1972 Our Day Out

Knowsley Safari Park School Trip 1972 – One of the great things about school was the chance to get outside the fence and go on a school trip. It wasn’t always cool, like the 1971 trip to London where Mr. Stevens kept us single file, no talking all the way (and back). This one was better, the day we went to the then-new Knowsley Safari Park. Just think: the cheeky monkeys of Litherland meets the lions of Knowsley – what could go wrong?

First pic was that moment when the coach arrived – charge! No doubt the teachers had hearts in their mouth with a young mob charging across the road but that’s the way it was. These pics like last weeks were very blurry and unusable but software has done its trick and made some of them workable. On this I can spot John Sinnott turning round, plus Danny Manning behind him with the army bag. The lad to the right of John is I think Steve Powell. Other Olympic sprinters include Philly McGiveron, Bob Knill and Steve Dunn.
The sprint was usually to get to the back seat of the bus. The best chance of getting away with malarkey. This is Dave Seddon, Nicky Everott and Dave Leeson boarding the coach. We never forgot the time in English Martyrs when we got a Lawrensons coach that was also used for Liverpool Football Club – how times have changed.
On the coach, settle down now kids. One of the girls has got a wicker basket for her butties (an important part of the day). The lad to the left I think is John McKenna. What this picture doesn’t show is the loud excited chatter of the kids before take-off.
From the coach window: Wow man, a LION! “Watch out, ees from Keeerby!” Not much action unfortunately and not many lions, well this was in the early days of the park. We’d expected the Serengeti. Not many oak trees in the Serengeti.
Emerging from the coach for the butties, yeah. Funny how the kids all separated off into clans, it was always so…I can definitely see Nicky Everott, Dominic Blunt, Micky Breslin, Denise…, Pat Rothwell, Ronnie Kellett and John Sinnott on this one.
Finished the butties, just had an iceee. Here we have the motley crew of (Girls:) Pat Flaherty, Carole Kinsella, Stephanie Burke, Sandra Hazard (Lads:) Shaun Deane, Ed (me), Micky Breslin (mid-buttie) and Jimmy Backland. No real need for the parasol that day. Next time I would meet Shaun Deane would be at a Liverpool match mid-nineties he was 300 metres away as a LFC Steward but I hollered out Shauuuuuuuuuun! And he looked up haha.
And this is Ed on the day. That shirt was my pride and joy - for those who lived through those years all I need to say is “it’s a Ben”. Ben Sherman shirts were an expensive craze for Litherland Mums to deal with. Having been generally let down with my footie boots (“Top Dogs” versus what I wanted “Adidas Inter”) I nagged so much Mum caved and I got a Ben. The tie was “ex-Johnsons the Cleaners” stock, however… you know - the ones people didn’t bother collecting.
Ahh the petting zoo, more our style than all that non-Serengeti stuff…
On our way home Phil McGiveron, James Powell, John Sinnott and John McKenna with Mr. Power the Maths teacher.
Now joined by Dave Seddon and Dave Leeson. Example of RAC minivan and orange Ford Transit in the pic.
And now two failure pics that were so damaged or blurry they couldn’t be rescued. This one was at the end of the roll and had not seen it before – if you look hard it might be Micky Turley having a larf. That’s Shaun Deane in the background.
Again, too blurry to rescue (tried and people came out with turtle skin faces 🙂. Nevertheless this was the group shot before we got back on the coach to go home. Even though blurry I can still make out the following people (L-to-R): Marie Mooney, Cathy Barr, John McKenna, Micky Breslin, Dominic Blunt, Ed, Jimmy Backland, John Sinnott, Shaun Deane, John Powell, Debbie Palk… any others?
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