Hoylake Village Life

Make Hoylake Better! Get involved by emailing us

Welcome to our third e-Newsletter!

Hoylake Village Life (HVL) simply loves Hoylake, but we think it could be even better! We’ve been busy working on projects that we think will make a real difference. If you love Hoylake too, and want to see it get better and better, please get in touch. With your help, we can achieve more, so why not jump on board and get involved. If you could spare a bit of time and have some fun, or just want to share your thoughts, please Email us and check out our website.

Food Fair success again

2,200 delight in local produce

The Hoylake Food Fair in March, organised by Transition Town West Kirby and Hoylake Community Centre, was colourful, tasty, and fun. A terrific demonstration by local celebrity chef Aiden Byrne kept a large audience captivated. Improved layout eased congestion and stallholders ensured they didn't run out too early this time. Check out some photos here.

We'll post information on the next Food Fair on our website. We know there is an appetite for more...

Do you have any ideas about supporting local food producers? Are you involved in food production?  Email us

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) progress report

Members of HVL attended the LJMU presentations for the students' postgraduate studies on Hoylake. Proposals varied in scope, ambition and location, and we got a good insight into how planners from outside might view the prime opportunities in Hoylake. HVL are in discussions with the Council to ensure the community are consulted on development proposals. The HVL website and Facebook pages, as well as our e-news, will become important tools for information dissemination so do keep in touch.

Marketing Hoylake

We tried. Of the £100,000 'Seaside Grant' available to Hoylake and West Kirby for projects that encouraged or contributed towards economic development, we won nothing. We had applied for £16,000, with lower options of £5,000 and £11,000, for the production of marketing materials (for example, the advertisement opposite) that would help us promote Hoylake to potential inward investors as well as tourists. We also applied for £2,000 to restore a traditional shopfront awning, which again we didn't get.

At the end of the day, we didn't get enough votes. Perhaps our 'offer' is not appealing enough. It is totally understandable that strategic initiatives like this do not have the 'back me' factor of other, more community-centred projects. Congratulations are due to those successful bids, and we'll keep on trying.

What do you think? What could we do better? We need your feedback, please help us. Email us

The banners are back in town...

After a huge amount of to-ing and fro-ing the banners are up... and one has promptly come down. It really is a difficult project to get right. The materials, the fixings, the posts, there must be a way... we will keep trying, and will eventually come up with a solution that stands up to our weather conditions. The colours look great, not at all faded, so we have certainly managed to add more colour to Market Street.

Can you help us with projects like this? Do you want to have some fun along the way? Do you have other ideas for Hoylake? Email us

Wirral Festival of Firsts

Arrangements are going well, with the organisers gathering a huge groundswell of public support for this event, including a well-earned £5,000 from the Seaside Grant. This will hopefully become an annual event, potentially bringing in a significant revenue for Hoylake businesses.

Visit the Festival of Firsts website at www.festivaloffirsts.co.uk/

Can you help with the planning of the Wirral Festival of Firsts in Hoylake? Email them

The Spotty Blue Teapot, Urbane, Runners Sports...

New businesses are a sign of things getting better. Innovative new businesses, with new ideas, that attract people into Hoylake from outside, are even more welcome.

All of these businesses do just that and we wish them all well. If you have kids, get to The Spotty Blue Teapot, it's great for a chat with friends or family while the kids play safely and eat healthy food. Want to fight the flab? Get to Runners Sports for top-quality advice on what you need on your feet. And for a little luxury, or a gift to bring a smile to the face of a loved one, check out Urbane.

We need to keep local businesses like these, so please do use them. And tell your 'out of town' friends about them.

Do you normally shop out of town for gifts, shoes, organic veg? Think before you drive! If you hear of a business considering locating to Hoylake we can help them settle in. So please Email us

Facebook and Twitter

260+ 'Likes' (or 'Friends' in old Facebook lingo) at the time of writing. Your news and views are essential to us. 

We need to know what you think about us, and Hoylake.  We won't always hear what we'd like to hear. You won't always read what you'd like to read. But if you post your views through Facebook or Twitter, you have at least had your say! So get onto Facebook and Twitter now and help make Hoylake a better place! Search 'Hoylake Village Life' on Facebook, or click 'Like' on our website home page, or Tweet us @HoylakeVillage

Do you want to help us get more Facebook 'Likes'? Can you tell your friends to 'Like' us? Do you work with computers? Email us

£100 competition winner!

Congratulations to John Costello (not pictured!) who won our first £100 competition. People who register with our website will automatically receive our e-newsletters and will become eligible for future competition prize wins. So check in now and tell your friends!

Perhaps use one of our fab e-cards to do it, with images of Hoylake and Hoylake personalities, like this one of our very own Danny boy Craig.

Can you help contact businesses, advertisers or sponsors? Can you help fundraise or bring in prizes? Email us

Very accommodating

With the help of Hoylake B&B 'Number Fifteen', Stanley Road, Hoylake Village Life have started a subgroup for accommodation providers in Hoylake. We had a good first meeting, where business owners met together and agreed to meet again with a view to working together to help HVL market and promote Hoylake, and to share and learn from each others' experiences.

With the new King's Gap Hotel and the Royal Hilbre Boutique Hotel coming soon, this presents challenges as well as opportunities for existing accommodation businesses who enjoy a reasonable and steady trade at present. By promoting existing local businesses alongside these new, contrasting offers (one budget; one high end), we think Hoylake can demonstrate a broad accommodation offer to suit all pockets.

In due course we hope to set up other subgroups and get all businesses working together to make Hoylake better. Unity is strength.

Do you have experience in the hospitality and tourism marketing industry? Can you help us? Email us

Party in the park!

It's party time in Grove Park on Friday 29 April. The Friends of Grove Park are organising a right royal knees-up to celebrate the Royal Wedding. Hoylake Village Life are supporting the event, so why not take some food down to Grove Park, 1pm to 5pm, where there will be lots of activities to entertain the whole family.

If you want to help out on the day then Email us and leave your details.

Eddie Stobart's men help Hoylake

Shortly after news of 'Steady' Eddie Stobart's death hit the news, and after reading our 'if money were no object' proposal to take the railway line underground at Hoylake (click here to find out more!), the Managing Director and Rail Director of Stobart Rail Infrastructure kindly came to Hoylake at our invitation to discuss the positive and negative roles the railway line plays in Hoylake's economic development.

They will be making some suggestions with rough costings for various (more realistic) ideas which may help businesses and residents on both sides of the track. The only thing buried underground is our original idea ... but it was worth exploring and was a good exercise in looking at the issues surrounding long-term economic development of the area.

Raise a glass to Eddie... and if you have some suggestions, Email us!

Beatles in Hoylake subgroup

Our Beatles in Hoylake subgroup had its first meeting and some really good ideas were planted. A further meeting will be held soon.

We'd like to take forward all sorts of ideas, with a view to including Hoylake on a number of existing 'Beatles trails'. The history is there... and there are thousands of Beatles fans around the world who are desperate for every new snippet of information and Beatles-related experience they can get.

Perhaps you have memories of the Beatles playing in Hoylake; information about Cynthia Powell's time in Trinity Road; or know about Brian Epstein's time as Manager of Clarendon Furnishings, or even if you are just interested and want to meet some new people, get in touch. Email us with your ideas and come to our next meeting.

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