- Review of the
Year
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Locally this year, politics have remained much the same, except in
Liverpool were the Conservatives were frozen out of Liverpool City
Council. LINK
Chapel Street Pedestrianisation was the topic of discussion in
Southport, in January, as concerned residents and shopkeepers
questioned Sefton's plans for the road. LINK
On 5 March 2002, the government announced
"Improved facilities for pupils with disabilities across
England." This spelt the end of a facility in Birkdale
in 2003. Founded in 1948, the Birkdale School for Hearing Impaired
Children closed its doors in the summer for the last time, after a
fight held over the first half of the year to save it from closure,
had failed. LINK
Also this year, more controversy was caused by yet another closure.
The local Southport hospital‘s A&E stopped taking children and
this resulted in the biggest demonstrations the town has ever seen.
The anger is still felt in the town and groups fight to get the
children's services back to Southport as 2004 comes near. Most
maternity services were also transferred to Ormskirk. LINK
On April 22, work commenced, as the result of another contentious
decision, this time in Formby. It was the demolition of Formby's
Council Offices that were built in 1926 and completed in 1927. The
building was being demolished to make way for a controversial
development of 85 retirement flats. LINK
On 5 April, Liverpool's official bid document to become European
Capital of Culture in 2008, was lifted off, in a specially chartered
helicopter, from the Pier Head. With strong competition from other
UK cities, the bid was in the balance. Bookies had Liverpool down as
the third likely to win! LINK
The bookies’ views were proven wrong and celebrations on
Merseyside were in abundance as the Capital of Culture Bid 2008
results were announced on 4 June. Liverpool had been awarded the
prestigious status. LINK.
This euphoria was to continue throughout the year, as more and more
preparations were put in place. Many more plans were being announced
for 2008 and the build up.
In Southport, despite a fantastic start to the tourist year, the
season never quite peaked, being somewhat overshadowed by
Liverpool's celebrations. A lot of the major events had the same
fate… rain and lots off it. From the Flower Show, LINK,
to the Air Show, LINK,
to the Classic Car Rally, all were hit by the elements. Despite that
the shows still brought fantastic crowds in and lots of waterproofs.
The sick joke is that 2003 had record temperatures reaching
well over 30°Cand we also had record amounts of sun. This packed
out the beaches, but it was to be short lived. LINK.
Re-opened, the Pier was packed out on its open weekend, as ‘The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ took to the sands.
The Southport Charity carnival was run for the last time, by the
original committee, and was very successful.” Well done” to that
committee and “Good luck” to the new one. We hope it goes from
strength to strength. On the subject of carnivals, Liverpool's
carnival was also a fantastic success.
2003 has been a good year for us (Southport Reporter) when it came
down to music. We got loads of top name stars like Suzanne Vaga, LINK,
all lining up for exclusive interviews with us. We even obtained
exclusive photographs at some gigs, like at the Cris Rea concert. LINK.
The Summer Pops were another huge achievement in Liverpool. LINK
This event was shortly followed by the best ever Beatles’
Festival, LINK,
which even had a wedding!
Southport’s Jazz
Festival, LINK,
proved another hit and the first ever May Southport Weekender® was
hailed a massive success, when Pontins in Ainsdale was the home to
what was the best ever Weekender.
With
fantastic sun shining down on the party goers,
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DJ's
played in the open. LINK
. After the event had finished, that was not the end of the music in
Southport. A pop concert took place in Victoria Park. Other smaller
events took place live, the best ever ‘North West Search For A
Star’, LINK
that found the winner of the North West Final winning the National
Finals! Also the year
had the first ‘Fame Search For A Star’, held at Pleasureland, LINK
followed by yet another successful competition, this time for the
younger stars, with ‘Junior Fame, Search For A Star’, also held
at Pleasureland.
Then
came another two large music events rounding off the big events for
the year, at Pontins in Ainsdale. The first one was the traditional
November ‘Southport Weekender®’, LINK,
and then the ‘Tribal Gathering Southport’ event followed, LINK,
concluding one of the best musical years yet for the town. As if
that was not enough, we must not neglect to mention Aimee Kearsley
from Southport, the ‘Pop Idol’, who after getting through to the
finals of ‘Pop Idol’, then formed a band called ‘Clea’. They
turned on the Christmas lights, on November 23.
LINK,
This
year has engendered a lot of news about space from 4 February 2003,
when a memorial ceremony was held at NASA/JSC after the Space
Shuttle Columbia had crashed a days before, LINK,
Mars approached the closest its to Earth for 60,000 years on
12 September, and remained a fascinating spectacle for many weeks. LINK,
Mars was very significant to the UK this year.
The Beadle 2, a Lander probe, was to land on it. The probe,
built in the UK by the Open University, was to touch down on the red
planet on Christmas Day, but after a successful journey and a
successful separation from the obiter, disaster was to strike.
Beadle 2, failed to transmit and after attempts to receive a
transmission failed on Boxing Day, all the scientists can do is wait
until January 2004, in the hopes the obiter might pick up the signal
from the Lander.
Southport also joined joining another group of cities, linked by an
international problem which affected London, New York, Rome and
other places… the problem was of power, or we should say lack
of…. With much of Southport being plunged in to darkness, on
several occasions, electrical problems were of prime interest.
Onto the good news again. Southport's Rugby League Club moved home
ground from Hightown Cricket Club to Southport Rugby Union ground,
and this brought with it a change of look for the team, seeing them
start the season well. Rugby
Union also had a good year. In
Waterloo, the opening of their new stand co-incided with the
historic England Win on the 27 November. LINK,
A nice twist to this was that the winning team, was not only
English, but also contained several ex Waterloo Rugby Club team
members.
The Clipper Race 2002 finished in Liverpool on the 29 September. LINK
Clipper 2002 winners were Jersey, but Liverpool came in third. Good
news came in about the Clipper race, later in the year. Liverpool
was confirmed as the home of the next 2 races after the owners were
so impressed by the magnificent start and finish that the city gave
the race. Also this year, in Southport, the 24 Hour Yacht race, was
for the first time not open to public.
Despite this, the event was the best yet, even though the
wind was not very strong. LINK
At the time of the race 2003, whilst fireworks were branded by some
as public enemy number one, Southport’s show still pulled in large
crowds. The dazzling display at this Musical Fireworks 2003 lit up
the skies above the town and illuminated the Yachts for the first
ever time as they raced around the lake. LINK
With regard to transport this year, on Monday 20 October, Richard
Branson unveiled his new revolutionary trains, at Lime Street
Station. They are marked as the future of rail travel in the UK. LINK
Also on the topic of transport, Liverpool Airport had record numbers
of passengers using it and had to expand its terminal baggage
capacity. LINK
On
a more unusual note, 2003 saw Southport’s first Gay” Wedding”,
well “affirmation”. It was held on the 5 December, at Southport
Town Hall. LINK
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