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Shutting up shop
After nine years the Victoria Sandwich bar,
on the first floor of the Victoria Building, is
closing, making way for the refurbishment
of the new Museum and Gallery.
Owners of the sandwich bar, John
and Kath Moore, had decided to retire
after the closure but have been roped in
by their son Glen to run the Life Sciences
and Biosciences sandwich bars instead.
Glen said: “John and Kath, together
with manager Pauline, would like to thank
all customers for their support over the
years and special thanks to Professor
Peter Goodhew and Steve Plant from
Engineering, who helped us establish the
sandwich bar.”
ABOVE: Pauline, Kath and John (front) with Glen
(back, right) and some of their loyal customers.
Secret Santa
Staff have been doing their bit to bring
seasonal cheer to children in desperate
situations around the world.
Since 1990, Operation Christmas Child
has helped more than 47 million boys and
girls, sending out gift-filled shoeboxes
across Eastern Europe and Africa.
Carol Buckman from the Graduates
into Employment Unit and Joy Vogt from
Human Resources jointly collected more
than 100 boxes donated by staff.
Last year, Samaritan’s Purse, the
charity that manages Operation Christmas
Child, collected more than 7.6 million
shoeboxes and distributed them to
children in 95 countries.
For more information visit:
www.samaritanspurse.org
ABOVE: Carol and Joy with some of the boxes
Like honey to the bee
Dr Craig Roberts on his love of beekeeping
Dr Craig Roberts, Lecturer in
Evolutionary Psychology & Behavioural
Ecology in the School of Biological
Sciences, has taken up a very unusual hobby.
He told Precinct how relaxing with a book
at Christmas turned into an obsession…
“By chance, I picked up a book on
beekeeping last Christmas - by New Year, I
had decided this was for me.
I was intrigued by the bees’ complex
behaviour and the challenge to work
with them to achieve a joint aim – honey
production. This was confirmed after a
weekend course in April, and in May I bought
my first bees at an auction on the Wirral.
Driving the hive through the Tunnel was a
scary experience!
Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms
of food production and it appeals to the
‘Good Lifer’ in me. I have two hives on a local
farm, but plan to move one to my allotment
next year.
My first colony produced 40 jars of honey,
with enough left over for the hive to survive
over the winter. I sold most of these within
a few weeks; others are being saved for
Christmas presents and I’ve entered some in
local honey shows. Beekeepers also make
mead or collect wax to make candles or
furniture polish.
I show the bees to anyone I can. Everyone
worries about stings, me included! I’m happy
to say no visitor to the hives has yet been
stung, although I have been. Ironically, it was
once we’d left the hives, I hadn’t checked I
was clear of bees before I took my suit off - I
do now!
Generally they’re calm and take little notice
as we work through the hive.
It’s an ideal hobby. With one or two hives,
you only need spend about an hour or two
a week between April and August. Pick a
good day and enjoy being outside, watching
the workers come and go. There is a ready
community of beekeepers to help you out,
with active local societies and some real
characters - and there’s always more to learn.
No year and no colony is the same.”
Do you have an unusual hobby? Let us know at precinct@liv.ac.uk
The sound of Sefton Park
A psychologist, a philosopher and a
musician are collaborating on a fascinating
project giving people new perspectives and
experiences of Sefton Park.
Elvira Perez and musician Harry Sumnall,
from the School of Psychology, worked
with Mark Ball from Liverpool John Moores
University on the Sefton Park Audio Walk,
a guided tour of one of Liverpool’s most
important public spaces.
Elvira explained: “The audio walk explores
the acoustics of the park in their organic
state, its music and its lyrics. The soundscape
has been created using binaural microphones
and studio post-processing.”
CREDIT: Patrick Hannegan/The Times
The
project
was
developed
in collaboration
with Soundnetwork, a
programme of sonic artistic
activity for Liverpool Biennial,
and media arts organisation, Folly.
For more information and to download
the MP3 file of the walk, visit: http://
soundnetwork.org.uk/users/members/
membersfiles/seftonparkwalk/index.html
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