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I’ve struggled to find a nice Hoylake at Christmas photo this year (last year’s was lovely though – and Hoylake did have snow at December in 2010) so we’ll have to go with a different celebration.

Featured above is a super photo of Hoylake Town Hall decorated in readiness for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 with various flags (of the Commonwealth?) and a crown above the front doors.  What a shame those lovely old lamp posts are long gone …there’s a bus stop right outside now.

Time of photo: a quarter to six judging by the clock. By the way, has Hoylake ever had a different town clock? I guess that there might’ve been one at the station? Hoylake’s town clock seems to work pretty much which is more than can be said for the one at West Kirby station …that one wasn’t working for a long time (wasn’t it a landlord issue?). I can’t say I’ve noticed if the clock at Moreton Cross keeps time?

On an admin note, I must apologise for lack of posts recently. I seem to have been chasing my tail  with one thing and another and don’t seem to have had the time to update the site. I’ve got an email mountain to conquer too (not something I enjoy much at all), so I’ve you sent me something and I haven’t replied, it’s me, not you.

And here’s a second admin note: I’m not absolutely certain yet, but it looks to me that some cheeky persons are pretending to be other people and leaving multiple comments about certain, contentious planning applications. Seems the site might need some “house rules” for comments like the BBC has. So that’s a bit of a pain.

Merry Christmas!

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Friday Photo: Town Hall decorated for coronation

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Another stormy day in Hoylake!

A 10metre (approx 33ft) predicted high tide at noon today coupled with strong winds gave rise to concerns of another storm sturge. In fact, Hoylake RNLI tweeted that the tide peaked at 10.6metres –  34.75ft. But with less ferocious winds than the powerful storm of early December, it seems that the high tide didn’t cause much damage today. Further big tides and strong winds are expected on Sunday and into next week.

Presumably with some people not returning to work until Monday, quite a few spectators were down at the promenade taking photos and videos or just watching the sea water submerging the boating lake. North Parade was closed to traffic for a few hours, though just like last month, a few cars were driving along the road with the Irish Sea lapping at their wheels.

Various patches of the promenade pavement were quite badly damaged last month so another strong storm will no-doubt make things quite a bit worse. Sooner rather than later Hoylake prom is going to need a serious bit of attention. The prom wall has served us well since construction started in 1897 - but how many more years will it last?

Anyway, fingers-crossed more of it doesn’t fall into the sea over the next few days.

Happy new year!

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Friday Photo: “Hi” tide

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Here’s an old photo for you all that I presume was taken in Hoylake.

It’s one of the batch of old black and white photos that Richard Ardus kindly passed onto me last year. As just about all the photos in the collection were of Hoylake I’m presuming this one is too.

Going off the cobbled alleyway I’d guess these cars were parked in the back garden of a house in either Queens Road, Cable Road or Alderley Road. What do you reckon?

Looks to me that the old van is either loaded with something very heavy or the suspension has gone! Anyway, it’d be great if you could confirm that this photo is of Hoylake.

Oh yes. For those of you who don’t understand the title of this post then this wikipedia page should explain. I’m sure you’ll be able to find the video on youtube.

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Friday Photo: Ullo John! Gotta new motor?

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Thanks to Tom Clarke for sending in this old photo of an unknown, local vessel. We’re hoping that some of you will be able to provide more information about her?

Tom writes:

I scanned this from a medium format negative, so I must apologise for the large file size [Ed: I reduced it somewhat as it was large]. It was kept inside an envelope in a draw for years, almost immaculate!

The photo was taken by my uncle Norman Beech, and shows an ‘ex-ship’ lifeboat with a home made hood/canopy on the deck. I couldn’t tell you any more than this, so I would be very interested to hear if anyone else could mark a date or time.

So, can you help?

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Friday Photo: I name this ship?

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Many thanks to Chris Hankin for this Friday’s photo of a boat washed ashore at Meols that follows on perfectly from last Friday’s image. Thanks to those of you who were able to identify the boat and explain her history.

Pictured above is the boat called Grey Lass (formerly Oldham if I’ve followed the comments correctly and as seen last week) washed up after a storm on the embankment past Meols slipway. It must’ve been some storm for a boat to be pushed up high onto the embankment …the recent storm sturges aren’t anything particularly new!

In fact, this old postcard (date unknown) kindly sent to me by Graham Price captures a stormy old day down on Meols prom:

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(I love of the old street lamps by the way; much more attractive than the ones we’ve got today I think.)

When was the last time that a boat was wrecked off Hoylake and Meols? In fact, were any boats badly damaged in the recent storms?

Request: Bit of a long-shot but does anyone have a photo of the Bennetts Lane area when, during a storm, the tide would come down the road and residents tried to keep the water out by putting sand bags at the tops of drives? This flooding was curtailed by the construction of the replacement embankment in the late 1970s, early 1980s.  The original embankment, known as the Wallasey Embankment, was constructed between Meols and Leasowe during the 1840s  (source – large .pdf file from Wirral Council)

Another request: Remember when they used to sell fresh fish at Meols slipway (approx 1978/9 I guess) …anyone got a photo?

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Friday Photo: Grey Lass wreck

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Many thanks to Frank Baker who sent me this photo confirming my memory of sea water flooding Bennetts Lane in Meols.

Flooding is of course causing serious problems in parts of the country at the moment and we’re quite fortunate that here in Hoylake and Meols we’re not really affected by widespread flooding.  I’d guess the area most prone to flooding is around Heron Road/Carr Farm Garden Centre? The recent storms, especially the storm surge at West Kirby and similarly at New Brighton, have demonstrated that Wirral isn’t immune to the adverse effects of bad weather. It was a big high tide again today but nothing of note has happened.

The above photo was taken in 1976. So along with flooding that particular year brought heat wave and a plague of ladybirds!

Off Bennetts Lane is Guffitts Rake …was ‘Guffitt’ a market gardener and what was so special about his rake?

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Friday Photo: Meols flooding

In a recent email Carol Boardman mentioned the huge number of razor shells that are being washed-up on the beach at the moment.

If you take a walk along the beach you’ll see thousands of these razor fish (or are they clams?) shells – presumably the storms coupled with high tides means that the shells get washed up out of the sand and then dumped when the tide goes out?

Do you know more about the razor fish? Are there more in the sands of Hoylake than there used to be? Have your say in the comments below.

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Friday Photo: Razor fish shells

Apologies for those of you who have already seen this photo on the Hoylake RNLI facebook page, but I had to share it with many of you who don’t use facebook.

Chris Williams, Hoylake RNLI crew member of owner of local business Island Electrical, took this photo of the weather station inside the lifeboat station on Wednesday  as the storm hit Hoylake around tea time. As you can see, the speed of the wind was that strong it was off the scale! Chris mentioned that you can move the arrows back but you can’t move them forward, so there’s no cheating!

I took a walk along the beach and through Market Street early on Thursday morning and surprisingly there didn’t seem to be too much damage. I did notice a few fences gone here and there, broken branches of course and a chimney pot that had been blown off a roof on Birkenhead Road.

There seemed to only about two, maybe three, street banners left along Market Street – the wind is certainly winning the ongoing battle with them.

Did you hear that the roof on an apartment block in Lingdale Road, West Kirby was partially blown off and the residents had to evacuate?

Does anyone keep a record of wind speeds for Hoylake? The Wednesday storm must be pretty close to the top of the leaderboard?!

How about you, did you or your property suffer any serious damage? Have your say in the comments below.

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Friday Photo: Off the scale

I was browsing the Britain From Above website earlier and spotted a couple of new photos for Hoylake and Meols.

The aerial photo above (source), was taken in June, 1946 and shows what is described as the Wallasey Corporation Sewage Works (presumably that big square and building next to it and not to be confused with the current United Utilities plant) and the allotments at Parkfields. You can make out the location of Meols Station where the railway line intersects with the main road with Meols Pond next it and Barn Hey Crescent further to the left.

Looks like there used to be a lot of allotments down there …you can’t get one today for love nor money of course, waiting lists go on for years ahead! So when was this area subsequently used as caravan parks – after 1946 obviously? Does anyone know who owns the fields down Park Lane today – is it all private land or does the Council own any of it?

There used to be an accessible air-raid shelter in Park Lane and my old penknife might possibly still be there somewheres! I can also recall that the detached house on the road, just off the corner at Bennets Lane was derelict for years and you could sneak in there too if you dared. That was after you had a rummage through the old black cars that used to be in the farmer’s field at the end of Cleveley Road.

If you go down Park Lane (bike or foot), past the caravan parks you’ll come to a gate – turn left on the path that takes you to the prom or go straight on, through the gate and along to Leasowe Lighthouse. Mind that the narrow path is accessible though, as last time I ran along there it was pretty overgrown.

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Friday Photo: Parkfields Allotments

At long last …photos of Finniland!

Many thanks to Ian Bell who kindly sent in these rare photos of Finniland. What was Finniland? Well, erm, it was Hoylake’s very own theme park I suppose.

It was the brain child of local steak house owner Frank Sheridan (I think that was his name) and was located in Grosvenor Road next to Finnigan’s restaurant. I mentioned that old place a few years ago. As I never visited Finniland, all I can remember of my view from the train window was that it was, well, all a bit odd really. Perhaps Frank Sheridan was  going for a spooky, macabre kind of vibe with his theme park as it featured birds of prey, blood and skulls.

I never dined at Finnigan’s so I can’t comment on the food. Actually that’s not strictly true. I did, once or twice, frequent the premises for a drink after the pubs had closed. If you paid a £1 at the side door (knock first), which bought you a plate of chips, you could then have a few drinks with your, “meal”. Either the chips or the beer gave me one memorable headache that lasted a couple of days. Just a hunch, but it wasn’t the chips.

Serving food was obviously a way around the licensing laws as the Grape Escape used to do the same thing …75p for a slice of pizza from the mini-kitchen and then you could have a few bottles of beer until closing time at midnight.  Same thing at Quattros in West Kirby I think.

Did you visit Finniland? What was it like? Did you get over it? Have your say in the comments below after looking at these (large) photos of the old place:

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Friday Photo: Finniland

I stumbled upon this photo published on the photo sharing site flickr by Keith Jones. Keith comments on the photo:

My nanna and grandad on a day trip out to Hoylake, not sure whether they rode there on it but they’re on a Calthorpe motorbike. They were both born in 1904 so I guess this would have been early to mid 1930s.

Keith has carefully aligned the old photo in the exact same position on Market Street …something I’m yet to try myself. There’s a site somewhere, I wish I could remember what it’s called, that features these old and new photo mash-ups. If you know what the site please remind me!

No helmets in the above photo… not mandatory in the 1930s?

You can see this and more of Keith’s photos, including many old photos of Liverpool over on flickr.

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Friday Photo: Bikers

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Many thanks to Tom Clarke for sending in this super old photo, taken from a glass negative, of locals watching the crew readying the lifeboat.

The hills of north Wales in the back drop and people of all ages on the slipway, unaware of the photographer behind them, make this a great old image.

What did that sign say? And can anyone date this photo?

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Friday Photo: At the boat launch

Here’s a photo of a building on the prom that’s evidently had a previous life.

You can read the background to this photo over on the Old Liverpool site.

Any memories?

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Friday Photo: Girls Hostel

It might only be early April but construction work on the viewing galleries at Royal Liverpool in advance of The Open is well underway. I took this photo this morning and as you can see, the grandstand at the 18th (I presume) is certainly taking shape. There’ll be lots of activity between now and July so if you fancy a nose take a walk down Stanley Road or along the board walk from Red Rocks to West Kirby. Or you could even follow the blue line.

Apologies for the poor quality of this week’s photo – even by my standards! I hadn’t intended to walk past the golf course this morning and only had a camera phone with me. I dropped this old Nokia through the gap at the top of our stairs and it fell onto the parquet hall floor in bits. And then for good measure, I did the exact same thing again about a week later. It’s still working but now gives the occasional error message …but make do and mend and all that. Anyway, don’t leave your phone in your jeans pocket and then hang said jeans over the bannister!

I know The Open at Hoylake isn’t universally welcomed with open arms …are you passionately for or against it? Have your say in the comments below.

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Friday Photo: Grandstand

Here’s a follow-up to the Hoylake Girls Hostel photo that I published earlier this month – many thanks to Paul Doleman for sending in the photo.

Recognise anyone?

I’ll be publishing another photo on a different topic later today.

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Friday Photo: Girls hostel follow-up

I happened to spot this photo on Rightmove earlier this week.

It’s a view from the window of an apartment in the Sandbanks retirement development on King’s Gap and I like the view of not just the old Lighthouse but also the rears of the adjacent houses on Valentia Road. I wonder how Valentia Road got its name? Possibly as a result of the Romans? This wikipedia page discusses Valentia being a northern province of Roman Britain. But it could be named after Valentia Island?

I can remember the left-hand semi to the left (in the photo) of the lighthouse being for sale in the early 1990s for less than £90,000 …hindsight hey! Use Bing Maps to get a good “bird’s eye” view of the area – the imagery is evidently from a few years ago (Spring, 2007 actually) as you can the in-progress demolition and the old King’s Gap Hotel.

Personally, I’ve always thought it was rather a shame that these old, three-storey houses (anyone have an old photo of these?) were demolished to make way for the apartments :

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Friday Photo: Lighthouse view

The land that is currently the beer garden to The Plasterers was once the location for a row of cottages. Years ago Back Sea View consisted of rows of terraced cottages – here’s another old photo of the road, though somewhat dark. The one above must’ve been taken in the morning. Either that or someone was rather tardy picking their milk off the step.

Where these houses old fisherman’s cottages?

How about this for another view from around the bend looking towards Trinity Road:

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Friday Photo: Back Sea View

This Friday’s old photo features a house/building in Back Sea View (or vicinity) that was once used as Wylie’s Laundry. By the looks that’s a tank of hot steamy water ready for the next boil wash.

It seems that Wylie’s Laundry and the Hoylake Steam Laundry Company (based where Heap & Partners used to be by the train line) operated at the same time – read the comments in this post for more information. And I’ve stumbled upon this web page that mentions the roles of hydro men and hydro women. Even the National Jazz Archive suggests that a Hoylake resident (maybe a Elvey Hartley?) owned the Birkenhead-based Falcon Steam Laundry …seems Hoylake was into laundry in a big way!

I like all the chimney pots in the photo – they seem to me to be the main focus of the image. In the background you can see the old Parish Church bell tower that once stood in Trinity Road.

Today Hoylake still has not just one, but two laundrettes that both presumably receive enough business to keep going? Unless I’m mistaken West Kirby doesn’t have a laundrette does it (Deeside Laundry in Groveside is commercial only)?

Any photos of the old Hoylake Steam Laundry Co?

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Friday Photo: Whites wash

Many thanks to Frank Baker who sent me this photo of some local choir boys, one of whom went on to become a band member with Freddie Starr.

Frank received the photo from Brian Woods… Frank is currently filming a documentary about Brian’s involvement in the music industry. Commenting on the photo Franks says:

the photo from L/R Gerald Smith, Brian Woods, John Payne, and Ted Owen.  Hoylake Parish Church Choir day out to Chester Cathedral 1958? One of these angelic boys Brian Woods went on to be a member of the Midnighter’s Beat group with Gus Travis and later Freddie Starr, going on to record at the Joe Meek studios in Holloway Road, London.

You can read more about Merseybeat and Gus Travis starting at this page. We’ve previously discussed the interesting life of Joe Meek here.

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Friday Photo: The Choir Boys

Many thanks to Gerard Tyrer for sending in a photo of the former Hoylake Spitfire (here’s some other photos) that now resides in Palm Springs, CA. Gerard comments:

I happened to be in Palm Springs CA in May this year and visited the air Museum there. The Spitfire was on display there here is a picture of it.

There was a TV next to it running a video of the plane and it’s pilot. The story was that the Spitfire was on photo reconnaissance missions over occupied Europe and as unarmed. The video showed the plane undertaking a controlled crash landing due to under carriage problems. It then shows an interview with the pilot, now in his 80′s, and it was the first time he had seen the footage of the crash. He explained he was circling the airfield for quite a while which indicated to the ground crew he had a problem. The emergency crews were on hand when he landed.

He still had in his possession a piece of one of the wooden propellers which broke off in the crash.

Quite amazing really …to start with a garage owner in Hoylake was restoring a WW2 Spitfire at his premises on Market Street and it ends up, fully restored in California!

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Friday Photo: Hoylake spitfire in Palm Springs