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In 2007 Liverpool celebrated its Year of Heritage, the 800th year of a fascinating and vibrant city; then, in 2008 it became the European Capital of Culture. Many new books and magazine articles have accompanied the worldwide media coverage of a city famous for its bustling seaport, great football teams, pop music and much more.
 
Yet one part of the city's remarkable history has never been told; indeed, one of its secret wartime duties has been hidden for over six decades. Of course everyone knows about the role that this great port played in the Battle of the Atlantic, and how Hitler's Luftwaffe mercilessly pounded its buildings and its citizens. However, few will now recall that very soon after Dunkirk, one Liverpool firm was already helping the Allies prepare for a Second Front that was still years away.

"After the War Was Over" is the most fascinating publication we have ever had the privilege to produce, and its content is unique! In over 200 images, it uses hitherto classified photographs of outstanding large format quality to present a view of the secret goings-on around Wavertree and Edge Hill. Assembling crated vehicles sent across the Atlantic in the convoys, an army of engineers aided by old men, young boys and women, put together a vast fleet of military might, initially from Canada and then the USA.  

Here, in bombed-out factories and on waste ground around Smithdown Lane, Overbury Street, Crown Street, Queensland Street and Falkner Street, a vast fleet of military vehicles were erected in great secrecy. To culminate the Year of Culture events, this remarkable book tells the forgotten story, of how Pearsons of Shaw Street coped with this vital war work, and how they were then re-organised for the country's peacetime needs that followed.

This website has been created by Jonathon Wild, Campaign Director of Braygreen. A contact was made from Trans Pennine Publishing back in 2005 to see if I could assist with helping them to discover a location fix for many of the 200 glass plated photographs from around Wavertree and the Edge Hill area. Some of these images had no backgrounds, some of them simply had a side wall of a building.
 
However, working with the publishers and of course viewing the area, we managed to put a location fix on 99% of the images and it was incredible to see how the roads and waste lands looked during these era.

 

I was in contact with the publishers on a weekly basis until the role was completed and I was presented with my own copy of the images on a CD, a special mention in the book, and a signed copy of one of the first books to be printed. The Pearsons of Liverpool story shows how close we became to having these images thrown away, and it is amazing to view them at high resolution. Glass Plated photography really gave a depth to images taken this way.

Sadly, shortly after the book was released, my good friend Professor Alan Earnshaw passed away. Both Professor Alan Earnshaw and David Hayward wrote the Pearson's of Liverpool book, and I was honoured to take part in this amazing publication. My website was then produced to make sure that copies of the book could still be purchased on-line so that everyone had the chance to read this fascinating book!

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