WALLY’S STEPS.
Wally Crebbin, an Aintree Village resident since the 1940s, was well known for his love of fishing which he had enjoyed man and boy. When he retired, his wife Dorothy decided that rather than face being a "fishing widow" she would join him and so the two of them could be seen every day toddling down to the Old Roan area and going onto the canal bank via a small worn track near Aintree Royal British Legion.
Then one day in the early 1980s they arrived at the canal to find a tall wire fence had been erected completely blocking any access due to the development of nearby land. It seemed that they or anyone else, would never have access to the canal again.
Naturally, Wally was extremely upset by this and approached all the authorities to try and regain access, without any success. Determined, he went to the William Brown Street Library in Liverpool and poured over huge numbers of reference books until Eureka, he found a reference to an "ancient rights of way" at that point on the canal. Armed with the reference numbers etc he went back to the local authorities who responded by installing steps from the top of the Ormskirk Road bridge down to the canal.
Everyone who used the canal was delighted that they now had better access than ever before and knowing how Wally had battled for this development, began calling them "Wally's Steps". Eventually the Council agreed that this name should be official and so the nameplate was put in place in 1982 for all to see.
Dorothy, after enjoying many years of canal fishing, passed away in April 2003 at the age of 90 and Wally died on 26 February 2008 at the grand old age of 96. Looks like fishing keeps you fit!!
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2007