· Meeting with Liverpool City Council

The Tourism Department of Liverpool City Council kindly invited FoWT to a meeting on 4th March. Four members of the commitee attended and spent an hour discussing the tunnels with council representatives. The latter offered to try and include FoWT in a working party to be set up to examine the future of the tunnels, an offer which we gratefully accepted. We stressed the urgency of the situation, given that construction of the new properties on the site could begin at any time.

· Article in 'The Independent'

As a result of the popular reaction to our public meeting, 'The Independent' contacted our secretary Dave Head and interviewed him about the tunnels. A half-page article followed in the newspaper on Saturday 1st March. Drawing an entertaining comparison between Williamson and the modern-day protestors digging tunnels under controversial road schemes around Britain, the headline referred to the great man as a 'Victorian Swampy'! Various other national newspapers have subsequently contacted us with a view to running features.

· Public meeting on 27th February

On 27th February, Friends of Williamson's Tunnels had its first public meeting, at the Devonshire House Hotel in Liverpool. (Some of the committee members gathered for the photo above at the end of the meeting) We were delighted that over 250 people attended. Members of the committee gave some brief talks, followed by a slide show of pictures of the tunnels and Williamson's life and times. During the question and answer session Mr Brian Young, the architect working for Seymour Properties (the company intending to build student accomodation on the tunnels site) came to the table and we offered him the chance to speak on behalf of his company and the developers.Mr Young explained that the development consortium had consulted a local enthusiast of the tunnels and had borne his views in mind when planning their development. The gentleman concerned had applied for lottery funding and if that funding was forthcoming, the money would allow the developers to construct the housing foundations in such a way as to minimise damage to the tunnels under the Grinfield Street area. FoWT and the majority of the audience did not feel assured that such a construction would leave all the tunnels untouched. There was also great concern over what would happen if the funding was not awarded. In response to suggestions from the audience, FoWT offered to work with the individual who had been liaising with the developers, but this was not met with any great enthusiasm. Mr Young, however, offered to meet with the FoWT committee to discuss the way forward and we will be arranging this very soon.Several dozen members of the audience joined FoWT on the night.

No doubt the result of our press release publicising the public meeting, we were contacted by BBC Radio Merseyside, who carried out and broadcast a live interview with the FoWT chairman, Tom Howard, from the tunnels site on the morning of 27th February. The interview lasted about five minutes and covered the reasons behind Williamson's labyrinth and the threat to them.

· Parks Partnership

The Parks Partnership - an organisation which campaigns for and facilitates a wide range of improvements to local neighbourhoods - kindly invited FoWT to apply for associate membership in February. Several FoWT committee members attended a meeting and our application was passed without objection. We hope that PP's knowledge and experience will help us to attract backing for our plans for the tunnels, which in themselves should allow us to repay PP's efforts and benefit the people of Edge Hill.