Was it just me, or back in those days did New Brighton (NB)seem like another nation entirely, compared to Birkenhead? I recall waiting to catch a bus, (was it a number 9?) to NB, did they still have those very pale cream buses in 1972/73? They were cleatrly very different, had a look of desert camouflage about them. May well have been travelling to Florence, apart from that city did not have
Brummie holiday makers sitting on deck chairs surround by oil stained rocks looking at passing tankers saying 'grate ere aint it'
Yes NB still attracted the tourists in those days.
I Remember when i was a kid they used to say if you dropped a
penny in Wallasey you had to kick it all the way home to
Birkenhead you could not bend down to pick it up as you were taking a chance ?
I Remember when i was a kid they used to say if you dropped a
penny in Wallasey you had to kick it all the way home to
Birkenhead you could not bend down to pick it up as you were taking a chance ?
Unlikely anyone from Birkenhead dropping a penny cos we all know it would of hit them on the back of the head in their quickness to pick it up!!!
Not me, it had already been spent on McGowan's Highland toffee :)) now there's a memory.
..think it was a 9,10, or 11 bus that went up to New Brighton in those days - least ways over Duke St.
Don't know about comparisons with Florence. Venice, more like, seeing as the river used to smell so much! Much better now, of course.
Ah yes the Venice of the North, although Birmingham clais that too
So twas the Number 9/10, glad to know my fragmentary memory is holding up, just.
As to stinking rivers, surely you mean that one the Number 28 used to go over, en route to Bromborough, near Lever Brothers. What a foul aroma that kicked out, during those days.
I think the nr 9 went to Seacombe. Deffo 10 and 11 to NB. The Wallasey bus colour was billed as pea green I think.
Yellow.
As to stinking rivers, surely you mean that one the Number 28 used to go over, en route to Bromborough, near Lever Brothers. What a foul aroma that kicked out, during those days.
That's Bromborough Pool. I agree about the smell but I don't think it was from the water, rather from Lever's factory. You usually smelled it there because of the prevailing westerly wind, but if the wind was from the East, you smelled it over Bebington.
The Mersey was an open sewer in those days. The rocks at New Brighton were more grey than green, and you took your life in your hands if you went in for as much as a paddle. I repeat - 'paddle', not piddle!!
At least you can walk on the beach now without having to wade through fat-balls. And by fat-balls I mean balls of fat, not swollen gonads...!
I seem to recall that water as being a bright toxic green colour, as seen from the top deck of the bus.
I definitely recall seeing coaches from the Midlands in NB and folks on deck-chairs taking in the view of passing tankers. Bondai Beach eat yer heart out
Great photo, that was the livery alright, they were amazing buses and hopping aboad definitely added to the sense of visiting a different land
I think they changed their colour a touch, as I remember them as looking more like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/3831403632/in/photostream/
Nude Brighton always was very popular, but things went a bit down hill after the tower grounds fire, and the pulling down of the pier.
You'll finds lots of stuff on old N.B, Erainn, just by looking at the history threads on Wiki. Although you know what they say about nostalgia don't you? It's not what it used to be...
The Mersey was an open sewer in those days. The rocks at New Brighton were more grey than green, and you took your life in your hands if you went in for as much as a paddle. I repeat - 'paddle', not piddle!!
At least you can walk on the beach now without having to wade through fat-balls. And by fat-balls I mean balls of fat, not swollen gonads...!
As a young nipper I used to paddle in the Mersey by the pier. One time I came across a condom which I thought was balloon and yes ( remember I said I was very young ) I tried to blow it up. Etched in my memory.
Never look back unless your'e travelling backwards.
Ooooo...
..bet you also thought it was the seaweed and algae that made your feet slip on the rocks?!
haha, not much marine life on rocks at NB in those days
The Mersey was an open sewer in those days. The rocks at New Brighton were more grey than green, and you took your life in your hands if you went in for as much as a paddle. I repeat - 'paddle', not piddle!!
At least you can walk on the beach now without having to wade through fat-balls. And by fat-balls I mean balls of fat, not swollen gonads...!
As a young nipper I used to paddle in the Mersey by the pier. One time I came across a condom which I thought was balloon and yes ( remember I said I was very young ) I tried to blow it up. Etched in my memory.
we told our kids that the condoms were 'snakeskins'. Got away with it for years. Lol.
Never look back unless your'e travelling backwards.
I like that....but am guilty.
I lived on Ormiston Rd ( just above Vaughan Rd ) and about aged 10 I left the house only to see a rat running up the road I took chase and caught up to it on Sandrich Rd. I cornered it and tried to grab it. It turned and bit me. Put me in the Victoria Hozzy for 4 weeks.. My B in L called it The Mark of the Beast.
Yes the Mersey was certainly a river of life.
According to that famous quote by Carl Jung - 'Liverpool is the pool of life'. But I think that even he would have admitted that back then the River Mersey was a lot more like The Dead Sea.
My Brother in Law used to live in Serpentine Road, he and his brother used to swim in the Mersey by the old landing stage. He had fond recollections of Mersey Tadpoles, aka bits of untreated faeces floating by. Never did him any harm!
My Brother in Law used to live in Serpentine Road, he and his brother used to swim in the Mersey by the old landing stage. He had fond recollections of Mersey Tadpoles, aka bits of untreated faeces floating by. Never did him any harm!
I used to swim in it all the time as well. Never did me any harm once I got over the polio! Only joking about the polio. Turds used to float by and condoms by the score. Bit daft really because most people had real fires in those days and it would have been better burning them than putting down the bog. I remember one little lad picking one up by the pier. His father frantically telling him to put it down and him wanting to know what was wrong with the balloon.
The great thing these days is that you can actually see mullet swimming about in the river. Never saw anything like that in my childhood.
Great photo, that was the livery alright, they were amazing buses and hopping aboad definitely added to the sense of visiting a different land
I think they changed their colour a touch, as I remember them as looking more like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/3831403632/in/photostream/
You are correct but that is a painting or a print so artistic licence I suppose. They went green and cream when MPTE took over I think?
Sure, a sort of pale desert yellow as far as I can recall. certainly exotic compared to MPTE
For the bus lovers
[youtube]kuHP0V60PjU[/youtube]
Brilliant
Wonderful archive footage, grand to see Woodside Station.
All good stuff Bert. Thanks for that. Great to see "real" buses again.
Tight hold. Ding ding!
Remember the jokey Birkenhead conductor, used to say 'HOLD me TIGHT'?
Great pics Bert,thankyou!
The old story about the bus colours was that the painters asked what the colour should be. They were referred to the then Director, whose name was Mr Green. They were told "See green". So they painted the bus fleet in Sea Green, (not Pea green as someone else suggested).
Regarding the "Kick your keys into Wallasey" An unfortunate discovery of the then Mayor of Birkenhead revealed his sexual orientation to be what we now call Gay. He claimed his activities in a field, observed by the police, were entirely innocent as "He was looking for his car keys". He was not generally believed!
Birkenhead was Birkenhead and Wallsaey was Wallasey.
The both had great civic pride as well as their own busses, police, fire, ambulances etc. There was always a friendly rivalry between them. They added colour - blue and yellow for the busses.
I do remember that there was a great anger when both boroughs were abolished and lumped in with that place on the other side of the Mersey (Merseyside)
Tell me if out of order
Your recollections on that are accurate, there was indeed discontent about the 'amalgamation' and loss of distinct Boroughs
