Many thanks to Graham Price for these timely photos of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club taken in the 1920′s. Timely of course because the 2014 Open at Hoylake is only about a month away now. If you’ve not been down Stanley Road and had a look at what’s going on then you should …it’s surprising what you can fit in around the edges of fairways and putting greens! Graham has also sent me another good photo of the Hoylake Spitfire that I’ll hopefully publish soon too.

Here’s one of the Club House from 1925:

And here’s a shot of the links in 1923:

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Friday Photo: Golf in the 20s

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Well done to Mason Edwards for creating this railway poster promoting golf at Hoylake. Mason comments on his latest work (he also created this poster):

It is based on the 1950s style posters that the then British Railways used display at stations on the Wirral line.

The image shows the golf club more or less as it was in the 50s, and I hope conveys the atmosphere of the Open in the 30s to 50s. There were none of the hospitality facilities, and corporate shenanigans of the current championships. There were tents and simple wooden score boards, and no stands as far as I can remember. It was more of a stewards with ropes affair!

The main golfer is meant to look (I hope!) like Bobby Jones who won it in 1930 as an Amateur. In the same year he won the British Amateur followed by the Open at Hoylake, and later the American Open! An amazing feat at the age of 26 /27? Apparently he retired a year or so later at the age of 28.

The posters are available as A4 or A3 prints from Jo at the Seagrass Studio Gallery, 9a The Quadrant, Hoylake.

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Friday Photo: Golfing at Hoylake poster

Many thanks to Graham Price and his friend who sent this photo of a local family standing for a photo in front of the Spitfire that once stood on Market Street.

Spot the Esso sign on the garage signage …super logo that!

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Friday Photo: Can I drive it Dad?

Here’s a view taken from the top row of a virtually empty grandstand around the 18th hole at Royal Liverpool. There’s a bit of a competition going on at the course right now …The Open of course!

I took this photo on Monday afternoon, the second practice day and there weren’t many spectators around the 18th. The hustle and bustle of the competition had yet to descend upon the course. In fact Ian Poulter was so laid back he treated himself to a coffee on the green:

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Friday Photo: A grandstand view

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And we’re back! Apologies for the low volume of postings recently, but Friday Photo is back today with a great old image kindly sent to me by Alan Smith.

Pictured is the old premises of the Hoylake & West Kirby Motor Co. on Market Street. Initially I thought this was the old Kingsway Garage, the building that became the Wirral Horn Arcade, but that has an arched opening, not square. It wasn’t the old Burnett & Co Garage on Birkenhead Road, opposite Deneshey Road. So where was it? I’m guessing it was the Kingsway Garage.

It’s a super old photo – note the poster for the forthcoming film …with sound …at the Kingsway Picture House (now Home Bargains). The cigarette between the fingers and somewhat half-mast trousers of the chap second left. The signage with 3-digit phone numbers Hoy. 698 & 258 and the old AA logo.

And it’s as if the blokes are saying to one another as the car drives off …”he’ll be lucky to get up Meols Drive in that”

UPDATE:

This old newspaper ad, kindly sent to me by Barry Banks, gives us a clue to the location:

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Friday Photo: Hoylake & West Kirby Motor Co

Here’s an old shop sign that’s been revealed in the last few days.

The shop in question was last used as Chris Cain Hairdressing (nr top of Manor Road) and is soon to be a photographic and arts studio. Prior to that I seem to remember it was Laurence Jones undertakers for several years.

But evidently at one point the shop was owned by the Cooperative Group. Sheila Saunders has emailed me and says that someone else suggests the old shop was a butchers?

Know any more? And if you happen to have a photo that’d be ace!

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Friday Photo: Co-op

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Many thanks to Charles Morris for this old photo of Hoylake showing the old Hoylake Electric works. Charles comments:

The picture of Alderley Road, facing South East, shows a tall chimney which is that of the Electricity Works across the railway line, at a time when Hoylake generated its own electricity before the National Grid was created; I presume this dates it before the war or soon after. Hoylake was ahead of its time in the choice of 230 volt alternating current (50 cycles per second) as this was what the National Grid eventually became, albeit raised to 240 volts. Other areas, especially industrial towns, had direct current (DC), with voltages differing from town to town, and some towns contained various different supplies. Parts of Birkenhead were on DC well into the 1950s.

Not a car in sight …obviously pre-Sainsbury’s !

If anyone has other photos of the Electric or Gas works, please do send them in.

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Friday Photo: The Electric Works

Yep, it’s grass. On the beach. Again.

I’ve just been down on the beach for a stroll and as you can see from my dusky photo the grass is establishing itself again. Not in the same area mind, rather than by the pirate ship and the lifeboat station where it’s been dug-up, strimmed and sprayed at various times, this is opposite Trinity Road and past Kings Gap towards the slipway at Beach Road.

I don’t think it’ll be a surprise to anyone that it’s growing again. The debate will continue to let it grow. Or not?

By the way. The sandyachts/kite buggies have been out in force on the sandbank …great colours to watch from the promenade!

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Friday Photo: Green, green grass

Many thanks to Liz Cronin for finding a topical and rare image for this week’s Friday Photo.

There’s a drama on the telly at the moment about the early years of Cilla Black (not watched it myself). Cilla was managed by Beatles impresario Brian Epstein, who is captured in the photo above at the grand opening of Clarendon Furnishing at The Quadrant, Hoylake. This blog (the image source) describes the photo:

Hoylake, April 16, 1955 the grand opening of Clarendon Furnishing, Brian Epstein installed as manager by his mother Queenie (to his right) and father Harry (left). In front is BBC presenter Muriel Levy, who performed at the opening.

You’ll remember the store in more recent years as Kingsley Galleries auction rooms and currently as offices for Willson Grange. You can make out the curved wall of the Stanley Hotel over the road. I’m sure I’ve previously published a photo of The Stanley Hotel, but it’s been a very long day and I can’t find the one I’m after, so this old Hoylake Hotels advert will have to suffice.

Recognise any locals?

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Friday Photo: Cilla’s manager

Many thanks to Frank Baker and Brian Woods for this photo of a young Daniel Craig aboard a Hoylake RNLI boat in 1978 (aged about 10 I reckon). Crew member Geoff Hanson gives Andrew Bloster, Danny Craig & Paul Smith a closer look at the lifeboat!

Daniel Craig promoted his first James Bond film by sailing down The Thames in a speedboat as you can see below (image source). Daniel Craig is now a supporter of the RNLI.

You’ll have no doubt seen the impressive Supacat tractor and trailer parked on the lifeboat station approach? The tractor is being temporarily parked there while preparation and training for a new Shannon Class lifeboat is undertaken. A new lifeboat is scheduled to arrive at Hoylake in early December. Also, some construction work to reroute the mains water supply to the liefeboat station is nearing completion.

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Friday Photo: So Craig, ever been on a speedboat before?

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Discussions are under way about the future of several Merseyside Police stations, which could see some stations closed or relocated (background information). In our case, Hoylake Police Station will be sold off and replaced with a community station.

While our local Police Station hasn’t actually been open to the public for a few years now, the plan is to open a community station nearby. Off the top of my head perhaps it could be based in Hoylake Library, the Hoylake Help shop or at Hoylake Parade community centre? Anyway, probably not Wetherspoon’s.

I’d only realised that the station was closed to the public, when a few years ago me and my daughters went there to hand in a lost wallet that we’d found on Market Street. I can’t quite remember how we managed to contact the owner now (think the surname wasn’t too common so I dug the phonebook out and rang around) but the owner was most relieved as he was off on his holidays early the following morning. He was also very generous (as well as insistent) as he gave both daughters a £10 reward.

I’ve been in the station when it was open ages ago …to show my documents having been pulled over for unknowingly having a rear side light out. Bulb replaced. Documentation fine.

So before the building is used for something else (apartments anyone?), I took a few photos of it a week or so ago. I like the gates:

Does anyone have any old photos of the station (no mugshots please!)? When was it built anyway?

And if someone could organise it for me to visit the station so I can take some photos of the inside, that’d be ace. Please do get in touch if you can help with that.

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Friday Photo: Down the Nick

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Many thanks to Peter Mulville for this rare old photo of the Anchor Inn on Market Street.

Peter writes:

I found this photograph amongst my grandparents’ paperwork and believe it to be the old Anchor Inn on Market Street. The original is mounted on cardboard, as though it has been hanging in a frame somewhere. Why this has been kept for years is a mystery, although my grandmother’s father was a barman / publican in the Liverpool, Birkenhead and Hoylake areas.

His name was Mathew Johnson and I believe he may have been the landlord of the Punch Bowl at some point; his daughter Jane or Janie Johnson may have also been working behind the bar. My family do not know if this is Mathew Johnson in the photograph or not, or why this particular photograph has been kept. My grandfather’s family have a long history in Hoylake – his family name was Ryding – so we wonder if this is a member of the Ryding family?

I wonder if anybody would recognise this photograph, when it may have been taken, and who’s the gentleman in it; or whether anybody remembers a Mathew Johnson, landlord?

The Anchor Inn was in pretty much the same location as The Blue Anchor. In these old Hoylake pub photos you can see the Anchor Inn, just up from what is now the fish mongers and The 3 Sisters with the anchor hung above the door, though the porched entrance and railings have gone. The comments in this post about The Lighthouse pub also indicate that the Anchor was demolished in the 1960s.

Whatever happened to the actual anchor? I can remember it being painted yellow one year!

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Friday Photo: The Anchor Inn

I received a press release from RNLI this week (below) with the latest news about the training the crew are undertaking for the soon-to-arrive new lifeboat at Hoylake.

The photo above capturing a launch by horses of a lifeboat in 1920 is a world away from the mechanical horse power that the new Supacat tractor (pictured, bottom) offers. However, the crew of 1938 (pictured below) had progressed from horses to a tractor…

Here’s some of the current crew in front of the brand new Supacat tractor:

Here’s the RNLI press release that details all that’s currently happening at Hoylake RNLI:

The volunteer crew of Hoylake’s RNLI lifeboat are training hard in preparation for the arrival of the station’s revolutionary new Shannon class lifeboat. The new boat is due on station at the beginning of December and the crew are now undergoing intensive training with the purpose-built £1.2 million Launch and Recovery Vehicle which has already been delivered.

The new Shannon Launch and Recovery vehicle allows faster and more efficient launching and recovering of the lifeboat than the current Mersey class lifeboat system enabling volunteer crews to reach people in need even faster than before.

The bespoke system has been designed in conjunction with Supacat Ltd. It can operate in many different beach and sea conditions and allows a faster launch and recovery (10 minutes on average) compared with the Mersey system (25 minutes on average). This is achieved through minimising manual handling and utilising a turntable which rotates the Shannon ready for its next launch. It means that if a second call-out were to be received just after the boat has beached it could be back in the water much faster than the Mersey system.

The Launch and Recovery Vehicle now at Hoylake is to be named the Roland Hough after a local Hoylake businessman whose family made a generous donation to the charity to fund its provision. The Hoylake RNLI lifeboat must be capable of being launched at all states of the tide, this may mean that the boat may have to be towed well over one mile across the East Hoyle Sandbank to reach the tideline. In the early years of the Hoylake Station horses, owned by local contractors, pulled the old rowing and sailing lifeboats across the bank at little more than walking pace. The existing Talus tractor can pull the present Mersey class lifeboat at 7mph but the new Launch and Recovery vehicle will be able to tow the new lifeboat at 10 mph to its launch site.

Training for the Hoylake RNLI crew is being given by RNLI staff, many of whom are staying locally on Wirral until it is completed and the new boat is operational. A total of fifteen RNLI volunteers are attending crew training courses in using the new Launch and Recovery rig and lifeboat.

Mark Perry, the Lead Machinery Specialist, (Launch and Recovery) one of these trainers said ‘The training has been going really well. The lads and lasses on the crew are very keen to learn and very excited about the capabilities which the new Launching and Recovery System will bring to the Hoylake station. They have proved themselves a very efficient team in training. The future of the station is looking bright.’

Tracy Davies, one of the qualified Talus tractor drivers, said ‘The training has been very exciting and enjoyable. We feel very privileged to be allowed to use this state-of-the-art equipment. I know we all take the training very seriously as it is such a great responsibility but look forward confidently to operating the new Launch and Recovery Vehicle to save lives.’

Veteran lifeboatman and ex-Hoylake Coxswain, Dave Dodd MBE, the current Head Launcher, said ‘The new system is a huge step forward. The lifeboat Coxswain will be more in control of the launching. He or she will be able to release the boat from the Launch and Recovery Vehicle themselves, rather than relying on the coordination of the deck crew on the boat with the tractor and shore crew. In big surf on the bank this will be far faster and safer. There will be far fewer risks involved in recovering too, as there will be very little manual handling involved.’

Hoylake’s new Shannon RNLI lifeboat will be arriving at the Hoylake RNLI Station from the RNLI headquarters at Poole at the beginning of December. It is to be named Edmund Hawthorn Micklewood. This is thanks to the legacy of Paulette Micklewood, which has helped fund the state-of-the-art lifeboat.

The Shannon class is being rolled out to stations across the UK and Ireland. It is the RNLI’s next generation all-weather lifeboat (ALB) and is the most agile in the RNLI fleet. It is the first modern RNLI all-weather lifeboat to be propelled by water jets and not propellers. Capable of 25 knots the Shannon is 50% faster than the lifeboats it replaces – ensuring that those in need are reached even faster. The Shannon will replace both a selection of Mersey and Tyne class lifeboats, which are now nearing the end of their planned 25-year life span (the Mersey and Tyne have a lower maximum speed of 17 knots).

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Friday Photo: Lifeboats and horse power

Many thanks to Gerry Mort for the above old photo of policemen stood outside the original Hoylake police station. This week’s photo follows on from my recent photo of the police station along with the news of its probable closure.

Gerry comments:

The recent photo of Hoylake police station brought back lots of memories. My father was stationed there in the 1940s/50s and again in 1960 as Inspector. The building was erected in 1938 along with Neston and Bromborough. The white part of the building was the Magistrates court and the remainder was offices, storerooms and cells. The building you can just see to the left was the Sergeants house and beyond was the yard and garage and then the Inspectors house.. Upstairs was given over to offices with one large room taken up with a snooker table. When my father finished his tour of duty I would be allowed to play snooker with him and other off duty officers. The most intriguing thing was during the war a large wooden frame covered in barbed wire was suspended from the ceiling over the stairs, I’m not sure if it was the keep the Germans out or to stop them pinching the snooker table!

The police station was built on the site of the old one and I have attached a photo of the old police station with Sergeant Hutton and a group of officers. We have been able to identify { Cheshire Museum of Policing} all the officers by their collar numbers . The address of the station was 1 Prussia Road but this was changed during WW1 to Queens Road. There was a police station recorded at Hoylake in 1860 but no address was given. When the force was formed it was the usual practice to hire premises until police stations were erected. In 1881 Constable John Barlow was the local policeman residing as a lodger in Market street . In 1896 there is a record showing a police station in Prussia Road. In 1914 there is a record of Thomas Wilson, Inspector with 2 Sergeant and 9 Constable. The police station was transferred to Merseyside in 1974. I have images of over 400 photos of police stations and other police properties from Tintwistle and Stalybridge to Hoylake. West Kirby still eludes me, I remember a wooden hut by West Kirby station which was used by the police.

Gerry refers to Prussia Road …you’ll know it today as Queen’s Road of course as Gerry mentions. If you walk down the road and look up at the terraced houses about half way, there’s a name plaque that says Prussia Villas. History, right there in front of you!

If, by chance, you have a photo of the West Kirby police station, please do get in touch and I’ll pass it on to Gerry.

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Friday Photo: Stand to attention lads

Many thanks to Sarah (yep, my wife) for sending me the above photo of “the Beetle” that’s been decorated with Pudsey bears and spots for this year’s Children In Need which takes place today.

The latest incarnation of the car is another great effort from Derek Holmes and his team (and family) at Discount VW Audi Centre. You’ll have no doubt seen the vintage VW Beetle in various guises throughout the year, but if you’re not local or you’ve missed seeing it, then take a look at their facebook page. Presumably Father Christmas is next?

If you’d like to donate to Children in Need then this BBC page covers all the ways you can.

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Friday Photo: Children in Need

I found this old photo of the Ship Inn on yelp and apparently it captures the pub as it was in the 1930s.

The associated caption reads: “to the [immediate] right of the main entrance is one of the Hoylake Fire Brigade’s Fire Call alarms which was installed here and at the Railway In Meols in September 1912″ …wonder how many drinkers stumbled out of the pub and thought is was a good idea to raise the alarm!

I think I spotted some old Birkenhead Brewery signage down by Hamilton Square the other day …I can’t remember what brewery the Ship is currently tied to (and that’s all set to change anyway)?

The building hasn’t changed too much over the years I suppose. Any other photos of the Ship gratefully received.

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Friday Photo: The Ship Inn

Do you ever take any notice of the signage all around Hoylake, especially the typography?

I can’t say that I had much at all really until, by chance, I started to follow a blog that features typography of signage in New York (there’s a twitter account too). The photos of the various signs not only caught my eye but subsequently inspired me to start to notice the typography used in Hoylake signage. It’s not just shop signs but also old road name plates, building names, notices, posters, etc.

I’m slowly creating my own photo library (and I’ll publish a series of them at some point) of the local signs , both those that I like and the ones I don’t much care for. The signage above Vanilla Bar on Market Street for instance is one that I like (it’s pictured above). And while it probably isn’t ever going to be my favourite pub, the Hoylake Lights new(‘ish) sign above the double doors looks great in my opinion. Having started photographing them, some signs have since gone, Coda Maine for example, while other places have closed, Shakers cocktail bar for instance (no, I never went in either).

It might not be down-town Manhattan but there’s still much to admire right on your doorstep. Colours, fonts, names – it’s all there. Don’t forget all the businesses on the Carr Lane too.

I’ve not completely decided what my least favourite sign in Hoylake is, but right up there just asking to be picked is the wrought iron Welcome to Hoylake one opposite the petrol station …I really don’t like that one.

Anyone else capturing the beauty in the seemingly mundane in Hoylake? Have your say in the comments below.

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Friday Photo: Hoylake typography

Here’s a super photo of the new Hoylake RNLI lifeboat – named Edmund Hawthorn Micklewood.

The photo, by Dave James, captures the new lifeboat during crew training with the new Supacat launch and recovery rig in the Irish Sea at Hoylake.

The new boat arrived mid-morning on Monday having sailed up from RNLI HQ at Dorset and at times this week there’s been three lifeboats at the station. If you’ve not been down to have a look then you should …the new boat and launch rig are really impressive! It’s good to see that public donations can and do help RNLI invest in new lifeboats that are able to react quicker to emergencies at sea and offer greater safety for volunteer crews.

I’ll publish a full article and more photos about the new lifeboat very soon!

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Friday Photo: New Hoylake lifeboat

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not a photo today but a video of the first shout for the new Hoylake lifeboat, the Shannon class 13-06 RNLB Edmund Hawthorn Micklewood.

Hoylake’s new RNLI Shannon class lifeboat was launched on service for the first time last night in response to a request from Liverpool Coastguard to search the River Mersey after shouts for help were heard from the river near Liverpool’s Cruise Liner Terminal.

A statement from the RNLI confirms nobody needed assistance: “Although nothing was found after extensive searches by both the lifeboat and onshore Coastguard units, the launch gave the crew and their new equipment a chance to prove their worth in the most testing of conditions”.

Are boats that have male names still referred to as ‘she’? Might be a daft question but I thought I’d ask anyway!

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Friday Photo: First shout for new lifeboat

This yellow buoy was outside the lifeboat station last week …always a good subject for a photo I think.

I don’t know exactly why it was outside the lifeboat station, but presumably it broke away from its moorings nearby and it was towed ashore? Made from a metal base and a plastic turret (?). How is the light powered – is there a battery inside (assuming that is a light taped-up on the top). It doesn’t appear to have a solar panel for power?

I haven’t seen too many of these on the beach …in fact the last time I took a photo of one was way back in 2007.

Please do comment if you know more about buoys and this one in particular.

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Friday Photo: Lost buoy