Why Wirral is worthy

Jun 3 2009 Birkenhead News

I’D LIKE to see our Viking past,

With Thor’s stones prominent – thundering cast.

I’d like to see Parkgate’s inclusion

Especially when high-tide is rushing

With bobbing heads from gullies pushing.

Canoes about to float

This marshy landscape’s now a moat.

Not forgetting Smithy’s daughter-Emma Hamilton

Who left our shores, with grand ideas of a new life in the sun!

Despite her wealthy husband – ‘the handsome Nelson’ held her hand

As starry eyed she wondered along the distant sand.

Let’s go back to the other side

With the turning of the tide

The ‘Ferry cross the Mersey’, was run by Priory Monks,

And Hamilton Square speaks for itself, with all its Georgian fronts.

We have Christ Church in Bebington with a footprint in its wall

Taken from Storeton Quarry where a Dinosaur did fall

There was a fight in Bromborough, of which I have heard tell

When the English fought the Vikings, Scots and a lot of their men fell

Then there’s the Alabama, which was built at Cammell Lairds

Was passing Fort Perch Rock to fight,

For the Southern side we heard!

First Public Park in England, is another claim to fame,

And Central Park in New York

Has our Birkenhead to name.

Then Hilbre Island is a joy, to walk and keep you slim!

And as long as tides allow,

It’s better than the gym.

To sit and bask in sunlight, and watch the seals abound,

Whilst sea-gull cries and lapping waves,

Become the only sound.

West Kirby, Meols and Moreton are places you can sit,

And watch on the Horizon for the ships that enter Port

And as the amber sun sets, a solace it has brought.

So when the Lonely Planet next is publishing its view,

Although Port Sunlight’s beautiful

There’s a lot more to Wirral too!

JENNY HOLLIDAY, via e-mail