West Derby & Croxteth Park
At the heart of our community
FREE copy
15,000 copies - 12,000 into Homes + 3,000 into Businesses
Issue 142 – April 2018
WATER 0N TAP By Stephen Guy, West Derby Society IT IS essential to life but most of us probably don’t give water a second thought as we go about our everyday lives. Due largely to our Victorian ancestors, clean water is available everywhere thanks to reservoirs and efficient piping systems which have been improved over the decades. As a result water is very cheap but not exactly free as every householder and business person knows when their utility bills arrive. Many people today have an aversion to tap water. Millions are prepared to regularly buy bottled water in plastic bottles harmful to the environment when not recycled. We are fortunate to have such plentiful supplies but in many parts of the world water is scarce. Drought adds to the problems of places where, even at the best of times, water is difficult to obtain. Until comparatively modern times, clean water was at a premium, particularly in towns and cities. Centuries ago the main source of water for Liverpool’s tiny population was the Fall Well off Lime Street. Later water carts trundled around the town to supply the growing population. As clean water was scarce, many people – particularly working men – turned to cheap beer for refreshment.
A Tuebrook resident was to introduce a simple amenity which benefitted countless numbers – the public drinking fountain. Charles Melly was born in what was then a country district in 1829. His father Andre was Swiss and his mother Margaret came from an old Cheshire family. Charles did not invent drinking fountains but was inspired by those he saw on a visit to Geneva, where his father was born, in 1852. Piped water was available in Liverpool at this time but, like now, had to be paid for. Most working class people did not have piped water in their homes. They usually obtained it from a
communal tap or pump.The public had no access to water on the streets but there were horse troughs. People had no alternative but to go to public houses – and some drank from the horse troughs. Charles decided to introduce free wall-mounted public fountains in Liverpool at his own expense. Each had a similar design featuring red granite. An Edwardian postcard (pictured) shows a surviving Melly fountain outside St Anne’s church in Prescot Road. n Join the West Derby Society at its next meeting 7.30 pm on Wednesday April 18 at Lowlands, 13 Haymans Green, Liverpool L12 7JG.
INSIDE
SCHOOLS - COLLEGES - LEARNING West Derby Tuition Runnymede St Edward’s School St Helens College Studio@Deyes
An interview with Jim Broadbent
page 9
Strange Tales by Anton Valdemart
page 9
Car review – Hyundai Ioniq
page 15