Results tagged “Churchtown” from Southport Visiter - Look Back

RAF pilot Alan Murgatroyd took this stunning aerial picture as he flew above his Churchtown home.
In a letter to LookBack he wrote:
"I grew up in Southport during the second World War, and have memories of listening to Neville Chamberlain announcing the start of that war, only a few days before my 5th birthday.
"I recall sleeping in a Morrison air raid shelter erected in one of the rooms of our house in Churchtown, and listening to enemy aircraft flying overhead, seeking Liverpool and Preston docks.

"I left home in 1958, and following the death of my father in 1963 my Mother moved back to Yorkshire and I've had little opportunity to return since then.
"My son, now aged 43, was working in Liverpool last week and took the opportunity to spend a little time in Southport, and took some photographs of the family home and the premises that my father, G.P.Murgatroyd, operated as a photographic studio at 131 Eastbank Street from 1936 until his death.
"I enclose a copy of the first aerial photograph that I ever took, 52 years ago, after returning home to Southport following training as an RAF pilot for National Service, in 1957.
"I went to Speke Airport, now John Lennon International, and hired an aircraft to fly back to Southport to photograph my then home in Rathmore Crescent, Churchtown.
"The photograph shows Preston New Road and Rathmore Crescent, and part of North Road and Lexton Drive.
"I attended Churchtown Primary School, and St. Cuthberts Sunday School, and won a scholarship to King George V Grammar School.
"At the time the school was under the direction of the first headmaster, George Milward, who had founded the school when it moved from it's original site at Woodlands, near the end of Lord St. where the Police headquarters were in my days.
"In 1958 I joined British Overseas Airways Corporation, now British Airways, and ended my flying career as a Boeing 747 Captain and Instructor with Singapore Airlines, and my wife and I retired to New Zealand in 1994.
"From my perusal of Google Earth, the land towards the sea off the left hand edge of my photograph is totally different, and maybe I will be able to visit Southport once again before age finally curtails my travelling !
"I hope your readers will enjoy this view of part of Churchtown 50 years ago.
"Yours sincerely,
Alan Murgatroyd"

A CHURCHTOWN author has released a book based on the history of his relationship with his hometown.
Peter Dyer, of Longacre, decided to write the unconventional history book by intertwining his personal experience with Southport's history.
The book, entitled 'When I Went a'Walking' sees Peter don his hiking boots and take the readers on a series of walks into Southport's history.

Starting where the Harrogate-born author began his life in the town, in a house off Norwood Avenue, which he moved to aged four.
Then en route to the town centre via Hesketh Park Station, which Peter describes as one of his late father's favourite local walks.
From Botanic Gardens along to Marine Lake, to investigating shrimping , all is illustrated with a wide range of photographs, maps and original drawings.
Peter, 60, was a primary school teacher for 28 years, but his focus now lies more with local history, which he regularly gives talks on.
He said: "The more of the book I wrote, the more aware I became of how my life has been shaped and coloured by the places, times and people I have had the honour to encounter on my journeys.
"This is the first proper book I have written, although I have been writing for while and have produced a visitors' guide to Churchtown in the past.
"I didn't just want to right a straight history book, I wanted to add my personal encounters and journeys to bring Southport's history to life."
Peter's book is available at Broadhursts book shop, Market Street.

ARCHEOLOGIST Gary Andrews will appear on the Channel 4 show 'The Lost Dugout: A Time Team Special'.
The programme has been scheduled to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day and will follow the team as they uncover the underground world of the Great War battlefields.

The 47-year-old Churchtown builder brought his health and safety and engineering know-how to the project, fronted by Tony Robinson.
"He's a nice enough guy, but this was something new for him," said Gary.
"It's modern archeology, really, because you're going back just 90 years."
Gary and other experts were the first people to enter the French tunnels since fighting ended in 1918.
As veterans and their families prepare to mark 90 years since the guns fell silent at 11am on November 11, 1918, the Time Team documentary will serve as a stark reminder of the harrowing and hellish conditions of that truly horrendous conflict.
Gary said: "Few people have been down there and it's an honour to go, but to be in the first group entering since the war, and to not know what you're going to find is nerve-wracking.
"Coming across an unexploded bomb is an emotive thing and that's when you think about how daunting and frightening it is."
Since filming for Channel 4, Gary has become involved with an even more emotively charged project - working with Glasgow University and the Australian army to find the final resting place of 400 Allied troops.
He took part in a dig at Fromelles where bodies of almost 400 Allied troops were found in a mass grave.
The men died during a mission in North East France in July, 1916 in the first battle fought by Australian troops on the Western Front.
The Australian War Memorial describes the battle as "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history" because more than 5,000 troops were killed, injured or captured there.
Speaking of the sight of contorted bodies that met the team as they excavated the site, Gary said: "It was emotional and you do connect with it - I get a tingle down my spine now just talking about it."
A special team of forensic archeologists were brought in to start the process of identifying the bodies of the fallen.
"They are amazing people," he said.
"They've worked on the Twin Towers and the Jersey children's home."
Gary expects to return to the French battlefield again to continue the work started by the Glasgow University team.
The Lost Dugout: A Time Team Special will be shown on Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday evening (November 10).