Click here to view the embedded video.

Sparks in the Park 2012: Video is a post from: Meols.org

*click for larger

Here’s a great old photo from the Syd Bird archives of the submerged forest at Meols. Many locals know of course that under the sand at Meols beach is a submerged forest. I don’t believe that you can see any evidence of it today, though I could be wrong.

The chap in the bowler hat add more than a touch of surrealism don’t you think? You can see other views of the submerged forest in this post in a blog about Malcolm Lowry; a New Brighton born acclaimed poet and author.

Syd comments on the photo: “The building that you can see on the land was known as Banks Cottage or sometimes Smugglers Cottage and was located at would be nowadays the seaward end of Bennets Lane, probably very close to were the Publics Toilets are.”

Friday Photo: Submerged Forest is a post from: Meols.org

*click for much larger

Many thanks to Syd Bird for sending me this rather old photograph of a Meols farm.

Syd says it’s Arch Farm which used to be located just about on the junction nowadays to Guffitts Rake from Dovepoint Road. I know this part of Meols very well but I’d never have guessed that there used to be a farm there.

What more can you tell me about Arch Farm? And there’s a bonus point for telling me how Guffitts Rake got it’s name.

Friday Photo: Arch Farm is a post from: Meols.org

*click for larger

Many thanks to Syd Bird for this rare photo of a (very old) bus departing from the stop outside the Railway Inn. Look at those external stairs up to the top deck of the bus! Doesn’t look like Birkenhead Road was too busy back then does it?

Friday Photo: Bus leaving the Railway Inn is a post from: Meols.org

*click for larger

Many thanks to Roger Stansfield for sending in the above photo of a 1960s gents Meols Bowling Club team photo.

Rogers wonders if you can name anyone? Roger says: “I know 3rd row 7th in Gordon Lacon (my grandfather) & front row 4th in Jack Stanley.”

Friday Photo: Meols Bowling Club is a post from: Meols.org

Many thanks to Graham Price for this photo of the old Meols Mens Club clubhouse.

I have a vague recollection of peering in through the open door once. The place always seemed to be very secretive when I was a young lad in Meols!

The building has gone now and has been replaced  by a bungalow while the Meols Men have a new building just yards away next to the bowling green.

Meols Mens Club is a post from: Meols.org

Many thanks to Mike Wilson for sending in this photo (click for larger) of a class at Meols Infants School circa 1920.

The teacher was Mrs. Morgan, and Mike’s father, Harry Wilson is third from the right on the back row.

Do you recognise anyone – please leave a comment below if you do.

Friday Photo: Meols infants 1920s is a post from: Meols.org

In a news item on their website, SP Transmission said: “At our information event in February we presented two possible landfall locations for the cable to come ashore on the North Wirral coast: Dove Point (Meols) and Leasowe. These options have now been considered in detail and a landfall at Leasowe has been identified as the preferred option. The attached fact sheet describes how this decision was reached.”

The fact sheet detailing the decision process is available in pdf format.

HVDC Cable: Meols not preferred landfall site is a post from: Meols.org

Temporary traffic lights are now being used on Birkenhead Road between Station Approach and Fornalls Green Lane. Expect disruption, especially at peak travel times in the morning and evenings.

Gas leak repairs to effect traffic is a post from: Meols.org

Power company National Grid are proposing the laying of a high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable from Scotland to a power station Connah’s Quay, north Wales. The HVDC cable will be under the sea until it reaches land, when it is then laid underground across Wirral. The cabling technology is new and such there is no past-usage safety history available. Full information about the proposals are available on this official website.

The location at which the HVDC cable reaches land is termed the landfall location and there are currently two preferred locations along the Wirral coastline. The location that has possibly received most publicity on regional TV and news is at the car park at Leasowe, near the lighthouse. Moreton & Leasowe Conservative Councillor Ian Lewis has outlined his concern about Leasowe being the landfall location on his blog.

The other location is at the end of Meols Parade in Meols. A suggested landfall location is at Meols slipway where the HVDC cable would run underground between the last house on Meols Parade (no. 298) and the Hoylake Coastguard building (see map – click for larger). The cable would then run under fields behind properties on Bennets Lane, where an inspection building will also be built, and then subsequently across Wirral. Local residents say that they met with and have been assured by National Grid experts that the technology is harmless and that a static, electro-magnetic field emitted by the HVDC cable is safe.

Meols residents Deana and Dave Kay who live next to the landfall location on Meols Parade believe that there are other options for the  HVDC cable route which avoid passing closely to residential properties,  They believe that without enough objection and registered concern from Meols residents the chosen landfall location for the HVDC cable will be very close to Meols as it is an easier and cheaper solution for Scottish Power than Leasowe.

If you want to register your objections or concerns about Meols being the landfall location before the public consultation ends at the end of March you can:

1. Use the official contact details page on the Western HVDC website – all forms of contact (letters, phone calls, web forms, emails are counted)
2. Complete this petition campaigning against the cable being located within 100m of residential properties
3. Contact Deanna Kay directly via email at mail@deanakay.co.uk

Please leave any potential comments or questions you might have on this feedback page as that way they can be properly answered and recorded by National Grid.

High voltage power cable could be next to Meols homes is a post from: Meols.org