As we celebrate the end of our big dig, we received our Licence for Mason Street. A Day to remember…

Sunday 20^th November saw us welcome a great crowd of both current and past volunteers to Paddington to celebrate the last bucket to be removed from Paddington’s depths. We were delighted that Liz the daughter of Frank Hodges and Marie, Steve Moran’s sister came to empty the last buckets in memory of Frank and Steve two of our founder members.

cai_9239 — Liz & Marie down in Level 4, about to empty the final buckets with the Gold spade…

cai_9329 — Liz & Marie once the dig had finished by Skip 159

Liverpool TV Channel “Made in Liverpool” also came to record the event, filming the journey of the final two buckets up into skip 159. We started off with Marie and Liz filling the buckets with a specially painted gold shovel, then hoisted them up to Level 3 and then the Buckets were passed from volunteer to volunteer in a chain all the way to the surface and finally into the skip.

Paddington is now completely empty, so what now? What will we be doing on our regular Wednesday and Sunday digging days? Well although digging has now finished, there is lots of tidying to do. We will aim now to complete the installation of the lighting system throughout, then replace the current temporary stairs with permanent galvanised stairs to improve access for visitors in the future.

We will continue to work on our Paddington 2 project, this will hopefully see us getting into further tunnels from the Mile Tunnel. Watch this space on this as we continue negotiations to do this.

Our second really good news is that we were grateful of a visit from Neil Flynn, from Liverpool City Council. Neil brought with him the Licence for Mason Street that we had been negotiating for. Our Chairman Gordon Hunter signed the licence which gives us the permission we need to commence work on Mason Street.

cai_9360 — Gordon, our Chairman signing the Licence to Mason Street with Neil Flynn from LCC.

cai_9366 — Neil handing the Licence to Gordon.

The licence could not have come at a better time, being at the end of Paddington’s dig, we will be moving our digging team around the corner to Williamson’s House Site on Mason Street. This will enable us to start the “Big Dig 2” focusing on the Banqueting Hall, Sandstone Arch, Gash and the Wine Bins. This will also lead, we hope, to gaining access into other known and potentially unknown tunnels in this area.

Once again, we have a very exciting future ahead of us, stay tuned to follow our progress on the Mason Street site in the coming weeks, months and years…

We want to Thank Marie, Liz, Neil and Louise for coming to help make the final dig the success that it was. We additionally wish to thank Neil Flynn and Mark Kitts of Liverpool City Council for their continued support.

A day we will remember for a long time…

cai_9336 — The Volunteers enjoying this special day…

One comment

Over the years my family and friends know that diggers and helpers past and present are known as ste`s tunnel family, and they have got bigger and bigger, we had a special bond R STE being one of the founders, his excitement ,visions, and perseverance never stopped and with the help of the volunteers, diggers and helpers passed and present his dreams would not come true. On 15 JUNE 2O16 that night 5 50 in my arms he passed away. And the shock waves were felt far and wide, but his legacy and visions are being done now. So on 20 NOV SUN 2016 a day in history that will be with me for ever. THE PRIDE AND HONOUR that Liz, Franks daughter and myself Steve`s sister Marie took part in putting the last buckets of muck in skip 159 in Paddington and a day in the history of the Liverpool tunnels and I know their spirits would be looking down with pride they made it a very special day for both of us and our families. But only for their hard work vision, perseverance and team work and a few chosen words, ha ha what they have achieved is breath taking. And don’t forget those girls and boys when they started are volunteers and without them our Liverpool heritage would be lost for ever,and I know that my brother ste would be proud of them all. But lets not forget Joseph Williamson and his soldiers who built the tunnels and gave them pride and a bit of money and what they achieved is fantastic. So go down and see for your selves , so over the years I have seen great changes in Paddington but nothing like now. Because now with diggers, helpers passed and present 159 skips of muck later, we can all walk in the foot steps of Joseph Williamson and his soldier family without them we would not be able to, and the legacy they have left for us all to see. And a cake was made for us and we all had some, yummy ,thanks. Then to top it all, what a great Christmas present for diggers, helpers and FOWT, they got the lease for Mason Street , I could hear ste and frank saying yippy. Good luck cant wait to see what secrets are to be found. So come on and join today and go down, you will get the Mole News , and keep our Liverpool heritage going for are family, friends, visitors and generations to come from all over the world, they are a great bunch. I think that when all the diggers have gone, the spirits of ste, frank , Joseph Williamson and his soldier family, get together and have a good natter, but shuuuush don’t tell any one, but at the end of the day it will still belong to Paddington diggers, helpers passed and present . So keep up the good work and a big thank you to every one for making it a day to remember. Liz it was lovely to meet you and regards to your mum and family, and hope to meet up with you very soon regards , Marie Roger and family xxxxxxx

Marie Williams says:

25/11/2016 at 11:57 am

Over the years my family and friends know that diggers and helpers past and present are known as ste`s tunnel family, and they have got bigger and bigger, we had a special bond R STE being one of the founders, his excitement ,visions, and perseverance never stopped and with the help of the volunteers, diggers and helpers passed and present his dreams would not come true. On 15 JUNE 2O16 that night 5 50 in my arms he passed away. And the shock waves were felt far and wide, but his legacy and visions are being done now. So on 20 NOV SUN 2016 a day in history that will be with me for ever. THE PRIDE AND HONOUR that Liz, Franks daughter and myself Steve`s sister Marie took part in putting the last buckets of muck in skip 159 in Paddington and a day in the history of the Liverpool tunnels and I know their spirits would be looking down with pride they made it a very special day for both of us and our families. But only for their hard work vision, perseverance and team work and a few chosen words, ha ha what they have achieved is breath taking. And don’t forget those girls and boys when they started are volunteers and without them our Liverpool heritage would be lost for ever,and I know that my brother ste would be proud of them all. But lets not forget Joseph Williamson and his soldiers who built the tunnels and gave them pride and a bit of money and what they achieved is fantastic. So go down and see for your selves , so over the years I have seen great changes in Paddington but nothing like now. Because now with diggers, helpers passed and present 159 skips of muck later, we can all walk in the foot steps of Joseph Williamson and his soldier family without them we would not be able to, and the legacy they have left for us all to see. And a cake was made for us and we all had some, yummy ,thanks. Then to top it all, what a great Christmas present for diggers, helpers and FOWT, they got the lease for Mason Street , I could hear ste and frank saying yippy. Good luck cant wait to see what secrets are to be found. So come on and join today and go down, you will get the Mole News , and keep our Liverpool heritage going for are family, friends, visitors and generations to come from all over the world, they are a great bunch. I think that when all the diggers have gone, the spirits of ste, frank , Joseph Williamson and his soldier family, get together and have a good natter, but shuuuush don’t tell any one, but at the end of the day it will still belong to Paddington diggers, helpers passed and present . So keep up the good work and a big thank you to every one for making it a day to remember. Liz it was lovely to meet you and regards to your mum and family, and hope to meet up with you very soon regards , Marie Roger and family xxxxxxx

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