Friends of Williamson's Tunnels

23/08/2026

Today, amongst our visitors, we welcomed Maureen, a journalist from CNN.

Maureen is doing a feature for CNN about us. As well as joining one of the tours, she also got to interview a few of the volunteers, and got to see what we do and how we operate.

Which also meant drinking tea and eating cake (like a true volunteer! 😁)

Great to meet you today Maureen, and look forward to seeing the results.

16/08/2026

With the new display board installed last week, it's prompted another delve into the photo archives. So here's another then and now photo.

We're in Level 3 of Paddington.
It shows the Boote Chamber which you step into from the stairs down from Level 2. And also the Lomax Chamber just to the right of the stairs.

The 'then' photo, shows the scene as it was in Feb 2013. A few months after digging had started.

You can still very much touch the ceiling at this point. And the Lomax Chamber is still completely filled in, and being used as a makeshift display for some of the artifacts we were starting to discover.

The second photo was taken in August 2026.
All the spoil has been removed, you now have to walk down a staircase to reach the floor, and the Lomax Chamber is now completely empty.

And you can't touch the ceiling any more!

09/08/2026

Last week we finally installed our new display board on Level 3 of the Paddington section.

This display board compliments the other boards we have on other levels.

It showcases the history of FoWT's excavation of both Level 3 and Level 4, from first discovery, to final emptying.

As well as the tunnels, it also shows some of the hardworking volunteers involved in the digging, some of whom are sadly no longer with us. And for the rest of us... sadly wishing we still looked that young!

It helps give an idea to visitors on the tours of the challenges we faced, and the tremendous effort in rediscovering Paddington's deepest and most impressive levels.

Thanks to Chris Iles and Mike Rogers for the photos (and for Mike having the unenviable task of designing the board, and having to decide what photos to include!), and to John Morrison and Tom Stapledon for the installation.

09/08/2026

Join us on Monday 7th September 2026 for our monthly meeting.

Our guest speaker this month is David Barrie, who will talk about “Goodluck Mine – the living legacy”.

About the Speaker

David Barrie is the Goodluck Mine Preservation Club Secretary and long term collector of miners lamps, dials and other artefacts and formerly an active caver with a love of mines.

He states "I've been involved with Goodluck mine for something like seventeen years, and it is a love affair. Its a place that grabs you, with so much history and some great characters involved (past and present). I’m its manager now, and have been its secretary since we started the club."

About the Talk

"The theme of the talk would be how we enthuse people to get involved in mining history, keep the traditions and skills alive for the next generation to appreciate. I’d go through all the different projects we have been involved with and how much we have learnt. I just talk, I don’t need slides…

I also talk about the friendly spirit we have – and who occasionally manifests himself."

As usual, the talks will be followed by an update on the latest Williamson Tunnels news with lots of opportunities for questions and answers.

Our monthly meetings are open to everyone.

If you’re already on our mailing list we’ll e-mail you with the Zoom link close to the date. If you want to be on the invitation list, or you’re unsure whether you already are, just fill in the form on our website (link below) and we’ll do the rest.

https://williamsontunnels.com/get.../fowt-monthly-meeting/

FoWT Monthly Meeting
Monday 7th September 2026 7:00pm
Zoom (link will be e-mailed a few days before)

The Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels hold regular monthly meetings online using Zoom, where members and Non-Members alike, can get together to chat and get updates on our progress. We normally…

02/08/2026

On Wednesday afternoon, after the tours, we welcomed the TheLateTwins.

They're two talented lads, who are songwriters, musicians and producers, currently studying at LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts). They approached us a few weeks ago asking if they could film themselves performing in our tunnels.

Of course we said yes, we love to encourage musicians and artists to make use of the tunnels.

So they set up down on Level 4 of Paddington and performed a 45 minute DJ set.

The lads were great and we're looking forward to seeing the results of the recording. The "Twins" who aren't twins are both Spanish and their friend who acted as recording engineer is from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the meantime please check out their Instagram page and give them a follow. https://www.instagram.com/thelatetwins/

26/07/2026

Amongst the visitors this week, on Wednesday we welcomed a brother and sister from France. Aged 19 and 22, both are totally blind, and they were on holiday touring the UK and visiting Liverpool, on their own completely unassisted.

It was a great pleasure and honour to give them a tour of the tunnels, and make the experience as interactive and immersive as possible, including handling the finds, and using sound to gauge the size and depths of the tunnels.

They thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and the opportunity to experience the tunnels.

Back from the tour, we had a great chat with them, their experiences etc, and telling them how blown away we were the fact they were travelling to different countries, without any sighted assistance.

Certainly for us, it was something very special, and we won't forget, it was great to welcome them.

Here's a couple of photos, with their permission, with tour guides, Mike, Clare and Phil.

19/07/2026

Amongst the visitors today, we welcomed back UrbanEx2U to the tunnels. It's been 3 years since their last visit. They also brought some friends along too.

It was a good day, and the gang enjoyed exploring the tunnels once again.

And this time, they got to join the exclusive Caver's Squeeze Club.
Crawling through the tight 34m long tunnel. Not many have been brave enough to do it, even some of our volunteers have never done it.

Here's a link to Robbo's crawl through the tunnel, on their page.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1022838773853998

And below is Robbo's video of our very own Tom, crawling through the tunnel too. 😁

Great to see you guys again, it was a real pleasure and thanks for the videos.

12/07/2026

Think people have realised the tunnels are the best place to be in a heatwave. We were really busy with visitors today.

Can't blame them, may have been 29 degrees above ground, but it was a cool 13 degrees in the tunnels. Like having free built in air conditioning.

If we could, I think some of us volunteers would love to sleep down there 😁

One thing is for certain, the tunnels are the coolest place in Liverpool.

12/07/2026

Join us on Monday 3rd August 2026 for our monthly meeting.

Our guest speaker this month is Laurence Scales, who will talk about “Behind and Beyond Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the London Sewers”.

In the 19th century, Sir Joseph Bazalgette banished cholera from London and shielded it from miasmal misery by constructing his robust system of brick bowels, the sewers. He was a fine engineer and public servant, but he did not invent London’s system of intercepting drains, nor did he build a sewer system adequate for the 21st century, or even the 20th. It fell to others to keep up with London’s prodigious waste output.

This talk by Laurence Scales, who formerly worked in engineering and has latterly been lecturing on the history of science, technology and medicine, has also volunteered in the archives of the Royal Institution and Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He traces the story of London’s sewers over centuries including Sir Joseph’s monumental system but also introduces some of his predecessors, contemporaries and successors who deserve some of the credit for cleaning up London and other great cities, including Liverpool.

As usual, the talks will be followed by an update on the latest Williamson Tunnels news with lots of opportunities for questions and answers.

Our monthly meetings are open to everyone.

If you’re already on our mailing list we’ll e-mail you with the Zoom link close to the date. If you want to be on the invitation list, or you’re unsure whether you already are, just fill in the form on our website (link below) and we’ll do the rest.

https://williamsontunnels.com/get.../fowt-monthly-meeting/

FoWT Monthly Meeting
Monday 3rd August 2026 7:00pm
Zoom (link will be e-mailed a few days before)

The Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels hold regular monthly meetings online using Zoom, where members and Non-Members alike, can get together to chat and get updates on our progress. We normally…

05/07/2026

Bob, one of our regular volunteers, (who travels from Devon! There's commitment!), is also talented on the accordion.

Every so often he takes himself down to Level 4 to practice and play a few tunes. Here's a few videos of him in action.

He can also do an interesting talk on farmer's slurry, but I think we won't bother posting that! 😬

Great work Bob, and don't stop playing.