The Canary spoke to a number of people living and working in Southport on our recent visit to the town following July’s tragic murders. We interviewed independent councillor Sean Halsall and local imam Ibrahim Hussein. But we also heard from an NHS worker, a theme park boss, and a Christian pastor. Here are their comments.
“The devaluing of the workforce” has hit people hard
NHS worker Dawn Aspinall told us:
I’d like to see far more small businesses working together such as those we have had in Cambridge Walks [a little inside walk-through with shops inside], hosting community and creative events that are affordable for families to participate in. Too many places offering “entertainment” or activities are currently so expensive most simply cannot afford them anymore.
She also outlined the harsh impact of stagnating wages, saying:
In terms of the biggest challenges or issues, I’d say the devaluing of the workforce in three of our largest areas of employment locally – the NHS, care, and education. Young people here have been stripped of hope – they work to barely get by. Their rent takes as much as 60% of their net earnings. They can’t afford to socialise in the bars and restaurants that visitors flock to or those who’ve moved here from down south with their accrued wealth. Young families are trapped in housing that’s too small and they can’t afford to move even with dual income from their professional careers in the NHS and education establishments.
Finally, she pointed to the assemblies that Sean Halsall helped to set up in the town as a source of hope, highlighting the:
importance of local assemblies, giving consideration to some outreach work with existing centres, faith groups, residential care homes, workplaces if permitted, colleges and so on, to help raise awareness of what they’re all about.
‘Faith groups can help’ in Southport
Baptist pastor Simon Percy said that, at his church, they have an international café where people from different backgrounds can come together, “have some English lessons” or just get some help with form filling or other issues. “People in the church will go and help them to fill those things in”, he said. Churchgoers have even helped with setting up small businesses. “That’s just love. And that’s just welcoming people.”
There are also some clubs that mothers and young children come to, especially from immigrant communities. He understands that it must be difficult for people coming from a different culture to find themselves in Britain, where “we’re in our little nuclear families”. So he thinks it’s important to have opportunities to just spend time with people and maybe share a walk in the park. “That’s where faith communities can really help in terms of that face-to-face contact and warm welcome to people.”
‘Leisure experiences matter for mental health’
We met Norman Wallis, who has been in charge of the Southport Pleasureland amusement park since 2007. He believes that the town is full of good people. And he pointed out that the murder on 29 July “could have happened anywhere – it was nothing to do with religion”.
He said “it doesn’t matter what religion you are, as long as people come together and have conversations”. He added:
we might also get to a better place by having that conversation. Whereas on the Internet you don’t really get that chance because the answers are a bit sharp and smart and then people decide to go and make a cup of tea.
As an entertainer, he argued that Southport needs “more places like Pleasureland to exist so that we can bring people together in a happy environment”.
With community fundraising, local Olympic games, and other extra events, he said his establishment brings in people from all walks of life. But he said “we need to build all-weather attractions” more so that visitors will keep coming to the town even in the off-season.
Times have changed since resorts like Southport arose in the 1880s and 1890s. Many people may have more disposable income in comparison to those times, but stress has increased, he said. “We’ve got to make sure that our well-being and mental health is good.”
And Southport is well-placed, like other resorts, to help provide opportunities for people to unwind. But it needs tome financial support from the government and Liverpool city region, he insisted. Some of the money being pumped into cities, he asserted, should be “spread elsewhere” too.
The future of Southport
Wallis explained that:
Southport used to be the playground for Merseyside. Now they don’t need to come because everything’s going on there. So what does this become? It’s getting left behind. So we need to bring this back up. But we can do things here that they can’t do in Liverpool. We need to differentiate ourselves from the others. What other resorts have got a lake like ours? This is a fantastic place. We’ve been given a great blueprint by the Victorians and the Edwardians here to do something for the future. It’s a great future here.
He didn’t share his ideas for the future of Southport with us, but he clearly thinks there are many possibilities. Speaking about how the town to stand out in comparison to a nearby city like Liverpool, he highlighted:
The major leisure stuff that they can’t do. We can do the big stuff. We’ve still got some space and we’re already geared up for tourism. We can do it. There’s no doubt about it.
It always feels nice to be beside the sea, he stressed, and “we’ve got such potential”. In terms of the more challenging weather in wintertime, he mentioned that in places like “Dubai and Abu Dhabi, they have a tough climate so they’re creating lots of things inside and you know, they’re doing a great job”.
He also mentioned similar attractions in Las Vegas, “nothing to do with gambling but about retail and experiential attractions”. Having spoken to business people around the world, he insisted that “we’ve got great heritage in this country – anywhere I ever go in the world people know about England and the UK”. And that’s an opportunity to attract visitors.
Wallis has a few spaces available for community events, and even allowed local councillor Sean Halsall to organise the town’s first local assembly on site. As Halsall said:
We got the community together to talk about what policies they’d wanna see. I think that worked really well. And that space you’ve got is brilliant.
It’s not party political. It was about what people wanna see, what policies they wanna see, what they wanna see for their spaces and area.
Featured image via the Canary
