Coastguard or, if you remove them, reported to the “keeper of wrecks” within 28 days. Ownership remains with the original owners and a reward may be paid.
In a recent container ship wreck, people were wheeling BMW motorbikes off the beach and selling them on Ebay.
As for “junk” I guess if you pick it up you cannot officially put it down as you are guilty of littering! I belive it is illegal for our Council to put sand blown up onto the prom back on the beach for the same reason.
I regularly pick up plastic rope, nylon net and line from surfing beaches in Wales and bin it to avoid it harming wildlife.
At a YMCA fair in the 1960s, I remember someone bringing a section of a carved totem pole found on the beach as a static exhibit. It was bigger than a 5 gallon oil drum and very heavy.
I think it would be churlish if you were prosecuted for taking the odd bit of ornamental driftwood, lots of coastal cottages seem to have gardens full of it.
Don’t forget Hoylake and Wallasey were once famed for their wreckers who were apparently even more ruthless than the Cornish ones.
Perhaps their story can be told in the new Hoylake Lifeboat Museum.
I know that Mother Readcap’s in New Brighton was a famed haunt of smugglers. The Inn had a think door and a booby-trap celar hatch door to trap revenue men. The weather vane was a dummy used to signal to smugglers that it was OK to bring their booty along for trade. If it was in the other direction, revenue men were about and they should stay away!
Some of the driftwood on Hoylake beach is actually dangerous. I found something only the other day that had stacks of nails sticking out of it – I removed it.
We live in Ferndale Road. Just had a leaflet seeking unwanted clothing to be donated. It comes from an organisation calling itself Helpmates Limited. It claims that clothing will be sent to the Third world. The leaflet cannot make its mind up as to whether the clothes are sorted in this country or aboard! Looking on the web it is clear that this is a scam. So do not donate anything.