Anfield: the victims

In the blighted streets around Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium, residents are packing up and leaving their family homes, so the football club can have them demolished and expand their Main Stand. In the six months since the club scrapped their decade-long plan to build a new stadium on Stanley Park, and reverted to expanding Anfield instead, Liverpool city council has been seeking to buy these neighbours' homes, backed by the legal threat of compulsory purchase.

People's farewells are bitter, filled with anger and heartbreak at the area's dreadful decline and at the club for deepening the blight by buying up houses since the mid-1990s then leaving them empty. A few residents are refusing to move, holding out against the council, which begins negotiations with low offers. These homeowners believe they should be paid enough not only to buy a new house but to compensate for the years of dereliction, stagnation and decline, and crime, fires, vandalism, even murders which have despoiled the area. Their resentment is compounded by the fact that they are being forced to move so that Liverpool, and their relatively new US owner, Fenway Sports Group, can make more money.

On Lothair Road, which backs on to the Anfield Main Stand, one man who lived next door to a house Liverpool own and have left empty, shuttered – "tinned up" as the locals call it – shook his head. "I'm not moving out," he told the Guardian, "I've been driven out." -

Liverpool Street Corner

This project will be looking at the relationship between the past and the present within the rich social culture of Liverpool and it's surrounding communities in Merseyside. A place that has seen itself at the heart of Britain's identity in the north west from generation to generation. Following the decline of its docking industry in the post victorian-era, Liverpool has been through dramatic stages of both degeneration and progression. Yet in the wake of the 21st Century, outside of London it is now the UK's fastest growing economy. The Sunday Times published on 24 March 2013* that areas of Liverpool are in fact now rated among the best in the country for families. With such rich heritage on every street corner, my aim is to look behind the scenes of Merseyside, and into the heart of one of the strongest communities in Britain. Taking visual and audio accounts from members of the public in all areas of Liverpool to give a true to life account of what makes this City so special.

*http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/homes_and_gardens/best_places/article1233859.ece  

Maintenance work on the RFA Wave Ruler Fleet Support Tanker A390 at Birkenhead, Merseyside.

I first attempted to gain access to the shipping port at Birkenhead without success. Security levels were understandably high therefore I had to get creative and climb to the top of St.Mary's Church tower (Birkenhead Priory) which is currently under reconstruction. This was the only viable means to get a decent view of the work being done beyond the wall, and to get the images I wanted.
Shipbuilding started at Birkenhead, Merseyside in 1829. An iron works was initially established by William Laird in 1824, whose business eventually became Cammell Laird. Notable vessels built at Birkenhead include HMS Achilles, HMS Ark Royal, HMS Birkenhead, the pioneer submarine Resurgam, HMS Conqueror and thte HMS Prince of Wales. Birkenhead's dock system is part of the Port of Liverpool, operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company.

The A390 RFA Wave Ruler is a Wave-class fast fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) of the United Kingdom tasked with providing fuel, food, fresh water, ammunition and other supplies to Royal Navy vessels around the world. Recently in 2010, Wave Ruler and the destroyer HMS York were deployed to the Falkland Islands during a period of increased tension between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the former's plans to begin drilling for oil in the seas surrounding the islands. Before the vessel returned to the Caribbean, where she distributed 160 tonnes of fresh water and 32,000 water purification tablets in St. Lucia after the effects of Hurricane Tomas.

The RFA Wave Ruler has been stationed at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead since November 2012 for heavy maintenance before being recommissioned by the RFA later this year.

Re-visiting Holt Hill

Revisiting Holt Hill - Re-creation of Edward Chambré Hardman's 1950 image 'Birth of the Ark Royal'. Holt Hill, Birkenhead, Merseyside. What became apparent is that Hardman had infact undergone a great deal of manipulation regarding the perspective of his image. The skyline is not in line with the actual position of the mersey on the horizon, therefore appearing much different in my image taken 63 years later.

Liverpool - The Black Pearl & New Brighton Beach

Documentary on the people and the city of Liverpool. FMP for Photojournalism & Documentary Photography at The University Of Gloucestershire.

Beginning as a clean-up project by artist Frank Lund and his friend and neighbour Major Mace, this pirate boat has been built out of items found on New Brighton's beach in Merseyside.

more info: http://tinyurl.com/b7pmm22