When Sandown Hall was demolished in the summer of 2000, a condition of the listed building consent was that parts of it should be salvaged and put on public display. The City Council agreed with the owners that a 'votive column' should be created from these components and erected nearby - alongside the footpath link between the new Bett Homes housing estate and the Sandown Park open space. On the official plans of the housing estate it was described as an 'architectural folly' - and it has unfortunately since become a magnet for antisocial behaviour by local youths. Some of the residents of the new houses are now asking for the column to be removed.

The Wavertree Society strongly campaigned against the demolition of Sandown Hall, and we did indeed suggest that relics of the building should be incorporated in the new development. However, we were not consulted on either the design or the siting of the column - and we would support its relocation to a place where it could be better supervised both by the community and by the police.

In Newsletter 144 we asked for information about the 'Star of Wavertree Lodge' and the initials PCN - featured on an old photograph which had been emailed to us from overseas. Thanks to another of our website visitors, we now have the answer: the wearer of the sash, William Room, was a member of a total-abstinence Friendly Society called the Ancient Order of the Sons of the Phoenix - and 'PCN' indicated that he was a Past Chief Noble. (Each lodge elected a 'Chief Noble' annually to act as its presiding officer). We still don't know where - or whether - this particular lodge actually met in Wavertree.