Of all the villages within the Merseyside region Woolton must stand unique. Few, if any, can boast having, within its boundary: its own railway station; golf course; farrier & blacksmith; village green; swimming baths; cinema; 16 pubs and a cafe bar; two parks (Reynolds Park (Green Flag award) and the Swing Park/Recreation Ground, Quarry Street); Woolton Wood (Green Flag award); two supermarkets; a library; six active Places of Worship (Gateacre Chapel, Holy Family, St Hilda, St. James, St. Mary, St. Peter); two Conservation areas; two village crosses (the Village Cross & Hunts Cross); and over 150 Listed buildings.

If you take in another half-mile radius or so around the village boundary then Woolton probably has the highest concentration of Listed buildings outside of the city centre. In addition to this: another conservation area (Gateacre); two more golf links (Allerton and Lee Park); another four pubs; two more Places of Worship (St. Stephen, Gateace, and St. Columba, Hunts Cross); five more parks (Calderstones Park (Green Flag award), Allerton Tower, Clarke Gardens, Halewood Triangle Country Park and the Eric Hardy Nature Reserve, as well as two National Trust houses where John Lennon and Paul McCartney lived - and they first met at St. Peter’s Church Hall in 1957!

From: In and Around Woolton Village (Oct. 2003).


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Several notable events have taken place in Woolton during the final epoch of the last century (1950-1999), such as the Woolton Show at Camp Hill, the Liverpool Marathon, also from Camp Hill, the Woolton Garden Fete at Reynolds Park, John Lennon and Paul McCartney first meeting at St. Peter’s Church Hall, the demolition of St. Benet’s Priory, to name but a few.

Another event that is proving to be another chapter in the history of our village is Woolton in Bloom, entered as part of the Britain in Bloom and for which the Woolton in Bloom committee this year (2004) received the award of Best Large Village in the whole of the North West of England, Most Improved Village and an award for improvements to Woolton Wood and Camp Hill in addition to several Small Neighbourhood awards. In the first four years of entering Village in Bloom Woolton has won seven awards, and it is even more satisfying to know that, in over 40 years of Britain in Bloom, it was the first time that an urban village had won the Best Large Village award!

Just prior to this book being published the Woolton in Bloom committee sponsored a Field of Hope for the Marie Curie in the year of the 45th anniversary of its formal opening in 1959. It is a sad fact that in the beginning the vast majority of patients who entered the Marie Curie Centre did not return, and it had the sinister nickname of "the death house." Nowadays, with all of the financial support we give, and technology we have, the situation is reversed and over 50% of patients return to a normal healthy life. If technology, and above all financial support, continues at the present rate then by the time the Marie Curie Centre Woolton celebrates it 100th anniversary it is not unreasonable to assume that the vast majority of patients who enter for treatment will return home cured.