The Liverpool Times

Plenty of memories of Kirkby here!

As promised here is a gallery of 57 of the teachers from the old St Kevins School in Kirkby.

The gallery of individual teachers is taken from a photo of the staff, taken in July of 1985.

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A founding father of Kirkby’s educational golden years

A while back, we received an email which reported on the death of Mr Master’s as many of us lads in Kirkby knew him. I’m not why we never got to confirm it, maybe it was just one of those times when we were fending off legal shenanigans on The Kirkby Times. Sadly, a lot of material has been held back through the legal troubles, as it were.

Mr Masters, or Ken, passed away on the 27th November 2005.

This particular article is a belated obituary, which will certainly grow over time. To this end we can fill in the details as we go along and celebrate the life of Mr Master’s and pay tribute to his efforts here in Kirkby.

We will also learn a lot about his life, which was extraordinary, although he himself would dismiss such talk and lay claim to being an ordinary man who just happened to be in charge of the largest boy’s school in the UK. Kirkby was lucky to have him and a lot more like him.

We could do with 1000 Ken Masters being set loose in the schools of today. Some of the teachers who served under his tenure, would testify that most pupils knew were the line was drawn.

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Some classics!

By the grace of God, and the wonders of a scanner, we have been forwarded some good photos of St Kevin’s with perhaps more to come.

Several photos are now in our possession, and as a special treat for the many former pupils of St Kevin’s Catholic Boys Comprehensive, we’ve got a special gallery lined up with the faces of some 57 faces from the common room – all the staff as it were!

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Ever have the feeling, we’re being fobbed off?

Recent reports of a smell perhaps drifting over from Europe was reported in all the media outlets. The smell was said to be manure being spread on various European farms and the tabloids cheerfully and ignorantly poked fun at the ‘EU Smell’.

Sources from the Met Office indicated that the smell “was agricultural or industrial works’ smells swept over from north-west Europe by strong easterly winds.”

Bear in mind that industrial pollution in Europe (especially East Europe) is on the rise, party due to economic revivals of some nations, flush with EU funds, new industries mushrooming in the big cities and forgotten urban areas - just like we used to be.

Either way, it stands to reason that if a source of pollution can travel hundreds of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, then any town that happens to live next to some major source of pollution is in a lot more trouble.

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The forthcoming council elections on May 1st promise to be the most interesting in years in Liverpool and debura of nosily!

Nulab rule Knowsley, while the Liberal Democrats are the majority party in Liverpool.

With only a third of the Council seats up for grabs, it is likely the only real change will be in Liverpool. There may be a swing away from the Lib Dems helped in no small way by the Liverpool Echo’s overblown story of the Mathew Street festival that never was. The Echo’s key new labour cheerleader, Ian Hernon, can also be relied upon to spin the extreme right wing policies of his beloved London based party.

In the midst of the harshest economic recession in over two decades, the Echo’s almost hysterical coverage of the Mathew Street problem pales into insignificance to the plight of millions of people buckling under new labour’s punitive taxes.

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Time to get rid of this filthy polluting factory owned by criminals.

The past week has been a bad one as far as the pollution from Sonae is concerned. The smell of that filthy factory once again spread itself over Kirkby, with Northwood as usual faring the worse due to the close proximity.

The world could actually get a glimpse of Sonae as the Grand National event took place. As the horses ran around the track, the camera caught the chimney with its cloud of God knows what pouring from it 24/7, apart from yearly maintenance, accidents and perhaps another explosion. The actual smell from Sonae can reach Aintree if the winds prevail.

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In 2005 the Kirkby Times drew a prophetic comparison between the two despotic leaders of Knowsley Council, and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe had threatened his fellow Africans with starvation if they didn’t vote for his tyrannical regime.

Locally, whilst operating with legal impunity, the old leader of the politically rotten borough of Knowsley was keeping power by securing votes in return for giving living allowances to his coterie of Councillors.

Cllr J Keight, a firm favourite of new labour, operated a system that was more suited to medieval times.

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Almost owned.

On April 15th (the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster), a few door locks were perhaps broken as Merseyside police moved in on those involved with the murder of Rhys Jones and the subsequent cover up by those surrounding the child murderer.

Twelve people all in all, were arrested on Tuesday with another arrested the following day.
Good news comes today as we hear that a 17-year-old has now been charged with the murder of Rhys Jones.

Named so far are Gary Kayes, 25, and Melvyn Coy, 24, both of Croxteth. Three youths, aged 15, 16 and 17, have also been charged with assisting an offender. The killer is not being named as of yet, due to ‘legal restrictions’.

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God, give us strength to fight for Justice.

There is no visible memorial for the Hillsborough Football Disaster in Kirkby. We lost a few good people here, yet the community has no real leadership which sees events such as Hillsborough or the murder of James Bulger as issues which deserve to be taken on-board as commitments in recognition of local opinion.

There are a few mosaics commemorating our past in Kirkby, on the path from Centre 63 up to Mill Farm in Towerhill. But the last time I looked, there was some wear and tear and, sadly, the inevitable vandalism.

There were Hillsborough memorials made back in 1989.

The graffiti that went up then and over the years was a memorial of sorts. Various schools and community centres certainly made their own memorials at the time and everyone joined in with collections. I wonder perhaps if some memorials made in 89 are still stored away. Perhaps some paintings, drawings, carvings or embroidery.

You know there were poems, stories, accounts and reflections.

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At Kirkby Civic Suite

From the KRAG website…

“Local Council Election Special in the Kirkby Civic Suite on Monday, 28th April 2008 at 6.45pm.

Kirkby Residents Action Group (KRAG) is holding a public meeting for all residents of Kirkby, to question candidates standing in the forthcoming local council elections. If you would like to take the opportunity to question election candidates come along to the meeting.

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A voice of reason has spoken to the nation, from Kirkby.

Few websites generally add a line such as “I wish I was in a bulldozer, heading towards parliament, or Sonae [add your place of special interest here]. We generally take that line, because people in Kirkby are not backward in coming forward to condemn the rich and powerful. We’d seem strange if we did not speak out against the rich.

Liverpool has never really been a city that compromised on the rights of the people who live here. More than anything else, our opposition to the excesses of the rich and powerful has been the greatest thing to emerge from the city.

So, it’s not surprising that a local women from Kirkby, a grandmother, has thrown down the gauntlet and applied for planning permission to demolish the home of Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.

Seems like a natural thing to do, under the circumstances which prevail here right now.

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More news on the Kirkby connection with the good people of Malaysia.

As reported on The Kirkby Times (here) there was a teacher training college in Kirkby which a number of Malaysian students headed to back in the 1950s. Many of these young students, went on to take up important positions in the post British colonial Malaysia, and the country today is, by many standards, a true success story.

A Mr Zainal Arshad, Kirkby 1954-56, wrote an article which can be read at the link above. The article is interesting and worth a read if you’ve not already done so. Thankfully more news of the Kirkby Malaysia connection is out there on a blog kept by one of he former students of the college, now an active pensioner, righting wrongs and writing online.

The article on the Kotastar blog refers to Kirkby in the way we like to see people refer to us - in a positive light! But below is a reminder of the previous published article from Mr Arshad.

“The name Kirkby is still very well-known in Malaysia. In fact the former students still meet from time to time although many of us have passed on. As one Kirkbyite wrote, “Kirkby is an emotional landmark that will not fade. It will remain forever in our memory and our heart. It will be remembered fondly for as long as we live”. Zainal Arshad

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Plus, the police mobile phone numbers.

“rich men can do anything. We rule the world and we can do anything. There is nothing beyond us.” Felix Dennis, 60’s flower power ‘hippy’, radical ‘activist’ and ‘ex’ crackhead, ‘ex’ skaghead, now worth £750 million.

A recent spate of damage to and thefts from cars in Northwood, Kirkby saw several residents hit in the same night. The cars had windows smashed, and some had windows removed. Radios and other goods were taken.

It is thought that the thieves used a car for their getaway. The odds are that the car itself was robbed. The lads themselves will be local; after all, Kirkby is not really the sort of town outsiders come to rob unless they are wearing a suit.

Most people with car insurance; will take such a loss themselves. Claiming for the repairs for a smashed window will ruin the ‘no claims’ bonus which can add up to a tidy saving. Therefore, people will pay for the damage out of their own pockets.

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Lads with penknives, shock horror, and so on.

More memories of Kirkby, with penknives and knives, splits, tree knife, swings, Mill Pond rafts, Geronimo ! and the Swiss Army Knife, coolest knife a lad could own!

These enlightened times we live in are not the best times for children. Things have changed beyond recognition as far as the average childhood goes.

Take knives for instance.

Today, most of us see knives in a negative sense and few boys own penknives, or would be able to own or collect several little knives.

As I recall, nobody really felt uneasy due to the fact that almost every lad in Kirkby would have owned a penknife at some point in their lives and carried it. Many lads would never be without the penknife, and nobody panicked if one of the lads got a knife out and started whittling a bit of wood, shaping it into a point or picked the dirt from the fingernails.

Many men also carried a little penknife or knife.

Knives were handy to have and boys generally expressed an interest in a well made penknife, tools and weapons in general. Nobody thought it odd and the nanny state was not there to wag a finger at us as if any interest in weapons per se tagged us up as the next serial killer.

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Memories of Kirkby

The recent posts from Hacyon Daze are a remarkable flashback to a Kirkby now buried forever beneath concrete.

The area now known as old rough wood was, in the 1950s thick woodland that stretched all the way to St Chad’s church relived only by a narrow road, now the five lane County road. The Water tower stood above this huge area of woodland.

It was demolished in 1965. And in 2000 the cobbled road that led to the tower was dug up and removed – without the permission of the owners United Utilities - during the pillage of Kirkby when developers where given a free hand by the man (Cllr J Keight )) who put Kirkby up for sale and gave land away for next to nothing.

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After reading the many articles and reports written about Sonae, on this website and many others, regarding its wood dust fume emitting production plants, my heart went out to the people of Kirby and beyond.

Their nightmare continues and their lives devastated all for the sake of company profits.

By the time the public and the relevant authorities finally wake up and realise the true extent of the damage done, possible deaths caused, the lives ruined, the likes of Sonae and other wood composite board manufacturers will be long gone. Leaving behind a truly horrific unimaginable legacy, a trail of destruction, equalled only maybe by that previously trodden sadly by the many asbestos victims.

‘Wood dust’ per se is officially classified as carcinogenic as is Formaldehyde and Silica! Wood composite boards, often made from toxic recycled waste wood, contain a cocktail of many toxic poisons in the waste wood, resins, glue’s, within their composition. When they are then laminated, veneered and coated then more toxic substances are added to the highly toxic ‘sandwich’.

Producing, machining and sawing this stuff will make people seriously ill, disabled and will kill. Carcinogens are killers. Cancer kills people! Carcinogenic means there are no safe levels. You cannot breathe in or ingest a safe amount. Also, your body takes in these toxic substances in other ways too, your skin for example, is your body’s largest breathing organ not your lungs.

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