Nineteen of us took the train to Port Sunlight today for an appreciation and history of the village. On the platform at Central Station, while waiting for the Chester train, David gave us an introduction to the day’s walk with a history of the origins of the village and the development of soap production. On our arrival at Port Sunlight, David pointed out some of the geography and layout of the village he’d told us about earlier, as we stood by the Tudor Tea Rooms – with a couple of old style telephone boxes outside. We then walked round to Bolton Road – named for the birthplace of William Hesketh Lever. Here we had a view down Bridge Street, past the bowling greens to the factory. We turned off Bolton Road at Hulme Hall. David told us the hall was once used as a women’s dining hall, an art gallery, war time refugee accommodation and was also the venue for Ringo Starr’s debut as a Beatle. It’s now used for public and private functions. The Hillsborough Memorial Gardens gave us a view down to the War Memorial and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. We walked along to the War Memorial and admired the many sculptures around it, before taking Queen Mary’s Drive to the Art Gallery. The water fountain in front of the gallery was out of action and as if to compensate for the lack of water – it began to rain! We took a coffee and toilet break here in the hope that the rain would pass. It didn’t! When we came back outside, the rain had become heavier and it was decided to leave the rest of the walk for another day and explore the Art Gallery instead. I’m looking forward to the continuation of the walk with more of David’s informative and interesting descriptions of the different aspects of the village.
Thanks David for a most interesting walk. Looking forward to the rest of it.
I’ve taken the liberty of including some photos I’d already taken on a sunnier day.