Page 27 - Yachter Spring 2024

IN MY LIVERPOOL HOME
As you may have gathered by the title, I hail from Merseyside and my roots spread from The Wirral, Liverpool and even as far as Ireland, I am also
of the Blue persuasion of Merseyside, being an Everton season ticket holder and shareholder.
This obviously means that I do spend a lot of time in my native home and, in conversations with fellow RSYC members Virginia and Michael Boyle it came about that they had never been to Liverpool, and they would
be very keen to visit. The die was cast and so a visit was arranged which included Virginia, Michael, my wife Julie and myself, accommodation was booked in a hotel in the Royal Albert Docks and a plan was formulated.
Liverpool has a wonderful Maritime history and superb architecture, as well as being a gastronomic delight, so as you can imagine we had a very busy time visiting these attractions which included Antony Gormley’s men on the beach at Crosby, the ferry across the Mersey, the beautiful Georgian quarter between the Cathedrals and a visit to the Cavern.
However, it is not this of which I write as much as I would like to promote Liverpool but a visit to the Royal Mersey Yacht Club which has been on the shores of the Mersey since 1844 and I quote from the Clubs website:
“The Mersey Yacht Club was formed
on the 26th of July 1844 at a meeting
held in the Mersey Hotel, Old Church
Yard, Liverpool. There were twenty gentlemen present and officers were elected. The new
club “hoped to receive the encouragement of the wealthy and the support of the middle classes”. A report in Bell’s Life and London Times said “the Naval and Merchant Marine were indebted to yachtsmen for experiments and improvements in design and construction.
The Royal Warrant was received on the 24th of September 1844. The Club was then known as the Royal Mersey Yacht Club and members were granted the privilege of flying the defaced blue ensign on their boats.” Under its first Commodore, Dr. John Grindrod, the Club made rapid progress. A number of peers and notables were among the early members including Sir Robert Peel, the then Prime Minister, Lord Egerton, The Earl of Wilton, Sir Richard Bulkeley, Lord Sandon, and John Laird, the owner of what is now Cammell Laird Shipbuilders.”
Having had a wonderful couple of days in Liverpool we decided that before we left, we should visit the Wirral and one of the places to visit would be the RMYC. We had no idea whether we could gain access especially on a Monday morning, so we just went for a look.
IN MY LIVERPOOL HOME 27