Letters To Editor:- "Trying to find some ancestors."

"I am trying to find some ancestors of mine from West Derby around 1880 to 1912.

First is Sidney (Sydney) Heskin, am trying to find his parents (my great grandparents) and the other is Elizabeth Latham born same place but born around 1895. They married and had my mother in 1913.Strangely enough neither of these appear in 1901 census at least not under these names. Maybe if I found some more info it would help.

Thanks, Brenda Larke Felixstowe."

Editors note:-  If you have any information please email us at:- news24@southportreporter.com and we will pass the information on to Brenda.

Letters To Editor:- "Please Can Readers Help...  Looking for the impossible..."

"I am a 70 year old looking for the "Impossible"... When I was 4 years old my family moved to Birmingham to find work, so I don't remember much about Liverpool apart from occasional visits as a child on Bank Holidays. here is my problem! My grandmother had a newspaper cutting telling the story of her GT Grandfather's Bravery. He saved 28 lives by swimming ashore in a storm and rigging up a line from the ship to shore. She was so proud of the cutting she showed to everyone. Alas it fell to pieces due to its age. (I cant remember which paper printed it!) I am trying to obtain a copy of the story he was an Italian Antonio Penton, he was 28 years old in living in Vaughn street Toxteth on the 1871 Census. This is the only info. I have could you or any of your readers help me please? I would like to leave the story to my sons as it is all part of my heritage.

Best regards. John Hopley"

Editors note:- If you have any information please email us at:- news24@southportreporter.com   We will pass the information on.  Sadly we have not got any cuttings from that far back as we only set up in 2000.  We have been in contact with a few groups who might be able to help.   Good Luck in tracking a copy down.

Flying the Warrington flag on a global scale

THE Council's Trading Standards Chief Officer Peter Astley has been flying the Warrington flag at a conference at the United Nations in Geneva recently.

Peter was invited to speak to delegates from 42 countries from all over Europe about how nations could work to combat the problems of counterfeit goods.

During his presentation, Peter talked about the counterfeit goods market in the UK and the fight to tackle primarily the organised crime syndicates.

Peter said:- "My role as a member of the National Anti-Counterfeiting Strategy group requires me to look at ways that we can combat this crime in the UK. The UN found my presentation on how we do things in the UK and future plans to be very valuable and would like us to link into the development of a global approach, which ultimately help protect consumers from all over the world.

I found the whole experience of talking to this group to very enlightening and found it to be particularly pleasing that the Council is influencing this important global agenda."

A further outcome is that Peter has also been provisionally invited to assist some countries directly including Turkey, Belgium and Ukraine in their fight against counterfeit goods.

Park and Ride takes off

THE free Christmas Park and Ride service in Warrington has been a big hit with weekend shoppers.

The free service, which runs every weekend from the NWDA Centre Park car park, at the blue bridge off Chester Road, started at the end of October and is already proving popular.

Michael Hancock, Chairman of the Town Centre Warrington Partnership, said:- "We're delighted that shoppers are using our Park and Ride service. Not only will this help to ease town centre congestion during the busy Christmas period, but it will also reduce environmental pollution. If the service continues to be well used, we will look at extending it in the future."

The service is operating on:-

Saturdays, until 31 December, from 10 am, then every 7/8 minutes until 6 pm

Sundays from 20 November to 18 December, from 10 am, then every 10 minutes until 5 pm.

Users can leave their cars, for free, in the supervised car park, where there are plenty of spaces, CCTV and security patrols, and jump on a bus into town.

A new fleet of single decker buses with wheelchair access is being used to provide the service and the destination signs will read 'Park and Ride'.

Information leaflets about the service are available from the Tourist Information Centre, Warrington Market, local libraries, Golden Square Shopping Centre, Council receptions and on Warrington Borough Transport buses.

The Park and Ride service is supported by Warrington Borough Council, Warrington Borough Transport and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

Southport Christmas Lights Go On!

THE annual Southport Christmas Light Switch on took place on 6 November in Southport Town Centre in front of a large crowd.    This years event was Hailed as a huge success and again add a winter sparkle to the town.  The event started with entertainment that ran through out the day, outside the Southport Arts Centre.  The final part of the day long event was a large Parade that snaked it's way through the town centre, via Lord Street.   Then the big moment came as Ken Dodd, Suzann Collins, the Mayor of Sefton, Councillor John Walker and Father Christmas who all pushed the big plunger to switch on the lights for this year.