Garston News Views and Discussion

[taffy]

Well I can remember the Bobbins! I found Norm and Taffy to be quite interesting, let?s think about it! When I say it should have leisure facilities I don?t mean it should be full of pubs gaiety, and general hedonism. What I encountered was a limbo. On one hand there is regeneration as in new homes being built. Then the other side of the coin is neglect of the still existing older part of the area. On Window Lane the street lighting was appalling and you must consider that in this day and age it is unacceptable, even if some folk find it atmospheric. I know Norm is right about the area and I do realize that the village is only a step. However some of the old stigma should vanish with regeneration. The no go area mentality went out with the ark in my book. If you consider how the Scotland road area has once again become a thriving community with social clubs and its own news letter the ?Scottie Press? then it should not be to difficult to imagine a Garston that is more cohesive. To get there, attitudes have to change. I think the biggest change has to be the unlabeling of the area .Also with changes in how we shop and how we dine the area might be amply served with just a few outlets. So it is not a massive economic project. Empowering is something that can be brought about by the dynamic of creativity that exists within communities. Lets face it discourse is better than a laugh and a joke about the place.

Garston does of course have its own multi colour 24 page community newspaper, the Garston News published by the Garston Community Council. This is available throughout Garston at many points of sale. This has been published for many years and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Garston. The Community Council runs the Garston Community House on Speke Rd and organised the refurbishment of the old derelict Garston Reading Room in Wellington Street as a Community Hall. Another group runs the Garston Village Hall on Banks Rd which of course is "under the bridge". So we immediately have an unneccessary divide in Garston. Surely one Garston Community Group should be involved in running both buildings.

One organisation that is active throughout all parts of Garston is of course the Church. Garston Parish Church even being sited "under the bridge" or to use an earlier more descriptive term "beyond the bridge". Also there's the Methodist church with sites on Banks Rd and Island Rd. These try very hard to involve all parts of the community in their work.

[taffy]

I didn't know any of them despite living in Garston all my life, they would often play up their links to Garston I felt. At the top you had the Artist Alex C, then it filtered down to numerous individuals who were suposed to be artists, designers all from Garston. I'm not sure if I was a local lad in my younger years during the 80's if I'd have been inspired by the project. I was too busy playing football.

The day of the fun day, my mum didn't know much about it despite being in a local pub working at the time.

Large numbers did turn up though Kev

See

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...%22#post134178

[Kev]

Large numbers did turn up though Kev

See

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...%22#post134178

Cheers Taffy, I remember.

[Norm NZ]

Further to Paddy's discourse: I'm sure that the re-development of the area can only be a 'good thing', and facilities such as more shops, leisure, and entertainment, will follow in due course. It's like the old story of the chicken and the egg! which needs to come first? I remember Speke Estate in it's early days, only a couple of shops at the top of Western Ave, (where the buses turned around) and nothing more! my wifes uncle used to deliver greengroceries around the area by van, and a lot of other services were provided in this way. Entertainment in those early days after the war, were mostly factory social clubs, Evans Medical, Dunlops, Brown & Bibby's etc, and St Christophers church hall would provide a dance night for teenagers at least once a week. As for Garston under the bridge,once the area is re-populated, I'm sure other facilities will follow, lets hope so anyway!!, and perhaps we, old and young, are responsible for perpetuating the 'division' of Garston! we are still refering to the area as 'Under the Bridge' or the 'Other Area'! myself included!! Cheers All.

[taffy]

Garston does of course have its own multi colour 24 page community newspaper, the Garston News published by the Garston Community Council. This is available throughout Garston at many points of sale. This has been published for many years and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Garston. .

See attached scan of a recent issue of the Garston News front page. Copies available from a variety of shops/pubs/churches in Garston and surrounding areas. Also available from the Garston Community House, Speke Rd, Garston.

[Kev]

I go running down there several times a week Taffy. At this time of the year there isn't anything better than a run along the shore with the sun shining and very peaceful . You wouldn't think there was the hustle and bustle of The Retail Park a stones throw away.

[Paddy]

I think Norm is right the way he see?s the issue of how under the bridge is represented. I myself understand how over the years the area has been treated with a sub strata label attendant. Most Garston folk realize that the label is an injustice as the population under the bridge has mostly deep working class roots and they go back along time. Once the area had the Bottle works Tan yards gas works and Docks. I myself worked in Waterhouse (kings) bottling plant when I was a lad. I also did a stint in the Tan yards cutting the udders of hides, not a pleasant job but an experience. The point being that the area was once a hive of activity. So it is unfair to think of the area as no go or not part of Garston life when the reality is that it was once the Hub of Garston existence.

[Howie]

Century of lending in Garston

An historic Liverpool library has been given the Royal seal of approval for a century of lending.

Her Majesty The Queen has written to staff at Garston Library to congratulate them on 100 years of loaning out books.

The letter will be on display during celebrations on Tuesday 26 May to mark the occasion. The day will also see staff dressed in period costume, an exhibition of old photographs and a visit from Lord Mayor Mike Storey, who will be cutting a special birthday cake.

Council leader Warren Bradley said: "Libraries are an essential part of the fabric of our local communities, and Garston has served the area fantastically well for 100 years.

"Although the items it loans have diversified over the years, it is still essentially what it always has been, a place of knowledge and learning for all local residents to use.

"The council is committed to making sure that our libraries continue to thrive, which is why we have refurbished more than half of them over the last decade."

Garston is a Carnegie Library, built using money provided by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie at an original cost of ?8,000.

The Order of Ceremony from the 1909 opening will also be on display. It shows that the library had 8,900 books "including works of interest to the student, the artisan and mechanic and the general reader". The document boasts that "the building will be suitably warmed in the winter time by a low pressure system of radiators".

Originally, women and children were not allowed to read in the same room as men, and had a separate area.

There were also strict rules for children warning that they must have clean hands and faces, and should not carry books uncovered in wet weather. Readers were fined half a penny for each day an item was overdue.

These days, the library has 25,000 books, CD's and DVD's in stock, gets 100,000 visits annually and issues 78,000 items.

It was refurbished in 2003, when it also became home to a One Stop Shop, allowing local people to access council services under the same roof.

More than ?8 million has been spent refurbishing 15 of Liverpool's community libraries over the last decade, with another ?1.3million currently being spent on Toxteth Library. Plans are currently being drawn up for the redevelopment of the Central Library and Archive.

Liverpool libraries service has over 80,000 members and receives over 2 million visits per year, and the council spends almost ?1 million annually on new books, information resources and multi media materials.

Source: Liverpool City Council

[marky]

The former Technical School (Wellington Road) has a 1909 date-stone, so should be celebrating its' Centenary (though, I don't know the official opening date)

[Kev]

It looks a mess since the Cultural Village Campaign left the building.

[Norm NZ]

The former Technical School (Wellington Road) has a 1909 date-stone, so should be celebrating its' Centenary (though, I don't know the official opening date)

I remember the old Garston Technical School ! but can't say I ever knew of anyone being trained there!!! (mind you! I have much better memories of the 'Idle-Hour' milkbar that was near-by!!!!!)

[taffy]

New June/July issue now out. Well worth a read.

[kevin]

I remember Speke Estate in it's early days, only a couple of shops at the top of Western Ave, (where the buses turned around) and nothing more! my wifes uncle used to deliver greengroceries around the area by van, and a lot of other services were provided in this way.

At the Dymchurch Road end of Speke in the late 50s there was a coach which would come around, done out as a shop. It would stop near us on Friday nights and we'd get a few coppers to buy sweets to eat as we watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents...

[garstonian]

I remember the old Garston Technical School ! but can't say I ever knew of anyone being trained there!!! (mind you! I have much better memories of the 'Idle-Hour' milkbar that was near-by!!!!!)

Hi, I used to live opposite the Tocky Tech, on Chapel Road. The Idle Hour was a cafe on Seddon Road at the top of Chapel Road and was opposite my old school, St. Mary's sometimes called The Victoria. Mostly frequented by bikers.
Cheers for now.

[fiftyfive]

Well I don?t live in the area anymore so I can only work on my past experience. My past experience tells me that discrimination against that part of Garston has always been around. The village is beyond any doubt the focus area because of the demographic factor. Having said that it seems unreasonable to build new homes and insist on historic sanctions against the community. Even if you don?t want to have a pint under the bridge yourself people who live there might. It seems to me that attitudes about where you come from prevent helping to change that immediate environment. You could apply the same reasoning to parts of Speke and brush of social policy change on the basis of ?Oh well it has always been like that anyway? The present reasoning seems to be let Bryant and May look neat and industrious with small office spaces and business units. So that people going to the Airport feel the feel good factor. What about the folk who live behind in one of the oldest communities in Liverpool are we hiding them? I know Doreen cares but Doreen can not do everything on her own. Entrenched attitudes have to change about the area. They are now building new homes. Will the new dwellers be labeled as them from under the bridge? As a sociologist I know the facts don?t speak for themselves it is the interpretations of facts that matter. When Garston was doing alright economically they did have places to go like the Blue and the Rag so why doesn?t the community be empowered to reinvent itself? Their perfectly capable. I remember the Woodcutters as a lad and the joy they brought to children in the Garston area. Also the pram race. Another misconception about under the bridge is that the people are hostile. That?s not true. Historic neglect has made them weary is more to the point.

there is some truth in this.....15 years ago Banks Road School music teacher Mr Broadbent informed me that my daughters music lessons were inhibited because Banks Road never had a "silver Burdette"..a special music machine to help kids...so...I was playing in a group at the time...I arranged 2 fund raising nights...on a thursday in Foggies(snooker club)...Foggie gave the club free...my wife and I went to EVERY shop in Garston...and Every shop donated except 3....and these 3 shops all said the same thing....why should I help "under the bridge" they don`t use my shop......very sad attitude...we made about 800 pds,the machine was 540 and we had abt 40 raffle prizes over which were used at xmas to raise money for the school...if my memory serves me right EVERY teacher came to either the 1st thursday or the 2nd Thursday night...we had 3 artistes on the 1st night and 4 on the 2nd night...ALL Garston lads....ALL free........thats the Garston Spirit...my dad was from Clarence Grove and my mum was from Ottway St...I was up the village in Bennett St....although I never seen any difference in attitude ,many under the bridge did and as a youth I was often mocked for coming from "Up the Village"....I was classed as being Posh.....god knows why.......allan