A fascinating peek at life in Birkdale

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