
Spring
2012
Village
Plans Studied
Following
lobbying by the West Derby Society (WDS) over several years, the city council
has drawn up draft plans for improving traffic management in West Derby Village
It is stressed that these plans are based on initial suggestions and are subject
to change.
Most
of the Village is made up of listed buildings and structures and the plans will
help to create a better environment for visitors, residents and businesses.
The
first draft (pictured above and right) includes several improvements suggested
by local councillors, WDS and others.
The
Grade II*-listed Tudor courthouse would be protected from passing vehicles and
vandals by the pavement being built out and a row of metal bollards erected.
The
bus stop could be moved from outside the Courthouse and re-sited by the Co-op
supermarket.
A
Stop sign is planned for the end of
A
meeting of the Village Task Force, chaired by Stephen Twigg MP, discussed the
draft plans on 2 March. The meeting, attended by your chairman, made several
suggested amendments including some from WDS members.

These
included putting the Stop sign by the
Council
officers are now revising the proposals for further discussion.
The
King’s Peace
Alastair
Caird concludes the story of
For
a week in June 1780 the
Eventually,
as no other means of quelling the disturbances - led by Lord George Gordon MP
-was effective, the military was called out and ordered to use the utmost force.
By the time peace was restored, more than 500 people had been killed, 72 private
houses and four goals destroyed. About £1 million worth of damage had been
done. Throughout all of this the peace officers had been of no use at all.
Loud
Denunciation
of the police system was loud and sharp, yet nothing was done to improve the
situation for another five years. In 1785 a Bill was introduced in which it was
proposed that the cities of
Nine
more public offices – later known as police courts – were proposed on the
In
1792, however, an Act was passed reforming public offices. Up to this time the
justices had not received a salary but had made what they could out of fines
-the dirtiest money on earth, Henry Fielding called it. A receiver was appointed
who collected all fines to defray the expenses of the public offices.
Magistrates were put on fixed salaries of £400 per year, a move which helped
more than anything else to remove corruption. Seven new public offices were set
up, each with three magistrates and six constables who were paid 12 shillings a
week and had summary powers of arrest. (All these reforms were based on
Fielding’s reforms at
Officers
In
this strange conglomerate there were no fewer than 3,084 peace officers,
watchmen and patrols. This number was totally inadequate to deal with the volume
of crime and disorder committed in the metropolitan area. One of the main
reasons for this was the fact that the metropolitan magistrates had no powers
permitting them to pursue wrongdoers who fled from their jurisdiction into the
City of
As
time passed, however, small bodies of runners were established at some of the
new public offices. The number of paid constables was increased and their
salaries raised but they were still totally inadequate. In fact the lawlessness
of the great mass of the people was so considerable by the 1820s that Parliament
could no longer ignore the extremely serious situation. In 1828 the Home
Secretary, Robert Peel, set up a House of Commons committee to inquire into it.
The
committee worked quickly and on its recommendations the 1829 Police Bill was
passed. An entirely new system of policing was introduced in the metropolis, a
system which soon spread throughout the country.
The
forces for policing the country and the metropolis existing at the beginning of
the 19th century applied to the whole of
Peculiar
to
Besides
these five different types of peace officer there was a sixth.

Charles
II was faced with the threat of disturbances arising out of attempts to enforce
religious conformity in a 1673 Act. This instituted the parish watchmen –
known as Charleys – and laid down that any citizen might be sworn in as
temporary peace officers on specific occasions, particularly when there was a
threat of great disorder. In instituting these special constables he was, of
course, reiterating the old Anglo Saxon principle of mutual responsibility for
the preservation of the peace. Any citizen could be summoned before the
magistrates and sworn in as a special constable and if he refused to obey, he
was liable to a heavy fine. Though this law had never been repealed, little or
no use had been made of it in the South of England and never in
The
1829 Police Act set up a permanent paid Police Force in only the metropolis.
Despite serious initial opposition, however, the idea and the men soon proved
their worth and within 10 years an almost miraculous transformation in the
policing of the whole country had taken place.
Municipal
The
first partial step in this direction was provided by the 1835 Municipal
Corporations Act. This put municipal government on a popular basis by giving
ratepayers the right to elect members to form a town council to govern the
community. A clause of this very important measure enabled a town council, if it
wished, to appoint a body of paid constables under the direction of a council
committee called a Watch Committee. A number of local authorities did appoint
such paid constables but, while doing good work, these constables did not
constitute a force powerful enough to deal effectively with the policing
problems of a large city, for example. This led to a further development for it
was natural, when other large cities saw the success achieved by the
Metropolitan Police Force, that they would be eager to adopt similar police
forces of their own.
The
City of
Commonly
called the Obligatory Act, it compelled magistrates to establish a police force
for the whole or residue of any county not yet possessing a new constabulary
force.
The
policing of the country now advanced enormously in efficiency.
The
1888 Local Government Act transferred the control of the rural police to
Standing Joint Committees composed of justices in Quarter Sessions and members
of the County Council.
Boroughs
In
the same year all boroughs with populations of less than 10,000 were amalgamated
with the county force.
County
Boroughs, which were either counties in themselves or had a population of more
than 50,000, received a greater measure of autonomy.
Since
the 1900s there have been further developments to keep pace with changing
circumstances and new ways of combating crime have also been introduced.
In
Regular
The
introduction of a regular paid force automatically changed the basic concept of
mutual responsibility on which the preservation of the King’s Peace had rested
for so many centuries.
Indeed
though our law still places upon the individual citizen a duty to assist the
police in preserving the Peace, the ancient principle would have disappeared for
all time but for one thing – the special constable.
He
or she alone among those now responsible for guarding law and order is in direct
descent from the Anglo Saxon headborough and tythingman.
Annual
General Meeting
The
West Derby Society Annual General Meeting was held in Lowlandson
The
Chairman, Stephen Guy opened the meeting at
Apologieswere
received from Cllr Daniel Barrington, Tony Green and deputy chairman Andy
Richardson.
Minutes
of the last AGMheld 19 January
2011: Stephen read the Minutes of the last AGM to the members present.
Matters
Arising: There were no Matters
Arising.
Chairman’s
Report
This
is my 14th yearly report since becoming chairman in 1999 and once
again we look back at an exciting year covering many subjects and activities
associated with our historic area.
Our
speakers in 2011 covered a wide range of themes. First, the Ince Blundell
statues are in the news after the religious order at Ince Blundell Hall
announced controversial plans that could lead to their sale. Back in February
Gina Muskett, from
Our
next two speakers told us about the Brocklebank tug and
Steve
Butler brought a remarkable collection of items seized by Customs and now in the
care of
Barbara
Tasker brought her
Our
evening mystery tour in June took us to Hawarden in
In
July we spent an enjoyable day in Conwy – the journey went quickly and
smoothly unlike the huge hold-ups road travellers had to endure until about 20
years ago. There was lots going on but for me Conwy is about the ancient castle
and town walls.
This
year’s evening trip is on Wednesday 20 June and the day trip on Saturday 7
July [to Buxton]. Please put these dates in your diaries and make
an effort to come. Both trips were quite poorly supported in 2011 and we would
like to see full coaches in 2012.
Looking
at planning issues, we await developments at Alder Hey in particular. The West
Derby Society welcomes the redevelopment of this leading children’s hospital.
However, we have voiced concerns about the relocation of the Grade II-listed
Nelson monument.
The
Society has suggested two alternative sites for the landmark and awaits details
of any proposed move.
We
are awaiting an imminent announcement on the future of the ancient footpath
between
The
West Derby Courthouse had nearly 1,000 visitors in 2011 and reopens again on 1
April. This would not be possible without the
sterling
support of West Derby Society volunteers – well done everyone.
I
have very much enjoyed 2011 as chairman. In December I started a new weekly
column in Saturday’s Liverpool Echo called Merseyside Tales. This is a
vehicle to publicise not only the West Derby Society but also
I
will end by thanking members of the committee for their work in the past year
and all those Society members who have helped and volunteered.
This
year marks the 35th anniversary of the founding of our Society and we
look forward to another 12 months celebrating and supporting the history and
environment of
Thank
you.
Treasurer’s
Report:
INCOMING
£
Subscriptions
700.00
Misc
52.30
Donations
126.00
TOTAL
878 .30
OUT-GOING
Hire
of Hall 180.00
Speakers
150.00
Print
/ Post / Stationery 30.24
Misc
368.32
Donations
13.00
TOTAL
741.56
WDS
had a good financial year so we were able to have some leaflets printed as this
would help us recruit new members. This seemed to work. We also had another good
year selling our books and magazines – thank you.
I
transferred £498.04 in July from the Community Account into
The
coach trips together cost £700 and we made a loss of £269 as both coaches were
just over half full. We had a raffle which made £53 therefore reducing the loss
to £216 which is still quite high. Let’s hope we can all make the trips this
year.
Community
Account balance year ending 2011: £607.93
Giving
WDS a grand total of £3,610.28
Thank
you.
Stephanie
Grogan
Hon
Treasurer
Election
of Officers : All Officers stood
down and offered themselves for re-election. All were re-elected unanimously.
Any
Other Business: There was no Other
Business.
The
meeting closed at
There
followed the Chairman’s Talk which on this occasion was an illustrated mystery
tour of the general Liverpool area, where great local knowledge was produced by
members guessing the locations displayed.
FARMERS’
MARKET
A
farmer’s market is planned in the
Sefton Arms car park on
FOOTPATH
UPDATE
Eleven
objections have been lodged to the proposed closure of the ancient footpath
running from
WDS,
the Peak and Northern Footpath Society, Ramblers Association and local residents
have lodged objections. The city council wants to close this public amenity,
enjoyed by generations of walkers, because it claims the path is not needed and
is under-used. It is now organising consultation meetings in a bid to breach the
impasse.
WDS
is advised that the only grounds for closing a path are if there is an
alternative or if the existing path serves no useful purpose – neither of
which applies in this case.
Chairman’s
Comments
I
am currently doing a series of talks
called Paths in Time for Andy Ball’s Saturday morning Radio Merseyside
show.
The
idea is for people to take time to walk around their environment and become
engaged in their surroundings.
We
can look at a landscape or townscape in a number of ways – the architecture,
plants, trees and perspectives, for example.
What
I am trying to do is take people back, in their minds, to earlier times that
shaped the appearance of areas as they appear today.
I’ve
noticed that an increasing number of people on the streets (and elsewhere) are
not engaged with their surroundings.
Phones
This
is because they are operating their mobile phones or ipods. I use Twitter and
Facebook and can understand how some people can become almost obsessed.
There
is already an identifiable condition called FAD – Facebook Addiction Disorder.
The
sufferer cannot spend more than 10 minutes away from their computer for fear of
missing something.
The
Sunday Post carried a story about a 31-year-old man who neglected his
family and himself because of FAD.
Facebook
is a fun way to keep in touch (WDS and Lowlandsare on it) but the site is
not the be-all and end-all.
It
is a wonderful world out there and we should all get out and enjoy our
environments.
We
know from recent experience that there are people who want to close some time-honoured
rights of way.
For
every footpath or bridlepath that is shut down, a corresponding proportion of
our quality of life goes with it. Stephen Guy