News in Heswall

Trawden is a Lancashire village of 2,000 souls about half an hour from where I was born and brought up.

I used to spend happy times there. My first job was as a tourism copywriter for the County Council, and Trawden is just minutes from the beautiful and fascinating Wycoller Country Park.

Wirral Council is set to back out of plans to create a new bank, draw up new financial plans and transform the way it does elections after a recent report slated the local authority.

At the start of this month, Wirral Council was told to consider closing libraries, leisure centres and golf clubs, as well as selling Wallasey and Birkenhead Town Halls after a damning government inspection revealed the struggling authority is close to financial crisis.

A brand new park is set to be created in Birkenhead, with the potential to transform the look of the town.

Work on Dock Branch Park, a green space which will be nearly a mile long and run through the centre of the town along a disused railway line, could start before the end of next year.

There are a fair few boats down at Heswall shore near Sheldrakes, and some of them appear to have been left to their own devices.

One of them, a little further out, may not automatically catch the eye as being exceptional, but it is - and it belongs to Wrexham couple Simon and Gemma Robins, and is far from abandoned.

A £500,000 fund that, amongst many other things, brought Heswall's 'Wildflowers on the Puddydale' project into being, is to return next year.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has approved a further £500,000 to bring back Mayor Steve Rotheram's Community Environment Fund for 2022 with a view to making the scheme larger and self-sustaining through private sector backing.

As temperatures plummeted this week and Storm Arwen battered the Wirral, it was cup action for Heswall First Team as we welcomed Newton to Gayton Park, looking to take the first step towards glory in the Pyke Cup.

The Yellows started well and had the ball in the net through Joe Ford's smart finish - only for the referee to indulge in some VAR style consultation with the assistant ref and decide to disallow the strike for offside.

Volunteers from The Heswall Society have now erected the Christmas Tree in Heswall Lower Village, in readiness for the society's annual 'Carols Around the Tree' event on Wednesday the 8th of December.

This pleasing festive event will be lead by Reverend Martin Cannam, and music will be provided once again by the Port Sunlight Lyceum Band.

From Merseyside Police:

It is with great sadness that we confirm that a 12-year-old girl, Ava White, has died following an incident in Liverpool city centre last night.

The NHS is set to be transformed, with some fearing a major shake-up in the way the organisation is run will lead to more privatisation.

Currently, the NHS is organised into Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which plan and buy healthcare services for their local areas.

The organisers are hoping to repeat the success of last year's appeal and are once again calling on residents, businesses, and Council staff to donate different types of gifts for children in need of all ages – from babies up to 16 year olds.

Here are some suggestions: