The banner on a block of flats said "Welcome to 1976 Carnival at Alcatraz" but the actual place was Netherley, the bleak council estate where people often felt like prisoners. During one week in August, though, Netherley suddenly came to life and its carnival was a...
The NHS watchdogs that were allowed to bark but not bite
In 1974 the government established local Community Health Councils (CHCs) throughout the country as part of a reorganisation of the NHS. Their role was to monitor health services and represent the views of patients and the public. By law, they had to be consulted...
Filming the community: Old Swan festival, 1976
Old Swan was a rather drab and ordinary part of Liverpool that traffic whizzed through with no particular reason to stop. For a few days in 1976, though, it became an extraordinary place where residents held a community festival described as “an explosion of colour...
The Civic Centre fiasco
By the 1960s Liverpool corporation was operating from 49 different buildings, dotted around the city. Many of the staff worked in antiquated offices, often in crowded conditions, and this provided the cue (or a least the excuse) for an over-ambitious project to bring...
Concrete is beautiful: the Shankland master-plan
In the early 1960s Liverpool’s council was seeking to redevelop the city— especially its centre — on more modern lines. The Planning Department was not yet established, so the council decided to hire a consultant. The man chosen for the task — by a panel of university...
Recent posts
The Bridewell and the Boys from the Blackstuff
Much of Alan Bleasdale’s acclaimed TV drama was filmed at a former police station on Prescot Street.
Scotland Road Free School
Come to school when you want and do what you like. The Free School was a bold experiment in classroom democracy that didn’t work out.
Police, drugs and ‘agriculture’ in Toxteth
In 1971 there were two notable court cases where black men accused of possessing cannabis were acquitted after claiming police had planted it.
The battle to save Fisher Bendix
The Fisher Bendix factory in Kirkby had been built with government help to ease unemployment in the area. It wasn’t a success and in 1972 when the owners tried to shut it down workers occupied the factory in an effort to save their jobs. Three years later they began running it themselves.
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