Friday, April 03, 2009

Some extracts from March's diary

Wendy and I went to the debut of the new St Francis of Assisi Choir that we have been supporting through our Working Neigbourhoods Fund. They were supporting another choir at Phil Hayes' New Picket on Jordan Street - my favourite venue in Liverpool. The all-girls choir were pretty good considering they had only been learning for about 6 weeks at that point. I expect great things from them in the future. We are keen to support activities for teenage girls who often lose out to the usual provision of football for the lads. But we also want to divert them from the lure of sitting off in Newsham Park drinking alcohol.

We have been holding meetings in the Molyneux Road area to try to combat a rise in Anti Social Behaviour, working with local residents and shop keepers, in partnership with the police and the Liverpool ASB unit, Central Youth Club and the detached youth service, helping to fund the detached youth service and the police operation out of our Working Neighbourhood Fund. It is a very slow road to resolution but at least everyone is focussed on the problem.

20th March was the Lady Mayoress's At Home which she held in Liverpool Town Hall for around 200 women. It was her birthday a few day's later and Claire Wilner's on that day, so we all sang Happy Birthday to them both. It was a lovely evening, although we could not stay as long as we might have liked because we had not appreciated the nature of the event before we got there and had made further arrangements. Wendy said it was very kind of Sandra Rotheram to throw such a great party for our Claire.

The following day I went with half a dozen of Claire's other friends for afternoon tea in the London Carriageworks, which was great. The scones were very poor, hard and overcooked, but when Claire drew this to the attention of the Maitre D' he arranged for a fresh batch to be cooked for us, there and then. How is that for service! He was rather handsome too, I thought.

2 comments:

Colin said...

The London Carriage Works got its name when during construction work in 2003, the original sign above the restaurant doors became apparent in the stonework. The building, built in the 1860's in the style of a venetian Palazzo, was once the home of a coach and carriage builders.
Which is a slightlyy different reason than the one given to you by the waitress.

Louise Baldock said...

Thanks Colin. You have reminded me about the conversation I had with the waitress who was serving our table, and which I subsequently shared with you.

I asked her curiously why the restaurant was named the London Carriageworks, it seemed an odd name for a Liverpool establishment which is not particularly close to the railway station for instance.

She thought for a while and then said it was because the chef had relatives who came from London. Forgive me, but I knew this was rubbish, even as she was saying it. Thanks for your much better explanation. I wonder if anyone has a photo of the old carriageworks on this site?