Welcome to “Sunday Snippets” a weekly feature from birkenhead.news. It is a round-up of our most popular good news stories from the last seven days. Click on each story to read the full article.
Steve Morgan pledges £170k to charities in awards prize money
Charities from Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales are being urged to enter a competition to win a share of prize money totalling £170,000.
Philanthropist Steve Morgan CBE has pledged the money to mark the 20th anniversary of the Steve Morgan Foundation, which he launched in 2001.
The Steve Morgan Foundation has provided funds to many Wirral-based causes over the years, including recently, The Lighthouse Centre at Rock Ferry, The Paul Lavelle Foundation and Cradle to Career, both at Birkenhead, and the new Maggie‘s Cancer Support Centre at Clatterbridge.
Wirral’s Stop Smoking service named No.1 in the country
Wirral’s Stop Smoking service has been recognised nationally as the top provider, out of a pool of 169 local services, according to latest figures from NHS digital.
The ranking is based on the numbers of people setting quit dates and the numbers of quits per 100,000 of the population in 2020/2021.
More than 9,800 locals per 100,000 smokers have set quit dates during this time, with 6,039 people per 100,000 smokers supported to successfully quit in the borough.
New St Vincent’s centre aims to alleviate poverty, addiction, and isolation in Wirral
A new community support centre is opening in Birkenhead to help those affected by poverty, isolation, addiction, and homelessness. St Vincent’s Wirral, run and managed by the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP), aims to provide a welcoming hub for the people of Wirral.
The opening ceremony on Friday 15 October will be attended by the Right Reverend Mark Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury, local MP Mick Whitley, and members of parish SVP groups, who have been instrumental in the creation of St Vincent’s Wirral.
Located on Grange Road West, the building, formerly the Merseyside Centre for Deaf People, hosts a foodbank and a daily afternoon drop-in café, which will reach out to people in need and offer signposting to local service providers who can provide specialised support.
On-street EV charging trial goes live in Wirral
More than 40 on-street electric vehicle charging points are available for use as a pilot scheme to encourage motorists to explore a ‘greener’ way to travel goes live.
The new charging points have been installed around the borough, focused in Hoylake, Wallasey and Woodchurch to make it easier for owners of electric vehicles to stay charged up and encourage more people to consider moving away from petrol and diesel.
The council committed to reducing the borough’s carbon emissions when it declared climate emergency in 2019 and the charging points, installed as part of a £100,000 scheme, will help to provide the greener network that residents need to reduce their emissions too.
Wirral Sea Angling Academy hosts visiting blind veterans
Wirral Sea Angling Academy (WSAA) is a charitable not for profit organisation that promotes well being through sea fishing. They host groups of people with mental health issues, substance abuse issues, disabilities, veterans and anyone else who wants to have a go at sea fishing.
On Saturday 25 September, a group from Blind Veterans UK 
visited Wirral and set up the rods near to the steps of Seacombe Town Hall, overlooking the Liverpool waterfront.
birkenhead.news spoke to Ben Koba, the founder of WSAA, who said, “Blind Veterans UK have brought eight folks up for the weekend. Today, we’re doing a shore fishing event and tonight we’re having a party at the West Cheshire Sailing Club in Wallasey! Tomorrow we’re holding a boat fishing event for our visitors.”
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Tap or click to follow birkenhead.news on Twitter Nominations open for the 2021 Culture and Creativity Awards
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has launched this year’s Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity awards as nominations open for the awards’ third successive year.
The opening of nominations was marked by a celebration event hosted by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Ngunan Adamu – who will be presenting this year’s ceremony – featuring some of last year’s winners, including People’s Choice winner The Atkinson in Sefton, Borough of Culture ‘Star of the Year’ Claire Morgans, from community organisation Ykids and singer Jennifer John, who took home the Impact Award for individual Covid-19 Creative Response.
They were treated to a live performance from Jennifer John’s choir Love Sings at the launch and met in person for the first time, as the 2020 ceremony earlier this year was held online.
Bus Rapid Transit system proposal for Wirral Waters
Hydrogen-powered buses could be brought in to meet growing demand for transport around Wirral Waters and the surrounding areas.
Members of Wirral Council’s Economy, Regeneration and Development committee considered the future of public transport and the demands upon it.
The committee agreed to move forward with asking the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) to include a Wirral ‘Mass Transit’ scheme in their Bus Service Improvement Plan submission to government in October 2021.
Stick ‘n’ Step celebrates World Cerebral Palsy Day in its 18th birthday year
Children and staff at cerebral palsy charity Stick ‘n’ Step’s two centres in Runcorn and Wallasey have been celebrating this year’s World Cerebral Palsy Day, held on 6 October. This year’s event was an extra special one for the charity, as it is celebrating its 18th anniversary year.
Cerebral palsy (CP) affects more than 17 million people worldwide and is the most common physical disability in childhood, affecting one in four hundred babies born in the UK.
The purpose of World CP Day is to bring people from across the globe together to celebrate and support those living with CP, embrace diversity and to help create a more accessible future for everyone.
Memories Of The Near Future: Photography exhibition at Future Yard
Memories Of The Near Future is a photography exhibition put together by photographer Robin Clewley on display at Future Yard, 75 Argyle Street, Birkenhead until the end of the year.
On Future Yard’s website, the venue said, “From pretty much the moment we got in to 75 Argyle Street, Robin has been there with us with his camera in hand, documenting the comings and goings as we’ve shaped a former nightclub into what Future Yard is now.”
birkenhead.news visited Future Yard to take in the exhibition and to have a chat over a beer (or two) with Robin Clewley.
Mental Health Awareness Day 2021: Superfan thanks club for support
Mental Health Awareness Day falls on 10 October 2021 and a lifelong Tranmere Rovers fan and season ticket holder has said he holds the Club in high admiration for the support they have offered him personally and the local community as part of raising awareness for World Mental Health Day 2021.
Tranmere fan, Barry, wanted to share the story of his time during the pandemic and how Tranmere Rovers in the Community were there on hand to support him.
He said, “I spend a lot of time on my own at home and life can get quite lonely. Shirley would ring me up and Steve too, and it would form a big part of my day that went into getting rid of that void in your life.
Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside presents the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service to the Friends of Birkenhead Park
At the Visitors Centre in Birkenhead Park, the Friends of Birkenhead Park formally received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) from Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant Mr Mark Blundell on 29 September.
The event attended by the High Sheriff of Merseyside, Mr Nigel Lanceley, the Mayor of Wirral, Councillor George Davies and the Merseyside Lieutenancy Assessment Team of His Honour John Roberts, Dr Ruth Hussey, and Professor Sir Ian Gilmore was a very special moment for the Volunteers in being recognised for their commitment over many years in maintaining Birkenhead Park as a place for the community to enjoy.
The Friends help local people develop a sense of community ownership of the park and allows them to speak out in its interests. The Friends of Birkenhead Park have developed a wide range of volunteering activities and have delivered educational programs and skill-training workshops.
Wirral man ‘a legend indeed’ for walking 80 miles to mark his 80th birthday
Nearly £1,500 will help boost other people’s wellbeing – thanks to Wirral retired Methodist minister Revd Charles New, who’s just completed an 80-mile walk to mark his 80th birthday.
He finished the final lap of his journey recently – despite having two artificial knees, shifting a stubborn horse and dodging hordes of hoodie-clad mature ramblers. Charles managed his ‘80-4-80’ peninsula pilgrimage across Wirral by covering ten miles a day in eight days through September.
He hiked on The Wirral Way – disused railway tracks that run past stunning locations like an atmospheric old train station and sweeping views across the River Dee to the Welsh hills. A horse blocked his path and he had to gently push the animal aside! As a spin-off to his birthday celebration, he launched a fundraising page on the web. Family, friends and anonymous supporters sent donations ranging from £10 to £100. Givers added such heartfelt and humorous messages as – “! legend indeed” and “There’s life in the old dog yet.”
New Post Office to open in Birkenhead town centre
The Post Office is to re-open Birkenhead Post Office at a new location – 6 Princes Pavement, Grange Precinct, Birkenhead, CH41 2XY.
Birkenhead Post Office is due to open on Thursday 11 November. This will restore service to the town centre.
We are pleased to be able to reinstate the service as a temporary Post Office service. We also have an interested applicant for a permanent solution.
Tranmere continue their home win streak
Tranmere continued their home win streak with tonight’s 2-0 win over Colchester making it four home wins on the trot.
Colchester’s Shamal George made a great save at 16 minutes, to deny a Tom Davies diving header which George saved from a right-hand side corner.
Freddie Sears saw his 40th-minute attempt at goal denied by Ross Doohan at the near post.
Local charity are ‘Lighting Up’ the Floral Pavilion to mark Babyloss Awareness Week
Wirral based babyloss charity, Elsie’s Moon, is set to turn the Floral Pavilion pink and blue next week with a special light show to mark Babyloss Awareness Week.
With the support of Stage UK the iconic theatre site will be lit up in the official colours of Babyloss Awareness Week from 9 – 14 October.
The charity, which was founded by local parents Lindsey Devlin and Christopher Pagett following the loss of their precious newborn baby Elsie in 2018, offers support to families when their pregnancy doesn’t follow plan.
Birkenhead student scores winning goal to send TRFC Ladies onwards in FA Cup
A Year 1 Birkenhead Sixth Form Student scored the winning goal to send Tranmere Rovers Ladies into the third round of the FA Cup.
At the age of just 16, Jess Durr fired home the only goal in a 1-0 cup win against West Didsbury & Chorlton away from home at the weekend, with the teenage star sending the Rovers through to play Cheadle Town Stingers in the next round of the world’s oldest club competition later this month.
Endearingly referred to as ‘the youngster in our squad’ by the TRFC Ladies official social media channels, Jess only made the step up to first-team football over the summer, having been on the books of the Super White Army for nearly a decade.
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