October 2009 Archives

I FOUND this wonderful slideshow of photos of old Liverpool while cruising You Tube. I particularly like the images that show buildings that we know so well today still in the middle of being constructed.

Enjoy...

THIS is the final piece from this week's guest blogger Old Postcards. A big thank you to her for sharing so many fascinating images with us.

Do you have a special interest in local history and would like to become a Pool of Life guest blogger, contact me at lauradavis@dailypost.co.uk

IN THIS part we will show you more samples of our current stock of Merseyside and Cheshire vintage postcards.

An example of a scene which you may not recognise - take a look at this one of Acre Lane in Heswall - this was posted in 1907.

An artist finds a good subject in Parkgate, Wirral. Date unknown. Code: zz020309lookback.

To order this or any other Photo of the Week, call 0151 472 2549, quoting the relevant picture code, or click here to buy online

THE second guestblog from Old Postcards looks at the different types that exist and how valuable they can be.

OBVIOUSLY not all postcards command the same worth. Some are worth coppers, some change hands at up to £100. Different ways of producing the cards play a big part in determining the card's worth as well as the scene they depict.

Real photo postcards, (usually black and white) based on an actual photographic process, are worth more than printed cards which tended to be more mass produced with less definition than RP cards.

VINTAGE postcards are often a good source of information on how life used to be. This week, our guest blogger Old Postcards, who sells them in her online store and who also writes a her own blog on the subject, shares her expertise...

COLLECTING vintage postcards goes by the very flash name of 'deltiology' and is second only to stamp collecting as the world's most favourite hobby. We all like taking a peek into the past... with vintage postcards you can tap into a world that has gone forever; some locations have totally changed, particularly those of streets and town centres.

HERE are the answers to yesterday's quiz. If you send in your own questions I'll include them on the blog.

1. On the gates of Calderstones Park.

2. It marks the site of St Peter's Church, Liverpool's pro-Cathedral for the Anglican Church.

3. The construction of a ventilation shaft for the Liverpool underground loop line. It was never built.

4. Walter A Thomas designed it in 1908. The building was completed in 1911.

5. Sir Oliver Lodge.

HERE'S a quick quiz to test your wits this Thursday. I'll post the answers tomorrow. Send in your own questions and I'll include them in next week's quiz.

1. Where can you find the giants Gog and Magog?

2. Why is there a cross in the pavement outside Topshop on Church Street?

3. Why was the Cavern demolished in the mid-70s?

4. Who designed the Liver Building?

5. Which Liverpool University professor, pictured, sold his radio patent to Marconi?

AS WE wait to learn whether Pope Benedict XVI will visit Liverpool during his British tour next year it seems a good time to reflect on the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982.

I was four at the time and can remember my mum telling me the Pope was coming to the end of our road. We lived on Woodlands Road, in Aigburth, at the time so I can only assume that he travelled along Aigburth Road on his journey between Speke and the cathedrals. Can anyone confirm this or set me straight?

My memories of the experience are very vague, but I know my cousins were there and that my sister was a toddler in a buggy at the time. I also remember eating three Mr Men lolly ices because it was a long wait and I think each adult bought them for us without realising we'd already had one. We were only ever allowed Lemonade Sparkles or Mini Milks so this was a special treat, which is why I think it stuck in my mind.

What are your memories of the Pope's visit?

AS LAST week's image of boating in Princes Park proved so popular, with lots of messages on the Pool of Life Twitter account, I'm sticking to the park theme with this photo taken in October 1972.

Gone fishing in Newsham Park, Liverpool - or how boys used to amuse themselves before technology saved them from a childhood of fresh air Code: zz280409lookback

To order this or any other Photo of the Week, call 0151 472 2549, quoting the relevant picture code, or click here to buy online

A QUICK thanks to Pool of Life reader Fortinian, who send in a link to a piece he wrote on the mass graves in Old Swan, in response to a blog post requesting information on behalf of final year history student Lydia Chadwick.

He's gone to the trouble of marking the sites on a number of ordnance survey and tithe maps as well as recording the responses to an (incorrect) theory that they are the graves of Irish immigrants massacred by the British government.

Further links relating to the mass graves, provided by Kev at Yo! Liverpool, are detailed in this blog post.