The village of Banks has been home to agricultural families for some 300 years but recent decades have changed that.
Upcoming electoral boundary changes will soon blur those lines further, with Banks, Tarleton and Hesketh Bank being moved into the Southport constituency while remaining in Lancashire.The links between the two date back much further, as evidenced in the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks’ summary of Banks which explains that “although Banks is shown on a chart of 1730, real development didn’t begin until after 1800 when Southport itself started to grow”.
LancsLive visited earlier this week as volunteers gathered in the hall of The Parish Church of St.Stephen to run one of the regular coffee mornings. Each week, hot drinks, cakes, fresh fruit and vegetables and other items are brought for sale as dozens of villagers gather for a natter. Helping to set up and run the coffee morning was 83-year-old Sheila Johnson, who has no doubt about the village’s identity. “It’s definitely not Merseyside, it’s Lanmcashire. We’re just meant to be in Lancashire really, it’s our roots.”
Speaking at the time of the closure, lay preacher Lawrence Baxter said: “One of the main reasons the church is closing is a theological reason. Christian morality outlook is based on the scriptures and we know the world is becoming increasingly secular and moving away from Christianity.