Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Hooton Park

There are tours of the hangers advertised in the heritage stuff posted elsewhere. Welcome to the machine iknow.

Hooton Park will be open on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September 2010 as part of the Wirral History and Heritage Association open days (nothing to do with English Heritage).

Conducted tours will be held at 11am, 1pm and 3pm on each day, booking is not required.

For full details of this and other places open as part of the Wirral Heritage Open Days between the 9th and 12th September 2010, click here.

Has anybody had a look at Hooton Park's web site? It's appalling!

I don't think it's been updated in years, it has no information on the forthcoming guided tours and considering the site's historic importance, the information it contains is sketchy and in some parts, inaccurate.

Heritage Lottery Fund, Ellesmere Port council and English Heritage subsidise this project and we all (us tax payers) contribute toward those funds. Hooton Park has an obligation to provide access to the buildings and to the heritage they represent. It seems to me that nobody at the Trust cares about sharing the asset, they seem only to be interested in protecting it for the small group of aviation and transport enthusiasts who use the buildings for their hobby.

Somebody needs to look into how Hooton Park is funded and how that funding is used to benefit the wider community.

Thank you for the information its about time that some one has some correct info. I was told that because of limited access that it would be pre booked tours only, I suggest that any body putting information about Hooton Park (Trust)on this site should book early.

I agree with you hangar saver about hoooton park trust board somebody important needs to ask them the following
the real reason why 610 squadron association were asked to leave hooton
why is the board allowing their aviation enthuiast friends on the site on the cheap
why does the board know have majority of members who belong to griffin trust
why do they go on about health and safety and break the rules themselves just look at them working on their latest project
Why do they offer secure storage and then allow all types to wander through and photograph the place
just a few questions that i believe Hooton Park Trust board should be made to answer

In reply to QUEST4TRUTH ...

I know there were some very difficult "conflict of interests" between the hanger people and the aircraft people, also there was some disagreement about Hooton gradually turning into a transport museum/workshop.

I think the board is happy to get any cash in at the moment, things are looking quite bleak.

Although I have "wandered through" on two occasions, we were not allowed in the secure storage, also there were other places we weren't allowed to photograph - just because it is secure it doesn't mean it can't have supervised visits, think of any museum!

610 Sqdn Association are back at Hooton (or about to be).

If you are that concerned, volunteer, help them out! its much more productive.

BTW - I have nothing to do with Hooton Trust, Griffin Trust, 610 Sqdn Assoc or Vauxhalls. As far as I am aware I have no connection with the place other than a twice visitor.

The trust is a registered charity and as such, their minutes and finances are in the public domain, if you wish to find out some of your answers.

The Hooton Park Trust is NOT a charity - it is a not-for-profit company (limited by guarantee) - big difference.

If it was a charity, it would be required to have stated aims that comply with The Charity Commission rules. As a not-for-profit company, they can do whatever they like with Hooton Park, so long as no individual benefits directly from any income they manage to generate.

The Trust enjoys exemption from business rates, even though it operates a commercial storage activity at the site. This not only gives them an unfair advantage over similar storage facilities in the area but it affords the Trust the ability to continue operating the site for a select group of hobbyists who pay no subscription or rent for their facilities. HMRC, Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage and others, are using tax payers money to subsidise and repair workshop facilities for a few aviation and transport enthusiasts who are not answerable to anybody except to the Hooton Park Trust board of directors (the Company).

Vauxhall Motors gave the site to HPT on the understanding that it would be used to benefit the local and regional community - in reality, the site has become a playground and haven for a small band of enthusiasts who play at politics and tinker around with old lorries and bits of rusty aero planes, whilst excluding the very community they were set-up to benefit. Somebody needs to expose this obscene use of a valuable heritage asset before it's left to rot still further around those people who purport to be engaged in saving it.

Apologies - you are quite correct, despite various reports, The Hooton Trust is not a registered charity.

They received a grant of £34,000 from The Heritage Lottery Fund.

English Heritage (whose official name is The Historic Buildings And Monuments Commission) don't seem to display records of grants and loans - which is very naughty.

The Griffin Trust is a registered charity but don't seem to have much money at the moment.

As I have said before, I and others have been made most welcome when we have just turned up at Hooton. The secure storage is virtually their only source of income apart from relying on grants etc that are notoriously difficult to obtain and certainly can't be called dependable income.

[quote=diggingdeeper]
As I have said before, I and others have been made most welcome when we have just turned up at Hooton.

we certinally were, and were asked if we would like a tour round the place to which we said yes..

Open day on sat/sun 11th/12th sept with tours at 11am 1pm 3pm, no booking required.

In reply 610 squadron association are not back at hooton hangars they were taken in by someone connected to the black hangar down the road GOOD LUCK TO 610 IN THEIR NEW PLACE.

Recently I paid a visit to Hooton Park and was upset that the place was not what it used to be having visted the site on previously held open days the place was a hive of activity. I asked the tour guide what the aim of the restoring the buildings was he said that the long term aim of the trust was to provide Conference and Seminar facilities inside the hangars and also put one hangar for aviation heritage not to become a storage facility. At no point did he mention how the local community was to benefit from these wonderful but sadly neglected buildings. I also got chatting to another volunteer who worked in the office he said he was the manager he also said that the aviation groups on site were always to be made welcome and they had been given a couple of buildings for their useage.

One of the transport groups on site I saw during my visit I was informed do pay an full annual storage fee on a yearly basis for each person that is in the group.

I was not allowed to look in the Griffin Trust area.

As a person who a few years back stored their caravan at Hooton. My husband and I were told by the that no visitors were allowed in any of the storage areas nor was any photography allowed near the caravans or other storage vehicles as this comprimised site security.

The present board should be ashamed of themselves for allowing the site to go the way it has and all should resign and allowed new people in with fresh ideas to take over running the place.

There seems to be some confusion as to what Hooton Park should be and how the Trust was designed to operate. It's all very well welcoming the odd visitor to Hooton Park (as the Trust does) but what are they welcoming you to? The answer is simple, they are welcoming you to a collection of semi-derelict buildings which have been divided up between a disparate collection of hobbyist groups and to a caravan storage facility that provides funds for the accommodation for those groups.

The original concept for a secure storage facility was to fund (from the income) capable individuals who would apply for grants and devise a long-term strategy for the renovation of the hangars. Over the last eight years, Hooton Park has been in receipt of over £200,000 of public money (matched by Vauxhall Motors pound for pound) and approximately £400,000 it has raised itself from secure storage. Vauxhall Motors funded the Trust to the tune of £800,000 in their original transfer agreement in 2000 to help the Trust establish itself.

The Trust are well on their way to have spent over 1 million pounds in it's short history and what benefit has that money had on the buildings? Very little!

If you allow enthusiasts to take charge of a very complicated and cash-hungry project such as this one, the results are predictable and the outcome is certain - The Hooton Park Trust will fail to save the buildings and they will be demolished.

Some posters on this thread seem to be defending Hooton Park simply because they, "welcome visitors". Well that's all fine and dandy but one day - and one day soon - there'll be no Hooton Park to welcome visitors to and the collection of enthusiast groups who currently occupy the place will be leaching off some other land owners and practicing their politics under other subsidised roofs.

Hangar Saver you seem well informed on Hooton Park Trust History.

I have to agree that sadly unless something is done very soon to save these historic buildings they will be lost forever.

Some of the onsite enthusiast groups/people are more interested in serving there own purposes and if the buildings collapsed then they would just simply move elsewhere without a backward glance.

But do not condemn all the groups at Hooton as there are non aviation people at Hooton who want to be there without the need to take part in griffin/hooton/aviation/610 mischief making, or are there because they have nowhere else to go. Sadly it is these people who do not receive thanks from the powers that be at Hooton for their contined support because the powers that be are to busy with their own agenda and seeing anyone outside their group as not to be trusted or someone to look down on.

I am not defending the Hooton Trust outright, for the hangar to collapse whilst it was in their care is damn near a crime and another one may still well collapse.

Most of my defensive comments have been in response to mis-leading comments such as "whilst excluding the very community they were set-up to benefit"

If you want to bring the hangar projects back to reality then people have to be fully aware of the truth (say's me who misled on the 610 Sqn return ).

£400,000 income from secure storage is very impressive.

A lot of money was spent on the smaller buildings, presumably as an investment for "tourism", which is one of a number of reasonable strategies to make.

One concern I still have is that it would be in Vauxhall's interests on at least two counts, if the hangar project/Hooton Trust failed.

Why did the transport show stop happening there? I guess that got messed up in the political fallout.

"Whilst excluding the very community they were set-up to benefit", is actually a very reasonable summing up of Hooton Park's attitude to the outside world.

The Trust see themselves these days as overseeing the involvement of small enthusiast groups at the site and have missed the opportunity to share the asset with a wider audience. Income derived from caravan storage is hijacked currently because it's intended use (employing capable bid writers) becomes secondary to indulging aviation and transport hobbyists with covered accommodation for their "projects".

It is a red-herring to suggest that Vauxhall Motors want to see Hooton Park fail. They gave the Trust £800,000 of cash support in their transfer agreement and handed over a site worth i.r.o £3,000,000. Smart business doesn't do things like that in order to see failure at the end of the day, they do it to invest in something that will deliver returns. The return would have been a successful tourist attraction that reflected well on a company who's commitment to Ellesmere Port has always been consistent and who's generosity toward the local community is very well documented.

It is a sad day for us (local people) when misguided politics at such a trivial level (as practiced currently at Hooton Park), becomes the vehicle of destruction for one of our most impressive and important regional relics. The history of aviation and wartime endeavor at Hooton Park was used as a battering ram against Vauxhall's attempts to demolish the site in 1999, another one is needed now but aimed directly at The Hooton Park Trust, The Griffin Trust and affiliated, indulged hobbyists.

I have read with continued interest the mention of enthusiasts that use Hooton Hangars to serve their own hobby.

Yes there are as its been put "indulged hobbyists" at Hooton Park who use the site for their own aviation interests, but these groups are all connected to the Hooton Park Trust Board either by sitting on the board or by on good terms with the board. These are given priority over others on site, who do have a hobby but do not indulge in the continued politcal and mischief making that goes on at Hooton Park. Do not condemn everyone at Hooton Park that has a hobby as they are all not indulged hobbyists. The present board consists of members of these indulged hobbyist groups no one person is on that board is there to serve the good of the site. The present board needs to do the honurable thing resign and pass control of Hooton Park Trust to people who can inject fresh ideas in to the project. In the past the project has had some excellent volunteers that have worked hard to keep the site going over time all these have gone or it may sound dramatic but have been cast aside because their face does not fit.

I have not read in recent month (except for Cheshire Life) one person from Hooton Park Trust Board come forward and say this is the volunteer work that goes on at Hooton Park without the need to include a pat on the back for themselves or include promotion for their own groups (no need to mention any names here)

The history of Hooton Park goes further than aviation and wartime if anyone did their reasearch they would find this out.