Recently in Wirral events Category

THEY should think about adding it to the job description.

"Mayor of Wirral wanted. Must have joke book bulging with cheap gags that will keep audiences groaning for a whole year".

Conservative Councillor Andrew Hodson carried out 568 engagements and raised an impressive £84,000 for charity during his year as Mayor but I'll remember him as much for the jokes which left me shaking my head and reaching for my pen and notepad.

And he didn't disappoint on his last night in the spotlight at Wallasey Town Hall.

Making his final speech, Cllr Hodson said many people had asked him how he felt about handing over the chains of office to Lib Dem Cllr Alan Jennings.

It was, he said, a time of mixed emotions, "something like watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your brand new car".

Groan.

Fortunately for me, our new Mayor looks to be cut from the same comedy (if not political) cloth.

Dressed in his shiny new robes and the Mayoral chain, Cllr Jennings said it was an honour to become Mayor and he was humbled to be chosen for the role.

Then I started to suspect we had another comedian on the stage.

"When you become Mayor", he said, "Fellow councillors say nice things about you and you don't have to be dead."

A statement of fact. Can't argue with that.

He said it had been difficult to adjust to having car doors opened for him while Deputy Mayor, and at one point his driver had jokingly threatened to put the child lock on.

Then he started to tell a story about driving through Saughall Massie and seeing a man standing in a field.

On the way back he was still there, so Cllr Jennings decided to stop the car and see what the problem was.

"This is serious stuff", I thought. "Maybe he saved a man's life while being driven back from an engagement?".

I started to think of the headlines. It was definitely a front page story.

Then the punchline came.

"He said 'don't you know Nobel prizes are only awarded to people out standing in their field?"

Groan. Enjoy your year Cllr Jennings.

The Egg Run takes place this Sunday, March 28, starting in New Brighton.

The charity event raises lots for local children's charities and has become a key fixture on Wirral's calendar.

Below is the council press release with details of road closures and the route the bikes - hopefully thousands upon thousands of them - will take.

I LIKE a story with a happy ending.

In March 2008 I wrote about the sad state of Wirral's tribute to the world's first powered submarine, Resurgam.

EVER heard of Bromborough Hill? No, me neither.

But the Forestry Commission believes that's what we'll all soon be calling the old tip off Dock Road South.

I attended a presentation today on Wirral Council's plans for the coastline stretching from Rock Ferry to Eastham - more on that in another blog post - and among the speakers was Chris Waterfield, Newlands Programme Manager for the Forestry Commission.

Jokes about names aside, he said he's expecting a decision on Monday from the North West Development Agency (NWDA) on whether they will be funding a long-awaited £2.3m project to landscape the site and turn it into a park.

"Unofficially", said Mr Waterfield, the funding has been approved and all it needs now is the signature of a senior figure at the NWDA, who is on holiday until Monday.

Once the trees, grass and benches are in place, there are also plans for an "iconic sculpture" at the park's highest point, which people would be able to climb to take in the views across the waterfront.

Mr Waterfield said it was a long way off: "We have to look into the technicalities of putting a structure on top of a landfill site, so I can't say whether it will..but it should form part of the final project."

The trouble with "iconic sculptures" is that they always make me think of the row another one caused a few years ago elsewhere in the borough.

New Brighton clown, anyone?

POLICE have seized £300,000 worth of drugs during a week-long campaign against crime and drugs in Wirral.

See the press release, below:

As part of this years 'Not in My Neighbourhood Week' Merseyside Police and it's partner agencies in Wirral conducted an operation targeting those people committing crimes such as burglary, theft, and those responsible for drug dealing.

The information received from the community enabled criminals to be targeted effectively this is a great example, the level of information received from the community was a great example of how residents now want to take a stand and say 'Not in My Neighbourhood!.'

FORGET the glitz and glamour of the Oscars.

Here in Wirral we have our very own ceremony celebrating the achivements of the borough's finest.

It's called the Wirral Tourism Awards and it took place last night at Thornton Hall Hotel.

FRIDAY'S near-miss between the Royal Daffodil ferry and gas tanker will have sent a shiver down the spine of anyone who has ever taken a ferry 'cross the Mersey.

Around 450 passengers were on board the ferry, which had just left Woodside Ferry Terminal for a sightseeing trip to view HMS Illustrious, when it appeared to come within feet of colliding with the Ramira.

In search of some expert commentary on how the incident could have happened, yesterday I spoke to the son of Thetis survivor Walter Stoker.

MAYOR of Wirral Andrew Hodson says he and wife Kathryn were "riveted" by a reality tv show following schools as they competed to perform hit musical Grease in London.

Wirral's own Wallasey School, in Leasowe, beat off challengers from 500 other schools and triumphed with a final "sing-off" against schools from Birmingham and Southend-on-Sea.

LAST night I went to a public meeting at Ridgeway High School which was called to gauge parents' views on a plan to close the school - along with Park High and Rock Ferry Hugh - and create two academies.

I'M usually the one asking the questions - but the tables were turned on Tuesday when I was given a grilling by over 100 teenagers from Wirral's secondary schools at Wallasey Town Hall.

They were attending the borough's seventh Youth Voice conference, this year on the theme of perceptions of young people.