Garston News Views and Discussion

[merseymay]

Question that

comes to mind, "Where have all the People gone"?

On my mind too. sigh

*sobs* What a loss. I hope they get rid of the still standing

bits soon as they just make the area look worse than gone.

I wonder where the people will come from to live there? Will it be garstonians moving

back in?

(Norm I gave my parents the link to this thread they laughed when they read what you said about Frank Kett turning in his grave. the rest

of the time they were pretty sombre)

[Waterways]

The post-war economic and industrial decline that afflicted all of Liverpool's docklands

throughout the 1950s and 1960s had a particularly catastrophic effect on the people of Garston.

Wrong decades. The late 1970s for

Garston. The south end docks closed down in 1972, with the Brunswick in 1975. Garston Docks are still operational today, despite being smaller and

requiring a long dredged channel. Garston was outside the Liverpool docks (MDHB). When tonnage of cargo was given for Liverpool docks Garston was always

omitted, yet the docks were in Liverpool.

Garston was vibrant up until about 1975. It was when the likes of the Bottle works closed down that

recession started to grab hold. Many of the people in Garston worked in the small factories, and the likes of Fords, at Speke.

I once met a grave

digger at Allerton cemetery who was from Garston. He was in his 60s and had never once been to Liverpool city centre. Many of the people had this backwards

small village mentality. There was fields between Garston and Liverpool up until the semis were built along Aigburth Rd in the 1920-30s, when Garston was

incorporated into Liverpool. The villagers didn't like it - they never do.

[Kev]

Many of the people had this backwards small village mentality. There was fields between

Garston and Liverpool up until the semis were built along Aigburth Rd in the 1920-30s, when Garston was incorporated into Liverpool. The villagers didn't

like it - they never do.

That'll be my mum and dad then John, my mum especially hardly venture out of Garston even now. Nothing much has changed,

people have often commented on how Garston retains a unique sense of community, it certainly feels like it does to its long standing residents even now. Of

course the up and comming 'teens' don't, they have assumed this national 'dumbed down' attitude that belongs knowhere.

[merseymay]

Garston was vibrant up until about 1975.

He was in

his 60s and had never once been to Liverpool city centre. Many of the people had this backwards small village mentality. There was fields between Garston

and Liverpool up until the semis were built along Aigburth Rd in the 1920-30s, when Garston was incorporated into Liverpool. The villagers didn't like it -

they never do.

Im not mad, just defending my families turf.

One: Liverpool city centre is not the holy grail.

Garston was more than fulfilling for a whole life. Family and friends, fighting and laughing, work and pubs, gossip and drama, safety and kinship. Exactly

what does it prove to go to the centre of liverpool if everything that fulfils you is somewhere else?

Thats as bad as a londoner critting a scouser

for never having bothered going there. Whats the point? Youre still english even if you dont bother seeing the palace and your still scouse even if you

dont worship lime street station, the liverbirds and the bleedin beatles. Scotty road people are no more scouse than Garstonians, but they arent

Garstonian...!

Two: Defining Garston (well, under the bridge) as 'Vibrant' at any point in history is wrong in my opinion. It wasnt the common

hustle and bustle associated with a vibrant place, to my mind. It was a tight community forged on common struggle and hardship, wins and losses, who

understood the value of their community and loved what little they had and didn't like to see it stolen from them. When the sprawl moved in, their backs

were up against the wall. At one end the bridge at the other the docks. Thank god for the docks as thats what kept those under the bridge a community for

so long.
The developments that encroached upon them isolated them.
If they were Garstonian FIRST, not liverpudlian and didn't fancy being swallowed

up by urban sprawl...well, I cant understand why. whats the worst that could happen? They get moved out and the dozers come through and flatten the place

so other people can move in? Spose thats not so bad.

THREE: There was no backwards villiage mentality - I cant even guess at the

era you're referring to and Ive got family history in the place from pre 1900 when my Granny was born there. I have lived and breathed the history of the

place from families both sides of the bridge and there isnt a backwards bone in their bodies. They were tough, hard, strong, proud. They had hearts of gold

and ties that bind for generations - beyond bloodlines. They were a community in every sense of the word -something I believe I hear people complaining is

lacking these days, within the non-backward thinking liverpool.

They were born in those houses (not there now), played in the streets, met their

partners there, dodged the bombs that fell, had lots of family and lifelong friends all around them. Their lives were full - they knew hundreds of people by

first and last name within walking distance and interacted with them all through life. They died there and were laid out in those homes by volunteers. The

death of an old person was mourned by a whole community not a lonely event that nobody else in the street knew even happened - as is common in forward

thinking 'communities'.

They were isolated from the outside community its true. But that says more about the places that swallowed them up than

it does about them.

Now its gone totally - don't speak ill of the dead and if you're going to, make sure you tell it like it really was. My

family feel like they have been erased. Slummy or vibrant? Something in-between is more like it with richness and depth you wont see again. It exists

only in the memory of those old backwards villiage people.

Alls I can say is THANKYOU for speaking of Garston so wrongly. If ever needed the

motivation to get my families history written up, I have it now.


edited to add: This wasnt said in a mean way, just

passionate. but on looking at it, it could be taken offensively, sorry if it is. Think I may have read more into your comments more than I should have.

Then again, you did just call my entire bloodline backwards villiage people.
My dad seen the photos above for the first time today. he is

almost seventy. He has called me twice because he cant get it out of his mind. His anguish about all that is lost and all the memories flooding back of the

real garston - long gone - are driving him mad. Its been a rough day.

[Waterways]

Im not mad, just defending my families turf.

Alls I can say is THANKYOU

for speaking of Garston so wrongly. gh day.

<snip mostly babble>

Anyone who never once went to the centre of the city he lives in is

VERY ODD indeed, and there were a few around there. Garston was no separate entity, the people had Liverpool accents and those who lived in the little

terraces off Window Lane originated from Liverpool attracted by the work in the docks there (the docks were built by a railway company and were initially for

coal). Note they never had Widnes accents.

Garston being a close knit community is not special, as most areas of Liverpool, Birkenhead, etc, can say

the same. Most can see the communities they were brought up in razed too. I'm from Liverpool 8 and in my lifetime I have seen the Victorian Toxteth, the

1950-60s, and the 90s. Three distinct periods of construction, all quite different.

[merseymay]

Garston was a separate entity.

I have twice lived in outer lying areas that eventually become

suburbs of large cities, and whilst I may have passed through the cities, had no need whatsoever to be in them. I think there are odder things in the

world

I'd rather bable than BS

[Waterways]

Garston was a separate entity.

Not after it was incorporated into Liverpool.

I have

twice lived in outer lying areas that eventually become suburbs of large cities, and whilst I may have passed through the cities, had no need whatsoever to

be in them. I think there are odder things in the world

There are odder thing. Not going into the centre of the city you live in is one very

odd thing indeed. Just mere curiosity alone would take most people in.

[merseymay]

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...t=garston+quiz

Find FKoE's quote on here

and learn some history

A quick pop quiz.......... where was the original Liverpool?.

When did Lancashire villages of Garston and Walton

become incorporated into the city Liverpool?.

[merseymay]

LOL that makes sense
it was always part of liverpool AFTER it was incorporated.

[Waterways]

LOL that makes sense

It

does.

[Waterways]

[url]
Find FKoE's quote on here and learn some history

Quoting him means you are scraping the barrel. Sad but

true.

[merseymay]

Okay, truce. Your

perspective is not a shock. It doesn't bother me so long as someone is also telling the the other side of the story. My and Garstonians bable is just about

all that is left of the old 'under the bridge' now, so to some people its important.

Just had to comment on the liverpool accents you mentioned in a

PP. I know you cant be suggesting that there is no difference between the different areas accents.

If my original post went too far in trying to

isolate Garston from L'pool, it wasn't meant to. You mentioned the villiagers complaining about progress (as they do) and I was defending the reasoning

behind that kind of unrest.

Cheers, G'day, Crikey and all that polava

MM

[Waterways]

Okay, truce. Your perspective is not a shock. It doesn't bother me

so long as someone is also telling the the other side of the story. My and Garstonians bable is just about all that is left of the old 'under the bridge'

now, so to some people its important.

Just had to comment on the liverpool accents you mentioned in a PP. I know you cant be suggesting that there is

no difference between the different areas accents.

If there was well I never heard it. I worked for the Gas Corpn and did the

Garston/Speke/Allerton/Aigburth areas - I knew every street and back street and had been in houses in them all. It was a Liverpool accent, not a Widnes

accent, which is very Lancashire. BTW, Toxteth was a separete entity at one time too, as was West Derby, Walton, etc. Depite Toxteth being a separate place

at one time (I think it may have been called Harrington) my mother went to Liverpool city centre.

If my original post went too far in

trying to isolate Garston from L'pool, it wasn't meant to. You mentioned the villiagers complaining about progress (as they do) and I was defending the

reasoning behind that kind of unrest.

Cheers, G'day, Crikey and all that polava
MM

[Kev]

Okay, truce. Your perspective is not a shock. It doesn't bother me

so long as someone is also telling the the other side of the story. My and Garstonians bable is just about all that is left of the old 'under the bridge'

now, so to some people its important.

Just had to comment on the liverpool accents you mentioned in a PP. I know you cant be suggesting that there is no

difference between the different areas accents.

If my original post went too far in trying to isolate Garston from L'pool, it wasn't meant to. You

mentioned the villiagers complaining about progress (as they do) and I was defending the reasoning behind that kind of unrest.

Cheers, G'day, Crikey and

all that polava

MM

Love your passion for Garston merseymay, you thank god you've got a voice on the net!!

[merseymay]

Its a dilemma, waterways, I'd like you to have the last word but

dont want to be rude by not replying.

So I'll just say thanks for the debate, we aren't going to see eye to eye this lifetime.



Cheers

MM