April 2007 Archives
When courage to save comrades earned a VC
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 27, 2007 8:45 AM
SHELLS whizzed past, machine gun fire punctured the air relentlessly and a plane circled threateningly overhead but Birkdalian Private Richard George Masters knew the wounded must be evacuated.
Bethune, France April 1918 and the driver attached to the 141st Field Ambulance found himself cut off from base and stuck behind enemy lines.
His comrades lay injured and the only road back to safety was reported impassable, but Private Masters, who lived on Norwood Road until his death in 1965, volunteered to try and get through.
Thinking nothing of his own welfare he made repeated trips to clear the thoroughfare of debris.
Once this had been achieved, the real work began, and with the Sandgrounder’s vehicle the only available, it fell to Private Masters to deliver those trapped to sanctuary.
For his valiance, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the transcript of which described his incredible bravery.
It reads: “He made journey after journey from 1pm until darkness set in, over a road consistantly shelled and swept by machine-gun fire and on one occasion bombed by an aeroplane.
“The greater part of the 200 wounded cleared from this area were evacuated by Pte Masters.
“In assisting in removing wounded from the cellars of a house he was gassed, from the effects of which he is still suffering.”
Private Masters was employed as a chaffeur for a Mr Pennington of Birkdale pre-war and had already achieved local fame for his success as a cyclist.
In his late 30s when hostilities began, he was one of England’s foremost cyclists between the years 1898-1900.
And his Victoria Cross was the second military honour bestowed on him.
A year earlier on March 7 1917 at the Somme, he volunteered to go forward with his ambulance to an advance dressing station and made four journeys clearing the wounded from a quarry, while under perpetual shell-fire.
For this he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.
Today, Private Masters lives on in the Bootle Territorial Army barracks named in his honour.
Permanent staff administrative officer there, Captain Tony Ravera told LookBack: “He’s an icon of bravery, but also humility.
“We went to the area where he was operating last year and it was quite poignant to know he was there and did what he did in that location - it was a special experience.
“It’s an honour to work in a place named after such a brave man.”
Private Richard George Masters VC is buried in St Cuthbert’s churchyard, Churchtown
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Still a big hit on the lawns
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 25, 2007 12:58 PM
IT’S one of the UK’s fastest growing sports, the Beckhams are rumoured to own a lawn and John Prescott recently fell victim to the papparazzi while enjoying a game.
And here, Southport and Birkdale Croquet Club are the largest and longest-established of their type in the north.
Boasting more than 90 members and a clubhouse constructed back in 1900, lawn manager Terry Foster told LookBack: “We’re as vibrant as we’ve ever been”.
The club began life in 1894 at the famous old Palace Hotel in Birkdale and became known at the time as Birkdale and Southport Croquet Club.
Archivist and former chairman, Tony Thomas said: “In 1890 there were lots of activities going on at the Palace and clubs could contract with the hotel to use the facilities; like toilets, bars and changing rooms.
“At the time, the Palace could accommodate 12 parties playing croquet such was their size.”
As the game grew in popularity, a new ground was found in Victoria Park and the clubhouse was completed and made ready for use in 1904.
The nature of croquet allows men and women to compete equally in competitions and to this day, membership remains split between the sexes.
Although things were a little different a century ago, as Tony explained: “In the 1904 era, the ladies who played would bring their maids with them so they could be served tea on the lawns.”
But it wasn’t all cucumber sandwiches, as time passed the club started to produce some world class players, including Chris Clarke and Mark Saurin.
They, as well as others, were coached by 1988 Croquet Association (CA) Coach of the Year Andrew Bennet and soon became known as ‘Bennet’s Bandits’.
The pair achieved some notable successes, both won the CA Presidents Cup, Mark was picked for England at just 19 and three years later Chris followed in his footsteps.
Tony said of Mark: “In comparative terms he’d be the Andrew Murray of croquet.”
As well as individual successes, the grounds have played host to international test matches and in 1986, Southport provided the location for a test match between New Zealand and Great Britain.
And two years after the club celebrated their centenary in 1994, the home internationals featured on their lawns, with England emerging victorious.
Today the game is as popular as its ever been and, after hitting a low of 13 members in the 1960s, Southport and Birkdale Croquet Club now counts 92 at its annual general meeting.
Vice-President, Don Williamson added: “If you start playing it and get into it, you can’t get it out of your system.”
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In mourning for firefighter
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 20, 2007 12:41 PM
A sombre event provides the subject matter for this week's Pic From The Past, as we join a fire brigade funeral procession in 1956.
Lying in state is a 30-year-old fireman tragically killed on a training ground exercise at Southport's Albert Road station.
Reader George Taylor brought the picture in to share and knows a great deal about the circumstances but finds himself stumped by the photographer's location.
George said: "It was Novermber 1956 and a Home Office inspector requested a certain trial to be done, which included extension of the double ladder.
"This particular one was very old and about 90ft long.
"They wanted men up the ladder but didn't appreciate the windy conditions, because when they got above the roof, the wind took the top off the ladder and he came down with it."
Do you know where the procession was heading and where the frame was shot?
Leave a comment below or call LookBack on 01704 398225 if you think you know, and if you have any quirky, unusual or just plain baffling photographs you'd like investigated in Pic From The Past, get in touch!
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Nightlife
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 20, 2007 12:38 PM
WHO are these laughing ladies enjoying a night on the tiles in December 1995?
What was the occasion and where are they now?
If you think you know, leave a comment below or call LookBack on 01704 398225
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Doors close on a medical institution
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 13, 2007 9:21 AM
TWO weeks ago the doors to the medical institution that served Southport and surrounding areas for more than a century closed for the last time.
It was in March 1825 when a charity decided that a building was needed to treat local handloom weavers and the North Meols Local Dispensary was created on a Lord Street site.
Soon demand increased and the dispensary assumed the name Southport Infirmary ahead of a move to Virginia Street in 1870.
This new facility included two special wards that were isolated for the reception of fever and other infectious diseases.
It also had a mortuary, disinfecting house and its own laundry.
In its first year it treated 115 patients, rising to 219 by 1894, but before then, in 1876, concerns were raised over the arrangements for infectious cases and their treatment was discontinued.
The focus for the Infirmary became the response to accidents and non-infectious medical cases.
In 1892, an appeal was made for land to house a new infirmary and the Scarisbrick family stepped forward with the five acre site on which the current Infirmary now stands.
Over three years, and at a cost of £25,000, accommodation for up to 60 patients in men’s women’s and children’s wards became available.
As Southport expanded, so did the Infirmary and in 1899 the Eye, Ear and Throat hospital came aboard.
One of the major developments occurred in 1928, when Christiana Hartley JP proposed to present the town with a fully equipped maternity hospital, opened in 1932.
In the Infirmary’s silver jubilee year, plans were made for considerable extensions, including an additional 128 beds.
And on July 5 1948, it passed from voluntary hands into the newly formed NHS, as one of 14 hospitals under Liverpool Regional Hospital Board.
Further improvements followed, including emergency lighting, a new pharmacy and mortuary refrigeration unit, as well as film processing for the X-Ray department.
The first half of the 1960s saw demand for surgical work rise by 30 percent, alongside a 20 percent increase for all services.
The beginning of the end for the Scarisbrick New Road site came with the construction of the new General Hospital on Town Lane.
Only the audiology, eye unit and Ear, Nose and Throat remained with the latter relocating on March 29, 108 years after first moving into the Infirmary.
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Nightlife
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 12, 2007 9:49 AM
WHO are the members of this motley crew supping on bottles of Budweiser and cans of that classic beverage, Hooch?
If you recognise a face, leave a comment below or call LookBack on 01704 398225
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Did you play for team?
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 12, 2007 7:53 AM
DID you play for Fleetwood Hesketh football team in the ‘40s or ‘50s?
Perhaps your brother, dad or cousin enjoyed a game.
This week’s Pic From The Past was brought in by LookBack correspondent, Freda Barker-Baskerville, who found this old snap among some of her late father’s possessions.
Tommy Barker was their trainer and Freda remembers him being famed for his use of the magic sponge.
Other than that, the only information we have are the names.
Although a couple seem to be missing, the front row is recorded as Moore, Massam, Cauncer and Parker. The back row consists of Hutchie, Halton, Slater, Cowboy and Leggy - a name perhaps explained by the sportman’s size.
But when was the picture taken and where?
Freda writes: “If anyone recognises any of their parents, grandparents or friends and would like the photo, I am quite happy to pass it on.
“Hope to hear from somebody!”
If you think you recognise anyone, leave a comment below or alternatively, call LookBack on 01704 398225
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Town's conservatism seals fate of radical suffragettes
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 8, 2007 5:13 PM
SOUTHPORT suffragettes had established themselves as determined political activists under Dora Marsden, but their attention-grabbing revolutionary tactics prompted a community backlash.
With the visiting Churchill interrupted, eggs thrown in the street and a serious threat to the pier, the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) had increased their profile sufficiently to occupy a prominent Nevill Street office and attract bumper crowds to their talks.
But for many the potential for a domestic and political earthquake if they achieved their aim, and a sense of distaste about what was deemed to be ‘unfeminine’ tactics, meant the WSPU’s opponents soon turned the tables on the group.
The line was crossed initially in 1910, when WSPU flags were ripped from a car the ladies were using to reach a polling booth in what became known as the ‘High Park Incident’.
The Visiter reported a crowd of more than 100 gathered as the vehicle was damaged and the chauffeur threatened, while one suffragette was shoved against a door and another was “bodily lifted” and thrown headfirst into the backseat.
The unrest continued at a WSPU meeting that took place in Marshside’s Temperance Hall.
As Dora Marsden spoke, proceedings were interrupted by a rowdy crowd around the gas meter who kept turning the lights out.
Another antagonist released a basket of sparrows in the room, and one youth persisted in shaking a rattle while others sang, according to the Visiter, “well known music hall songs regardless of harmony or tune”.
A vote was taken by Miss Marsden and it was determined that she should continue with her talk regardless of the interruptions.
The following evening, a more serious incident occurred as the former teacher and her colleagues delivered a speech at the now defunct Wennington Road school.
This time the meeting was interrupted by somebody releasing noxious chemicals into the packed hall.
But despite this resistance Dora Marsden and her fellow travellers didn’t give up their cause, it was more that the genteel and conservative Southport of the day gave up on them.
By 1913, it was reported that the WSPU no longer had a significant foothold in our town, and groups more concerned with lobbying politicians and peaceful resistance gathered greater followings.
Dora Marsden slipped out of Southport as quietly as she had arrived and the Visiter revealed in 1911 that she had joined forces with Mary Gawthorpe to establish a magazine called Free Woman, covering women’s issues as well as continuing to agitate for suffrage and accepting articles from literary giants like TS Elliot and DH Lawrence.
Women in the UK finally achieved suffrage on the same terms as men in 1928.
Dora Marsden died in 1960, after spending the final 25 years of her life in a home for the psychologically ill near Dumfries, Scotland.
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Were you at party night?
Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on April 6, 2007 11:53 AM
LOOKBACK is at the Odyssey nightclub on December 15, 1995 this week, but who are the revellers, how did the night go and what are those featured up to now? Call 01704-398225 if you think you know or simply click on 'comment'
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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Look Back in the April 2007. They are listed from oldest to newest.
March 2007 is the previous archive.May 2007 is the next archive.
Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.
"I would like to ask if anyone has any old photogra..."
" Like Jack Hoyle, I too was a was a patient at t..."
"My late husband remembered having Creamed Shrimps ..."
"By chance, I came across Harvey Kay's mention of M..."
"A rush of remember-when came over me just now, whe..."
"I was a chef at the Kingsway in the late sixties. ..."