I travelled down on the train with most of them. I think it fair to say that they were not to clear what they were going to see and their expectations were not that high
I am pleased to say that we confounded their presupposition. Thanks to the Craig, the Mayoral attendant, they had a great morning and freely confessed that they had not expected to have such an interesting time. It was enormously helped by their curiosity and local knowledge. Several of their members had been brought in Bootle and were able to add local knowledge.
We started in the parlour looking at the maces and admiralty oar that proceed the Mayor into council meetings and looked at the various gifts that the Bootle Corporation had received. One of the U3A members remembered that as a young apprentice with family firm had presented a solid silver milk jug to the council which had been made by Boodle and Dunthorne in Liverpool. He was delighted to find it on display in the Mayoress's dinning room.
There is a lot to see in Bootle Town Hall especially in connection with WW2 and the Battle of the Atlantic. In particular the U3A folk were interested in the exploits of Capt Johnnie Walker whose celebrated exploits included sinking five U boats in one day-and incidentally downing a polar bear which had been mistaken for a sixth.
I will no doubt have several more Town Hall visits in the coming year both in Bootle and Southport so I will include more detail with each one. My thanks to Formby U3A who made this first visit such a success .
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