News Roundup: 4th March 2011

RNLI

If you have been wondering, the flag at the lifeboat station is at half mast to mark the loss of Ernest McNee who was a Hoylake Lifeboat Crewman in the 1970s before joining the local Coastguard. There will be a service at Landican Centre Chapel 09/03/2011 at 11:30Hrs.

The sunset in the photo (pictured) was taken from the Hoylake RNLI tractor heading out west in the shore, driven by Mike Mellors.

Caravan and Landrover

Thanks also to Mike Mellors for informing me that the battered old landrover and attached caravan that has been parked-up on Meols promenade for months has now gone. I think I’ve even been past recently and not even noticed!

Hoylake In Bloom

If you’ve forgotten to pay this year’s Hoylake in Bloom subscription then Jan Foster asks could you kindly do so by 1st April.

Hoylake Food Fair

The last Hoylake Food Fair was considered to be a great success – so much so that there’s another one later this month. It will be held at Hoylake Community Centre on Sunday, 27th March from 10am to 2pm. There will be a children’s cookery demonstration from local chief Aiden Byrne (who bought the Collingwood in West Kirby the other month). Entry is free and more rooms are being used this time so there’ll be more space to browse.

Wirral Festival of Firsts

The inaugural Wirral Festival of Firsts will take place in July, bringing together hundreds of artists, performers and musicians to celebrate the power and diversity of the Wirral art and music scene – while also raising money for local children’s charity Claire House Children’s Hospice.

The Festival will take place on the weekend of the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th of July in Hoylake with events taking place the following weekend in Oxton. With an army of 500 volunteers already working to make the this the biggest cultural event on the Wirral, the Festival concentrates on a number of ‘firsts’ including the premiere of numerous plays, poems and works of music and performing art. Events include:

• The World’s biggest art exhibition centred in Hoylake on Sunday July 10th with over 300 artists involved
• Wirral’s first music proms featuring prominent local acts from every genre in venues throughout Hoylake on Saturday July 9^th
• Poetry proms with 100 local poets performing throughout the festival
• Theatrical productions – many premieres –will be performed
• Hoylake’s first national poetry competition, which will launch in  March, with the first ever winner to be announced on Poetry Prom day 10th July 2011.

Kings Gap Hotel Redevelopment

Work continues on the Kings Gap Hotel. It is to reopen as a Holiday Inn Express and will also have a Frankie Dettori branded restaurant. If you’re wondering what the new building will look like then here are some artists impressions – I presume they are up-to-date. If not, well it’ll just be more of a surprise!

Friends of Grove Park

Hard work continues by locals to improve Grove Park. You can follow progress on their facebook page.

Local Author Publishes Book

Hoylake resident and former local news reporter Peter Saunders has swapped facts for fiction with his novel The Unknown Conscript – a novel set in the National Service era of the 1950s, when there was an RAF ‘square-bashing’ camp at West Kirby. Peter Saunders’ book draws a picture of life in austerity England before moving on to the culture shock of army basic training, and ending in a former colony where insurgents are waging a terror campaign to oust the British. His book is available on-line at www.woodfieldpublishing.com at £9.95 plus p & p, by phone on 01243 821234 or on order from Lingham’s, West Kirby Heswall.

Shops

I understand that hairdressers Ambience are moving to the empty Sage/Top Drawer ladies clothes shop at some point in the near future. Sainsbury’s has reopened and is now open longer on Sundays. I haven’t been in so I can’t yet comment on the revamp – what do you think, leave a comment below? The empty Sevens Restaurant has been sold at auction recently – anyone know what the new owners have planned for the premises?

Plaques

I stumbled upon a website recently that aims to photographically record commemorative plaques. Last time I looked there was one for West Kirby but none for Hoylake. So, there’s a chance for a local with an interest in photography to take better photos of this plaque, this one and others that I’m not aware of (plaque below statues don’t count I think and if there are other plaques in Hoylake do let me know!).

Old Garage at Green Lodge

I was chatting to Nick at Burnetts Garage last week and he showed me the old, hand-written sales ledger that the original Burnetts kept – not too many car sales occurred during the two World Wars, whilst sales were motoring in the 60’s. There was also an old Morris Oxford dealer catalogue (I think it was) that listed both the garage on Birkenhead Road and another garage on the site of the car park behind the Green Lodge. As Nick said, if you look at the sandstone wall that backs onto Barton Road it does appear that the wall was originally part of some sort of bigger construction. So was there a garage there at some point – one of you is bound to know?

Any Old Iron?

Earlier in the week there was a chap in a van driving around looking for scrap metal. I couldn’t quite make out what he was shouting but I reckon it was “old iron”. With the price of scrap metal approaching £200 / tonne it might be worth his while? Last year I heard a couple of stories of old washing machines left in driveways for collection or sold for spares “disappearing” – so it might be best not to leave items that have scrap or second-hand value unsecured.

BT Phone Boxes

Out of interest, how many red phone boxes are there in Hoylake? The only two that spring to mind are the one opposite Sandringham Avenue and the one at the bottom of Trinity Road. If there are others please leave a comment.