links

Have managed to link up with Jensen the only one! have tried with lou, Margaret and Doreen do not work properly which puzzles me, hopefully now Iv'e highlighted rock ferry, b.head and byrne ave baths. others can link on these words!!!!

pics

Have found a picture of Charing cross 1965 and after many attempts have got it onto my story. this is the last picture now, hopefully it will make sense!! look forward to seeing everyone now.

went to the top of the Anglican Cathedral

so here are a few views.

This is the Cathedral at sunset from my balcony

So pleased have at last been able to down load some pics for the story. I also have sent some invites to family for viewing, most will be working unfortunately!

Have searched for images or photos of claughton rd 1960s without success. and my logo will not transfer from ask jeeves for some reason can anyone help!!!!! dot



Theses are pics i took from the Anglican Cathedral, across the Mersey and views inside.

library pics

This is a view of Port Sunlight Museum taken in May. Jenn was discussing it maybe to include it in her story.

Victoria park where

my family have spent

many happy days and

local to Byrne Avenue baths

and Egerton park which

is part of my story

This is byrne avenue baths in Rock Ferry mentioned in my story. The other photo is the Bath House which was talked about during our meetings.

day trip across the ferry by group, poor Jenn was stuck in liverpool and met the ferry there.

aerial view of Hamilton square where the main Police Bridewell is situated used in my story

Louise and margaret working in the library on story chart at the start of our projects in May

have made a list of the things i need help with and will ring Elaine to arrange a meet. thanks to Margaret for the phone no. Iwas wondering how Jenn - was no - news hope that it's going ok now. regards to all dot

logo

hi barbara yes iv'e thought of a logo but need help adding it thanks for your comments. have been too busy to add anything until today i suppose we are eager when we meet but iv'e gone off the boil since!!!

panic stations

just found out we have to hurry with our finished articles!! well can't do much more without help!

progress at last

So pleased with todays work (thanks to Elaine) advanced a bit better

drafts of b.head and rock ferry

rough work done this week towards my story page 1 to 8.

Story map

View relic of the past in a larger map

visit

looking for to having elaine to the house to sort out a few niggles
went to visit doreen this morning it brought back memories of when i lived in the same area

thinking

thinking of a story were the person gets lost in the past like ashes to ashes.
Been to a writers group in West Kirkby tonight. Author named Mark Gee from Wallasey who has had various things published.
Quite interesting group - May go again!!!!
Loads of notes of my story but still working on it

changes to be made

This to be fitted into the story as i think I've taken out all my descriptive side.





this row of houses had been vacant for some time while the area was waiting to be cleared completely.

He was a tall man in his early twenties with lanky blonde hair, his skin was badly marked which could have been left after acne or german measles.

He explained that his name was Daniel Jones and he had an uncle named Billy Jones who ran a fish shop locally.



He was taken into an interview room after he explained that he could possibly help the police with thenewspaper enquiry

Pictures for My Story

Here are some pictures I'm considering using for my story. I've trtied to capture the names of the places using signs and street names.

The middle two pictures are the Victorian houses mentioned in the story. The bottom picture is of the entrance for Victora Park. The top picture is Byrne Avenue Baths where we swam as kids.

Which ones do you think would go best with the writing I have already done?

The Last Workshop

Today we did a review of our stories and assess the changes. Talk of the launch or preview in July Venue t.b.a.

Elaine gave us a list of things to do for this next week working towards July 21st. My logo for the story may be a policemans hat. Here's an example of the sort of hat I mean. What do you think?

I would like some music in the background - eerie first - to finish maybe a band.


Doreen found some pictures on the internet she thought I might want to use on my blog. You can look at them on here. What do you think of these pictures? Creepy! I like the second one down best because it looks like the derelict building where my story is set.

Another thing I have been thinking about is the character's name in my story: John Clarkson. This is not an unusual sounding name. There should be hundreds of John Clarksons. But I don't want someone to look at my story on the internet when it is finished and think I am writing about them. What do you think about this? Should I be worried?

Relic of the past

Remains Found In A Derelict House

Mystery Remains
Police Are Asking For Help Concerning A House
In The Birkenhead Area
See Page 3

This heading in a local newspaper early 1970 led to a massive police enquiry.

The area involved had in the last five years been part of the re-development and reconstruction of Birkenhead town centre. Included in this was St. Johns street upto Charing cross. eg., Cyprus, Catherine and Oliver St including Claughton road the main thoroughfare to Cole street school and Birkenhead park

This picture shows Charing X 1965 with the roundabout and a view of Grange rd with banks on the corners and cars parked down the rd which is now a pedestrian area.

It was during the demolition of this area that the workmen were shocked to come across a macabre find, in the cellar of one house in Claughton road, the remains of a human body, Was this a relic from the war, as this area had been quite heavily bombed during WW11, or something else, suicide, murder or an accidental death.

It was something that mystified the police and the local neighbours still living in the area.
It was some time later that the bones were identified as being between 1960-1970.

Who was this mysterious person?

What had happened and why?

It was many months after the police newspaper story that a man appeared at the Bridewell Police station at the Town Hall Hamilton Square that this story emerged.
He was in his early twenties with a fair complection, scars on his young face,left by either acne or chicken pox a common illness in those days. He had lanky blonde hair which was the modern style at this time dressed in a bomber jacket and drain pipe trousers. After introducing himself as Daniel Jones and explaining that he could maybe help the police with their enquiry that the police took notice of him and led him into an interview room. There they began began asking him questions and the following script is a sample of what transpired:-

Police Sergeant What is your name?
Daniel Jones Daniel Jones (D.J)
Police What information can you supply regarding this enquiry
D.J. I will tell you in my own words, if i may!
Police Okay you have been cautioned, the tape is running. Carry on!
D.J. When I was younger I lived in Cyprus st - a cellar house off Claughton rd. Nearby were corner shops selling 1d sweets, lollypos.liquorice, sherbets and apples all at 1d (pre/decimal ), and g/grocers on every corner with a cinema and laudrette were my Mum sent me with the washing every day as we did not have a washing machine like some people. Across the road was a convent called The Little Sisters of the Poor.
Police We don't want a history lesson here. Where is this leading?
D.J. Let me finish my story don't rush me, I 'll get to it soon enough.
Police Ok! Carry on!
D .J. Often tramps /down and outs or nutters as we children called them, arrived at the Convent to receive bread and water a few times a week, some of these were quite scary to us kids and one particular man I remember was called J.C. because of his long beard and hair and he walked around quoting the bible hence the name he had.
Police. Hold on! you are from rock ferry now aren't you? I still don't see where this is leading.
D.J. Yes, I live in Egerton Park now and as a child went to Rock Ferry for holidays to stay with cousins. I spent time swimming at Byrne Avenue baths, playing fooball in Victoria Park and came to appreciate the beauty and history of the area even played at Rock Park long before the by-pass was built . When eventually my family settled here in Rock Ferry with us kids ten years ago. In fact where I live now still has the old victorian houses with the same grandeur although most have become nursing homes. From my Aunties house I could look across the river Mersey and we had a perfect view of Anglican Cathedral.

Police What has this to do with the enquiry.
D.J. Well this enquiry took me back to the times we played in the derelict houses in the Birkenhead area, which had been emptied, boarded up. breaking in to play cowboys and indians, sometimes we came across tramps sleeping or bedding there. We were often chased by neighbours who had not been rehoused and they often called the police.
Police So let me ask you, what you are saying is that you think that this could be one of these tramps.!!
D.J. Yes! I just thought of those times and wondered if it could possibly be that old guy, J.C. who was always around and maybe the Convent records could help you as he was one that used the help from the nuns That's really what I meant. Do you think it could possibly be him?


Police Right! Well, we will certainly look into this. Thankyou for your time and information. We will follow this lead and let you know of the outcome as soon as we can.

It was some months later when the police called at Daniels house in Egerton Park, it was good news as far as he was concerned!!!

It had been proved after a lot of research through records photographs and DNA that the remains had been identified positively as J.C. or John Clarkson, Ex-prisoner of war, who had come back to Birkenhead after being held prisoner for two years in Japan. Unfortunately he had been mentally ill since and somehow had slipped the system at that time of receiving the controlled help he needed. He was traced through his army record and medals of service, which was phenominal and really should have been awarded a heroes recognition, and so the case was closed and the mystery solved.

Mr. Daniel Jones attended the memorial service later that month.



EPITAPH

AUGUST 1970

Funeral and memorial service
of

John Clarkson

in memory of his service 1939-1945

to be held at St Marys church Prenton

2pm

Do you think this is more interesting and better?

This is how i will procede:-


MYSTERY REMAINS


Police are asking for help.
concrning remains of a body found
in a derelect house in Birkenhead area.
see page 3

This heading and the following story early 1970 led to a massive police enquiry.

The area had for the last five years been part of a redevelopment and reconstruction.
This included houses from St.Johns street through to Charing X. including roads Cyprus, Catherine st and Claughton rd

It was during this demolition that workmen were shocked to find the human remains.

At first there was thought to have been remains from the 2nd world war but forensics placed the bones at least as late as 1965.

Who was this person? What had happened? The police found it difficult to continue with the enquiry without help.

This was because people had been rehoused to outer districts Woodchurch, Noctorum, Tranmere and Rock Ferry to name a few.

The old cellar houses with out side toilets were gone entries or alleys leadind to back gates

Gone were the local corner shops with 1d apples, lollypops, sherbets,(pre decimal)and a local cinema and laundrette,instead there were car-parks with parking meters.

revamp

my story will nom start with a newspaper headline and with the help of collegues I feel more competent and organised with the layout if you know what i mean

new beginning

news headlines

i think this will start my story and this time i will not ramble on about the areas as much.
Got good advice today and sometimes it takes other comments to help reconstruct a story thanks all.

Penultimate Workshop

I've finally got my blog sorted out!

This is an old post but I have edited it. I would appreciate some comments on the story in this post as well as my earlier one.

Thank you!

Notes for a Story Idea

Here's a picture of all my notes that I did during the workshop. You can see how the idea for a story is developing. If you click on the picture you can make it bigger and see it better.

X marks the Spot!

Here's a photograph of a map I drew to show where the mysterious remains in the story were found.

What do you think?

Draft Stort and a Question?

It was almost a dead end as far was the polie was concerned when a man presented himself to the Bridewell in Birkenhead Town Hall to say he had some idea of the identity of the person. His name was Daniel Jones he thought his family were friends of this person who had a shop in Old Chester Road. He'd been friendly at school with the family living Catherine Street, even played there as a child. Eventually the family moved to Tranmere, Rock Ferry and he remembered visiting them there and having a swim at Byrne Avenue Baths with visits to Victoria Park as part of his stop-over.

This might end up being the first paragraph of my story. I'm thinking of starting with a mock-up image of a news story from a newspaper. The headline would be:

MYSTERY REMAINS

Police are asking for help concerning remains found in a derelict house in the Birkenhead area.

What do do think should go first? The story-paragraph or the headline?

back to reality

hi guess what have just received all emails from 29th April. I had a problem with the server but now know what our homework is. Help!!! Ha!hhhha!

hope this time my story is read by friends. wish I could read others!!!
Enjoyed the trip - hope Jenn is ok.!
Enjoying your book.

camera lead

hi Jensen, the lead did not work unfortunately, I will buy a new camera. Thankyou for trying I appreciate the thought see you Thursday Dot

extraordinary minds

People we meet along the way
Influence and make an impact of different kinds.
Then we met on that interesting day
twas a link to other peoples minds


I have loved meeting this group and am amazed how linked and compatable we were.

still confused!!!!

What a horrible spell that hour was!!!
Back home trying to copy some work from today so i won't feel it was a waste of time and feel such a fool.
First we talked about linking stories, it was amazing that in spite of the various ages in our group the 1970's was quite a popular era to all stories.

Areas linked as we knew it would.

Other websites were discussed and other stories.

Hoping to make this my ref. page.

Added to table plan.

Meeting at woodside next week to tour some sights within the stories.

A first story attempt

This is an early draft of my story idea - with some photographs taken by Jensen and lent to me for this blog post. I would appreciate some comments on the story.


My story begins in one area of Birkenhead town centre, the second in Tranmere / Rock Ferry.
The first place was Cyprus st/Oliver st/Claughton rd Birkenhead.

The area was built up with terraced houses and little grocery and green grocery shops on every corner. Walking 10yards to buy a loaf or apple, 10minutes away from the Woodside ferry and Birkehead Town Hall.

Across the main rd was the Catholic Convent. Here tramps and poor people were fed bread and water twice a week, next to this building the Liberal club which held events eg., wedding snooker and social nights. A walk to Grange rd shops took 5 minutes with Woolworths, Marks & Spencers, British Home Stores, and a family concern called Rostances plus other big named shops.

The local children went to Cole st infants and junior school on Claughton rd, passing lots of terraced housing and laudries, most of which have been replaced by car parking facilities/modern houses.

Gone are the public houses, cinemas and corner shops selling sherbert. lollypops, sweets and ices all for 1d (penny) in pre-decimal money. Across the road is Birkenhead where children could let their hair down, have a picnic and play hide and seek on the rocks by the lake. This was also where the school dinners building was situated.

The houses in roads Cyprus st, Oliver st Claughton rd Catherine st were old cellar houses with entries or alleys every four houses. These have all gone now for redevelopment, to be replaced with car-park facilities. People were rehoused to out of town housing estates, eg., Woodchurch,Noctorum and Tranmere/Rock Ferry areas, so began a new era for Birkenhead town centre.

It was beneath one of these cellars that during the dereliction and destruction that a macabre story emerged.

The workmen found human remains.

This was to become a big newspaper story at this time. As this area was quite near the docks and was badly bombed during the war years, it was rumoured it could have been remnants from the war but further forensic evidence put the remains nearer 1960-1970. During this time the populace changed, moved, were rehoused and scattered, so this enquiry continued without the original publicity.

It was almost a dead end as far as the police were concerned until six months after the discovery a man walked into the Bridewell at the Town Hall with information concerning the case.

This 54yr old gentleman had lived in Claughton road for most of his life but had moved recently to new property in Tranmere/Rock Ferry area and for some reason had not heard about the police enquiry and as he spoke of where he had lived and his present home he told his story.

Where he lived now was a place of historical interest called Egerton park which was once a park with magnificent houses bordering it, but now redeveloped into private houses and flats. the beautiful oak, ash and horse-chestnut trees remain and still give the impression of grandeur.

Across the main Old Chester Road is the local baths site which housed various sports,such as canoeing, judo/marshall arts. childrens soft play area for parties and lots of events like
smimming galas. Unfortunately, recently, the building has closed through lack of funds even though the listed building remains while the powers that be decide what happens to it.
A short walk away are two parks. Victoria park and Mersey park both popular places for families, cricket and football and annual Summer fairs and bonfire nights events which draw large crowds.

Rock Park is quite near and is another area of historical interest as lots of the houses there are considered to be the oldest in Birkenhead.

It has a lovely walk along the front parade leading to New Ferry the next town to Rock Ferry. Part of the walk is by Tranmere oil terminal and here ships come in about twice a week. The smells here are a mixture of oil sea and silt, but also there are lots of wild flowers and a mix of trees. Down on the waters edge are lots of flotsam, bottles, chunks of wood and sometimes interesting objects which could have travelled miles with the tides of the mersey river.

The gentleman, named Daniel Jones, was part of a larger family scattered over birkenhead area and in the 60's Billy Jones, his uncle, had owned a fish shop in Conway st.
He explained to the police that as houses were becoming unoccupied and boarded up ready for demolition, sometimes children would climb in and play on these properties and occasionally odd tramps would get in and were chased by neighbours or police.

He knew of one that often slept there. Unable to give a proper name only the nickname to this old man, Noah, this was a name given by the local children because of his long grey hair and beard also he spent his time preaching chapters from the bible.

After some time talking to the police, Daniel was given a hot drink and a lift home, with the police very grateful that this case might be closed once they could trace Noah's relatives through the nuns from the convent and records held at the registry office in the Town Hall.
A month later an officer called to see Mr. Jones to confirm the results of their enquiry.

It was confirmed to be the remains through D.N.A. and records, of a certain homeless fellow well known around town. A person who, in the 60's, dodged the system needed to help someone with his mental problems, thanks to Mr. Jones coming forward. the case was closed.