Guard of Honour for Hero, Former Station Officer George Taylor
Photos by VAMPHire.com

ON 23 May 2022, the funeral of former Station Officer, George Taylor (aged 94) was held in Southport. As a fire fighters, Officer George Taylor famously rescued 5 people from the 4th Floor Ledge of Henderson's Department Store, Church Street, in Liverpool. At the time the 6 were trapped on a ledge at the front of the building, and Taylor had to use a turntable ladder to try and save them. He managed to get 5 to safety, but tragically the 6th fell and was killed. At the time he recalled in an interview with the BBC that he also didn't have a helmet on!

This deadly blaze happened on a bright, sunny midweek afternoon, on 22 June 1960, and claimed the lives of 11 people and also lead to a change in law. The Office Shops and Railway Premises Act was amended to be brought in to line with the Factories Act, which gave fire brigades the power to inspect stores for fire safety and could give requirements for means of escape, along with making provisions for fighting fire and structural fire separation.

Station Officer, George Taylor‘s funeral took place at the Methodist Church, in Ainsdale, and then came the funeral procession, led by a fire appliance from the Southport Station to Southport Crematorium. On the way the procession went past the Promenade Care Home, and then stopped for a brief time outside Southport Fire and Ambulance Station which was presenting a Guard of Honour, made up from serving fire-fighters at the station, Fire Cadets, and members of the North West Ambulance Service.

For information about the Henderson's Department Store Fire can be found on the Fire Brigades’ Union website:- FBU.Org.UK.

Our thoughts go out to his family and friends...

Jubilant residents put the flags out at pothole party

JCB delivered an early jubilee present to residents of a pothole filled Merseyside street; the free use of a specialist machine to fix their road.

Knob Hall Lane; an unadopted road in Southport; was peppered with potholes and residents nominated the street to be repaired in a national competition in the run up to the Platinum Jubilee.

So JCB deployed its new pothole fixer; the JCB Pothole Pro; to repair the worst of the offending craters, teaming up with Sefton-based civil engineering firm Dowhigh Ltd who provided 10 tonnes of tarmac free of charge to reinstate the road.

Residents were so delighted with the work that around 20 of them threw an early Platinum Jubilee street party, complete with bunting and celebration cake, to mark the completion of the work.

Retired Head Teacher Jane Noble, who has lived on the street with her husband Paul for 3 years, said:- "The potholes were really bad and residents were very concerned that the state of the road was an accident waiting to happen. We are all very appreciative of the work JCB has done today with the Pothole Pro. Not only has it made a real difference to the safety of the road, it has brought all the residents closer together and made the community much stronger. We were all watching the JCB Pothole Pro in action; it created such a lot of interest and really should revolutionise the way potholes are repaired."

Launched last year, JCB's Pothole Pro can repair a pothole in less than 8 minutes; 4 times quicker than standard methods and at 50% of the cost of current solutions.

JCB's Chairman Anthony Bamford has led the project to develop the JCB Pothole Pro. Lord Bamford said:- "We are on a mission to help fix Britain's roads and we are delighted to be able to help residents of this street repair potholes with the JCB Pothole Pro."

Trevor Murray, of Dowhigh Ltd, said:- "We were only too happy to help the residents of the road. We are a local company and they are delighted with the work so it's a great result all round."