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What We Did This Year
In May, we were entered for Mersey Basin
Funding by Wirral Borough Council, hoping to start the conversion of
the old Buoy Masters’ House (Trinity Cottage) to a community education
centre in the next two or three years.
Volunteer help will be vital for the simple tasks of cleaning and
preparing the Centre.
We applied to appear on Granada TV’s heritage show, but the bid was
unsuccessful - this time!
The Lookout has opened eight times, as advertised on the web, and had
more than 1000 visitors.
The Mobile
Information Unit has been open on West Kirby slip way and at local
events and fairs; see
Open Days.
We gave eight slide talks to local clubs in the last year.
Volunteers will have helped on Hilbre 17 times, pulling weeds,
picking litter, painting walls and window frames, cleaning,
talking to visitors.
We were praised by the Council
for Voluntary Services office in West Kirby, as part of the
celebration of the Year of Volunteers 2005. Well done, everyone!
Right: The Friends of Hilbre at
St. Bridget's Church Fair. |
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The committee met as usual nine times
this year, and have sent off funding applications and talked to
officers of Wirral Borough Council and the Rangers.
Many thanks to all the official helpers, too! Rangers and Council
officers have given very welcome support. Thank you to Marianthi for
her advice on funding applications.
Thanks to our retiring Newsletter Editor, Nicky, whose high quality
work was much appreciated.
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The
Mobile Information Unit Report
Friends of Hilbre members will have
manned the Rangers’ MIU caravan at Dee Lane, and had bookings at other
venues, such as Ashton Park Open Day and Hoylake Lifeboat Day - a total of
25 times.
The caravan is a popular feature, and attracts good publicity for Hilbre
Nature Reserve, knowledge of the tides, personal stories of visits to
Hilbre and family connections with the island. Val’s keyrings, fridge
magnets and bookmarks, and cards and photos by Margaret Sixsmith are sold
in large numbers. Her work and that of the volunteers’ team have raised
useful funds. They provide a valuable contact with the public, as part of
the Friends of Hilbre’s information service. Val is grateful to her team
of 16 volunteers. If members are interested in helping, please contact her
by email
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com.
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issue'.
Website Review
The Friends of Hilbre website has proved
a valuable means of communication within a local context and with the
world at large. Between January and October 2005 the site was visited
about 7,000 times. Our warmest thanks are offered to Richard Smith for the
help he continues to give Val in maintaining The Friends of Hilbre
website. Richard’s own web site on just about everything you need to know
about the birds of the Dee Estuary is definitely worth a visit and can be
found at: www.deeestuary.co.uk.
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A Project for the
Future: Hilbre Island Centre
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There are several
Victorian stone and brick buildings on Hilbre. David, the resident
Ranger, lives in one, another is the Lifeboat House and slip, along
with the recording Tide Gauge. The third was put up for the Trinity
House Buoy Master, and later rented to local families. Wirral Borough
Council now hopes to open it, after renovation, as a community
education building, to house groups booked in advance. It could
provide day courses on wild life, marine ecology for schools and
colleges, art, photography and creative writing. There is a lot to do
first, including securing funds to pay for the repair and upkeep of
these listed buildings: Grade 2 listed, which means that external
alterations must be sympathetic to the style of the place. |
Buoymaster's House
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Members of FoH will have to be patient:
the Centre cannot open fully for at least 2 years. But there may be
privileged visits for selected groups. The FoH committee has contacted
several sources of funds, and is working on applications, along with
Wirral Council officers. The Carbon Trust has advised us on
environmentally friendly sources of energy, water supply, and waste
disposal.
We are in the middle of sending out publicity sheets to schools, youth
groups, adult education providers, and groups learning English for
Speakers of Other Languages, and people with disabilities. Schools have
been invited to record the development of the Centre in pictures and
writing. Hilbre’s facilities should be open to as many people as possible,
without endangering the wild life in this very important nature reserve.
There will be no concrete paths or hand rails, but access is a matter we
are thinking about very carefully. See Letter
from the Chairman.
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'Inside this issue'.
Hilbre Sunday - A personal recollection of
halcyon days
When I was young, Hilbre Sunday in the summer was part of my life.
Every other Sunday the tide was suitable for me, and many other people, to
go the two miles over the sands to Hilbre. We did not bother with tide
tables; being local we knew the tides, and we also had a good knowledge of
the tidal gutters. We would set out at approximately 8am. Taking with us
some sandwiches, a bottle (glass) of ‘pop’, this was usually ‘cream soda’,
‘sarsaparilla’ or ‘dandelion and burdock’ or ‘Tizer’ (The Appetizer). On
the way, if we had any coupons left, we would get some sweets from Joy’s
sweetshop. We wore shoes or pumps, but when we got to the shore it was
barefoot all the way over to the island. Weaver fish were unknown to us;
all we worried about was broken glass, barnacles and jellyfish. It is a
wonderful feeling walking through the gutters with the sand under your
feet and the shrimps darting to and fro between your toes.
Clothing was casual, we all had our ‘cossies’ on under our shorts. We had
no watches, no sunglasses, no sun cream, no compass and of course no
mobile phone. Some days we would follow the tide out, other days we had to
race over to the island as the tide was flooding in. If we were a little
late it would often mean wading waist deep between the middle island and
the main island. We may have been foolish but we always got there safely.
Many are the times I and others have come a cropper on the slippery rocks.
One very important inclusion was our Permit, this was issued on request to
any ratepayer, and it entitled the holder, and five visitors to visit the
island. It was issued at the Hoylake UDC offices in Riversdale Road.
In those days the island still had railings, and a gate, the keeper
often asked to see the permit. The day was spent exploring the island,
swimming, and meeting friends, as these Sunday trips were quite a social
occasion, some groups would even bring with them, a ‘wind up’ gramophone.
The bracing sea air, combined with the fragrance of the sea pinks is a
lasting memory, also the Atlantic grey seals on the Hoyle Bank. We saw
very little litter, as this was the age before plastic bags and plastic
bottles, and most people left only footprints. A lot of swimming was done
off the northwest tip of the island when the tide was at its highest.
Plenty of deep water, so diving and leaping off the rocks was the thing.
Some people used the old springboard. Towels, we did not take, we ‘air
dried’. Some people who were not used to the sun and sea air got badly
sunburnt. We always tried to find some empty ‘Pop’ bottles, these along
with our own, would be taken back to the shop for a penny refund, this
would boost our pocket money.
Once the tide was low enough we would make our way back home. The
keeper would make sure that people left the island before the tide turned.
If we were short of time we would often cut straight back to West Kirby
from the middle island, but this route was very muddy. Occasionally there
was a heavy sea mist. This was no problem, we ‘knew our way’, and we
always got straight to the slipway at West Kirby. Many years later my good
friend John Gittins told me that he never went over to the island without
a compass. Were we foolish? Or, ‘just lucky?’
Maurice Grisenthwaite, 2005
Maurice has also published an article about Hilbre Sundays in the
current issue of ‘Wirral Champion Journal”, available in local bookshops.
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Starfish on
Hilbre
A member noticed this
summer that there were starfishes in pools at Red Rocks. Our family
evening walk in September recorded dead starfishes on the shore at
Hilbre, and lower numbers than usual. |
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Plan
for Membership and Newsletters in 2006
The Membership renewals are due on or before the AGM in May. If you
need to renew, or to check if you have done so, please e mail us, or
contact the Membership Secretary.
Newsletters for members will be issued in January and April next year,
containing news, plans for future activities, and (in April) advance
notices for the May AGM.
Distribution of Newsletters: Please send us your current e-mail address if
you wish to save us money by getting your copy on line. Contact:
Membership Secretary or our e-mail.
Copies of the Chairman’s Report at the May 2005 AGM, and the year’s
financial accounts are available to members of The Friends of Hilbre if
they e-mail us on
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com. The next copy date is 15th January
2006.
Members’ articles are welcome. They may be edited to fit the available
space. Please send your contributions by e-mail to:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com.
The next copy date is 15th January 2006.
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Public Open Days on Hilbre 2006
Please see the 'Open Days' page on
this website.
Eight events are scheduled: all on Sundays, over low tide around mid day.
Note the changes of clocks, probably on Sun 26 March and Sun 29 October
2006. Times are adjusted for British Summer Time in the table on the 'Open
Days' page, and are the earliest time for leaving from West Kirby Dee
Lane, and the latest time to start back from Hilbre.
Note. Monday 28 Aug Bank Holiday has a high tide over mid-day,
so you will need to cross before 10.30am and stay on Hilbre until 5pm
(High water is 2.30pm). The Lookout may not be open.
If you think you can help on Open Days or MIU Events please email:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com.
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AGM
2006
Wed 24th May 2006 7.30pm West Kirby Concourse.
Members, visitors and public welcome.
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SAFETY NOTICE
Always check the tides before going
out to Hilbre. Tides change each day. Use the safe route, it is dangerous
to use any other route. For full details of when to cross safely and the
safest route to Hilbre see our
Planning your visit to Hilbre Island page.
PLEASE NOTE: All articles and photographs in this web site are
© COPYRIGHT of Friends of Hilbre unless
specifically otherwise stated.
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