‘Explore Greasby Village’: Girl awarded gold Brownie badge for project

Nine-year-old Greasby resident, Ellie-Louise, decided to set up a Facebook page to help people explore Greasby. Her inspiration came while walking around the village.

She knew that during lockdown people couldn’t go very far so wanted to help people enjoy and find out more about the local area. “She started it for her Local History badge in Brownies.”, Ellie-Louise’s mum, Alison, told birkenhead.news.

There are lots of people who ‘like’ and ‘follow’ Ellie-Louise’s Facebook page and there have been lots of lovely comments on her posts including some from people who have lived in the village all of their lives.

One former Greasby resident said of the photos that Ellie-Louise has uploaded to her page, “I live in Scotland now and it’s great to be able to see a part of my past. Thank you.”

Even life-long residents are learning something new from Ellie-Louise’s project and she has also been recognised while walking around the village collecting photos for her page and congratulated on how good it is. Another resident said, “I love to read your stories about Greasby – you are doing really well keep up the good work.”

“I think that made her feel like a bit of a celebrity!”. Alison said.

History can be ancient and it can be modern. It can also be good and sometimes bad. Ellie-Louise was fascinated when she found out the pump from Pump Lane was stolen in 2001. Her mum said, “The Water pump on the roundabout on Pump Lane is really heavy metal. It was stolen in 2001 and had to be replaced.

“The person who looked after the pond and pump says it must have been at least two grown men with a van as it’s so heavy. They never found out who took it or where it ended up! They got a replacement from a farm in Wales.”

Ellie-Louise started the project in order to get her Gold Local History Brownie Badge, which serendipitously arrived through the letterbox on the day our reporter wrote this article!

Ellie-Louise told us, “The most enjoyable thing about doing the page is going out on walks and finding out new facts. Today we went letterbox hunting and found three different types of letterbox in Greasby from different kings and queens. That’s what my next post is about.”

Alison said, “She is going to carry on the page because she’s really enjoying it and has got lots of photos and facts ready to put on. She’s thinking when she’s done as much as she can in Greasby she’s going to start looking at the surrounding area; Frankby is next on her list.

“She also wants to go to the cemetery in West Kirby to see if she can find the grave of the Manor owner who, according to his will, should be buried there. She wants a photo of it to add to the post about the Manor.”

Alison said that she was “super proud” of her daughter for the amazing job she’s doing with her page. “It’s lovely to see her finding out about where we live and helping other people to learn more about our lovely village.

“She’s worked so hard on her Brownie badges and this is the final badge she needed to achieve her Gold Award!”

You can ‘like’ Ellie-Louise’s Explore Greasby Village Facebook page by clicking or tapping here.

Ellie-Louise is a member of the Brownies
The Gold Local History Badge that Ellie-Louise was awarded with for her project.