News and events

Army Band Lined up for Prescot Festival Finale 

One of the nation’s top military bands will appear at this year’s Prescot Festival.

Organisers of the arts and music festival, now in its 13th year, have secured the Band of the Yorkshire Regiment as its musical guest for its Proms-style finale.

Audience members are encouraged to wave flags and sing along to a selection of well-known patriotic tunes at the concert on Sunday 25 June. The climactic event regularly attracts several hundred music lovers to the Grade I listed St Mary’s Church in Prescot.

There are other ways to participate in the 10-day festival, too. Sopranos, altos, tenors and basses are invited to ‘Come & Sing’ with the Prescot Festival Chorus on Saturday 17 June. James Luxton of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral will conduct the massed choir in performances of Rutter’s ‘Magnificat’ and Parry’s ‘I Was Glad.’

Budding authors can enter the 2017 Prescot Festival Short Story Competition by writing up to 1,000 words of fiction inspired by the theme ‘Clocking Off.’

The festival always welcomes new volunteers to help make sure things run smoothly behind the scenes, and sponsorship opportunities are available to individuals and businesses eager to invest in local arts and culture.

“Community music-making is at the heart of the Prescot Festival,” said Founder and Artistic Director Dr Robert Howard, “so we encourage local people to get involved in what’s going on, whether it’s picking up a pen to write a story, greeting guests on the door as a steward, or belting out a song at the Festival Finale.”

The 13th Annual Prescot Festival of Music & the Arts runs from Friday 16 to Sunday 25 June 2017 in the historic Lancashire town of Prescot, Merseyside. Highlights of this year’s programme include Leyland Band, Phoenix Concert Orchestra and the Chilled Lemons Jazz Quintet with vocalist Chris James.

Full information is online at www.prescotfestival.co.uk, and tickets for all events go on sale on Monday 1 May on the website and at Poco Coffee, 30 Eccleston Street, Prescot, L34 5QJ.

Double Promotion guaranteed for Ladies seconds and Mens first team.

Manchester  1  Prescot  Men  4

Prescot Hockey Club Men guaranteed their return to the Division One in the sixteen division North West Hockey League for the first time since 2003. Goals from Jobes, Doyle, Cal Heaps and veteran defender Heyes made sure of the points and the promotion.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for the Prescot first team having finished mid table in Division 3 North just two seasons ago. However, captain Chris Lomax, coach Rob Clarkin and Club Captain Mike Johnson put a plan together based around speed, skill and scoring goals from all over the pitch.

What makes the back to back promotions even more remarkable is it has been done with basically the same squad of players plus youngsters Callum Heaps and Nathan Johnson who have come through the ranks at the Club. With hockey seen as a minority sport for local schools the club has had to rely on their own coaching abilities and the motivation of the squad players to improve their game. The results speak for themselves and having won Division 3 last season with 54 points and scoring 109 goals the step up in quality in Division 2 was always going to be a challenge. However, with a superb session of indoor hockey and a Summer League everyone was kept fit and the momentum continued into this year.

The results this season have been even better than last year even against sides who on paper have much better strength in depth. Prescot have dominated Division 2 North West scoring eight goals or more on six occasions and they head back to the top table next season with ambitions to make it three promotions on the spin.

With one game to play Prescot need to match Neston’s result next week as they both have 52 points from 21 games. However, Prescot have beaten Neston twice and have a vastly superior goal difference.

Prescot Ladies Twos   2  Salford University 1

The ladies seconds secured another promotion, their third in four seasons as they defeated Salford university in their final league game of the season. An excellent team spirit and superb hockey has established the ladies twos as a force to be reckoned with.

Prescot Ladies 2   Crewe  2

The ladies picked up an excellent away point in Crewe.

Jungle Book – A Walkabout Adventure

Saturday 1st April – 1pm, 2.15pm, 3.30pm

Sunday 2nd April – 1pm, 2.15pm, 3.30pm

Come to Prescot woods this Easter as everyone’s favourite Rudyard Kipling tale is magically brought to life by MATE Productions as an exciting walkabout jungle adventure for children and families.

Join the wolf pack in their den, sing along with Baloo the bear and King Louis in the Monkey Kingdom, and go on a quest to the human village – as the boy Mowgli discovers who he is and where he belongs.

3 walkabout shows a day – 1pm, 2.15pm & 3.30pm. Jungle themed arts and crafts activities after each show.

£6.50 adults, £5.50 children, under 1’s go free.

Family ticket – £22

Tickets on sale NOW from

http://mateproductions.co.uk/box-office/

Tickets on sale in the shops from Monday 13th March from Poco Coffee, Jessie’s Jewels, All That Glam in Prescot Town Centre.

Meet in front of Prescot Parish Church 10 minutes before the show, wear clothes suitable for the weather.

An excellent weekend of hockey:

Prescot Men   9   Crewe    1

A much changed Crewe came to Prescot needing points in their relegation scrap, however it was Prescot who blew them away with all nine goals from open play. The route started with Si Boulton reverse striking beyond the Crewe keeper before Doyle and Mortimer added to the score. Mortimer then added a fourth and Boulton a fifth just before half time. In the second half Crewe had their best spell and forced a string of penalty corners from which they eventually scored a consolation goal. This sparked Prescot into life as they smashed four goals in six minutes from Johnson, Boulton and Mortimer with two more. Prescot could have easily hit double figures however nine  one is a great result and puts pressure on leaders Neston.

Rhyl    0     Prescot Men  13     (thirteen)

Prescot travelled to Rhyl for a rearranged game knowing a win would all but secure a top two finish. Rhyl capitulated and Prescot scored at will to give themselves a huge goal difference advantage of plus 79 and destroy their previous record goals total with 111 now scored in only 18 games. Goals from Warburton, Doyle (3), Hayes, Mortimer, Jobes (2), Boulton (2) and Nathan Johnson (3)  blew the Welsh outfit away and put them in serious relegation trouble.

Next week Prescot travel to City of Manchester whilst Neston play Triton so a win for Prescot should secure promotion and a win for third placed Triton would gift Prescot the title with a game to spare. Having won Division Three last season the Prescot mens first team have dominated Division Two North West and should be back in the top division for the first time since 2003 for next season.

The Club wishes to pass on a massive thank you to the coaches, volunteers, umpires and squad of players who have turned the performances around over the last two seasons.

Prescot Hockey Club will be running Free junior hockey on Wednesdays, 7pm at Sutton and we welcome adults and senior players of all abilities to join our growing and ambitious hockey club Wednesdays 8pm at Sutton Leisure Centre. More information on Facebook and Twitter.

Prescot Ladies Twos   2  Manchester University 2

The ladies seconds gained a valuable point in Manchester to move four points clear with two games to play. They play third placed Salford next week so could secure their third promotion in four years with a win or a draw.

Willy Russell: Another Aspect – Exhibition at Kirkby Gallery from 9 May to 2 September

St Helens Law poster

St Helens Law press release

New classes starting at Prescot Town Hall on Wednesday 8th March 2017.

Prescot Town Council Budget Statement

The Town Council are well aware of the financial pressures faced by our residents and have therefore worked extremely hard not to increase the precept over the last six years. The policy of the previous administration was to increase the precept year on year and as such the precept saw incremental rises with a cumulative effect of 18% or £11.68 over the four year period 2006/7 to 2010/11.

Relentless public sector funding cuts such as the scrapping of Council Tax Benefit have seen Prescot Town Council loose just over to £45,000 of funding in the last 4 years. In addition to this the Town Council have taken on additional services from KMBC at a cost of around £27,000 per year. Further known funding cuts for next year and the cost of transferred services mean that the cumulative financial pressures facing the council will rise to just over £96,000 since 2012/13. The sustained nature of the cuts has meant that after six years we must now put an increase on the Precept. The total increase of £7.23 per year per band D property can also be expressed as 14 pence per household per week, however as much of the town’s housing stock is below band D this rise could be as little as £4.82 per year or 9 pence per week.

This increase will raise approximately £20,000 helping to offset the income lost through the cuts and will enable Prescot Town Council to continue to deliver a high quality service to residents.

Elections for the vacant positions in North West and East Wards will be held on Thursday 23rd March 2017 notices of the polls can be seen below.

Notice of Poll – Prescot East

Notice of Poll – Prescot North West

Last night would be thieves attempted to break in to the Pavilion building on Eaton Street Park. This is not the first time such attempts have been made, however this was a more concerted effort and has resulted in more than cosmetic damage. Having scaled the perimeter fence the thieves used a metal rod to prise away a section of cladding only to find that the building is actually comprised of steel beneath the cladding. In spite of the fact that literally ‘nothing of value’ is held in the building, the building is designed to be secure but also has some aesthetic value by way of cladding.

Both buildings on site contain nothing more than some patio furniture (with a practically non-existent resale value)decorations for the Christmas Grotto and tea and coffee making facilities, there really is nothing worth stealing. Even if there had been we wouldn’t keep it there any longer.

 Any machinery for grounds maintenance purposes is brought to site and taken away on the same day, except for some basic tools for weeding the bedding areas, brushing up and litter picking.

The Town Council and Friends of Eaton Street Park (who give their time freely) have worked hard to provide these buildings for the benefit of the Town, enabling increased use of the Park by as many residents as possible, it really is very disappointing to see mindless acts of vandalism and now theft halt the progress the park has made over the last few years, every penny spent repairing or replacing damaged items is one less that can be spent of the development of our park.

The attempted theft has been reported to Merseyside Police, and the local team will now pay additional attention to the site.