“The Belllllzzzzzz`”

Many thanks to all the Bell Ringers at St Mary`s Church here in Hale Village, and especially Miss Ruth Hilton for inviting and allowing me to take a number of photographs of them practicing on Thursday night (24.05.07). I must admit,, the last time I went up St Mary`s Church Tower, was probably when I was around 6 or 10 years young, in the mid 1970`s,, and that was with one of the teachers from Hale School back then,,Mr Smith (remember him??(R.I.P) who took our class up way back then, on Ascension Day..

I must say,, that during the evening, this group of skilled bell-ringers really did open my eyes to what they do and the skill involved. So the next time you hear the bells ringing out from St Mary`s Church,, remember there is more to it than just pulling on a bit of rope.

While in the belfry, I was amazed to hear and see how the bells are rung, so that the lovely sounds you hear on wedding days and practice nights,, echo across our historical village.

While up in the bell ringing area, it is was quite obvious, that with all the artifacts proudly displayed on the walls and in cases,, that there is so much history that many of us could be unaware of. It was overwhelming to be up there listening to the wonderful bells ringing out, watching,, and listening to the bell-ringers communicate with each other of how and when to ring certain bells.

Click on thumbnails to view a larger image

Gotcha`

Many thanks to Vin and his sharp shooting camera skills, in finally managing to snap our little grey squirrel friend in Hale Woods today.

As mentioned the other day in a blog entery, I wasn`t quick enough in priming my camera to get a good photograph of the squirrel that I spotted behind the walled garden of Hale Hall.

Fortunately Vin has managed to get a good photo of it, while he was out on one of his daily walks around Hale Village..

Hale Freemens Parade 2007

Sunday 20th May 2007 saw the Hale Freemens Parade take place through Hale Village.

From around 10.15 am, Freemen, Guildswomen, The Carnival Rose Queen and a marching band gathered at Tec9 on Hale Road from where the procession would leave and march through Hale Village. Once everyone was ready the parade set off along Hale Road, onto the High Street through Church End and finally arriving at St Marys Church on Church Road for a special service.

After the hour-long service the procession re-assembled and marched from St Mary`s on Church Road to the Park Entrance on the High Street. Once the procession came to a halt by the Ireland Blackburne Park Gates, Lord Mayor of Hale Mr Mal Sutton invited everyone to his residence of Hale Hall Gardens for refreshments.

For those who took up Mals offer, a very nice, enjoyable and pleasant afternoon was had by all. There was plenty to drink and eat for most of the afternoon, including a very well prepared and run barbeque.

To round the day off,, the marching band played one or two tunes to the Freemen and Guildswomen in the courtyard of Hale Hall Gardens.

I would like to thank Mal for the invitation to this event, at his lovely home of Hale Hall gardens. I would also like to sincerely thank those friends and villagers present, who allowed me to take so many photographs of them during the procession and of them in the grounds of Hale Hall Gardens.

My thanks also go to Vin for taking so many fantastic photographs during the morning of the procession from Tec9 to St Marys Church.

Thank you.

William

You can see more photographs of the above events, on the main Hale Village Online Website, by navigating to the Public Events Photo Gallery 2007

To view a larger version of any of the above photogrpahs, simply click on the one of  your choice.

Monday evening in Hale Village Hall

Monday evening saw two functions take place in the village Hall on the High Street, although very brief, the presentation and awarding titles of Guildswomen and the AGM of Hale Parish Council

The first function was the awarding of the title of Guildswomen to two lady`s from Hale Village. Ron Crawford presented and announced the awards followed by photographs taken of the event. The first lady to be honoured was Beryl Andrews.   Beryl has been involved with various voluntary groups in Hle, such as the Playschool and a founder member of Hale Ladies group.

The second lady to be given title Guildswomen was Alison Jones. Alison is currently a member of Hale Parish Council, and has been for several years, she is also credited with the introduction of the Speed Watch scheme and Road Safety measures.

The second function to take place was the AGM of Hale Parish Council.. The meeting followed on from the Guildswomens presentations after a short break.

During the start of the AGM,, the election of Chairman and Vice Chair took place, this part of the meeting was conducted by the Clerk.

Elected as Chairman of Hale Parish Council 2007-2008 was Ron Crawford, this was followed by the election of Mrs Patricia Price as the Vice Chair of Hale Parish Council 2007-2008.

More information will be online in the Hale Parish Council pages concerning the rest of the AGM. You will be able to view the minutes of the meeting in due course,, by entering the main Hale Village Online website and navigating to the Hale Parish Council “minutes” pages.

John Lennon Liverpool Airport/Champions League Final

Liverpool Football Club are playing AC Milan in Athens on the 23rd of May 2007 in the UEFA Champions League Final.  If you do not follow or understand Football it is the highlight of the European season and represents a considerable achievement for Liverpool Football Club to qualify, and a big bobus for the region.  This presents the airport with the challenge of transporting 15.000 fans to Athens and back.

There will be 61 extra departures from Monday to Wednesday morning to transport the fans and team to Athens.  Seven of these additional flights will be using Boeing 747 aircraft.  These are considerably larger than the Boeing 737 aircraft that Ryanair use on a daily basis and many of the aircraft used this coming week will not be regular visitors to Liverpool.

A proportion of the aircraft going to Athans will be arriving and departing during theearly hours of the morning especially on the night of the 22nd and the morning of the 23rd of May 2007.

This represents a considerable increase in the numbers of fans leaving from Lohn Lennon Airport when compared to the exodus of fans to Istanbul two years ago, when 10.000 fans set off from 40 flights.

In order to accomodate ths dramatic increase in passengers and aircraft the Airport Company is bringing  in additional equipment and staff.  The main highlights being:

• The hiring of a number of large marquees to set up additional check-in, refreshments and toilet facilities, located in what would be normally the car hire area adjacnet to the terminal.
• 20 extra check-in desks to be located in the marquees.
• 8 extra check-in desks to be located adjacent to the !Arrivals” area in the terminal building.
• 5 additional sets of secruity screening equipment.
• Additional staff to be brought in from Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports as well as other Peel airports.
• 15 additional coaches to transfer people passengers to and from aircraft.

In addition, Arriva who operate a number of services to JLA from across the region intend to operate many services throughout the night to assist passengers and staff acces, with the majority of the flights due to depart in the early hours of the morning.

Amongst others this coming week, there is the inaugural flight to New York from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the opening of the Legends Exibition.

New York

On Friday the 25th of May, Yoko Ono will visit John Lennon Airport to celebrate the departure of the first scheduled flight to JFK Airport, New York with Flyglobespan.

The aircraft to be used by the airline on this route has been specially painted with the Airports logo including the famous self portrait drawing by John Lennon and strapline “above us only sky”, the aircraft is  a boeing 757, similar to that used by Britania Airways on a daily basis.

Legends Exhibition Launched

Legends is an exhibition of more than 100 photographs of rock and sports stars taken by legendary North West photographer Harry Goodwin.  The exhibition includes images of the Beatles, stars from the Rock and Roll era of the 60`s and 70`s, sporting superstars and celebrities from the North West of England, many taken during his time as official Top of the Pops photographer and will be on display in the Airport Departure Lounge