Allegedly the instructions sent to Interforce security guards ( many are ex-military) on 17 March 2022.Note the comment about ‘Cuffs, Utility belt and Body Armour?’ Against long-serving employees who had done nothing wrong.Remember the miners’ strike? Well, it looks like Thatcherism all over again, doesn’t it? I usually got called for a P&O ferry assignment in Dover once or twice yearly and although well…
The morning was fine and dry with enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of pants, as the saying goes.And in front of St George’s Hall, the pipe band of the Liverpool Scottish were playing Green Hills of Tyrol – that lament of a Scottish soldier in the Crimean War. Anyway, it was a full hour ahead of the firing of the…
A Jimmy Cagney lookalike in baseball cap and plaid shirt, the Mississippi river pilot was quite opinionated of American society: “too many Jews and African-Americans in government” he proclaimed as the ship swung ten degrees port up river to New Orleans.I thought: oh! dear, is this the type of prejudiced society I half-expected it to be? By the way, for those fortunate…
Today saw the dedication of memorial garden and sculpture at St Nick’s church. Launched in 1975, on 9 September 1980, Derbyshire was overwhelmed by a tropical storm killing all aboard. Derbyshire never issued a Mayday distress message. The wreck of the Derbyshire was discovered in 1994. Find out more from here. You can see the full unveiling ceremony filmed by…
Around the time when the United Kingdom had almost full-employment and a social contract to govern prices and wage restraint, we also had a thriving Merchant Navy. For this was in 1974 when not only were there over 1600 red-ensigned vessels compared to less than 300 today. That notwithstanding, the slump in vessels was already declining in that year owing to the oil-price…
A very hot bank holiday in Liverpool was also marked by the annual memorial of the sinking of the Lusitania, 103 years ago today. I went along to attend the service and took a few photographs which you can see below. The area around the propeller will be opened up in the new future to make the memorial more accessible…
Most visitors to the Liverpool One Shopping area will no doubt have come across an odd but striking feature. At the southern end of Paradise Street stands an elaborate structure made of wrought iron and vividly painted in green and gold. As many by now know, these are in fact the original gates to what was once a grand and…
Pat and Norman take a tour of the Liverpool South Dock area, including the Cast Iron Shore and Herculaneum Dock. Herculaneum Dock was part of the Port of Liverpool in Liverpool, England. It was situated at the southern end of the Liverpool dock system, on the River Mersey. To the north it was connected to Harrington Dock. The dock was…