A fascinating peek at life in Birkdale

Posted by Digital Editor on June 29, 2007 9:24 AM

A PROJECT has been launched to collect Birkdale memorabilia as the village’s Civic Society gears up to celebrate its first quarter-century.

Chairman and founding member of Birkdale Civic Society, Ralph Gregson MBE, has been gathering items from the last century-and-a-half of local history at his Liverpool Road home, in readiness for a commemorative exhibition in the autumn.
“I’m really looking forward to the celebrations,” said Mr Gregson, 76.
“Our members and residents have been finding a wealth of historical items in their attics and elsewhere in their homes.”
Items collected to date include minutes of meetings and bye-laws of Birkdale Urban District Council, which administered the village from 1887 to 1912.

Those meetings took place at the old town hall in Weld Road until its demolition in 1969, and photographs of that building are in the society’s collection alongside ones of a local football team from 1902.
Birkdale Civic Society’s actual anniversary date is in late summer and the highlight of the celebrations will be a three-week exhibition at the Botanic Gardens Museum, depicting ‘Birkdale Past& Present’.
Taking place in the last week in September and the first fortnight in October, that display will include more recent memories such as the Civic Society’s silver medal success in the Queen’s Jubilee Nature Trail contest of 1993.
For their creation of a 17-and-a-half acre site by the Eco Centre on the Promenade, the Civic Society scooped second place in the national competition to mark the Queen’s 40 years on the throne.

Mr Gregson started Birkdale Civic Society in 1982 in a bid to protect the village’s 150-year-old elm trees, which were being ravaged by Dutch elm disease.
He said: “When we first started I did not envisage that we would be continuing to provide facilities for Birkdale for 25 years. We have established there’s a definite role for a voluntary organisation to look after the area.”
The anniversary will also feature the Civic Society working in partnership with Sefton Council to repaint the mounted litter bins in Birkdale village, plus the bench outside the village post office in Liverpool Road.

l If you have any items which you think may be of interest to Birkdale Civic Society, call Ralph Gregson on 01704-566254.

l To find out more about Birkdale Civic Society visit their homepage on our new website: www.southportcommunities.co.uk

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A night on the tiles

Posted by Digital Editor on June 29, 2007 8:33 AM

These people were clearly enjoying themselves on a night out on the tiles in Southport. But do you know who they are and where are they now?

Click below if you recognise yourself, or anyone else in the photo.

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A focal point for village's faithful for 150 years

Posted by Digital Editor on June 22, 2007 9:02 AM

IT WAS the Birkdale church that one ‘Southport Visiter’ reporter said “would never last” – but this month, St James’ celebrated its 150th anniversary.
The Lulworth Road church has come a long way since its creation in 1857.
Church members celebrated the anniversary with a number of events, including a display of historical photographs.
Ann Deacon, parochial church council secretary, said: “Photography hasn’t always been as popular as it is today, so obviously there are less pictures available the further into the past you go. But we’ve found quite a lot, and somebody even gave us a box full of old photographs.”
The display featured a line drawing of the church as it looked in 1860, and photographs of the church’s first ever vicar, the Reverend Benjamin Swift.
Rev Swift officiated at the wedding of his own daughter, Mary, to Edward Sleddon, a ‘Gentleman’, on March 20, 1872. He also conducted the marriage of his servant, Hannah Howard on December 21 of the same year.
The Palace Hotel in Birkdale, which was demolished in 1969, was also featured in the display.
The hotel played a big role in the life of the church, when, in the late 19th century, building work meant that the church was temporarily closed.

Ann said: “At some point during the 1890s the church was closed while a section was added to it, and services took place in the Palace Hotel.
“We’ve had a lot of new people coming to church, and many of them won’t even remember what it was like five years ago, let alone 150 years ago.
“The anniversary has given us a wonderful opportunity to look back into the past, but also to consider the future of the church.
“We’ve been thinking a great deal about the church’s 150 year history, and have also put a lot of thought into where the church is going, and what we can do to make sure it is still here and going strong 150 years from now.
“We’re making sure we meet people’s needs wherever we can.”

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Pupils big news again in Visiter!

Posted by Digital Editor on June 22, 2007 9:01 AM

WHILE rummaging around in her attic Caroline Merry found a snapshot of the past which made her think about her Southport roots.
Taken at Harvest Festival, Mrs Merry (née Cheshire- Bibby) thought it must have been snapped in 1950 or 1951.
She said: “After my mother died 10 years ago I had to clear away her belongings and I remember seeing the photo but I must have put it in my attic.
“Interestingly it had Southport Visiter stamped on the back of it so it was probably in the paper around that time.
“I’m 60 now so I must have been about four in the photo and it’s outside my old school, Kew Preparatory School.
“I live in Southampton now but I used to live in Balfour Road in Southport and my brother and aunt went to the school as well. It would be nice if someone else could remember the photo being taken. And if anyone had a copy of the piece which was in the paper from all those years ago, I’d really like to see it.”

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Do you recognise these party people?

Posted by Digital Editor on June 22, 2007 9:00 AM

These fun loving party animals were out and about in Southport’s bars and clubs during the 1990s when ‘Visiter’ photographer Gareth Jones was out and about. Do you recognise yourself, or someone you know?
Click below if you recognise someone

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Good Samaritan Gordon's quest begins 40 years on

Posted by Digital Editor on June 15, 2007 9:03 AM

MORE than 40 years ago Gordon Croston threw a lifeline to Victor Tanice, a destitute young Nigerian he met stranded in Spain.
Now Gordon, a retired entrepreneur living in Shellfield Road, Marshside, is trying to trace Victor, who he helped on his way to a better life but hasn’t seen since.

It was while holidaying with a neighbour in April 1966 that Gordon, now 86, came across Victor in the port of Algeciras.
“I was waiting for the ferry to Gibraltar when a young man came up to me,” remembers Gordon. “He had hitch-hiked all the way from Lagos and was in a hell of a state.”
“He told me he was trying to get to Liverpool, and when I told him I came from there he looked at me as if he had seen God.
“Victor said he had been in Spain for nearly a year and no-one would give him food or money.”
Gordon, the son of a Liverpool publican, bought 18- year-old Victor – whose homeland had just been engulfed in civil war – a ticket for the crossing and gave him £5.
But on arrival on Gibraltar, immigration officers would not allow Victor entry – a problem Gordon called on his contacts to resolve.
The Catholic padre of Gibraltar, Father Henry Border, was a friend of Gordon’s, who he knew via a Catholic priest in Liverpool.
Fr Border was called to the immigration office and negotiated Victor’s entry, before taking him to Gibraltar cathedral for a bath and new clothes.
Gordon said: “There was a boat that ran between Marseilles and the Rock, whose crew were always in Fr Border’s confessional.
“Fr Border called in a few favours, and they fitted him up with official papers and agreed to drop him at the British consular office in Marseilles.”
That was the last that Gordon – who was then working as a gemologist and trader in precious and semi-precious stones – saw of Victor.

Back in Liverpool he received a letter of gratitude from an address in Paris, saying: “You are somebody that I must not do away for the rest of my life.”
Another letter arrived dated January 1969, addressed to “My dear saviour”, in which Victor told of how he was married with two children, lived in a studio in Paris and had recently visited London. “I wish I could visit you but time did not allow, oh alas!” it said.
In the early 1970s Gordon’s neighbours saw an African man come to his home while he was away on business, but he has never heard from Victor since.

Without the time to trace Victor during his working life, Gordon has written to Dr Christopher Kolade of the Nigerian High Commission for assistance and is now awaiting a reply.
But successful or not in his quest, Gordon has the satisfaction of knowing he had been a true Good Samaritan.
“I was brought up to help others,” said Gordon, the eldest of seven children.
“If you can’t do something for yourself, do it for another.”

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Memories flooding back ...

Posted by Digital Editor on June 15, 2007 9:01 AM

WITH a £7million sea wall keeping the beach apart from the street, it’s easy to forget that Southport’s grand boulevards were once prone to heavy flooding.
But on this occasion, July 31 1948, it was a sustained downpour from above that left many Sandgrounders searching for their wellies.
LookBack correspondant Jim Ford shared these two pictures having discovered them among his mother’s possessions.
She was sent the pair by a friend who moved to Jersey some time ago, but retained her images of Southport yesteryear.

Jim said: “My mother was at the cinema with friends and when she came out Lord Street was flooded.
“Lord Street was built on a natural lake, and on this occasion the flood was caused by rain water.
“It was a slack in the sand dunes, like there is on some of the sandhills now, and that’s why it’s so wide because it was built on both sides of this lake, so it did flood naturally.
“The old Sandgrounders talk about the reem, which is to do with the water table and salt water that rises up underneath the town.”
In one shot, a car innocently bobs along past the famous verandhas as if window shopping at Bambers, while those safely to the edges seem to be happily continuing about their business.
The other shows a crowd gather around the periphery, as a man and wife trudge through with skirts and trousers rolled above the water.
On the corner is the ironically titled Rainwear House, which must have done a bustling trade on a wet day like this.

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Still good Bud-dies?

Posted by Digital Editor on June 15, 2007 9:00 AM

WHO are these likely lads enjoying a few bottles of Bud back in January 1996? LookBack has no information other than the date, but wherever the picture was taken all three seem to be having a good laugh together. But what are they up to now?
Leave your comments and memories below ...

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Popular photographer John proved a really great sport

Posted by Visiter Newsdesk on June 8, 2007 9:00 AM

THIS week, LookBack pays tribute to Southport father, photographer and football fan John Garfield Dawes.

After Mr Dawes’s death on May 25, his family found a stack of snaps previously unseen by the public.
From boxing legend Muhammad Ali to golfer Tony Jacklin to tennis great John McEnroe to the drama of the Grand National at Aintree, Mr Dawes’s family wanted to share some of the iconic images with LookBack readers.
Leading sports photographer and larger than life dad-of-three, Mr Dawes lived in the Hesketh Park area of Southport for more than 30 years.
Friends with Liverpool Football Club stars such as Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen, Mr Dawes was actually a dedicated Everton fan!

He began his photography career at 15 when he joined John Mountfield Photography and then moved to the Widnes Weekly News in 1963 followed by Mercury Press Agency in Liverpool and Express Newspapers in 1970.

Eight years later the Daily Star was launched with Mr Dawes as its Chief Sports Photographer.
His Daily Mirror colleague Bradley Ormesher (corr), also from Southport, knew Mr Dawes from childhood and worked with him for many years.
He said: “John had the gift of the gab and could make anybody do anything.
“He got Paul Gascoigne to dress up as Braveheart with the full costume and his face painted and he got Paul Ince to dress up as a centurion.
“He was a popular guy – Peter Beardsley, Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan and the Football Association have been on the phone asking about him.”

During his working life he was caught up in the infamous Bloody Sunday violence in Ulster in 1972 and the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster.
His passionate pictures earned him a British Picture Editors’ Award.

Brendan, Mr Dawes’s eldest son, recalls his dad’s exciting, spontaneous attitude to life.
He said: “I remember one time when I was at school, dad turned up and told the teacher I had the dentist.
“We left school and in the car I remember saying ‘I don’t have the dentist’ and he laughed and said ‘I know - I’m taking you to see Evil Knievel’.”
Mr Dawes leaves behind his wife Marian, 64, son Brendan, 40, son John, 37, daughter Amanda, 35, and granddaughters Lily and Daisy.

l To see more pictures taken by John Dawes go to the official website www.johndawespictures.com

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Birthday boys enjoy party fun

Posted by Digital Editor on June 1, 2007 9:03 AM

BORN Sandgrounder David Matassa jetted thousands of miles back to Southport to share joint 69th birthday celebrations with an old schoolfriend.
David has lived in Vancouver, Canada for the past 35 years, and returned to stay with Peter Holdsworth, his classmate at St Marie’s junior school who was born three days after him in May 1938.
The son of a fireman, this was David’s first visit in nine years – since he and Peter celebrated their 60th birthdays together – and the homecoming has been an emotional one.
“I’ve got a lot of happy memories and good old friends here, I’ve always thought Southport people were very friendly,” David told LookBack.

After attending junior school together in Seabank Road during the Second World War, the friends were separated for two years when David attended Our Lady of Lourdes’ school in Birkdale and Peter went to St John’s school in Crossens.
In May 1951, David and classmates from Our Lady’s – including Peter’s sister Pat – travelled by coach to the Festival of Britain Exhibition on the south bank of the Thames, staying in wartime shelters operated by London County Council.
Peter and David were re- united in their teens at Southport Junior Technical College in Mornington Road, and their friendship blossomed, with David being Peter’s best man at his wedding to Ann in 1964.
Peter pursued joinery before moving on to teach woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing at local schools, including for seven years at Stanley High, while David worked in the men’s clothing department of Rawcliffes in London Street.
In Southport the two Matassa brothers, David and his elder sibling Peter, married two sisters, Kathleen and Barbara respectively – before David and his young family decided to take a chance and follow his brother by emigrating to Canada.
“I just thought it would be a better life – in the sixties it was a little grim here,” said David, who continued to work in clothing sales until his retirement.
While his parents were alive, David came back to Southport about every 18 months. But after a nine-year gap, his five weeks staying with Peter in his home on The Promenade has left him taken aback by the changes in the resort.
David said, smiling: “It’s always nice to come back and walk around town and see all the landmarks, although there are always changes.”

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Can you identify this photo?

Posted by Digital Editor on June 1, 2007 9:02 AM

CLEVELEYS Road resident and LookBack correspondent Ada Price brought in this photograph of a Southport Co-op but has no idea where or when it was taken.
Mrs Price inherited the image from a neighbour with an interest in postcards more than 15 years ago but hasn’t managed to find out anything since.
She said: “I know nothing at all.
“I don’t know where it is or anything.
“I thought it might be Bispham Road because of the buildings but the people who gave it to us lived on Cleveleys Road, Churchtown so it could be anywhere around Marshside.”
The photograph shows four proud custodians of the Southport Co-Operative Society outside a shop which is packed to the rafters with tins, jars, biscuits and chocolate.
A board to the side advertises ‘Shopping Week’ and talks of a ‘special display’ to mark the occasion.
But do you know when it dates from?
Ironically Mrs Price is a retired Co-op worker, she added: “It does look Victorian but I don’t know because I’m not that old!”
Could you help date and locate this picture? Call LookBack on 01704-398225 if you think you know and if you have any quirky, unusual or just plain baffling pictures you’d like investigating in Pic From The Past, get in touch!

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