#Birkenhead park

[tim-dennis]

Give me your knives

[world-of-wales]

─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : JANUARY ✧• ─

12 JANUARY - Catherine and William were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside (Mr. Mark Blundell). They opened Royal Liverpool University Hospital and later visited the Open Door Centre in Birkenhead. 17 JANUARY - William visited Together As One (Aik Saath) in Slough, where he was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire (Mr James Puxley) 19 JANUARY - He visited Depaul UK at Sherborne House in London. 20 JANUARY - William spoke via video link to residents affected by flooding in Australia. 24 JANUARY - William held an Investiture Ceremony at Winston Castle. Afterwards, he held a Royal Foundation Meeting. 26 JANUARY - William and Catherine visited Windsor Foodshare in Berkshire. He later visited the Earthshot Finalists Training Session in Windsor Great Park. 29 JANUARY - William attended the 1953 Floods Memorial Service in Snettisham. 30 JANUARY - William and Catherine attended the Centre for Early Childhood "Shaping Us" Campaign Preview and Reception. 31 JANUARY - He spoke via video link to athletes & volunteers participating in the 2023 Arctic Winter Games in Wood Buffalo, Canada

[stephensmithuk]

The Lost Special

CW for discussion of sexual abuse and capital punishment.

Originally published in The Strand in 1898, i.e. during the hiatus years, this would be collected with a bunch of other Doyle stories in the Round the Fire Stories collection released in 1898. Doyle continued to have stories regularly published during the hiatus.

The London and West Coast Railway Company is fictitious; the company that operated the line discussed in this route was the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), the biggest revenue earner of the period due to the sheer size of its operations. It would become part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1922 during "Grouping" i.e. the merger of British railway companies into four major ones. The LNWR name came back as the London Northwestern Railway brand of West Midlands Trains in 2017, operating commuter and semi-fast services from Euston. That franchise is due to operate until 2026, at which point, considering the likely result of the upcoming election, it will be nationalised. What happens to the name after that remains to be seen.

Liverpool Central refers to two stations. The one here is the six-platform "High Level" station, opened in 1874 as the headquarters of the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) and offering services to Manchester Central, London St. Pancras or even Harwich for the ferry services to the Netherlands. The CLC remained independent after Grouping

There was also, slightly to the North West. the 1892-opened "Low Level" station, that was underground, opened by the Mersey Railway, but with staircase access to the High Level one and provision for a through railway connection left to that station if it was decided to join the two lines. This operated local trains towards Birkenhead using the world's second underground railway after London. This also stayed its own operation after Grouping in 1922; both companies would become part of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

In 1966, the Beeching Axe saw the High Level station have nearly all its services diverted to Liverpool Lime Street, with only those to Gateacre still calling there. BR wanted to stop those entirely, but local opposition prevented that. With no need for six platforms, two become a car park and the station ended up with just one functional platform in 1970, ending up in rather a state of decay. It shut entirely in 1972 and was demolished, the Gateacre services going, along with the whole North Liverpool Extension Line.

The Low Level station, however, still very busy, would have better fortunes - it would become the centre piece of the new Merseyrail network. The station was renovated, the two lines were linked and today Liverpool Central is one of the busiest stations in the UK outside of Greater London. However, the eastern part of the planned loop, including services to Gateacre, fell victim to budget cuts in the late 1970s.

Rochdale is a town in the Greater Manchester area - at the time it was a textiles hub, but that very much declined from the 1950s and the place has acquired a bad reputation. In 2012, a child sex abuse ring involving British Pakistanis "grooming" white girls was convicted in a high-profile trial and the resulting public reaction was, to put it mildly, racially-tinged. It also came out that the town's deceased former MP (who had in fact been knighted), one Cyril Smith, was a paedophile.

"Specials" refer to trains arranged outside the usual timetable, often in connection with some event. These included football excursions (or FOOTEX in BR parlance) carrying fans to away games around the country. In the hooligan-heavy 1970s and 1980s, BR would use older carriages due to the frequency of them getting damaged by drunken supporters, the whole thing becoming a policing headache. Others included various enthusiast-oriented journeys and "Merrymaker" mystery trips, usually to a seaside destination.

The main companies do not really do these today in anything like the numbers they used to, but various private companies have stepped in, including a West Coast Railways Company oddly enough, that provides the rolling stock, locomotives and drivers for the Jacobite tourist service from Fort William to Mailaig. These charter trains can be found operating multiple times a week, being sold through various different companies. Most use heritage rolling stock with vintage steam or diesel engines involved, with a variety of types catering to your tastes, although a big wallet is generally needed. Like at least £100 for standard class without dining and even then the schedule might not be the most convenient; these trains are planned around the regular services and you might have a long wait sitting in sidings for the next bit of your path to be clear.

In any event, the special train would have cost around £5,412 adjusted for inflation. However, a cursory glance suggests it would actually cost far more to do that today - hence the high prices modern "specials" charge passengers.

Signal boxes were required to log the details of trains passing through - the type could be identified by various lights arranged on the front and later the specific service by four-character codes. Today this is done electronically and monitored at larger control centres - older boxes have generally closed, with some being transported to heritage railways for their use. I would assume that the stations not mentioned did not have their own signal box.

In terms of the stations mentioned here, these were on the 1830-opened Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first intercity railway in the world.

This route is today part of the City Line in the Merseytravel Network - trains are today operated by Northern or TransPenine Express. It was electrified in 2015. For each station in turn...

St Helens Junction: Still open.

Collins Green: Closed 1951.

Earlestown: Still open, despite being listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report.

Newton-le-Willows: Still open. Even had a Motorail terminal for a while, but this is long gone.

Kenyon Junction: Closed to passengers 1961, shut entirely 1963. Various locals have called for reopening it.

Barton Moss, closed 1929.

Parliamentary trains are those which railway companies had a legal obligation to operate - basically to provide cheap services for workers. This could mean one train per day on a route. Some did the bare minimum, some did a lot more. With this requirement no longer around, the term has evolved to mean services run at the legal minimum, even as low as one train a week, because it's cheaper to do that rather than go through a closure process. In some cases, the route would be used for engineering work diversions and so it is needed to keep up driver familarity. Current examples include Pilning, which has two trains a week on a Saturday. The most notable is Teeside Airport, which is meant to serve the airport of that name that operates four to six passenger flights a day, but is a fifteen-minute walk away, so getting a bus is much more preferred. This got one train westbound a week until May 2022, when its platform was deemed unsafe and Teeside International Airport refuses to pay for repairs.

Railway companies had their own police forces; these would later come under the British Transport Police.

Many mines and industrial planets had connections to the national network for transporting goods like coal or clay; BR even developed a "Merry-Go-Round" system allowing hoppers to be filled up and emptied while moving at a very slow speed to save time on shunting; newer versions are still in use, despite the coal market having massively declined. Mines would have their own engines - the nationalised National Coal Board kept steam locomotives going until 1982, 14 years after BR stopped using them, with some of their former engines now featuring on preserved lines.

The Vistula river runs through central Poland, including Warsaw.

Many mines would be closed once their seams were worked out to the point of it being now longer economical to run; some are now tourist attractions, at least in limited sections.

France used the guillotine for capital punishment until the abolition of that in 1977. It would also be extensively used, in a slightly different form in the German states, including extensively by the Nazis, until 1966, when East Germany switched to shooting people in the back of the head.

New Caledonia is a French territory in the Southern Pacific that was used as a penal colony at the time; it is currently in a state of political turmoil in a row over expanding the franchise to cover more recent arrivals, something opposed by indigenous groups seeking independence. The proposal has been suspended at time of writing due to France's upcoming elections.

[storyshark2005]

Fic Update - Ch 7, [the gap between crack and thunder] - short! A flashback to 1999

Notes and References Below:

- An article on Jamie's red card against Carlton in 1999.

- The chapter summary quote is from an Athletic article 'The Premier League’s Forgotten Kids' by Daniel Taylor. It's a great article on dropped academy kids. If you can't access it at the link, comment or DM me on tumblr and I'll share my copy!

- Jamie gives a tour of Melwood! This video looks to be from about 2018/19 to me. The Men's team left Melwood in late 2020, and is now the home for LFC's women's team.

- Cass and Carra both attended Lilleshall from 1992-1994, age 14-16. They were roommates. Lilleshall was the FA's School of Excellence, basically only the top sixteen 14yr olds in the country were accepted into each class. So at that time, Cass and Carra were absolutley seen as footballing's brightest future stars. Steven Gerrard did NOT make the cut his year, neither did David Beckham or many other great players. Michael Owen attended a couple of years after Carra and Cass.

- Thommo is from Birkenhead across the River Mersey, Cass from Walton right next to Goodison Park. All three boys played against eachother on opposite youth teams (Wirral, Liverpool, Bootle) and Sunday League (Jamie for Merton Villa, Cass for Pacific, not sure on Thommo).

- There are a couple of articles from the Athletic about Cass and Thommo both. They're behind the paywall, but you can 12ft ladder them, or I've copied them into google docs that I can share with you.

- 1996 LFC feature of midfielder David Thompson . Thommo became dissatisfied with his playing time at Liverpool under Houlier, and ended up transferring to Coventry in the Summer of 2000. Just three years later a knee injury ended his career at age 25. In his own words, he was "ashamed" "terrified" and basically shattered. I'll talk more about Cass in a future chapter.

- Youtube video footage FULL CLIP of the first leg of the 1996 FA Youth Cup final. Featuring baby Rio Ferdinand and baby Frank Lampard playing for West Ham! No Michael Owen for this first leg, he was in Austria with the England Juniors. There's some good footage of Cass around 1h08m30s. Carra's #5, Thommo's #8, and Cass is #11.

- Youtube video of the second leg of the FA Youth Cup final. Mo is here scoring goals in this leg! Jamie was playing at centre-back, which was a recent position for him. Their usual CB Eddie Turkington was went off in the second leg of the semi-final, so Carra took his place. He did well there, obviously, which helped him find a home in the Liverpool squad.

[wankerwatch]

Lords Vote

On: Post Office (Horizon Systems) Offences Bill

Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom moved amendment 2, clause 1, page 1, line 10, to leave out paragraph (c). The Committee divided:

Ayes: 76 (53.9% LD, 17.1% Con, 17.1% XB, 7.9% Lab, 2.6% , 1.3% Green) Noes: 111 (97.3% Con, 2.7% XB) Absent: ~623

Likely Referenced Bill: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024

Description: A Bill to provide for the quashing of convictions in England and Wales and Northern Ireland for certain offences alleged to have been committed while the Horizon system was in use by the Post Office; to make provision about the deletion of cautions given in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for such offences; and for connected purposes.

Originating house: Commons Current house: Unassigned Bill Stage: Royal Assent

Individual Votes:

Ayes

Liberal Democrat (41 votes)

Addington, L. Allan of Hallam, L. Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville, B. Barker, B. Beith, L. Benjamin, B. Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury, B. Bowles of Berkhamsted, B. Brinton, B. Bruce of Bennachie, L. Clement-Jones, L. Dholakia, L. Featherstone, B. Foster of Bath, L. Fox, L. Garden of Frognal, B. German, L. Goddard of Stockport, L. Hamwee, B. Harris of Richmond, B. Humphreys, B. Hussein-Ece, B. Jolly, B. Marks of Henley-on-Thames, L. McNally, L. Newby, L. Northover, B. Randerson, B. Razzall, L. Rennard, L. Russell, E. Scriven, L. Smith of Newnham, B. Stoneham of Droxford, L. Strasburger, L. Suttie, B. Taylor of Goss Moor, L. Thomas of Gresford, L. Thomas of Winchester, B. Tope, L. Walmsley, B.

Conservative (13 votes)

Altmann, B. Arbuthnot of Edrom, L. Farmer, L. Framlingham, L. Howard of Lympne, L. Lamont of Lerwick, L. McIntosh of Pickering, B. Norton of Louth, L. Polak, L. Sherbourne of Didsbury, L. Shinkwin, L. Sterling of Plaistow, L. Stowell of Beeston, B.

Crossbench (13 votes)

Aberdare, L. Boycott, B. Bull, B. Colville of Culross, V. Craig of Radley, L. Deech, B. Finlay of Llandaff, B. Hall of Birkenhead, L. Meacher, B. Russell of Liverpool, L. Somerset, D. Watkins of Tavistock, B. Wheatcroft, B.

Labour (6 votes)

Browne of Ladyton, L. Campbell-Savours, L. Chakrabarti, B. Faulkner of Worcester, L. Reid of Cardowan, L. West of Spithead, L.

Non-affiliated (2 votes)

Paddick, L. Uddin, B.

Green Party (1 vote)

Bennett of Manor Castle, B.

Noes

Conservative (108 votes)

Agnew of Oulton, L. Altrincham, L. Anelay of St Johns, B. Ashcombe, L. Ashton of Hyde, L. Attlee, E. Bailey of Paddington, L. Barran, B. Bellamy, L. Benyon, L. Berridge, B. Bethell, L. Blackwood of North Oxford, B. Borwick, L. Bottomley of Nettlestone, B. Bray of Coln, B. Brownlow of Shurlock Row, L. Callanan, L. Cameron of Lochiel, L. Camrose, V. Colgrain, L. Courtown, E. Davidson of Lundin Links, B. Davies of Gower, L. Douglas-Miller, L. Eaton, B. Effingham, E. Elliott of Mickle Fell, L. Evans of Rainow, L. Finkelstein, L. Fleet, B. Fookes, B. Fraser of Craigmaddie, B. Gascoigne, L. Godson, L. Goldsmith of Richmond Park, L. Hamilton of Epsom, L. Harding of Winscombe, B. Harlech, L. Hayward, L. Helic, B. Hodgson of Abinger, B. Horam, L. Howard of Rising, L. Howe, E. Hunt of Wirral, L. Jackson of Peterborough, L. Jenkin of Kennington, B. Johnson of Lainston, L. King of Bridgwater, L. Lawlor, B. Lea of Lymm, B. Lilley, L. Lingfield, L. Magan of Castletown, L. Manzoor, B. Markham, L. Marlesford, L. Maude of Horsham, L. McColl of Dulwich, L. McInnes of Kilwinning, L. McLoughlin, L. Meyer, B. Minto, E. Mobarik, B. Monckton of Dallington Forest, B. Morgan of Cotes, B. Mott, L. Moylan, L. Moynihan of Chelsea, L. Moynihan, L. Murray of Blidworth, L. Naseby, L. Neville-Rolfe, B. Newlove, B. Nicholson of Winterbourne, B. Offord of Garvel, L. Owen of Alderley Edge, B. Parkinson of Whitley Bay, L. Popat, L. Porter of Fulwood, B. Porter of Spalding, L. Randall of Uxbridge, L. Reay, L. Redfern, B. Robathan, L. Roborough, L. Sanderson of Welton, B. Sandhurst, L. Scott of Bybrook, B. Sewell of Sanderstead, L. Sharpe of Epsom, L. Smith of Hindhead, L. Stedman-Scott, B. Stewart of Dirleton, L. Strathcarron, L. Sugg, B. Swinburne, B. Trefgarne, L. Trenchard, V. True, L. Tugendhat, L. Udny-Lister, L. Vere of Norbiton, B. Wharton of Yarm, L. Williams of Trafford, B. Wyld, B. Young of Cookham, L.

Crossbench (3 votes)

Burnett of Maldon, L. St John of Bletso, L. Thomas of Cwmgiedd, L.

[beccadigest]

Birkenhead park

[tim-dennis]

Reaching out...

[postboxes-yura15cbx]

Birkenhead postboxes

-36.8102940, 174.7325360

5PQM+V2M Auckland

178-186 Route 27, Auckland 0626

178-186 Route 27, Auckland 0626

5PQM+X22 Auckland

-36.8101140, 174.7325170

5A Park Avenue, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PRJ+9WJ Auckland

-36.8090440, 174.7322720

178-186 Route 27, Auckland 0626

5PQM+X3H Auckland

-36.8100750, 174.7327310

189B Onewa Road, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PQJ+X5R Auckland

-36.8100170, 174.7304030

189B Onewa Road, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PRJ+232 Auckland

-36.8099780, 174.7301500

224-236 Route 27, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PRH+2QJ Auckland

-36.8099220, 174.7293750

211-203 Route 27, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PRH+29F Auckland

-36.8099390, 174.7284170

Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PRH+358 Auckland

-36.8098310, 174.7279420

Chelsea Bay Apartments, 201/19 Rawene Road, Birkenhead, Auckland 0626

5PPG+PCH Auckland

-36.8131830, 174.7261110

[thedhananjayaparkhe]

WOTD AND QOTD

Word of the Day jamboree Example In 1929 some of our scouts attended the jamboree held at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead. Definition noun a gay festivity Synonyms:  blowout, gala, gala affair Quote of the Day “He, who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires, and fears, is more than a king.” John Milton

[theliverpudlianuk]

🎉 Alcedo Care strengthens its presence in the Liverpool City Region opening a new branch in Birkenhead.

🎉 Signalling an investment of circa £225,000 and creating approximately 75 local jobs, Alcedo’s new LCR office is located at Woodside Business Park on Shore Road in the Liverpool City Region's Borough of Wirral.

🎉 Pictured Left to Right, in front of their new office is Joanne Cotgrave, Mike Markey and Julie Gault.

🎉 Managing Director of Alcedo Care, Andy Boardman, said: 'We are immensely proud of what the team has achieved to date and are confident our range of home care services will continue to appeal to clients requiring assistance yet wishing to remain in the comfort of their own homes.'

👉 Get all of the latest Scouse news, culture and events happening across the Liverpool City Region on TheLiverpudlian.com!

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[roshdj]

It’s absolutely crazy to me that Birkenhead Park (by where I live) was the inspiration for the famous New York’s Central Park.

In 1850, Fredrick Law Olmsted who designed Central Park visited Birkenhead Park and was so amazed by it that he took inspiration and made his own in America.

In the First World War, the park held an open-air concert to raise money for the war effort and was also used as a allotment to aid local food production when the supply ships where being sunk by german submarines.

Since trying to better myself mentally, going out for walks and discovering the history behind certain things has really opened my mind so much. It makes me want to explore everywhere and find out the history behind it. Here are some pictures I’ve taken over the past couple of weeks of Birkenhead Park.

One of my main career goals is to hold a weekend festival in the park. I love the area I live in, I’m so grateful to live by a park that was inspiration for one of the most famous parks in the world! So, I want to be able to give back to my community and show the world what kind of place Birkenhead can be.

[abbaswift]

a highlight of my alton towers theme park experience was waiting in line for galactica in front of some teenage boys from birkenhead who were shitting themselves before and during the ride, but got off and were like “yeah it was cool”

[salonshop]

EyeContact (NZ)

Three Mokopōpaki artists (A.A.M. Bos, Carole Prentice, Dr P) feature in three spatially separated, Pah Homestead galleries. All quite different, but with a connecting thread that is carefully explained in the very thorough exhibition catalogue.

That thread is the meandering Colonial Road in Birkenhead that winds its way down to the stagnant reservoir next to the Chelsea Sugar Refinery. In particular, the shag colony (with three types of shag) living in the oak trees at the edge of the deoxygenated lake.

In the colonial homestead’s upstairs AV Gallery, A.A.M. Bos presents a fascinating twenty minute film examining the feeding habits, courtship rituals, nest building, and chick raising routines of the shags, as well as visually elucidating the spatial relationship of the colony to Colonial Rd, the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the Chelsea factory buildings — while featuring Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance march and part of Serenade for Strings in E Minor Opus 20 as a movie soundtrack.

The sequences with ornithological content are related to the photographic work of fellow New Zealander Richard Frater, with his keen studies of bird life in Germany; but with a different kind of political focus, more layered and about the history of colonialism, being symbolic and less overtly ecological.

In Dr P’s installation in the Conservatory, an ornate mahogany chiffonier presents the remnants of a seafood breakfast for a family of Birkenhead shags, with a wall switch for a nearby poster of Magritte’s Empire of Light to aid a tall freestanding lamp for early morning illumination. ‘Illumination’ is the Doctor’s code word for wisdom, particularly when referencing natural resources.

Instead of the white sauce that Belgians like Magritte and Broodthaers are used to (particularly the latter with his billy of mussels), Dr P presents a plate of stale white buns alongside a bottle of HP British brown sauce to accompany the (now devoured) mussels, a colander of shelled cockles, and platters and silver trays of oyster shells and smoked fish skeletons. And hen’s eggs too, the shells of which are found with the planted shrubs. This mix is in keeping with the plants Dr P has positioned in the conservatory, that include not only an oak, but also a tōtara, a pōhutukawa and a kōwhai.

Carole Prentice’s father worked for the Chelsea Sugar Works, and so that institution was an important part of her childhood. Her display in the upstairs Little Gallery, close to the AV Gallery, presents a mixture of paintings and laminated translucent collages in a manner vaguely similar to Merylyn Tweedie. Empty trademarked paper bags once used for conveying Chelsea sugar are blended with drawn magazine images or family snaps of innocent young white girls on swings or steps, having a happy childhood, surrounded by shelves of sickly sugary confectionary.

The paintings are larger and more ominous. They exude a very different mood, being largely grey and black, sinister and apocalyptic. One has an image of what seems to be a disillusioned looming Christ climbing up out of the Birkenhead landscape. Actually it is James K. Baxter. Another has a smaller version of Baxter emerging from the swampy lake. Polluting ‘dark Satanic mills’ figure prominently in the backgrounds of both. Both contain empty white armchairs, past symbols of colonial exploitation and privilege.

One square colour-rich painting has a shag in a tree fighting a fierce taniwha, and a floating Māori God stick features in one of the lake paintings. These are possibly a reference to sovereignty disputes, or clashing religious / cultural ideologies. There is also a very subtle allusion on the bottom of one grey painting to the harvesting of Queensland canefields that Chelsea sugar came from, the hideous ‘blackbirding’ of South Pacific Islands, and the cruel indenture system.

This is an excellent grouping of thoughtful presentations that resonate together superbly. Well worth an excursion to Monte Cecilia Park.

John Hurrell, Mokopōpaki Trio on Birkenhead History and Ornithology (Auckland: EyeContact, 18 May, 2023)

[jamesmcinerneyofficial]

A huge thanks to Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre who have words from the project on display in a beautiful and creative way. Love this, thank you! Thanks to Sonia for the share!

[tim-dennis]

Knife Angel, soft edit