Petrolhead pirates

Local bikers, 'The Petrolheads', raised more than £500 for charity last week with their annual Pirate Cruise around Merseyside.

101 bikers turned up to follow the Skull and Crossbones flag on the 45 mile journey, more than three times as many pirates as last year.

Organiser, Lizzy Peatfield, was stunned by the turn out. The money raised by the run and the charity rock night afterwards went to support a family friend of Lizzy, 14 year-old Nathan Fletcher, who was diagnosed with Clear Cell Sarcoma when he was 10.

Lizzy said: 'Although it's quite a rare condition, there are lots of children suffering with it. We need to get more information about this particular type of cancer to help more people like Nathan.'

Next year they hope that more people will join the fleet for another swashbuckling adventure on the hunt for charity treasure.

New quad bike circuit

Wirral's first quad bike circuit opens in Leasowe this Saturday.

Neil Malloy, a former award winning motocross champion, has spent two years building the circuit behind his Leasowe garden centre and hopes it will reduce the problems caused by off-road bikes being used in the local area.

He says: 'The area has had a lot of problems with children riding quad bikes illegally on public roads and across the beaches. I thought it would be good to provide a facility where they can learn to ride safely.'

Peter Kolkroni, Neighbourhood Inspector, is in favour of the project. He said: 'We support anything that might reduce the problems we have with off-road quad bikes.'

You can take the boy out of Birkenhead......

Paul O’Grady, formerly ‘Lily Savage’, returns to the Wirral this week to promote his new autobiography. The Birkenhead-born comedian has chronicled his life up until he moved away from the Wirral at the age of 18 and is looking forward to revisiting his old hometown.

He said: ‘I still have family in the Wirral and I like to visit when I can but work keeps me busy in London most of the time. Birkenhead has changed loads since I was younger but the people are still the same.’

You can catch Paul at his book signing at Waterstone’s in Birkenhead today at 4.30.  

Free graffiti clean up

A pilot scheme to tackle the problem of offensive graffiti was approved by the council last week. The zero tolerance policy will mean that there will be no charge for the removal of graffiti on the Wirral and that racist and other offensive markings will be removed within 24 hours.

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service is wholeheartedly supporting the initiative by providing access to its fire stations for the graffiti removal teams to fill their kits with water.

The cabinet member for housing and community safety, Cllr. George Davies, said: ‘Graffiti can have a spiraling effect, leading to increased and more damaging anti-social behaviour. It is essential that it is dealt with promptly and robustly’

Bid to ban dogs from beaches thrown out

Dogs and their owners all over the Wirral will be relieved to hear that the controversial proposal to ban dogs from the beaches was thrown out by Councillors last night.

If the ban had been imposed then owners would have been forbidden from taking their dogs onto any Wirral beaches between the months of May and September.

The dog ban was proposed by Cllr. Tony Smith after growing concerns of fouling and the general state of the popular coastline, however, the Chairman of the tourist committee, Cllr. John Hale, was against the idea saying: ‘The vast majority of dog-walkers are responsible and it would be wrong to impose a ban on them. Let’s not ban dogs, but irresponsible dog-owners.’ 

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