Liverpool Statues and Monuments Walk

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Today’s walk was a tour to hear the history and origins of a number of Liverpool’s statues, monuments and artwork, and the hidden details in some of them. We started at Lime Street Station where we had a “Chance Meeting” with Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock, before learning of Simon Faithfull’s “Liverpool to Liverpool” journey and artwork. After looking at some of his drawings, we moved on to Lime Street itself to see Anthony Brown’s “Quantum Timeline” panels, telling the history of Lime Street. We then joined Renshaw Street at “Liverpool Resurgent” (or Dick Lewis) and passed number 81 which was the home of “Mersey Beat” music magazine in the sixties. At St Lukes “Bombed Out Church” we saw the Irish Famine tribute, the Roy Castle memorial and learned about Andrew Edward’s Truce Statue (called “All Together Now”). I had hoped to show the “Malta Stone” but another event being held, prevented it. Berry Street was our next leg and we saw the “Fu Dogs” guarding Chinatown on our way to the Chinese Arch. Here we heard about the disgraceful “Compulsory repatriation of undesirable Chinese seamen” at the end of World War II. We then walked down Duke Street to see the Seamen’s Home Gates on Paradise Street and the adjacent Eagle Pub, once the office of the first overeas US Consulate. We stopped here for a comfort break before continuing along Liver Street to the “Great Escape” rope horse sculpture. Across the Strand (strand being the German word for shore – this being the shoreline before the development of the docks) we walked to the St George’s Dock building (the Mersey Tunnel ventillation shaft) and heard about the meaning of its various sculptures. Passing the Port Of Liverpool Building, we made our way to the Beatles Statue and heard about its origin and hidden details. A welcome coffee break was taken here. We then carried on along in front of the Three Graces and learned of Sir Alfred Lewis Jones’s contribution to society. While passing the Liver Building we heard that the clocks were started during the Coronation of King George V – at the exact moment the Crown was placed on his head. This is why they’re called the “Great George” clocks. We saw the Marine Engine Room memorial and then made our way to Our Lady and St Nicholas Church. On the outside of the church we saw the “Boy With Knife Carnation” sculpture before entering the churchyard. There are several objects of interest here. The bell from TSS Sarpedon, the gravestone of “Abell”, the SS Derbyshire memorial, tributes to the Atlantic Conveyor, HMS Liverpool, the WW II Arctic Convoys, the “Homeless Jesus” sculpture, the recently opened Battle Of The Atlantic Garden, the Victoria Cross walk, the Blitz sculpture and the sundial presented by the RCIS. Fittingly, as we left the churchyard, the Liver clocks showed the time at 13:40! A short way up Chapel Street took us to Exchange Flags. Here we saw memorials to the Exchange Newsroom and Cotton Exchange staff who perished in the wars. Pride of place here was the Nelson memorial, also doubling as the ventilation outlet for the Western Approaches War Room below. Leaving the square, we walked along Castle Street to see the Sanctuary Stone before making our way to Mathew Street. We were transported back to the Sixties at the Wall Of Fame, with sculptures of John Lennon, Four Lads Who Shook The World, Cilla Black, “From Us To You” (Beatles again), and Carl Jung. In Stanley Street we saw Eleanor Rigby (with the Liverpool Echo now returned) and then finished round the corner in Whitechapel to see and hear about the secrets of the Brian Epstein Statue. We were too big a group to find a place to eat together, so split up for lunch (and to lubricate my vocal chords!). Thanks for listening.

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