We want your stories about Clubmoor, photographs from the past. We thought it would be great to share nostalgia and look at images of Clubmoor through the years.

Send images, writing and photographs to [email protected].

If you would like to send any old photographs, let’s see what people remember and celebrate the years gone by. We recently received a piece of writing from a former resident Irene Stuart who kindly shared with us her memories about the area.

I along with my Mum, Dad and baby brother moved to Clubmoor in 1961. We had been living close to the city centre, in an area deemed a slum clearance. Strangely I didn’t see it as such but with hindsight, the houses often shared with more than one family with no indoor toilet, no bathroom, and generally poor living conditions, were not ideal for healthy living. I was lucky we had an indoor toilet and bathroom. My Dad had a good job so we also had a television, a washing machine and a fridge. Come to think of it we were probably deemed to be the richest family in the street.

The Liverpool corporation or ‘corpie’ began to offer families alternative housing and so we found ourselves in leafy Clubmoor. I couldn’t believe it we had a garden back and front. The house was actually much smaller than our previous abode which had been a three-storey terrace with a cellar but we didn’t mind. Our new home was clean, modern and semi-detached. Bliss.

I quickly made friends with the two girls who lived around the corner. They were putting on a concert in their back garden and they sent me an invitation. Funny how you remember things long forgotten.

I had attended St Francis Xaviour’s primary school or SFX for short. I loved it and it was with some trepidation that my mother took me along to St Matthew’s on Queens Drive for a short interview. I was accepted on to the school roll and on my first day I was placed next to a boy called Freddie.

Freddie looked after me. He lived a couple of roads away from me and one day on the way to school he said he had something to show me. We peered into a hedge and there was a nest with a bird sitting on her eggs. I was enthralled. I was a city child and had never seen a birds nest before.

After a week or so I was moved to a higher class and my friendship with Freddie came to an abrupt end as I made friends with those in my new class. Children can be very fickle.

I loved my two years at St Matthew’s and remember Mr Davies as being an excellent teacher. Having passed the 11 plus I changed schools to Notre Dame Collegiate, Everton Valley.

I maintained my affiliation to St Matthew’s by joining the Catholic Association of Young People and then the youth club which was started by the newly ordained young priest. I think his name was Father Birchall. My stay with the religious group was relatively short-lived but I remained as a youth club member for a number of years. I particularly liked the Saturday night events when local groups would come to play and youngsters from around the city would come along. I was probably around fourteen/fifteen at this time and my Dad was one of the event organisers.

I was about thirteen when I started a Saturday job at Mooney’s the newsagent on Queens Drive. I earned the princely sum of 15/-, that’s 75p in today’s money, it was a fortune to me. Mr Mooney was a pussy cat but I was always a little scared of his wife.

I married in 1971 at St Matthew’s and moved to the Wirral. My parents moved house not long after, my association with Clubmoor was over. I returned to living in Liverpool and had also returned to education and was studying A-Levels, I had not been the most diligent of students when at Notre Dame. I saw an advert for a post office worker at Larkhill Post Office in 1985. As I had previously been employed by the GPO I applied and got the job. I was back in Clubmoor. I worked there while studying for my A-Levels and also when I went to university.

The owners of the post office purchased the office in Tuebrook and I worked there for a while too. Unfortunately, I was held up at gunpoint one day in Tuebrook. I was relieved to return to Larkhill.

On completing my degree I studied in Huddersfield for a year and so I left working in Clubmoor.

In 2002 I went to work for Connexions in Norris Green. Much of my work was centred in and around Clubmoor. I now live a stone’s throw away in Anfield and would you believe it my friend John Maguire is the Community Engagement Officer at MyClubmoor.

I just can’t get away from the place but I’m glad, I have many happy memories of the area and it has helped shape the person I am today.

Irene Stuart April 2020