The real life story of a canary called Peter who disappeared across the Mersey inspired a children's book a doctor hopes will help kids sleep.
Michael Boyle, 58, left Liverpool nearly four decades ago to study medicine in Sheffield, where he works as a GP and has raised four kids. After years visiting family in the Liverpool, where his son recently finished studying medicine, he decided to write a book about a canary visiting city landmarks like the Liver Building, inspired by the core memories of his childhood here.
He told the ECHO: "I come from quite a big Liverpool family and a large Liverpool heritage. My grandad was in Toxteth, my dad was in Fazakerley and my mum was in Aintree, and all my friends grew up in Maghull. Although I live in Sheffield and Sheffield is a fine city, Liverpool is home."
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St George's Primary School where the story is set had an orchard and a "derelict" old school house near the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Against a backdrop of high inflation and economic strife, much like today, he remembers playing football in the carpark with classmates, whose age made them feel largely immune to the social woes of the time.
Of more concern was Peter the canary, which their teacher allowed them to keep in the class. They took turns taking it home at the weekend before it made its way across the Mersey in a tale reminiscent of Chanel the African Grey parrot, who left its owner, Sandra Hannah, in tears when it escape from their home in Netherton last year.
Michael said: "I found it in the playground. We caught it, we put it in a cage and we had it as a class pet. Then I was reading the Liverpool ECHO - it was the pink edition, the football ECHO, so the game would finish at 5pm and miraculously it would be in the paper store for half six.
"I was reading the 'lost and found' and someone from the Wirral was looking for a canary. We rang them up and they decided it was theirs. I don't think it was their bird, but they came and took it anyway, and that was a sad thing for me as an eight-year-old. I wasn't very popular because I'd given the class pet away, so my mum and dad took me to the local pet store and we bought a budgie."
In Michael's book - Canary Across the Mersey - he reimagines the parting journey in a more positive light. Brought to life through watercolour paintings by Yorkshire-based artist Ian Wright, the yellow bird flies on an adventure around the Merseyside.
The canary visits the local landmarks like Pier Head, Anfield and Goodison stadiums, and the Royal Iris ferry as it searches for its owners, "who may or may not be a couple of old ladies living on the other side of the Mersey". Michael said: "Most children who read it don't get that twist, so I let them just believe the canary flew across."
The book is available £3.99 on Kindle or £5.99 in paperback through Amazon, with some copies available in Liverpool Central Library. Michael donates 10% of each book sale to the Sleep Charity, of which he is a trustee. The charity "spreads knowledge on pre-bed routines for children, adults and families and reconsolidates the power of a good bedtime story", according to Michael's website for the book, which he hopes can form part of kids' bedtime routines.
For Michael, writing and publishing the book has been a personal process. He said: "It takes a bit of courage to put yourself out there, because you're revealing a bit of yourself, you're revealing a bit of your family. And it's quite expensive to do. My children are a little bit more grown up now, so I had a bit of time, but they were part of it as well. I think it just takes courage to write something and put it out there for other people to critique.
"Some of this stuff is is quite personal, and then you think, 'Oh, am I oversharing?', but I thought the book would give people some pleasure, and I thought it would make people laugh and evoke some nice memories for people. Certainly my old classmates from school who I still keep in touch with, they really liked it and they remember it as well, so that's quite nice."
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