Category Archives: News

The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, scheduled for Friday 14th August, has been cancelled due to severe weather warnings and near certainty of heavy rain. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will try again on Friday 28th August, weather permitting. Keep an eye on our events page for more information.

It’s only a few days to our Midsummer Family Picnic. It’s all happening on Saturday 20th June, from 12 noon onwards. We’ll meet at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm. Bring your own picnic. There will be a Nature Treasure Hunt for the little ones, and a Spiral Dance for all ages. Do wear sensible shoes as the ground is uneven and the grass is long. If the weather is bad, we’ll have to cancel, as picnicking and dancing in the rain is no fun. If in doubt, check on this website. Here’s an updated poster to share with your friends.  

On Saturday, we had our first trees and rhododendrons walk of the year which was guided by our good and knowledgeable friend Stephen Lyus. I found the walk most interesting, as did all who attended; it is amazing to see the huge number of trees and rhododendrons we have on the Hill. Trees Stephen showed us a variety of trees in Park Wood, including beech, oak, holly, laurel, silver birch and sycamore, describing the different leaf formations. He explained that when identifying trees it is necessary to note the leaf shape, texture and colour, as well as colour and texture of the bark and flower/seed type or shape. Some are … Continue reading →

Although you may have noted our AGM in the recent newsletter, and in my spring report, I thought I would put a reminder on the website. This will take place at the Tam O’Shanter Farm on Tuesday, 12th May at 7.00pm. This is a public meeting and all are welcome, it is a good opportunity to find out what is happening on the Hill and to ‘have your say’, as well as getting involved with the election of the committee members for the next year. If there are any Friends that would like to consider joining the committee, please let me know in good time before the meeting. We will … Continue reading →

We held our first committee meeting of the year recently when we put our heads together to discuss ideas for the spring/summer months on the Hill. You can imagine it can be quite challenging to continually come up with new concepts that will retain the interest of our members, so we try to slot in new initiatives with some of our popular recurring themes and events. As a way of promoting awareness of the Friends Group and creating new members, we have recently joined the Wirral History & Heritage Association which many of you will be familiar with. As a result, we will be attending their next event on Saturday, … Continue reading →

Where does all the time go? It seems like a couple of weeks since we opened up the Windmill for the spring/summer and now I am writing my autumn report! Overall, I don’t think we can complain about our summer this year, we have had some periods of good weather and sunshine. This has enabled us to fulfil our planned events on the Hill with great success. From the marking of the centenary opening of King George’s Way by the Mayor of Wirral in March, we have had Windmill openings, tree/rhododendron walks, Morris Dancers on May Day, teddy bears’ picnics, a spiral dance to mark the summer solstice, fungal foray … Continue reading →

We had our first Teddy Bears’ Picnic of the year this afternoon and it was a big success! There was a good attendance and the children brought their favourite teddy along to be weighed and measured so they could be given their official birth certificate (some teddies didn’t know when they were born so it was a good job the children could remember!) After that we all went on a teddy bear hunt in the woods as it was very important for us to find out just where all those cheeky teddies had hidden, they were having so much fun that they did not want to be found! The children … Continue reading →

On the centenary anniversary of the opening of King George’s Way on Bidston Hill by King George V, the Friends Group were delighted to welcome the Mayor and Mayoress of Wirral to perform the unveiling of the refurbished footpath sign originally placed there on 25th March 1914. The original sign was lost many years ago due to old age and adverse weather effects however, in 1989 Mr Cassidy, a local locksmith, had a replica made incorporating the original metal plate. Some years later the sign was damaged by vandals and was sent back to Mr Cassidy for repair but he sadly died before completion of the work. Last autumn, John … Continue reading →