Pointing the way forward

by Neil Sayer, Archdiocesan Archivist

To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, we’ve explored back issues of the Pic to see how his visits to Liverpool as Prince of Wales have been portrayed in our pages.

1979: Kirkby’s Little Singers of St Joseph the Worker received a grant from The Prince’s Trust for Young People, and Prince Charles expressed a wish to meet some of the boys personally on a visit to Liverpool. Among the choirboys who chatted and joked with the Prince and then provided him with an impromptu recital were Paul Colebourne, Lawrence Dodd and Keith Spencer.

2000: on a visit to inspect restoration work at the Victorian church of St Francis Xavier, Everton, the Prince is in conversation with Fr Frederick Lane SJ and Professor Simon Lee of Hope University.

1989: ‘lively children’ from Our Lady’s Primary School, Eldon Place, welcomed the Prince with ‘deafening cheers’, and he stopped to chat with pupils and teachers from the school.

1984: Prince Charles met with young recipients of Prince’s Trust funds in Birkenhead, then crossed under the Mersey to visit a youth training scheme in the old St Francis Xavier school buildings.

1986: with Dr John Ritchie, Chief Executive of Merseyside Development Corporation, at Liverpool’s Albert Dock. King Charles has always had an interest in urban regeneration schemes, and the redevelopment of the Albert Dock as a visitor centre was crucial to the city’s reinvention as a tourist destination. This was the year the Merseyside Maritime Museum opened on the site.