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Everybody out

Mass exodus of journalists from Old Hall Street: The party

Published on February 23rd 2009.

Everybody out

THEY switched their computers off, handed their company passes in, and the door on an institution closed behind them forever.

Then they went out on the lash.

Call centre operators? Bankers? Estate agents? Airport staff? Could have been.

Any and all of these have picked up their P45s this month. Filling the bars so soon after the Christmas do. Making promises to stay in touch with the people they have spent most of their waking hours with for years; promises which life will never let them keep.

Job loss stories are a bread-and-butter staple for the press, but there will be 43 fewer journalists to report on them from today.

Trinity Mirror, the city's biggest - and one of the only media employers around here, swung the axe of redundancy through its own newsroom last Friday, sending many of its top operators off with the Sly Bailey shilling. Original story here)

But there was apparently plenty of emotion from both sides of the fence. “A thousand years of experience walking out the door,” remarked the Echo ed.

It will mean that remaining reporters will type stories and headlines straight onto the page.

Time for a wake.

Venue: Lady of Mann pub (the Old Courtyard behind Rigby's) which will undoubtedly have seen its briskest evening ever, as a couple more millenniums of experience - photographers, writers and executives, from down the Liverpool Daily Post and

Echo's history, stepped out of their ex-colleagues' memories by travelling from all over the country to drink hard with them one last time. Well except Echo Ted.

No decent hack can resist being in the thick of it.

“Even in six months time, a year, you could never gather all these people in the same room again,” said one, looking around, sadly.

There were a few tears spilling into the drink, and a bit of anger, it has to be said, but mostly it was an air of resignation from the 43 resigned. They include David Charters, Phil Key, Mike Chapple, and even Bumble himself, Joe Riley, who must surely account for 900 of those 1,000 years.

Liverpool Confidential took some pix.



AnonymousFebruary 23rd 2009.

Yes, but it's not this lot's fault.

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

There are 1 or 2 cases of bog eye but I didn't want to mention it in case I offended friends of Mr or Mrs. A.A. Grill. There's even a couple with no eyes. One bloke only has one eye. Bog eye, 1 eye and no eye. It's all here. There's even 1 guy with big eye. I've just noticed Heather Mills attended. 8th pic down on left, lady in the middle. I really should learn to shut up. Had lots of people chasing me last time I talked about peoples eyes. Fortunately they didn't catch me when I stood still as their eyesight was like that of a T-Rex and based on movement.

that's mr bollocks to youFebruary 23rd 2009.

To Manchester Evening Views: making jokes at the expense of other's people's job misfortunes shows what a tiny, bitter and twisted little mind you have. Usual cliches about self pitying and whining had nothing to do with the piece so wise up dick brain and take your oh so boring prejudices elsewhere. And the same goes to you sayno 2 council tax.

EditorialFebruary 23rd 2009.

Top right is David Charters. Phil Key had run away by the time we got round to it. We started to do captions but as is the style, we don't bother, and photoshopping, uploading and sizing a total of 126 images in a sitting, was enough. There are plenty of professional caption writers in the pictures who would have done it for us, but they weren't answering the phone. Probably all buying cars off Dig with their redundancy.

OrnithologistFebruary 23rd 2009.

I think you are seeing things, GTW. It's time to have your eyes tested (and your palms shaved).

Square EyesFebruary 23rd 2009.

Is that the cockney barrowboy off Masterchef? (Third from bottom on the left)

Perry WhiteFebruary 23rd 2009.

It's OK I've sacked the Olsen kid! Now, where does it say "original story here"?

AnonymousFebruary 23rd 2009.

Yes, a P45.

Speed GraphicFebruary 23rd 2009.

What's 'bog eye', Dig? Is it the same as cross-eyed or 'gozzy'?

Gordon BennettFebruary 23rd 2009.

That's some commission, eh, Dig?

Good manners costs nothingFebruary 23rd 2009.

He has the look that somebody taller has just pushed in front of him in the queue at the chemist, but he never said anything, even though he should have been next. But you would think the woman at the counter would have said something, she saw me waiting. Pig ignorance that's what it is. Don't mind me, i should have said, but you'd only get the blank stare back and they'd carry on like you were a fool. Well i won't come here again. I'll nip up to the Tesco one. I've got me pass, it's a cost to them not me. Mind you this one's handy.

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

I guess you can't point him out for future reviews. We can't have being rumbled now can we? I reckon it's Nick Peet.

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

Are Philip Key and David Charters the same person? Maybe that's why they both couldn't show up to the leaving party. I don't know any of them yet but I'll do special deals for any current or ex employees of The Echo or The Post if they come in. I do know Amanda Harrington. Is she still writing her column in The Echo?

A Doctor Writes...February 23rd 2009.

Ah, so 'bog Eye' is the same as 'one-eye-playing-away' then. Sufferers are invariably dubbed Isiah because "one Isiah that the other".

star-spotter-4-everFebruary 23rd 2009.

Inspector Japp and Matthew Kelly are in there as well as Bruce Forsyth and one of the Miliband brothers.

sayno 2 counciltaxFebruary 23rd 2009.

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

If you don't know who she is or what she does how can you refer to her as 'awful?'. I don't recall ever seeing her pose with a gun but then I haven't bought The Echo in a good few months. I don't recall anybody saying Echo readers should give a toss about her either.

George MichaelFebruary 23rd 2009.

There are a few cases of bog eye in here, I'm afraid, and I'm not talking about the sort you get in the walls of certain gentlemen's conveniences.

Michael MyersFebruary 23rd 2009.

Collective hollow laughter rings around Liverpool as MEN goes down the toilet with compulsory redundancies based on work performance scores.

Jimmy OlsenFebruary 23rd 2009.

And pictures of garden fêtes, social events, and in-depth local stories? I’m bored stiff with tenuous Beatles stories, awed accounts of the inane activities of ‘celebrites’ and photographs of the allegedly "stylish" insides of people’s dreary flats!

Mrs GrillFebruary 23rd 2009.

AA Grill is indeed somewhere in the pictures.

AnonymousFebruary 23rd 2009.

You never get cheque presentations either now. Remember thise big oversized cheques. The merseymart made a terrible decision to ban pictures of them in the 1990s. Was it any coincidence that we entered a recession at that time. And now this!

Lord StreetFebruary 23rd 2009.

I think that top-right is either Philip Key or David Charters, but their tiny byline photos always show them sober, in profile and wearing hats, probably about fifteen years ago.

Manchester Evening ViewsFebruary 23rd 2009.

More scouse layabouts for the rest of the country to feed benefits to.why is the Manchester Evening News so successful? Because it is relevant to the real world of Mancunians and has never indulged itself in whining and whingeing like self pity city Liverpool.When will you losers realise that the world has moved on?

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

A picture of Mrs. A.A. Grill. I wasn't expecting that! Well, I was actually. I'm not sure if Mr. A.A.Grill is pictured.Maybe Mrs.Grill could point him out.

Mike MercuryFebruary 23rd 2009.

He has a look of Masterspy - it could be Dig

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

Indeed. All the very best to those departed and those that remain. I have read your brief response Prof. Very concise and brief and to the point. I noticed your bully is Anonymouse. My bullies always give their ranting names. I guess you can hide behind anonymouse if you aren't up for a debate.

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

You should do what I did Jimmy. When I no longer enjoyed the contents of The Echo I stopped buying it. There are lots of rants about the contents of The Echo under the original story on here Jimmy. Scroll up, click on 'original story here'.

Lord StreetFebruary 23rd 2009.

There's Cyril Cusack in the blue shirt on the right-hand column. Or is it Donald Pleasance?

TintinFebruary 23rd 2009.

Dear Ed.,If writing captions is too much like hard work, why not number the photographs and either have a (Philip) key (gettit?) underneath or encourage readers to fill them in?

CorneliusFebruary 23rd 2009.

Top left is Mike Rickett. Top right is Dave Charters.Lady in brassiere with ample bosom is Loise Douglas, formerly of LDPE parish.There looks to have been a few pissed out their minds there!!

EditorialFebruary 23rd 2009.


EscapeeFromOHSFebruary 23rd 2009.

Older folk may recognise Ian Craig, former Local Government Editor (pre-Militant era) among the assembled partygoers.

A Trembling Doctor Types...February 23rd 2009.

Or 'one Isiah THAN the other'!

DigFebruary 23rd 2009.

Bog eye is an affliction which makes both eyes look outwards. Gozzy and cross eyed are where the eyes look inwards. Top right is Philip Key without the hat I think. He does look rather despondent or drunk or both. Mike Torpey looks like he hasn't a care in the world and Nick Peet wants to fight the world. I'm rather concerned about the lady that's smoking. Her torso is missing and her legs are out of proportion to the rest of her. I would have enjoyed watching her dance with Heather Mills.

Wavy gravyFebruary 23rd 2009.

Don't worry TMBTY, it's the nutter and best ignored or reported. Is no real.

Bog offFebruary 23rd 2009.

I see John Major makes an appearance too (20 down right) and Marty Feldman. Wow!

hrcnowFebruary 23rd 2009.

I can identify AA Grill in one of the pictures. Do I win something?

By Invitation OnlyFebruary 23rd 2009.

How do you know all these people Dig? You can't have sold them all cars!

Great tit watcherFebruary 23rd 2009.

There is a lady, 10 down on the right, who appears to have come out for the night wearing only a brassiere containing ample jugs under her tweedy black and white coat. Is this normally the pattern at such occasions? (I don't mean a black and white coat by the way.)

PlebeianFebruary 23rd 2009.

Who is the patrician gentleman at top left?

CorneliusFebruary 23rd 2009.

Nah, it's Mike Rickett. Don't forget, I'm an ex-insider, out! So I know all of these buggers! :)Sad admittance that in the case of some, not least 'Marty Feldman'

even worseFebruary 23rd 2009.


Jimmy OlsenFebruary 23rd 2009.

I read her brainless, boring, self-important gibberings. What a waste of column inches - even in The Echo! An assuredly tuppence-ha'penny 'celebrity', if you ask me! It's supposed to be a local paper - where are the wedding pictures and Boys' Brigade bulletins?

EditorialFebruary 23rd 2009.

Dig is quite right. This story is not the forum for slagging off the contents of the Echo or individuals within it. No matter what you might think of the organisation, the daily grafters have, by all accounts, performed their roles without missing a beat, until the end. This story is merely intended to capture the moment and the mood as reflected in workplaces and industries across Merseyside

Steve ZodiacFebruary 23rd 2009.

That's Russel Grant minus the curly wig

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