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SPORT
KEN PYE is managing director of Discover Liverpool. His latest
book, Liverpool Murders and Misdemeanours,
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features some of the city’s grimmest and most unusual crimes and their perpetrators. It is available in all good bookshops or from Ken directly – as are all of his books, DVDs, and audio CDs.
Tel. 0151 427 2717 email – ken@discoverliverpool.com www.discover-liverpool.com
ON THE ROCKS: SS Politician
RENOWNED: Writer Sir Compton Mackenzie REMEMBER the classic Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!, the true tale of Scottish islanders relieving a wrecked ship of its alcoholic cargo? Well, did you also know that the story really began in Liverpool?
Wartime spirit of the dram busters
OVERLOOKING the churchyard of Our Lady and St Nicholas Church in Liverpool city centre, stands the grand office building named Mersey Chambers.
This is renowned for the white Liver Bird that stands on its pediment, and for once being the headquarters of the Harrison Shipping Line.
Perhaps the most famous vessel in the company’s fleet was SS Politician. This was an 8,000-ton cargo ship, which sailed from Liverpool on February 3, 1941, at the height of the Second World War.
She was bound for Kingston, Jamaica, and New Orleans, and was carrying a cargo that included 28,000 cases of malt whisky.
However, two days later, the large cargo vessel encountered gale force winds off the coast of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Unable to maintain control, the ship was driven on to the rocks and shoals of the Island of Eriskay, where she ran aground.
The Politician was at risk of sinking and so her crew abandoned her, but they all managed to make it safely to the island unharmed, where they were looked after by the local community. Despite the storm, which soon abated, the Politician did not sink and, when the locals discovered what was on board, they hatched a plan.
Their own supplies of whisky had all been used up due to wartime rationing, so they were determined to recover as many cases of spirits as they could, before these were swallowed up by the waves rather than by them.
It was obvious to the islanders that Customs and Excise officials would soon arrive to attempt to remove the ship’s valuable and tempting cargo, so the men organised a series of rapid, completely illegal, night-time raids on the stranded vessel.
Word of the alcoholic treasure trove had spread very quickly by this time, to the other Hebridean islands, and soon boats were coming from as far away as Lewis to join in the unofficial salvage operation.
The highly-motivated Scotsmen executed their mission with superb organisation and stealthy efficiency. In all, they relieved the Politician of something like 24,000 bottles of whisky before the Customs Officers eventually arrived.
Nevertheless, the resident customs officer on Eriskay, Charles McColl, was enraged by what the local people had done and he pressured somewhat reluctant island police officers into searching for the stolen whisky. Communities were raided and cottages and crofts ransacked in the searches, but almost none of the bottles were found.
The ingenuity of the islanders meant that the whisky had been skilfully hidden or disguised, or simply quickly drunk rather than lose it to the authorities.
Soon, official attempts were indeed carried out to salvage the Politician’s cargo, but these were not at all successful. Before long, permission was given for the ship, and its remaining contents, to be blown up.
To the great dismay of the islanders, what they regarded as a wanton act of criminal insanity was carried out by the Royal Navy, and the Hebridean people grieved long and bitterly over the waste of such a vast quantity of “liquid gold” .
In 1947, the renowned author, Sir Compton MacKenzie, published an entertaining novel based on this incident, entitled Whisky Galore!, followed in 1949 by the film.
Aremake, starring Eddie Izzard, came out in 2016.
SCOTCHED: Boozy shipment dispatched from Liverpool’s Harrison Line HQ
On your marks for something special
SPECIAL Olympics GB is set to return to full-scale competition this summer with the biggest celebration of intellectual disability sport in Great Britain.
More than 1,500 athletes will be lining up in the new Special Olympics GB Summer Series of Sport.
Running between June and September, it will be the first event many of the athletes will have competed in since February 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Paul Richardson, chair of Special Olympics GB, said: “It will be a celebration like no other!
“When the National Summer Games, which were due to be held in Liverpool, were cancelled, we made a commitment to our athletes and volunteers that we would look to offer an alternative and here it is, and I cannot wait to see our athletes back competing on the field of play – exactly where they should be!”
n Event dates and venues will be released shortly.
LEVELLING UP: Blindfolds for all on the goalball court
Asimple ‘hello’workswonders
MAKING sports centres more accessible to visually impaired people can be as simple as just saying “hello” .
That’s the message of a new toolkit aimed at helping sports and leisure facilities become more welcoming spaces for people with sight issues.
Giving people the confidence to take part is key and Kelly Rodrigues from UK Coaching said: “Small adjustments can make a huge difference for people to become more active.
“These are as simple as a member of staff approaching a visually impaired person and introducing themselves. ”
The toolkit has been created by blind charity Thomas Pocklington Trust, together with UK Coaching.
The Trust’s Martin Symcox said: “Knowing that a leisure or sport provider understands their needs, helps increase confidence and makes visually impaired people more likely to choose that place to do exercise. ”
Lucy Barrett, assistant manager at Energise Leisure Centre, said: “Often people are unsure about what to say and nervous about saying the wrong thing.
“This training gives staff confidence in communicating with visually impaired people and provides tips on how to create an accessible environment. ”
Martin added: “The changes to the environment and procedures are often simple and inexpensive to implement. ” n www.ukcoaching.org/supporting-people-
with-a-visual-impairment
Tennis star Shuker smashes it
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WHEELCHAIR tennis star Lucy Shuker claimed three titles in 10 days in back-to-back tournaments at the Bolton Indoor Tournament –equalling her career-best world ranking.
With the Lancashire venue hosting the LTA’s first two wheelchair tennis world ranking events of the year for the first time, Shuker won seven singles matches across the ITF 3 and ITF 2 events, claiming her first singles titles in seven attempts at the annual tournament.
Having beaten USAsecond seed Dana Mathewson 64-60 to win the ITF 3 title, adding the women’s doubles title partnering the American, Shuker and Mathewson again reached the women’s singles final at the ITF 2 tournament before Mathewson had to withdraw due to injury.
Shuker, whose performance moved her to No.5 in the world rankings, was one of three Brits to achieve success across the two tournaments.
Two-time Bolton Indoor championAndy Lapthorne booked his place in the ITF 2 quad singles final before finishing runner-up toAmerican second seed David Wagner, the player Lapthorne partnered to win lthe Australian Open quad doubles title.
There was further success for 15-time
Grand Slam champion Lapthorne and 19-year-old Greg Slade in the ITF 2 quad doubles final after the Brits battled back to beat the far more experienced partnership of Bryan Barten and Wagner 26 75 [10-6], thereby ending the American duo’s hopes of leaving Bolton with successive doubles titles. The victory gave Slade the first ITF 2 title of his career. While Shuker and Wagner completed the ITF 3 and ITF 2 tournaments with successive women’s and quad singles titles, Ruben Spaargaren, of the Netherlands, sealed the men’s singles titles at both tournaments, having started the ITF 3 tournament as top seed, but upstaging higher ranked opponents to win the ITF 2 title TRIPLE CROWN: Lucy at the Bolton Indoor tournament having started his challenge as seventh seed. n To find out more about getting
involved with disability tennis, head to www.lta.org.uk/play or email disabilitytennis@lta.org.uk
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