BirkenEd’s Place – w/c 23rd January
31st January 2023
On Tuesday 24th January, we hosted our Birkenhead Photography Competition awards evening. Since opening BirkenEd’s Place back in November, we have been running a photography competition inviting the people of Birkenhead to submit photographs based on the question “What makes Birkenhead special to you?” All the fantastic entries we received were put on display in the space for a week to allow the public to vote for their favourites. The judging panel had the very difficult task of selecting winners from the outstanding entries we received. Here are our winners:
- 1st Prize: The Caravan Gallery (Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale)
- 2nd Prize: Gary Beale
- 3rd Prize: Alan Chape
- Commended: Matt Calveley, Nicky Joyce, Jon P, and Maliha Mohshin
- Public Vote Winner: Gary Beale
This week also saw the return of the Birkenhead Waterfront and Surrounds project. This a project that aims to deliver highway and public realm improvements to the waterfront and its surrounding areas, covering the area from and including the Argyle Street/Conway Street roundabout to the Woodside Ferry Terminal. The design team, which includes Mott Macdonald and Planit-IE, are looking at how these areas could be redesigned to be more attractive to spend time in, be more accessible for walking and cycling and include improved landscaping. We did some successful engagement for this project in November last year at Future Yard on Argyle Street. At this second stage, we’ll be sharing what we’ve heard so far and more detailed options and plans. We will be engaging on this project in BirkenEd’s Place until Monday 6th February, so there is still plenty of time to visit and get involved in its second phase of engagement.
Yesterday, we held our first primary school workshop at BirkenEd’s Place and this explored what streets and public spaces are, what features we normally find in these spaces and how they can be designed. We were delighted to have pupils from St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary School joining us in the space to share their ideas for the types of streets and public spaces they would like to see in Birkenhead in the future – particularly at the town’s waterfront. Pupils were asked to imagine they were real life architects or urban planners, making drawings and 3D mixed media visions of the types of streets and public spaces they’d like to see across town and at the waterfront. At BirkenEd’s Place, we are connecting our engagement and education work with young people to the live Birkenhead 2040 Framework projects we are showing in the space. This workshop was connected to the Birkenhead Waterfront and Surrounds project, so pupils had the exciting opportunity to suggest ideas and create designs that they might see come to life in the future! Thank you to the pupils of St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary School for their excellent behaviour and creativity during the session and to school staff who helped facilitate the workshop.
We also now have on display information and images regarding Tranmere Tunnels Volunteers Ltd (TTVL ). This project was set up in 2014 to facilitate actions supporting the eventual restoration and re-opening of Tranmere Tunnels. Tranmere Tunnels are a labyrinth of deep underground air raid shelters, built to provide accommodation for Cammell Laird ship workers, their families, and the general population of Birkenhead during the bombing raids of World War II. They are considered to be the most extensive networks of underground shelters in the Country. Jim Cadwallader who founded the project and leads TTVL will be at BirkenEd’s Place over the next few weeks to talk about the project and answer any questions you might have about the fascinating Tranmere Tunnels.
Thank you to all our volunteers, ambassadors and design team colleagues who have supported us in the space this week – David Marsh, Isabel Daykin, Kate Pierce, Sean Swarbrick, Diya Calleechurn, Chris Han, Stephen Chapman, and Ryder Jones.