Tag Archives: Southport

Reflections on elections.

03 Sunday May 2026

Posted by in Politics, Southport

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We’re in the last day of campaigning for the 2026 local elections here in the UK so I wanted to write down some thoughts.

If you’ve been paying any attention to the media you’d be forgiven for thinking Nigel Farage and his Reform party are going to sweep all before them. This impression becomes more exaggerated on social media which is awash with pro-Reform bots and trolls who pile in from nowhere at the mere mention of Farage’s name.

But is Reform’s support really that strong in the real world?

I’ve been staying in Southport on Merseyside these past few days, walking miles around the town to explore old haunts, whilst doing so I’ve been keeping my eye out for expressions of support for the different parties. This is totally unscientific of course. Most people keep their politics to themselves. However, some supporters of various parties display their allegiance through the use of placards in the gardens (or in extreme cases, flags!).

So, I’ve been looking out for these across the town and noticed that there’s an almost even spread between Lib-Dem, Labour and Green parties, but overt support for Reform is noticeably absent. In fact, I could only find one Reform placard. Well, I assume it was Reform as only broken stub remained! It was in the garden of a large, well to do house on the edge of the town centre.

Across the road in another garden there flew the tattered remnants of a Union flag which rather set the scene in that part of town.

Because nothing says you’re proud to be British like (sort of) flying cheap Chinese made Union flags…

Meanwhile, some Lib-Dem supporters displayed a sense of humour as well as allegience!

There’s plenty of these around town.
I do find it rather ironic that these ‘Greens’ have destroyed their front garden and turned it into a car park!

We’ll know the outcome of the elections on Friday. Whilst Reform are expected to perform well due to dissatisfaction with the Government I can’t help but wonder if their support has been overstated. There’s certainly not much of it evident on the ground, and their local election material is hardly convincing. One of their leaflets claims they’re going to ‘reclaim’ Southport beach, but don’t explain what that even means. Reclaim it from what?

The promises to cut council tax have been ditched and replaced with claims they’ll ‘audit’ financial waste and inefficiency. But what if they don’t find any?

Southport is part of Sefton, which has been run by Labour since 2012 who currently hold 51 of the 66 seats. Reform currently have 1, the same as the Greens and ‘your party’. The largest opposition group is the Lib-Dems who have 9 seats. In third place are the Tories, who have just 4.

From 1974-86 Sefton was Tory run, it slipped to no overall control between 1986-2012, then Labour won a majority. It would take a massive swing for Sefton to become a Reform-controlled Council.

I’ll watch this one with interest.

Back in West Yorkshire, Calderdale council has 51 members and is Labour controlled (26 members). The Tories are the largest opposition group with 8 and the Lib-Dems next with 6. The Greens have 3, as do Reform. Calderdale’s been Labour controlled since 2019. Before that there’s been long periods where there’s been no overall control with a couple of periods when the Tories were in charge (1975-80 and 2000-2002). Wandering around at home I’ve observed the same phenomenon, hardly any sign (literally) of Reform support – apart from one large converted farmhouse up at Norland where someone’s flying both the Union and Reform flags!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

Pictures from today’s Southport big top festival.

02 Saturday May 2026

Posted by in Photography, Southport, Tourism

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Purely by accident my time here in Southport coincided with the town’s ‘big top’ festival, a free event which spread across five locations in the centre of town but mostly revolved around Lord St and its gardens. It’s a two day event and I have to say I was seriously impressed by the quality of it. The acts I saw were superb. Here’s a few pictures.

Here’s ‘Smashed2’, a group of nine jugglers who mix their act with acrobatics, choreography, humour and a wonderful mix of music, from classical to blues. How they memorise their varied and complex routines amazes me.
Life is a beach are a pair of performers who explore a day at the beach through acrobatics, with a wry look at pollution and antisocial behaviors
Australian group Circa perform ‘Wolf’, acrobatics with fangs…
There’s another stage at the Monument, where I caught ‘Beyond’ performing.
Moving back to catch one last look at smashed 2 I moved over to Market St, where cirque di kaka were about to perform.
As part of the event, Market St lived up to its name with several dozen stalls selling a variety of goods from food to handmade jewellery.

From what I saw (and judging by the crowds) the event was a great success. The acts were excellent, the event was well-organised and the atmosphere relaxed. It was a day out which would entertain all the family. I’m loving the way Southport seems to be reinventing itself in such an imaginative way.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

Still in Southport…

01 Friday May 2026

Posted by in Liverpool, Musings, Photography, Southport, Travel

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At the moment I’m enjoying time in Merseyside, rediscovering old haunts and basking in glorious sunshine. Well, until today. Now, with a bank holiday looming the sun’s decided to have some time off too! Blue skies have been replaced by grey, with cutting through temperatures and rain adding to the mix. Hey ho…

I shouldn’t really complain, yesterday I took a break from paperwork and plans to head over to Liverpool in order to do some food shopping. Whilst Southport has become much more cosmopolitan when it comes to the availability of exotic ingredients there’s still stuff you can’t get here, which gave me the impetus to visit the city of my birth and the Chinatown area, where I was sure I’d be able to buy what I needed.

It was lovely to be back in Liverpool. The city’s so vibrant nowadays compared to how I remember it in the 70s-80s. Bold St, at the back of Central station’s a great example. Nowadays is lined with cafes, bars and restaurants with people dining alfresco as seating’s spilled outside to take over the street. The atmosphere’s great. I also rediscovered ‘News from Nowhere’, a radical bookshop which used to be elsewhere in the city. One thing I discovered during my brief browse was a selection of cards. This one particularly amused.

In contrast, Chinatown was remarkably subdued. Many places were closed, I’m assuming because it’s just not economical to open during the day that early in the week. Still, here’s a selection of pictures from my wandering.

The gateway to Chinatown in Nelson St. I photographed this over 25 years ago for the the Lonely Planet guide to England.
Art and relaxing in the sunshine in Great George Square
St Luke’s bombed out church.

To be continued..

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I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

16th April picture of the day…

16 Thursday Apr 2026

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Southport

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Funny old world.

Today’s been one of those days when the wind gets taken out of your sails at the very last moment, and purely by chance. Thursday hadn’t started too badly. The weather had been picking up and Dawn was slowly recovering from her visit to the dentist and tooth extraction. I’d managed to get a load of pictures edited before getting a phone call about a long-delayed job which will see me working in Wolverhampton next week. I’d even managed to get out for a couple of walks and pick up some liquid foods for the toothless invalid.

Then, this evening, I received a Whatsapp message from my sister Anne with a link to a Facebook group which contained an obituary and the question ‘wasn’t he one of your old schoolfriends’? Indeed it was. A chap called Neil Lancaster. It came totally out of the blue and took me back half a centaury and more.

Neil and I were best friends at school back in the 1970s, part of a small group who were (in many ways) thick as thieves. We certainly got into some scrapes over the years but I pretty much lost touch with Neil after we left school and we all went our different ways – especially when I moved from Southport to London in 1986. Occasionally, when I popped back, I might bump into him, propping up the bar in the Wellington pub on Eastbank St, but the last time that happened was several decades ago.

Now, Neil’s passed on at the age of 65, a year younger than me. He’s not the first of our group to have died by any means, but it’s still come as a bit of a shock and a reminder of one’s own mortality. So, this evening my thoughts have turned to reminiscing about those mad school days of the 1970s and the things we got up to and the people we knew and left behind. Sadly, it was all so long ago that I don’t even have any old photographs with Neil in them.

So, goodbye Neil. Sorry I never got to see you one last time to share those memories together.

I’ll close this blog with a picture I took earlier, as -whilst some things pass – some things always remain, and our local woodland’s seeing the return of the bluebells.

Some things never really die…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling (ish)blog. Every cloud has a silver lining…

17 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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It’s nealy 14:00 and I’m gradually making my way back from an unexpected night in Southport, which turned out to be rather enjoyable. I didn’t get to meet up with the friends I’d expected to – but after getting marooneed I called in for a beer at a backstreet pub by the light show. I’ve not been in the Masons Arns for years and it was the last place I expected to see anyone. But by pure chance I stood at the bar next to a chap I’ve not seen for what must be 30 and more years! Alan (or ‘Bod’ as he was nicknamed in those days) was instantly recogniseable and was completely taken aback by seeing me. I ended up staying for a couple as we caught ip after so many years.

This morning I got to meet one of my neices (who’s growing up fast) as my sister was looking after her today. So my stay turned out to be very sociable.

Now I’m on my way back to Nanchester after a bruef stop in Burscough to make the most of the weather. Here’s some pictures.

One of the new Stadler built Class 777s bought by Merseyrail. These units are proving to be troublesome for a whole host of reasons.
A pair of the oldest diesel units left on the national network, the Class 150, make their way from Southport across the West Lancashire plain at Burscough
It’s a far cry from their Thameslink days! A class 319 converted to a bi-mode (diesel and electric) crosses the Leeds and Liverpool canal at Burscough.
Is there something about the residents of Burscough that we’re not being told?

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. The light fantastic?…

16 Monday Feb 2026

Posted by in Liverpool, Manchester, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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10:25.

The beginning of another week sees me combine business with pleasure for a varied day that promises to be fun – despite the poor weather. Yep, we’re back to heavy grey clouds, rain and possibly snow here in the Calder valley, so I’m having a day out.

Right now I’m on Northern’s 10:00 from Sowerby Bridge, heading for Manchester. Piccadilly, the city’s main railway station is closed for the next 9 days to allow the old trackwork on the approach to the station to be replaced. Only the two through platforms remain open to allow for freight to run to Trafford Park container terminal, and a handful of passenger services to Blackpool North and Liverpool Lime St with a shuttle service working to Oxford Rd to allow connections to elsewhere. Want to go South? Then you’ll be bussed to Stockport where all other trains are terminating.

After checking out how things are going my plan’s to head over to Liverpool, then to Southport, where something rather special is happening. This evening’s the last performance of ‘Lightport’. Billed as “free immersive light and sound experience produced by leading international artists Lucid Creates, that will turn Lord Street into a walk-through rainbow of colour and creativity”. Apparently it will light up a 400m stretch of the famous street, including the Monument, so I though it would be worth checking out.

Watch this space…

12:30.

My arrival in Manchester coincided with what Manchester’s famous for. Rain. Lots of it, which made walking from Victoria to Piccadilly a very soggy experience. Have you ever seen the film ‘Bladerunner’, where it’s always raining? That’s how Manchester felt. Sadly, there wasn’t much to see at Piccadilly. Whilst the concourse is open, the normally bustling trainshed was devoid of activity. A solitary class 66 sat burbling away, whilst a couple of Kirow rail-mounted cranes occupied another platform, having deposited their load of new pointwork.

At present much of the engineering work is taking place out of camera shot so I didn’t hang around and caught a train to Oxford Rd instead, which was rather more interesting (and photogenic). As well as passenger services there was a continuous stream of container trains, all of which were ‘top and tailed’ with a locomotive at each end as insurance in case of a failure (which would really bugger things up).

I’m tempted to come back to get pictures when the weather’s better. As it was, I departed the city under apocalyptic skies to head to Liverpool and my next port of call – which wasn’t a bad choice as the weather’s drier. We’ve even been teased by a few snatches of blue skies!

My 6-car train to Liverpool isn’t too busy. I’ve managed to set up the mobile office in a table bay and download some of the Manchester pictures which I’ll add shortly. Right now, it’s time to enjoy the journey…

22:30.

Sorry for the gap but today’s turned into a very different one to the one I’d expected – for a whole host of reasons. Right now I’m updating this blog from my sister’s sofa in Southport – where I’ll be staying the night due to Northern cancelling enough trains towards Manchester that I haven’t got a hope in hell of getting home. Not a good look when you consider today was the last night of the light show.

I’ve so much to blog about but the rest is going to have to wait until tomorrow when I have more time. Right now I’ll leave you with this…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul

13th January picture of the day…

13 Tuesday Jan 2026

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Southport

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After yesterdays travels and exertions I’ve been having a quiet day here at Bigland Towers in order to recharge the batteries for another long day and silly o’ clock start tomorrow.

Much of my day’s been taken up by editing yesterday’s pictures, sorting out new stuff to go on eBay and working out just how many old slides seem to have mysteriously disappeared off my account the other year. I reckon there’s over 200 which were somehow deleted. I’ll try and add them again soon. Apart from that there was dealing with an invitation to the Avanti West Coast photographic competition presentation in London next month, plus contact from a previous customer who wants me to do a couple of days work trackside as soon as we can arrange it. So, all in all, not a bad day workwise.

Now it’s time to wind down, pack my kit and supplies for tomorrow’s little adventure, then get some sleep. I’ll let you know where I’m heading tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, taken in Southport yesterday.

One of Merseyrail’s Stadler built Class 777s at Southport, bearing a very odd destination! These units are several years old now but are still suffering teething problems, one of which is the Passenger Information System (PIS) which is powered by Teleste. The trains often don’t seem to know where they are or when they’re meant to be carrying passengers. Several of the units I saw displayed ‘not in service’ even when they were which resulted in a few despairing corrective announcements from station staff. This one’s even worse! Unless someone’s reinstated and electrified the Burscough curve without telling me, there’s no way this train’s going to Ormskirk!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Paul

Rolling blog. Seaside sortie…

12 Monday Jan 2026

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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10:00.

Another week begins, but this one sees me out and about more. Right now I’m on a Northern service from Halifax to Manchester in order to head over to Southport where the RAIL 200 ‘inspiration train’ is stabled until Tuesday. I’ve not had chance to visit this exhibition until now but seeing it in my old home town is rather appropriate. The train will continue its tour of the network through the next few months and tickets (which are free) are still available.

The weather’s decidedly mixed so it’s not the best day to be out with the camera. Even so, I’m hopeful of getting a few useful pictures. At least it’s mild (a balmy 7 degrees here in the Pennines) so I won’t be in danger of frostbite in the way I was on my last outing to Ribblehead!

My Manchester service consists of a 3-car Class 195 which is fairly empty due to the time of day, allowing to purloin a table bay and set up the mobile office in peace. I’ll be blogging throughout the day, so feel free to pop pack anythime to see what I get up to…

10:15.

We’ve now traversed the Pennines to an equally grey and gloomy Greater Manchester to call at Rochdale, which is the quietest I’ve seen it for some time. Only a handful of passengers were waiting to join us for the trip into the city.

11:30.

My time in Manchester was short, just long enough to get a few pictures around a very quiet station. You can tell it’s January as so few people are about. Everybody’s too skint to go out after spending loads over Christmas and New Year! It’s not a new phenomenon, but it is noticeable. Plus, the weather’s hardly conducive, but then I normally flee the UK in January, so I don’t normally have to experience all this.

The Wigan Wanderer. 158849 will take me as far as Wallgate

Right now I’m on another Northern service. This time as far as Wigan Wallgate via the old Lancashire and Yorkshire main line that avoids Bolton to go through the wonderfully named ‘Hag Fold’. The line’s a shadow of it’s former self, but there’s been an improvement in frequency since late BR days. I’m sat on a 2-car 158 which is virtually empty. Many passengers seem to join for short hops between stations.

11:40.

Bugger. Everthing was going so well until we reached Daisy Hill, one of those places where the lovely-sounding name bears absolutely no relationship to the surroundings.

My suspicions were aroused when we were still at the platform for minutes rather than the usual 90 seconds. The Conductor’s just walked through the train to inform us all we’ll be stuck here for a while due to a ‘problem’ on the line ahead. God knows what it is as we’ve been passed by a train in the opposite direction. Well, bang goes my connection in Wigan…

11:55.

We’re still enjoying the vistas of Daisy Hill. I’ve had a chat with crew who tell me the problem is due to the driver of a previous train having reported that they hit a swan…

Daisy Hill, with no hills or daisies.

12:35.

Hooray! We’re finally on the move, a mere 65 minutes late…

13:00.

Finally, I’m on my way to Southport. Rail services on the line through Wigan Wallgate are in disarray in all directions with many trains cancelled. Fortunately, a Southport train was running right behind mine so I had only minutes to wait in the rain befire boarding a busy 2-car Class 150 for the last leg. Sadly, the weather has dereriorated. The skies have closed in to bring heavy, peristant rain, so even if I hadn’t been delayed I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’d hoped. Maybe things will be better on the coast, but I’m not holding my breath…

17:00.

Well, that was an interesting day. The weather in Southport was drier, with cloud cover that was constantly changing to tease me. As I was late arriving I didn’t have as much time to expore as I’d have liked before I was booked onto the exhibition train so my wanderings were confined to the town centre. Not that Monday’s are a great day to explore because much of Southport seems not to bother opening on a Monday!

That said, there’s not as much to open anyways. The amount of empty shops in the town centre’s rather depressing, but that’s the nature of the modern ‘online’ world. There were some greenshoots with places that were long-closed having reopened, but trade was sparse to say the least. Some of the ‘improvements’ don’t seem to have been thought through either..

Maybe an aquatic plants display would have been sensible here outside the old market hall. At least the old ”Corrie” (Coronation) pub opposite has reopened in a new guise after being empty for very many years.

I had a bit of a trip down memory lane to pass old haunts, many of which have vanished, but after nearly half a century that’s probably only to be expected…

I arrived back at the station in plenty of time for my alloted spot on the exhibition train. Not only was it fully booked but staff did their best to squeeze on some ticketless  folk. The levels of interest were really good to see. The audience was of all ages with the displays doing their best with limited space to inform, educate and entertain. What was lovely was to bump into several familiar faces from the community rail sector who’d come along to volunteer whilst the train’s in this part of the world.

With my time over on the train I hung around the station long enough to get some pictures before heading East. One thing I noticed was that Merserail’s new Stadler built trains are still having problems. If you’ll pardon the pun – their information systems are still up the Swanee…

Every train that I saw sat in the station displayed the message ‘not in service’ even though it was. Station staff kept making announcements to say ‘ignore what they train says’. Even worse was the final arrival I saw where the onboard screen insisted that the train was going to Ormskirk. What? Someone’s re-instated the Burscough curve overnight? We should be so lucky!

17:30.

I’m now on my way to Manchester aboard another venerable Class 150. It’s OK, the internals are well-maintained by the whole train’s showing its age. It’s about time these units had their swan-song (that’s enough bloody swan jokes for one blog: Ed)

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Cheers!

Paul

18th August picture of the day…

18 Monday Aug 2025

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day, Southport, Travel

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Well, we finally made it to the Southport flower show yesterday. The antibiotics I’d been prescribed had reduced the swelling of my hand enough that I could use my camera again without problems, which was a relief. Plus, the weather was back to wall to wall sunshine. Dawn drove us over to Southport on roads that were busy, but idiot free – even the M62 was behaving itself.

We didn’t attempt to park near Victoria Park, the venue for the flower show. Instead we left the car up on the Marine Drive and enjoyed a walk along the seafront – which had the dual benefit of gaining us exercise and saving us over 6 quid in parking fees! I’d not been to the flower show since I was a teenager, some half a century ago – so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Gone are the old staples, horse-jumping, the White Helmets motorcycle display team and the Red Arrows. In their place were falconry and canine display teams, alpacas and a few ponies – which made for a lot less noisier day! Despite it being the last day of the show, the place seemed packed. Lots of people were towing collapsible trollies they’d brought in order to cart away plants that were being sold off at the end of the day, which made navigating your way through the crowds a bit of a trip hazard, but also added to the atmosphere with people towing all sorts of exotic blooms or bushes along behind them.

One of the marquees we particularly enjoyed was the themed flower displays as many of them were very creative. Today’s picture is of one favourite. See if you can guess what it is…

Having walked miles around the show in the blazing sum we headed off to join my sister and her partner (along with her daughter’s family) in the tranquil setting of his garden for a few drinks and a catch-up, rounding off what had been a lovely day.

Now it’s a new week. The weather back here in West Yorkshire’s been dull and cloudy, such a contrast to Sunday. As the two of us have been working from home it’s not been an issue. However, tomorrow morning I’ll be in Birmingham on a press visit to one of the High Speed 2 railway construction sites. After that I’ll be spending the rest of the day exploring lines around the black country before heading home, so expect a rolling blog documenting the day. Until then, goodnight…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

By the seaside (day 2)…

02 Monday Jun 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Photography, Southport, Travel

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Yesterday was our second day at the seaside and one where we didn’t actually see the sea – but that’s not unusual in Southport – a town notorious for how far out the sea disappears to! We had a leisurely morning at the hotel we were staying in as there was no need to rush. The food and drink festival didn’t open until 10 so we could take out time. Typically, just as we left the hotel it started raining! The forecast had threatened showers but later in the day so we were rather glad to get ’em out of the way earlier as that promised better weather later. Sure enough, by the time us early-birds hit the festival the weather began to brighten up – although gusty winds caused a few nerves amongst the stallholders who had tents rather than more substantial structures.

I’d never attended this particular food and drink festival before so I was surprised at its sheer size. There were dozens of food stalls along with craft shops and people selling produce such as local honey. Kids were kept entertained with a selection of bouncy castles, bungy swings and sundry other devices. Victoria park covers a large area so there was plenty of space available for the ranks of stalls and associated tables.

We’d arranged to meet my niece there, but what I hadn’t realised was that she worked for the charity that arranges this and all the other major events held in the park – like the Southport flower show! We ended up spending a very enjoyable couple of hours catching up with her and her husband (who’d drifted in after work) as the park gradually filled up. Here’s a few pictures to give a flavour.

The beauty of caravans – they can’t blow away!
Thai pies? Hmm…
Making the most of the seating – although a lot of old hands brought their own chairs.
By the time we left the place was getting very busy indeed…

The event’s obviously very popular, but I was a little disappointed at the lack of variety in the food. Yes, there were all the fast-food favorites but when it came to world food the variety and authenticity was poor. For example, one curry house was obviously amending South Indian dishes for western tastes. It meant there was little to temp us as we both enjoy cooking, so nothing stood out. In the end we plumped for a hog roast. Still, it was great to see Southport putting on such a successful event.

By early afternoon we were ready to leave and headed back across the West Lancashire plain, stopping off once en-route at the Ship at Lathom, a busy little pub on the banks of the Rufford arm of the Leeds and Liverpool canal. It’s popular with foodies, drinkers and walkers of all ages.

The Ship at Lathom

Sticking to the motorways we made it home in a little over an hour after leaving Lathom. It was an impromptu weekend, but great to catch up with some of my ‘rellies’. I won’t leave it as long next time…

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