Spring has sprung!

It can be difficult to keep the kids entertained during the school holidays, so why not bring them along to one of our half term workshops? At just £1.50 per child it won’t break the bank.

As Spring breaks out across our lovely garden village we’re celebrating with some crafts, games and stories.  Join us and make your own recycled plant pots, then plant sunflowers to enjoy in the months to come!  Try some traditional springtime games and enjoy stories from the wild greenwood with our tale teller.

Date: Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd February 2017; drop in any time between 10.30am and 3pm, allow about an hour for the activities.
Venue: The Old School Room at the Lyceum
Tickets: £1.50 per child

Port Sunlight lands a national award

Historic England recognises the efforts of local people to save their heritage

Media release
Date of Issue: 10th November 2016
RE: Historic England’s Angels awards 2016

Partnership working between Wirral Council’s Conservation Team and the Port Sunlight Village Trust has landed a national Heritage award.

Late last year, Port Sunlight became only the second area in the country to introduce a Local Listed Building Consent Order (LLBCO), which gives residents ‘blanket’ consent to make certain alterations to the rear of their properties in that Conservation Area.

The work carried out to achieve this order resulted in the council and the village trust being put forward for an Historic England Angels award and this week at a ceremony at London’s Palace Theatre they won Best Research Project and were presented with their prize by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The awards celebrate and reward the efforts of local people in saving their heritage and are co-funded by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. There were five categories of award – best community action project, best contribution to a heritage project by young people, best research project, best rescue of a heritage site and outstanding contribution to heritage.

Wirral Council’s Planning Committee voted unanimously to adopt the Port Sunlight LLBCO last year and it became only the second large-scale initiative of its kind nationwide, following in the footsteps of the Little Germany area of Bradford.

Cllr Jerry Williams, who is Wirral’s Heritage Pledge Champion, said: “I’d like to congratulate the team behind the combined efforts to introduce this really valuable initiative. The award is well-deserved and shows how much the council values not just the area’s built heritage but also the contribution that residents make to helping to maintain it.”

Paul Harris, Chief Executive […]

Village resident is the recipient of grant funding

Claire Bates of Landbaby & Co receives support through the Wirral Visitor Economy Network

Media release
Date of Issue: 10th November 2016

Support for Wirral’s visitor economy has been paying dividends with a number of new tourism events taking place – and more to come in 2017. Grant funding to the Wirral Visitor Economy Network has already supported events such as the Dinosaur Exhibition at Birkenhead Priory in October and the ‘Sponsor a Light’ Christmas curtain-raiser at Carr Farm Garden Centre.

It is also helping to fund two more events in November – the Fabulous Frost Fair at Pacific Road Business Hub from 18-20th November 2016, and ‘Make Do and Merry’ at the Old School Room at The Lyceum in Port Sunlight on 26th November 2016. Created by Port Sunlight resident, Claire Bates of Landbaby and Co, the fair showcases the best in unique, contemporary, handmade crafts, and is the perfect antidote to the chaos of the high street.

The grants are part of the Wirral Visitor Economy Network’s vision to increase the value of Wirral’s visitor economy to £550 million by 2025. It is currently estimated at around £385 million.

Working closely with Wirral Council, the network now has more than 100 members drawn from the food and drink, accommodation, golf, history and heritage and attraction sectors.

The last round of applications for grants to stage new events or help expand existing ones closed at the end of September. The successful bids had to show evidence that their planned event was likely to attract in excess of 500 visitors. In total, 10 applications were successful.

Lorna Tyson, Chair of the Wirral Visitor Economy Network, said: “We share the council’s ambition to grow the […]

Remembrance Sunday

The following events will be taking place in Port Sunlight to mark Remembrance Sunday.

Friday 11th November

• 10.50am – A short Remembrance Day service and two minutes silence at the Port Sunlight War Memorial, led by Reverend Ian Smith.

Sunday 13th November – Remembrance Sunday

• 10.25am – Parade will form outside the Lyceum on Bath Street, Port Sunlight, led by the Lyceum Brass Band. It will make its way to the Port Sunlight War Memorial for 10.45am.
• 10.45-10.58am – Wreath laying and prayers led by Reverend Ian Smith, followed by two minutes silence at 11am.
• 11.15am – 12.15pm – Remembrance Day service will be held at Christ Church, Port Sunlight. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Poppies are on sale in the museum gift shop, including poppies knitted by the Sunlight Stitchers.

Bridge Cottage Garden

Our Learning Officer, Clarinda, was joined in July by a group of local young people who were taking part in the National Citizen Service (NCS). This is a chance for young people, aged 15–17, to be involved in a programme which provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young people to ‘build skills for work and life whilst taking on new challenges and meeting new friends’.

The young people chose Bridge Cottage Garden as the project they most wanted to be involved with from a range of projects pitched to them by lots of organisations. With support from our landscape team, the young people tidied the garden and put down new tree bark and topsoil.

They visited Port Sunlight Garden Centre with Clarinda to choose plants for the garden, and together they planted up the refreshed flowerbeds. They couldn’t wait to get started on the painting, and the garden shed, bin-store and seating now look lovely! We’d like to extend our thanks to Enritec for their donation which made it possible to complete the project.

Port Sunlight River Park News

Autism Together
We are delighted that Autism Together won the Wirral Third Sector Business Award Green enterprise category for our work at Port Sunlight River Park. The award ceremony was held at Leverhulme Hotel and Spa here in Port Sunlight Village. We also won the Land Trust award for Ranger of the Year.

The park is managed by Autism Together and teams of clients and their support staff are active in the park each weekday. The birds are fed, grass mown or strimmed, weeds cleared and litter picked by our teams. In addition our volunteer groups on Wednesday and Saturday continue with the maintenance tasks. A team from Liverpool University worked here in July as well. We are always looking for new volunteers, so please get in touch if you are interested.

Tuesday health walk
The Tuesday health walk at 10.30am will continue all year round but the Wednesday walk at 5.30pm will finish for the winter on 26th October. All are welcome on these easy, friendly walks.

Monthly 5km runs
The River Park is very popular with runners of all abilities. We are looking into running a series of monthly 5k runs commencing 16th October. To register, please check out our Facebook page.

Bat survey
Over the summer we have surveyed the bats using the River Park and found at least four species present: noctule, Daubenton, soprano and common pipistrelle. These bats are flying in as there are no suitable roosts here so our October half term activity on Wednesday 26th October from 1-3pm is to build bat boxes. This is suitable for accompanied children aged 8 and over.

Winter event
On Saturday 3rd December the […]

Annual Garden Competition – winners and runners-up announced

Congratulations to the winners and runners-up of this year’s annual Port Sunlight Garden Competition who were announced at ‘Blow Your Own Trumpet’, a dedicated resident event, on Thursday 18th August at the Lyceum.

BEST HANGING BASKET
Winner: Glen Penn
Runner-up: David Lane

BEST TUB, WINDOW BOX OR CONTAINER
Winner: Steve and Mark Wilkinson
Runner-up: Linda Tipping

BEST FRONT BORDER
Winner: Harry Koffman
Runner-up: June Doyle in honour of Daisy the dog

BEST KEPT ALLOTMENT
Winner: Dave Beacall
Runner-up: Barbara and Margaret

BEST OVERALL FRONT GARDEN OR DISPLAY
Winner: Linda Tipping
Runner-up: June Doyle in honour of Daisy the dog

A new category was introduced for 2016 ‘Best Community Garden’ which was won by Joan Neary and Fred Harper of Lancaster Close, and the runners-up were the tenants of Hesketh Hall.

The Trust would like to thank all of the residents who took part in this year’s garden competition. The judges commented that the standard of entries was very high and that they are already looking forward to next year’s judging in July 2017. We would also like to thank Port Sunlight Garden Centre who kindly sponsored the gift vouchers which were presented to all winners and runners up.

Calling all prospective bell ringers!

Have you ever wondered what bell ringing entails? Why not pop along to one of our practice nights. We meet at Christ Church, every Wednesdays, 7.30-9pm. You can see what we do here at Christ Church URC. Anyone wishing to give bell ringing a go is very welcome.

For further details contact Sue Frowe at [email protected]

Why should I join Neighbourhood Watch?

Statistics show that belonging to Neighbourhood Watch scheme significantly reduces the possibility of becoming a victim of crime. Empowering and encouraging people to be prompt in reporting suspicious activity will help reduce vulnerability, decrease the opportunities for crime and demonstrate to potential criminals that they are in a security conscious area.

Neighbourhood Watch schemes bring community spirit back into neighbourhoods by creating and maintaining a caring community. It gives people the opportunity to get to know and help each other and helps provide a strong voice when action is necessary to solve a local problem.

Merseyside’s Neighbourhood Watch has four main objectives:

• Cut opportunities for crime and anti-social behaviour by improving security, increasing vigilance and increasing crime prevention awareness
• To help detect crime by promoting prompt reporting of suspicious and criminal activity and encourage effective communication.
• Provide reassurance to local residents and reduce the fear of crime by empowering and encouraging communities to take ownership of local issues
• Encourage neighbourliness and closer communities by helping to establish Community Spirit and improve police/community liaison

If you are interested in getting involved please email [email protected], telephone: 0151 777 4182 or via post at: Citizens in Policing, Canning Place, Liverpool, L1 8JX

Make Do and Merry

Saturday 26th November

It’s that time of year again when the high street becomes busy with shoppers trying to find that special gift for a loved one. Well, if the hustle and bustle isn’t your thing and you prefer a much more relaxed and enjoyable shopping experience then visit this year’s Make Do and Merry event.

Meet the makers face-to-face and buy direct from them at our sought-after, contemporary handmade fair. The fairs, created by local resident, Claire Bates, of Landbaby and Co, have gained a reputation for high quality.  Many of the exhibitors are handpicked to exhibit here and travel from all over the north west.

Silversmith, Heather Fox, who works from her studio/shop in the Manchester Craft and Design Centre, will be joining us with her unique personalised jewellery.  She’ll be joined by local paper artist, Carol Ramsey, who creates intricate paper sculptures from old books and maps.  Just a couple of the exciting and unique artists that will be selling their work at Make Do and Merry.

This Christmas is set to be Landbaby and Co’s biggest event yet and will be supported by Port Sunlight Trust. There will be craft workshops for children and adults, and we’ll have the extension of our third venue, the Church Hall, open to the public and packed full of exhibitors. Santa will be opening the event at 11am, before returning to his grotto at Port Sunlight Garden Centre.

Make Do and Merry is the recipient of grant funding as part of the Wirral Visitor Economy Network’s vision to increase the value of Wirral’s visitor economy to £550 million by 2025. There is more on the […]