Results tagged “local history” 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"

MEET Antony Bennett, the man who can tell you what your family silver is worth.
The Bonhams regional director will be joining LookBack for a new valuation feature in which we invite readers to submit their antiques and to find out more about them.
The fine art specialist is based in Chester, but works right across the North West with Bonhams branches to value items.

Antony said: "It's really good for everyone to know what they've got. Many people have things that are more exciting than they thought.
"That might not always be financial, but historical.
"It can also cut the other way, you think you've got a really valuable item, and in fact you haven't."
Despite the economic downturn, the auction business is performing well.
Antony said: "The industry is strong, many people in different businesses are having a tough time, but we're not complacent about it.
"Gold prices have risen, and when gold prices rise, silver prices rise. The market for silver is particularly strong and so is gold too.
"The British pound exchange rate with the Euro and the American currencies has made it more favourable American and European people to buy British antiques."
Antony has been in the trade since his first job in an antiques shop in the Midlands, aged 14.
"As a person who has been in the business a long time, it's fascinating, people are selling and buying for economic reasons," he said.

LOOKBACK is working on a special family history feature and we'd like to hear your stories of researching the family tree, finding lost relatives and discovering your ancestry.
Perhaps you're still trying to find the missing Southport piece of the jigsaw and an appeal in the pages of LookBack could help.
Either way we want to hear your stories.
E-mail us at visiternews@southportvisiter.cop.uk, or write to: Southport Visiter, 26-32 Tulketh St, Southport PR8 1BT

THE story of the Lamb family's unexpected landing in Southport came to light thanks to the modern-day internet "Twitter" phenomenon and another emergency landing.
On August 7 LookBack columnist Laura Jones received a call to say a microlite had crashed on Weld Road in Birkdale.
Upon arrival at the scene of the "aviation disaster" it became clear that there had been a false alarm, and Weld Road transpired to be the beach.
Put out by her unexpected beach adventure Laura posted an update on the internet site, where users sum up their thoughts in a single line of text, which read: "Mourning a pair of heels: Went out to microlite 'crash' on busy road - actually an emergency landing on beach - stilettos not ideal on sand"
To which Martin relied: "And on a similar note, it was actually an air crash of a test flight decades ago which led my family to Southport..."
From there the Lamb family story emerged.
Interestingly the reason the microlite had landed on the beach in the first place was because the pilot was using a map, which he had bought only three months earlier, which shows a designated runway on the beach.
Many years ago, this was the case, but nowadays the Civil Aviation Authority take a stern view of that kind of thing, since the practice was banned for safety reasons.
Happily, the pilot and his son who had landed because of a suspected engine failure were able to take off again safely, in the direction of Blackpool and LookBack happened across a fascinating story.
Laura and Martin can be found twittering about all things Southport at:
http://twitter.com/lauraAjones
http://twitter.com/martinlamb