Walk On - Reflection by Canon Bob

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From the very beginning of the ‘Shut Down’ Pauline and I decided that we would try to make the most of the time we were allowed to exercise. My heart goes out to you if for whatever reason you have not been able to leave home. Today I invite you to join us on what has become one of our favourite walks.

Leaving our home in Lady Chapel Close we make our way to Hope Street, named after William Hope, a merchant whose house stood on the site now occupied by the Philharmonic Hall and by a happy coincidence his name is now synonymous with the 2 Cathedrals. Fittingly, half way along we pass the statues of David Sheppard and Derek Worlock reminding me of the time when I was the Diocesan Youth Officer that we released 500 helium - filled balloons at the same spot, as the procession moved between the Cathedrals at Pentecost.

​After climbing the 56 steps at the front of the Metropolitan Cathedral we go behind to the piazza where I was present when, during his visit to Liverpool, Pope John Paul 11  celebrated Mass for thousands of young Roman Catholics.
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Metropolitan Cathedral Piazza

Just beyond the piazza are the original ‘Red Brick’ buildings of the University of Liverpool which gave that name to those universities founded at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries and to which I was Chaplain before joining the Cathedral staff. Now all is quiet and our thoughts are with today’s young people anxious to continue their education.
Our walk now takes us past the Augustus John pub named after the famous artist and Professor of Painting at the university who died in 1961 and the Barbara Hepworth sculpture of ‘A Square with Two Circles’. We cross Grove Street and approach the entrance to the Williamson Tunnels created under the direction of the tobacco merchant, land owner and philanthropist between 1810 and 1840 to give employment and income to those in direst poverty.
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University Red Brick buildings

Augustus John Pub

Williamson Tunnels

​By contrast to the gloomy depths of underground we journey on to the beautiful Abercromby Square laid out in the 1820s and named after Sir Ralph Abercromby, who defeated the French at the battle of Alexandria in 1801.

Abercromby Square

Turning for home we make our way to Falkner Square. It was created in 1835 by Edward Falkner, a property speculator. Almost unbelievably it was built in open country at the time, and his terrace on Upper Parliament Street was considered so far away from the town it was nicknamed Falkner’s folly!
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So now back down the hill to our magnificent Cathedral and home. As well as dipping into the rich heritage of our city we have also passed unavoidable evidence of the extensive new buildings going up all around us. Over the years the people of Liverpool have faced many and varied challenges . They have responded with compassion, creativity, and with a faithful sense of destiny. Today we need those qualities and more as we build on the past and look with hope and confidence to the future.  

Canon Bob

While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.