Issue 108 – July 2015
IT’S OUR NINTH BIRTHDAY! Well, as the old saying goes: “doesn’t time fly”! It really does seem incredible to think that our first edition was published nine years ago this month. What started off as a “bright idea” when Dawn and I were working together at the Liverpool Echo came to fruition in July 2006 and we started by distributing 8,000 copies of the West Derby Link throughout West Derby & Croxteth Park. We’ve since gone from strength to strength and following the launch of the South Liverpool Link in August 2007, the Liverpool LINK now has a total monthly distribution of 41,000. If someone had told us that nine years ago we’d have said it was way beyond our wildest dreams and expectations! As it is, we have firmly established ourselves as a favourite independent local advertising publication. We remain a totally independent business and are the first to recognise that the success of The Link is entirely down to you –
our readers and our advertisers. So we say a very big thank you to you all for your constant support and loyalty over the last nine years and for the trust and confidence you have placed in us. We also thank you, our readers, for the way in which you have supported our advertisers. The old adage that if you stand still in business then you end up going backwards is especially true these days and as many of you are aware, we have made some exciting changes to the LINK over the past nine years. So in thanking all our readers and advertisers we’d again like to pass on our sincere thanks to: All our regular contributors who have helped us so much over the years with their great articles: Stephen Guy (whose wonderful local history articles continue to inform and entertain - we don’t know how he keeps coming up with such great articles!); Anton Valdemart for his Strange
Tales; Jim Stanway (South Liverpool FC); Peter Harrison (Alder FC); Mick Titherington (Stoneycroft FC); Paul Coshott (Fighting Fit); Bill Chambers (Liverpool Sefton Hockey Club); Kevin Edgar (AFC Cronus); Ian Wignell (Fulwood Arms FC); Jade Ainsworth (Life ‘n’ Style); Nic Perrins (Mersey Gig Guide); all the other readers who kindly send in articles and, of course, Peter (Moira’s husband) who does all our competitions/quizzes and so on and who writes and checks many of our articles for us. Our designers and printers. Tony and Alan and the team; our distributors. Joe and Irene; for your continued assistance and moral support and for coming up with the great name THE LINK. So here’s to the next nine years!
By Stephen Guy,
West Derby Society
LARGE numbers of people were once employed in horse-related jobs when millions of the animals played vital roles in everyday life. People rode horses to get about when Britain’s highways were little more than tracks and bridle paths. Large teams of horses hauled huge wagBest wishes and many thanks to you all, Moira, Dawn and Carol gons but it was very slow work. Most goods were carried by ship and on the backs of pack horses. Wealthy people owned fine thoroughbred race horses for sport and prize money. The stakes could be high and several fortunes were lost. Carriages became common in the 18th century and many types were created for different uses. The royal family has one of the GYMOPHOBICS, £20 world’s finest collections of working carOFF MEMBERSHIP. riages which can be seen at Buckingham Palace’s Royal Mews. MEAL FOR 2 VALUE Members of the aristocracy would clatter £50, CAVEAU through streets heralded by boys running RESTAURANT FRANCAIS. with flaming torches and flanked by carriage dogs such as Dalmatians. It was a spectacu £60 HAIR SALON lar sight. VOUCHER, HAIRFIELDS. Many farriers were employed in the West Derby area. Landowners such as the Earl of MEAL FOR 2 VALUE Sefton at Croxteth Hall had many horses. £50, LEFTERIS GREEK Most worked on the land until the arrival of TAVERNA. tractors about a century ago. The Molyneux family loved horse racing – MEAL FOR 2 VALUE the last Earl, Hugh who died in 1972, had a £50, eastZeast. purpose-built swimming pool to build up his race horses’ strength. Some horses were £50 FOOD & DRINK shoed at a blacksmith’s in Stonebridge Lane VOUCHER, MURPHY’S which operated until about 40 years ago. TOWN HALL TAVERN. Continued on page 8
Great prizes up for grabs! – see centre pages CHAMPAGNE, GREGORY ABRAMS DAVIDSON LLP. MEAL FOR 2 VALUE £50, GULSHAN INDIAN RESTAURANT. RUG WORTH £100, WOOLTON CARPET CENTRE. GOLF, A ROUND OF GOLF FOR 4, LEE PARK GOLF CLUB. COMPUTER LESSON, COMPUTER TUTOR £50 FACIAL, JUST BEAUTY.
If the shoe fits ...