Ian Powers kindly sends in some old photos of Uncle Stan’s Sand Service. Ian writes:
My Aunt Jennet was a mission nurse in India during WWII, she married the mission Chaplain, Stanley Royal and in 1952 they brought Uncle Stan’s Sand Services to Hoylake.
The day started with setting up the canvas screen etc. in front of the paddling pool, facing the promenade so as many people as possible could see the service. At 2pm there were beach games followed by the judging of a sand castle competition. Then at 3pm there was a service consisting of a Bible story presented by a big blonde guy with a booming voice. He used fuzzy felt characters on a school blackboard to relate the story. My Uncle Stan is the balding guy with his hands on his hips, and he is also in the second photo helping me to build a sand castle (I never won the prize, there was no insider dealing!)
Here is the second photo that Ian mentions:
Note the deck chairs. These were hired out by Hoylake UDC from a spot just beyond the other side of Hoylake Baths by the new south-west facing lifeboat slip. Wirral Council stopped them within a year or two of taking over in 1974 and then tried to close the baths in 1976.
I don’t know when Uncle Stan’s Sand Services came to a halt but they were still going in the early 70s.
What classic pics they are!
I can’t imagine adverts for saturday evening’s ‘Sausage Sizzle’ being allowed today! I remember leaving my sandals behind one day after the relay races , went back for them later on but they were washed away on the evening tide !
Happy days. . . .
Hey Alan
Were your sandles the brown one’s from Woolies
Kevin
Hi Kev,
You little devil!,I thought my classy sandals, probably bought from ‘Zenas’ at the top of Manor Rd were washed away , and now 40 years later you own up to pinching them ! Atonement !
Hope you are well and ageing gracefully !
Al.
Hi Alan great to see you and Sue in the red door. Di and I remembered how much she loved singing ” Wide is The Ocean” at uncle Stans sand service. Happy days!
Great to see, it brings back so many memories of my times on the beach as a lad. I looked for mself in the crowd……but no!
I used to go to Uncle Stans Sand Services in the 60`s, games on the beach [where you could win tokens to be exchanged for “tuck” out of the boot of a car usually parked on the prom or in Hoyle Rd] the afternoon service consisted of bible stories, singing hymns always with catchy melodies,Uncle Bert playing the accordion, we always tried to get there early to sit on the wall, just great memories.
The wise man built his house upon the rocks was one of the stories Uncle Stan told, I remember it well, they were good days and always sunny, I remember. He was a large Canadian man, I think, or was he American, whichever he was very good. We thoroughly enjoyed his sand services.
I still sing Uncle Stan’s songs to my grandchildren, especially “The wise man” when it is raining!
I think this calls for a little upload to Youtube!
Get out that Karaoke mic and give us all a treat!
The sand services were run by Wood Street Gospel hall and started in the 1940’s . A mobile pulpit was wheeled down to the shore and I have (somewhere) a photo of Wil Rankin (Snr) preaching in about 1950 . In the 1960’s Uncle Stan (Stan Ford) took over (he is “the big blond guy” in the photo). He was an ex bare knuckle Prize Fighter who became an evangelist . For two weeks in August he led the Sand services with a team that included Uncle Bert (Boyd) from Bebington on the accordion . Uncle Stan was very strong and his “party trick” was to blow up a hot water bottle until it burst ! The famous “sausage sizzles” for teenagers on Saturday nights drew people from all over Merseyside , not least those who had been to MAYC camp in Dyffryn or Abererch .
The Sand Services continued as Wood Street Gospel Hall ran a number of Beach Missions, until these came to an end in the 80’s. Wood Street Gospel Hall became Hoylake Chapel and in 1992 moved to it’s current church on the roundabout at Hoylake where it runs a Kid’s Church each Sunday at 10.45am, with a similar format, albeit with more modern technology and songs!
Ahh yes, I remember now – Stan Ford was the big guy, and my uncle Stan, the balding guy standing on Stan Ford’s left in the photo was Stanley Royal, just a co-incidence that they had the same name. I withdraw my false claim to glory, but glad everyone enjoyed the photos!
I went to school with Ian Rankin 150/60
Hi Stu, No-one has mentioned the ‘sticky bun race’ yet… The enamel on my teeth never recovered from that.
Gosh I remember clearly going to the sand services and swimming in the sea!!! I used to go with my Grandad Stephem Cleary, I loved them.
Just found these photos & comments. I remember Uncle Stan ~ I loved it all ~ the races, the tokens, the sandcastle competitions, the sausage sizzles, the aunties & Uncles & most of all the singing at the services in the afternoons. There was 1 song called Jesus Loves the Little Children (I think!) The chorus went…. Boys & girls from bonny Scotland, children from the English Dales, not forgetting dear old Ireland & the ragged hills of Wales. Uncle Stan used to ask for volunteers to sing solo the lines form the country they came from ~ I volunteered for every line every time!!! Never was very shy or retiring!
Just found this thread – it certainly brings back fond memories of ‘courting’ to the sounds of Uncle Stan and his young flock, in about 1965!
We used to sit in the recessed benches along the shore-side of the park down there and listen to Stans lead on such stuff as ” Good old Daniel” (…..and Daniel would not bow tio them ..(then chorus) Good old Daniel.
Now, does anyone out there know what happened to my ‘other half’ from those days, Glynis Foster?
This is my first ever message but i had to mention uncle Stan and the sausage sizzle, we were to young to get a sausage so auntie Anne used to give us dry bread ‘wow’. Happy days
I remember Uncle Stan (Stan Ford) back in the 50s with his sidekick Uncle Harold, standing next to him in the picture. It was very entertaining then for children to have something to do in the school holidays – races, sandcastle competitions etc, and of course if you volunteered to sing you received a small present. I also remember Uncl Bert I think he was called. He was from the Bert Burt family who lived in Alderley Road. Happy memories.
‘Uncle Harold’ was Harold Smethurst who owned a fleet of lorries , ‘Uncle Bert’ (accordian player) was Bert Boyd from Bebington who was a printer by trade .
Fascinating stuff. We are including an item on Beach Missions at our “Hymns Concert” at Holy Trinity Church, Chorley Way, Spital on Saturday 2nd March 2013 at 7.30pm. If anyone has any more photos, literature or info on Stan Ford etc we would love to include them.
Uncle Harold Smethurst had a blue dormobeal reg 15 OLK,
Don’t ask, I just remember
I don’t know why I have not seen these posts before. My brother, Ian(Bernstein) and I loved the sand services. I can remember not being old enough for the sausage sizzle and the joy when I reached the correct age..
HAPPY,HAPPY days
Great memories & great times. I’m sure many people will still remember being jealous of the Church & Open Bible sands castles my brother Dave, sister Gill & I made. We made the same sandcastles every year, using the moss off the rocks for the grass & the crosses were made from lolly sticks picked up on the beach. Our prize each time was a wad of tokens which we swapped for tuck from his car boot. By the way Alan, I’m still wearing those sandals you got from Zenas, the sea didn’t take them.
I too have many happy memories of these sand services. We had friends who used to come from Manchester and the Midlands to holiday in Hoylake, and we all enjoyed these services. I also still remember the songs, and those who know me will be pleased to hear that I sing them to myself quite often!
Glad to know that you only sing them to yourself.
Just came across this myself. The sand services remain fond memories for my sisters and I. How well I remember Uncle Bert on the accordion.
We still sing these songs when we’re together – as a laugh, but also as a reminder of our childhood. I suppose I best remember the songs, but also the bobbing apples competition.
The song Georgina Kellen (Crosbie) [above] makes reference to goes:
Jesus loves the little children
From whatever land they be
And he gently calls them to him
For salvation full and free
Boys and girls from bonny Scotland
Children from the English Dales
Not forgetting dear old Ireland
And the rugged hills of Wales
There was also a bible reading that followed one of the songs. I can’t remember which song, but doubtless one or both of my sisters will fill in lots of blanks in due course. Anyway, the reading went – and we would recite in unison:
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. John Fourteen Verse Three.”
Of course I, we, had no idea that Stan was an ex bare knuckle prize fighter. How amazing is that?
Great to find this site and see the photos. Thanks.
And when it was raining, which strangely didn’t seem to be that often, the service was moved into the bandstand area which would slowly fill with aromatic smoke from the sizzling sausages.
Uncle Stan was another of Hoylake’s unique eccentricities and, having just spent a nostalgia-drenched hour trawling through the magical pictures on this site, I’m starting to think I actually spent my childhood inside a Stephen King novel.
I just found this. I guess it might be the same Uncle Stan.
http://voicesforchrist.org/speakers/60
Yes , the sermons on the Voices for Christ website are by the same Stan Ford
http://voicesforchrist.org/speakers/show/60
Yes , the sermons on the Voices for Christ website are by the same Stan Ford
http://voicesforchrist.org
It’s great to listen to that magnificent voice once more. No wonder we were all so entranced! We always though Uncle Stan was an American…..how we mistook that west country accent for an american just shows how naive and innocent we were. He actually tells of being born in Yorkshire and raised in the west country. His Dad had been gassed in the Great War and died when Stan was a young boy. The Sand Services, competitions and the Sausage Sizzle were a magnet for us.
Stan Ford! Gosh what a delightful surprise to find this website – thank you to all contributors. SF came to our Carrington Ave Gospel Hall in Athlone, Cape Town in june’76 and presented the Gospel in a format which was uncharacteristic to our conservative church culture! Importantly, his teachings & larger-than-life personality inspired me to re commit my life to serve God fulltime. Shortly after I gave up my job, led 50 souls to Christ within 2 weeks, joined the local Scripture Union organisation as the first “colored” SU worker arranging beach & inland missions,camps and school bible clubs. My wife led the girls’ camps joined me in all these activities. A year ago my youngest daughter has done the same -gave up the corporate world of asset-management and servesGod as a volunteer worker among muslims. Thank you SF for coming to CapeTown in ’76!
“mr noah built an ark, the people thought it quite a lark” – another song i remember when i helped uncle stan out in summer 1970 at hoylake. only remember one other helper by name – toni (nicholson?) – who lived in hoylake.
One I remember from early60s
Mr Noah built an Ark.
The people though it such a lark.
Mr Noah pleaded so.
But into the Ark they would not go.
Down came the rain in torrents, down came the rain in torrents,
Down Came the rain in torrents and only eight were saved
Saw Uncle Stan regularly in the late 50’s travelling to Hoylake by train from Liverpool. Thoroughly enjoyable and all so innocent. Not sure they would get away today featuturing the line ‘ enjoy Uncle Stans big sausage sizzler !
What memories .Dad [uncle Stan] passed on the glory about 20 years ago ,but Mum now 98 is still with us and very fit. Thanks for all the lovely comments .Steve Ford ..
We all loved Uncle Stan. I used to sing whilst leading Pony rides past him. He was such a nice man. Was he Canadian? 😊😊
Yes I was suprised to find this web site. I was always there in the late 60s/70s & I often return to the prom & remember it well. What an inspiration.
I now work as a sound engineer doing missions across Africa seeing hundreds of thousands come to Jesus. Technology & media has improved but the message is still the same.
With Christ in the vessel you can smile at the storm!
Thanks Stan
I used to help on the team as a teenager in the 70’s and was baptised by Stan Ford. Later there were others who led the beach mission including Steve Brady. I loved every part of those times and we had so much fun! It strengthened my faith and Hoylake Chapel is a big part of ‘my story’. Thank you for the memories!
Remember this song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlNCMnqjMmY
Was he Canadian? Some of us thought he was American……I believe he actually was from the West Country and we just didn’t recognise the accent. You can still Google him and listen to his glorious, booming voice. He brought such a lot to all our childhoods.
Hello, I found this site some years ago and it really brought back wonderful memories of my times with Uncle Stan on the beach at Exmouth in Devon. My grandad used to take me down to the beach each morning to join in. A song that has been going through my mind that I remember singing with him was, “Thou art a wonderful God, thou art a wonderful God, thou maddest the mountains, thou maddest the seas, thou maddest the song birds that fly over me, thou art a wonderful God!” He used to have a very colourful big book with the words and wonderful pictures in it I seem to remember! Can anyone remember the other verses please?
I remember Uncle Stan and the beach services which I attended as a young boy in 1950’s. Unfortunately I never won the sandcastle competition but I tried hard. Reading a contribution from 2010 by Stu Rankin which reminded me I went to school in West Kirby and the Parade School in the 1950’s with Ian Rankin.
Hi Bill are you related to the famous Richard hughes the lifeboatman of the monument at hoylake ?