Latest News

On this page you can find news of forthcoming events and records of what the Society has been doing.
Go to the Archive page to see "old news".

John Moss of Otterspool in Liverpool is not a name that springs immediately to mind when the world famous Liverpool-Manchester railway is mentioned. Yet he was vital to its success. Graham Trust, in his talk on January 31st went as a far as to say that without Moss's financial and business acumen the whole enterprise might never have happened - and world transport history might have been very different. But John Moss was influential in other fields too. As a slave owner in Demerara (in present-day Guyana)and a significant sugar producer, he was active in the improvement of working conditions and instrumental in the eventual abolition of slavery itself. Graham's talk, which he felt was very apt in Rainhill, in a building a few hundred yards from the site of Stephenson's success with the Rocket, was attended by this season's biggest audience.

The speaker for the meeing on 27th March, John Shawcroft, is not now able to give his talk. We are arranging a replacement speaker and details will be posted as soon as we have them.

Unfortunately there had to be a change of programme for the meeting on 6th December, as the advertised speaker was unable to be present. Instead of hearing about the Titanic, the audience listened to Mike Carter, a former Chairman of the Society, talk about his 60 years in public service. As a chief executive of a local authority, Mike was privy to many decisions whose effects are still evident, and he had anecdotes to tell about well known figures in public life. The evening closed with wine and mince pies.

Our 1940s event, held on 5th November, 2011, was a great success. Well over 700 people came and they were able to see tableaux of typical rooms of the 40s. Members of the Society even dressed in the styles of the time. There were full houses at all three showings of "Smiling Through" the audio-visual presentation with sound recordings and pictures of Rainhill people's war time memories.You can see some pictures taken during the day by following the "1940s" link at the left of this page.

Linda and Sonnie Sa, of the Wirral Vikings Society, taught us a lot about the Vikings when they spoke to the Society on Tuesday, 25th October. Although Viking men were an agressive bunch when abroad, at home they were ruled by the women. Viking society was, nevertheless, a partnership between men and women, but everyday life revolved around decisions made by women. Linda drew parallels with modern day attitudes, and teased today's men with talk of their inability to multi task and blinkered single mindedness. In Viking times these attributes were vital to the protection of the community and the nurturing women depended on the macho men to keep families safe. Vikings brought to Britain much of our culture and many of our customs. The first Parliament was a Viking one in Wirral.

Although the Society is hugely concerned with life in Rainhill now, we also have an interest in what happened here in the past. On Saturday, 5th November we will be giving a taste of life in the 1940s, with an exhibition in the St Ann's centre from 10 am to 4 pm. Everything from weddings to domestic memorabilia will be depicted through objects lent to us by local residents. There is free entry and light refreshments.

Our Oral History project is also well underway and plans are being made for further sound recordings. If you would like to help with this project, either by making a recording of your own Rainhill memories or helping with the practical side, such as transcribing or scanning relevant pictures, please contact us, in the first instance by email to rainhill.civic@gmail.com

Take a look at the "Rainhill Remembered" pages if you've not been there recently. You can now search an index of those who have contributed, so finding long-lost friends is much easier. And speaking of memories, our Tuesday afternoon series of get-togethers starts again on 13th September at 1.30 in the St Ann's Centre. They happen every second Tuesday of the month. A cup of tea and a chat about Rainhill is what it's about. We've learned a lot about the Village since the first one last February and your memory might be just the one to trigger off a new line of thought, so come along if you're in Rainhill.

This year's winner was Linda Whittle. Second was John Atherton and joint third were entries from Janet Bowen and Ray Rigby. You can see pictures of the winning gardens by clicking the link on the left.

The repeat of March's successful history course is now underway at the Manor Farm pub. The second lecture is on Thursday, 29th September

If you've ever put a message on our old Rainhillians contact page (see link at left) could you please check that your email address is still valid? They do go out of date and it can be a bit frustrating if long-lost acquaintances can't get in touch after seeing your name on the page.

The Society's display, which has been in the old HSBC bank building for about a year, has now been removed as the new occupants are preparing to move in. The changing display was a great talking point in the Village and served us well in generating publicity for events such as the book launch and the Rainhill Remembered sessions. Thanks go to Anne, Judy, Ann-Veronica and Christine for ideas and hands-on work to set up and maintain the display. The building is to become an ice cream and coffee shop. Sadly, no sign of a cash machine to replace the lost bank one which, considering the size of the population and the busy activity in the Village centre, is inexplicable.

Ambitious plans are taking shape to create a sound archive based on recorded memories of local people. We've made a good start with about 12 hours of material, some of which was made into an audio-visual presentation given at the AGM and at other gatherings. Now, thanks to funding from The Grassroots Fund and St Helens Listen Fund, we are able to take things much further. We are in contact with the Noorthwest Sound Archive and other expert groups in the field. We are still looking for more local people with memories of Rainhill they are happy to share. We are also arranging informal training for people who would like to help the project in practical ways. Contact civicsound@gmail.com if you would like to contribute in any way or would like to know more.

The get-togethers in recent months have gone well, with quite a collection of people chatting and reminiscing about Rainhill. These events now take place on the second Tuesday of each month in the St Ann's Centre.

It was a collection of small settlements with no central identity, but what is now St Helens grew with industrialisation to become a centre of manufacturing and to be a sizeable town. So Chris Coffey told us at our January meeting. Glass, coal and chemicals were the mainstay of the town for years, while agriculture thrived in the surrounding area. Modern St Helens retains much of its heritage, and Chris showed us pictures of a wide selection of local sights.

The course held at Manor Farm on 1st and 15th March, 2011 was a great success. If you are interested in joining a repeat course, if one is arranged, please email the Society. Any future course will depend on the availabliity of the lecturer. (See above)

On a very cold evening, the 7th December, a good number of members and visitors turned out to hear Ann Davey give a fascinating insight into quilting. She showed examples of very skillfully worked quilts, made by herself and others. Making quilts is not for the faint hearted; they are big, often heavy, and can take up to two years to make. Questions, some posed by male members of the audience, showed how much interested had been generated. The evening concluded with Christmas fare of wine and mince pies, before everyone tottered off home on the icy roads.

Wiiners of the Picture Competition, which was run in connection with the book launch, received their prizes on November 5th at Rainhill Library.The picture shows Mike Carter, Chairman of the Society, with Mr William Taylor, the winner, as well as Mrs Elsie Kirby and Mr D Whiting, runners up. These three people submitted the only correct entries. Also in the picture are Nora Duckett and Rhona Blennerhasset, members of the library staff.

The first meeting of our season, on 26th October, had the highest attendance we've seen, with more than 100 people. They came to see the awards to winners of Rainhill in Bloom (Matt Gilsenan, third time winner, seen here with Cllr Mrs Kelly, Chair of Rainhill Parish Council) and to have a rare look at "Rocket 150", commemorating the 1829 Rainhill Locomotive Trials, which took place in 1979 and 1980. Alan Jones's original audio visual programme had been turned into a DVD and, as well as recording events in the Village and on the railway track, the presentation was an historic document in its own right, recording people, fashions and the look of Rainhill 30 years ago.

The Society is not alone in its concern for a lively business culture in the Township. Recently, a consortium of local businesses has formed "Junction 7" to promote Rainhill. Named after the nearby exit on the M62, which gives direct access to Rainhill, it intends to organise events to highlight the many eating places, local shops and other services that abound in Rainhill, and to encourage locals and visitors to use them. Look out for publicity about their goings-on.

Our new book, "Rainhill's Past in Pictures", was launched on Saturday, 18th September and is selling well. There are more details and pictures on the Book Launch page, which you can access from the panel at the left.

You can now buy a copy on-line at our Publications web page - also via a link in the panel at the left. So far, we have delivered orders to Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Hong Kong as a result of on-line sales.

Matt Gilsenen again came out top of the list in this year's awards, after being second last year and first prize winner in 2008. In second place was Linda Whittle, while there was a tie for third between Peter Woods,last year's winner, and Ray Rigby. Have a look at the winning gardens here

Getting in touch
We now have a page on the site just for ex-Rainhillians to get in touch with each other. So many people have emailed us about their time in Rainhill that we thought we should have a contact page. You can go to it at Rainhill Remembered.

The Society's book "The Story of Rainhill" is available price £3.00 plus postage. It can be purchased in Rainhill from the Library or from the Millennium Centre. You can also find it on our Publications page

The book is a meticulously researched account of the development of Rainhill from the earliest times to the present day. It was written by Dr Robert and Mrs Florence Dickinson and first published by the Society in 1968. This new edition keeps the original text with a little updating and adds more pictures, colour and a new layout.

It is an ideal source of information for anyone interested in Rainhill itself or in seeing how a small community grew to include a mixture of agriculture, small industry, churches, schools and, of course, a world first in transport.