Humble shrimp spawned a mighty trade for town

Posted by Robert Alcock on March 28, 2008 9:00 AM

FAMED for its long standing marine heritage, Southport is to embrace its roots and raise awareness of the once mighty trade of shrimping.
A talk is scheduled to be given tomorrow (Saturday, March 29) by Peter Dyer, a retired teacher of drama and art, entitled ‘The history of shrimping, horse to horsepower’.

Peter Dyer is due to give a talk on shrimping in Southport this weekend

The talk comes courtesy of the Southport Lecture Society and aims to provide an in-depth insight into the beginnings, developments and also decline in the trade on which Southport once thrived.

A shrimper puts his catch into the boiler

Mr Dyer, who at the age of 12 used to pack shrimps at Southport beach, has a keen interest in the trade and was responsible for the restoration of an original shrimp cart, found in an unkempt state near the Fylde Road area of Marshside. As a result of Mr Dyer’s care and attention the cart now stands beautifully restored in the Botanic Gardens Museum.
He said: “There have been vast changes in the shrimping industry and the talk aims to guide the listener through these. It will document the origins of the trade, the vehicles that were used as well as the methods employed.”

Shrimping the old-fashioned way - with a horse and cart

The lecture will give an account on how industry factors changed as the 20th century approached and the desire for speed and efficiency increased, making the days of the horse-drawn shrimp cart obselete as the new era of the shrimp rig dawned.
Mr Dyer continued: “All aspects of the shrimping trade will be covered, from the rise to decline. Listeners will be informed about how various aspects such as pollution, poor profits and an increase of rules and regulations from the EC have all caused a decline in the once primary trade of the town.
“It is important to keep our heritage alive, as the shrimpers are a dying breed.”

A Jeep and one of Southport’s famed DUKWs pictured on Southport Beach

For those who want to appreciate the origins of the town, the meeting is a must and included with the talk will be authentic photographs from days gone by, taking the audience on a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
The meeting starts at 7.30pm tomorrow (Saturday, March 29) and will take place in the Friends Meeting House, Court Road, with admission priced at £1.50 per person. For more information call 01704 538954.

Fishermen stretch their nets out along the sands

DO you have any memories, or tales, or photos about shrimping in Southport?
Please phone LookBack reporter Robert Alcock on 01704 398287 or e- mail: visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk, or leave your thoughts below.

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Biplanes and daredevils on Birkdale's field of screams

Posted by Robert Alcock on March 14, 2008 9:00 AM

DECADES before the launch of Southport Air Show, aviation displays would draw crowds in the town.
One place that plane-spotters would gather in the 1930s was a mere stone’s throw from the Birkdale home of Evelyn Marshall. Now 86, Evelyn remembers as a schoolgirl joining spectators on the field off Stamford Road, where Christ The King School now stands.
“We used to go up the garden, and jump over and into the field to see what was going on,” she told LookBack.
“There were planes flying up and down and around. Rich people would pay to have flights in them but we could never afford it.”

Evelyn Hall (now Marshall) aged 12, standing by a biplane on Stamford Road field. Accompanying her is Jackie Wright (left) and Robert Cross, who were both Stamford Road neighbours of hers in the 1930s

It was not just the biplanes that attracted gatherings on the Stamford Road field, said Evelyn, who was Evelyn Hall until she married Fred Mardon in 1942.
She remembers people flocking to see the daring stunts of showmen such as ‘Professor’ Bert Powsey – the Southport high diver who was famed for his “dive of flames” routine.
Born in Kent in 1866, Powsey came to Southport in 1908 and was a lifeguard at the Sea Bathing Lake until seven years before his death in 1956.

The cyclist statue on Southport Pier that commemorates stunt-man ‘Professor’ Bert Powsey

One of a number of pier-diving ‘professors’, Powsey was still jumping aged 73 and reportedly never had a single accident during his career.
He would thrill the throng by diving with both his hands and feet tied, or strapped inside a burning sack.
On some occasions he would douse his clothes and the water with petrol, set both alight and then dive into the flaming waves below.
His “dive of flames” routine took him to 18 countries during a tour of North Africa and Europe in 1926.

‘Professor’ Bert Powsey, here sponsored by Bovril, performed his dare-devil dives on the field where now stands Christ the King School

The air shows held in Birkdale are just one of Evelyn’s many anecdotes from a life spent in the district.
Her ancestor Richard Hall was the town’s first coal merchant and was based on Bury Road – where also stood the infants school she attended.
“He used to deliver coal in wheelbarrows, and then by horse and cart,” Evelyn said.
She also has family ties to Herefordshire, the county where her mother, Elizabeth Weaver, hailed from.
It was Elizabeth’s family that first bred the white-faced Hereford cow, which has developed into the world’s premier beef breed.

Evelyn Marshall with part of her giant clock collection at her home in Birkdale

After leaving Linaker Street school at the age of 14, Evelyn went to work in Charles Blackshaw’s drapery located on the corner of Eastbank Street and Wesley Street.
She said: “It sold ladies’, men’s and children’s clothes.” The shop hours were these: 9am to 7pm on Monday to Thursday, 9am to 8pm on Friday and 9am to 9pm on Saturday.
“After I finished work on a Saturday night I used to go out dancing at the Floral Hall until 1am.
“In those days there were no buses or trams at that time so I had to walk from The Promenade back to Stamford Road on my own.”
Another nightspot Evelyn has fond memories of is the long-gone Garrick Theatre on Lord Street.
As a young woman she achieved at the Garrick what most only experience when playing a game of Monopoly – she won second prize in a modelling contest!
Tragically, her first husband Fred died aged only 27 from war injuries he suffered aboard the Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Gleaner.
Before retiring aged 63, Evelyn, a grandmother of seven, also worked in the town at Marks & Spencer, as a clerk dealing with population statistics at Smedley Hydro, and as an usherette at the old Regal Cinema in Lord Street.
Recent years have seen the Eastbourne Road resident featured twice in the Visiter.
In 2006, we told how she was re-united with her pet tortoise Toby – who she has had for more than 20 years – after he went missing for five days. We also reported on her love of timepieces and her the spectacular collection of 400 clocks and 65 watches she keeps at her home.
Evelyn said: “It all started with one clock and then just grew. When the Salvation Army shop on Shakespeare Street get any interesting or unusual clocks they put them aside for me.”

DO you have any more information about the festivities that took place on Stamford Road? Is there a long-lost event you would like LookBack readers to know about? Call Robert Alcock on 01704-398287, email robert.alcock@southportvisiter.co.uk or leave your memories below.

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Not so Quiet when Chris’s band backed The Beatles

Posted by Robert Alcock on March 7, 2008 9:00 AM

BETWEEN March and July 1962, an unsigned band from Liverpool headlined on three nights at Southport’s Kingsway nightclub.
Only a year later its four young members were attracting such frenzied adulation a new term was coined – Beatlemania!
The support act on one of the Kingsway dates was Chris & The Quiet Ones, a local outfit who had been part of Southport’s burgeoning Merseybeat scene since 1960.
More than four decades on, their frontman, Chris Rimmer, said he is not surprised the four Liverpudlians he shared a bill with in 1962 went on to become a global cultural phenomenon.
“They were meant to be,” he said of The Beatles, who he remembered as being “very nice lads and very talented”.

Chris Rimmer today, one half of duo ‘Us 2’

The Kingsway concerts were held in the venue’s Marine Club, on the top floor.
Chris, 65, recalled: “Because a lot of the kids were under 18 they didn’t open the bar until afterwards.
“After the gig we sat and drank and jammed with them (The Beatles). We knew them quite well.”
“They were on the verge of going to Germany and there was talk of us going with them.”

The Beatles onstage at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, a venue once played by Chris and the Quiet Ones

Accompanying Chris as vocalist were the Quiet Ones – Barry Madden (drums), Ray O’Connell (rhythm guitar), George Eccles (lead guitar) and John White (bass).
All were from the Formby area and aged only in their mid or late teens, with Chris working as a farm labourer and Ray still a schoolboy.
Southport was a regular destination for Chris & The Quiet Ones, who took their inspiration from the Merseybeat scene, plus 1950s favourites such as Buddy Holly, Cliff Richard and The Shadows.
The group played at venues including the resort’s YMCA, an underground café which then graced Lord Street and the since-demolished Palace Hotel in Birkdale.

Chris and the Quiet Ones at Formby Gild Hall, probably in 1962. From left: Barry Madden, Ray O’Connell, Chris Rimmer, George Eccles and John White

Chris, who later worked as a lorry driver and builder, had starting singing with a local skiffle group in 1958.
Only months after the Kingsway gig with The Beatles he quit the Quiet Ones to marry Sandra and raise a family.
He said: “After I left and got married the group scene really burst open. Everybody seemed to be in a group. There was a lot of competition.”
Other bands that Chris, now a grandfather of four, remembers on the Southport scene were The Black Cats, The Undertakers, The Sandgrounders, The TeenBeats and Rory Storm & The Hurricanes.
Coincidentally, in August 1962, Hurricanes’ drummer Richard Starkey – better known as Ringo Starr – controversially replaced The Beatles’ sticksman Pete Best and the rest, as they say, is history.

Southport’s Kingsway Club in its heyday

Without Chris, the Quiet Ones morphed into Rhythm & Blues Incorporated and later became The Gems with Fender Ray.
Two years ago, Chris was re- united with ‘Fender’ Ray O’Connell and the duo play locally as Us 2, performing at pubs and bars and functions such as weddings.
“Music is my life,” said Chris.
“I was very fortunate to be born in an era when I saw rock ’n’ roll at the beginning.”
l Do you have any stories about The Beatles when they played Southport? Call LookBack reporter Robert Alcock on 01704-398287 or email robert.alcock@southportvisiter.co.uk
LEAVE your memories of Southport during the Merseybeat era below.

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