Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Who remembers... Wirral General History Chat...

B.I.


...a few names for you to remember

Sam dennally
nogger Morris
skinny malcome
titty tomlinson
citro
frothy turner

must all be dead now ?


ring any bells?

Anybody remember the Flat Lanes, Ocean Flour Mills football ground at the top(I used to play for Ocean football team) manager was a guy named Les ?? Coach was Arthur Sherlock ganger for the Council. You could walk down the Flat Lanes across the Fender(all 3 feet of it)get your pennies Flattened on the railway track. Anybody know where that come and went from?? Then up the Hill to Arrowe Park(of course building Woodchurch got in the way later.) In those days it was a convalesent home. memories are made of this site!!

Dave Miller

Your post rings a few bells! I lived just off Woodchurch Rd. nr. the railway bridge. Used to play all along the Fender. Spent hours trying to dam the Fender. Futile or what ? Remember the Woodchurch Est. being built. Other areas of adventure were the Flat lanes. Walk up Woodchurch Rd. Left at the Swan Hotel. Recall someone finding a cache of homemade bombs or hand grenades on the corner (where the pub carpark is). Turned out it was a dump from the Home Guard. Something to lob at Fritz if they invaded Prenton !

The Flat lanes (note Flat - not Flatt as the council mis-spell it) went on to Noctorum. Green painted benches to sit on and gaze over towards Arrowe Park etc. Just fields then.

Recall being fascinated/horrified by the "Pillbox Murder". Suppose the mid fifties or around that time ? Weren't allowed out to play for quite a while !!

Used to collect the bus tickets (Bell Punch type, before the Setright's) All different colours for each value. Used to cut them in half and make "snakes" by threading string through them. Used to see who could make the longest "snake" in the school playground. As I collect the old corpy tickets now, it seems criminal to have cut hundreds of them up. Idiot ! DOH !!!

Memories - worth a guinea a box ! OK where did THAT come from then ??

Gawd... I'm old !!

Yes sir, please sir: Beecham's Little Liver Pills.

If you mean the railway line, Wrexham to Seacombe. Still there, Wrexham to Bidston; an hourly service I think. Of course, it was greatly used to transport iron ore from Bidston dock to Summer's steel works at Shotton.

Well done Kay ! Go to the top of the class. Beecham's Pills it was !!

Let me tell you guys something. You never appreciate the history of where you were born and bred until you leave. I have learnt more about the Wirral's history in the past 6 months than the previous 38 years. I really miss that place now, sob sob. OK anybody remember the "Electricity Machines"?? at Raby Mere. You put in sixpence? hold two metal handles and turn one, Hey Presto electric shock. The more that were on it the better, kids don't know what they are missing today.

Dave Miller

Yes. One fixed brass knob and one you twisted. The more you turned it the more electrickery shot up your arms. Seem to recall that the shocks were supposed to "Revitalise" you. Sure did for a split second! Allegedly cured arthritis, purified the blood....etc. Long before the Trades Descriptions Act. As for all the Health & Safety rubbish !!!???

Presume there was a battery inside that fed a trembler/induction coil. Oodles of volts but only milliamps ?

I thought it was a 1d in the slot rather than 6d. Maybe they upped the price !

Oh, yes, I remember them well! They were only a penny when I remember them. Can't imagine those getting past Health & Safety now. There was also a "What the Butler saw" machine & one where you tested your grip. We sometimes used to hire a motor boat on the mere.

I can vouch that kids today have nothing in comparison, hence why they are hanging around on street corners.

Im not sure if its linked, but in Arcades there are "Electric Shock" machines, laid out like an Electric Chair. You hold onto 2 metal handles, and its meant to feel like your being electrocuted.

I discovered recently, however, that it is simply a vibrating machine, and if you force your hands onto the handles, and push, you can keep hold of them longer than the machine lasts.


No idea if its the same thing, although ana ctual Eectric shock machine sounds more fun

one would imagine those electric shock machines where bad for anybody fitted with a pacemaker?
Sound like fun though
Theres not much these days that kids apprieciate due to the vast range of electronics there are now.
Years ago people had to find something to do due to there being no playstations and the like.
Television for example is a prime example of ruining peoples sociality.
the internet is taking over now, i mean, you dont even need to leave your doorstep now due to the internet! (online shopping etc).
People are lazy these days and not as healthy due to that fact

@ Craig. This was a real electric shock. One of the knobs was fixed, the other you could turn & the further you turned it, the more power you got. I suspect it was powered by a 6 or 12 volt car battery. You used to join hands with your mates & make a chain & the ones on the ends would grab the knobs. It was best to be the one with the turning knob, then you controlled it. I think the one who supplied the penny got to do that.

@ Totopop. No such things as pacemakers in those days, but if there had been, I'm sure you would be right.

You're both right about how things have changed. When I was a kid, most houses would have a radio, but that was about it. I seem to remember there was a surge in the sale of TV sets in 1953, for the coronation of the Queen. I had a Hornby Gauge 'O' clockwork train set, but mostly we were out making our own entertainment.

OK all you brains. What was the name of the pub in I think it was St John St that had the shopping centre(not Pyramids) built all around because the landlord would not sell. Even though he was offered a motza even in those days 60's.
What about Dashleys Pork pies hot from the oven. He was in Oxton Rd.
The night club at the top of Exmouth St down on the left corner of
maybe Menai or Back Menai St. It may have been a cinema in a previous life.
Now I know why the Happy Valley Pub was named so, thanks(was my local)there was a mens shop/haberdashery across the street(what was its name-had my first job there when I was about 11. Delivering rolls of lino on an old delivery bike), This street went up into the area that was bombed during the war and stretched from Oxton Rd down to Borough Rd at the back of the pub. When I left 1970 it was full of flats and a nice shortcut through to Oxton Rd, save walking up Balls Rd east.
What about the Gasworks used to go down with my Mum and scrounge backs of coke/coal, she would have one in the pram and one on her shoulders. She was a cook later at a girls home in Oxton maybe Talbot Rd(think it is a hotel now)the girls were french and had been found in a boat in the English channel or somewhere.

Thats it I'm done for now.

Dave Miller

Is the pub called the garrick snug

It wasn't Talbot Rd 'cause that is not in Oxton. But it was a really big old house, the type you see in that area. I went there once from school and the girls about 18-19yrs old were all really mentally challenged and I rememeber that they treated me very well. Mum said they had been there since the war. This was about mid to late 50's. Thinking back now it was very sad, but they seemed happy enough at least they were fed and clothed.

Dave Miller