L35 • RAINHILL • MERSEYSIDE

Hello, I'm Smiggy

Locally sourced in Rainhill since day one.
Retro tech hoarder. Electronics tinkerer. Horror film enthusiast.

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Rainhill Dashboard

Vital statistics from life in L35

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Year of the Rainhill Trials

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Irish whiskies enjoyed

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Retro machines repaired

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Miles from Liverpool city centre

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Rainhill Weather Status

The Smiggy Bento Box

Things that make Smiggy tick

Things I Love

The L35 community spirit
Finding a working C64 at a car boot
The sound of a CRT warming up
A proper brew (mint tea, obviously)
Hammer Horror double features
Soldering things back to life

Things I Don't

The M62 at rush hour
Capacitor plague
Horror remakes (stop it)
"Have you tried turning it off and on?"

Did You Know? 1 / 15

🚂 Rainhill hosted the world's first railway speed trials in 1829. Stephenson's Rocket won, reaching a blistering 30mph!

🏗️ The Skew Bridge in Rainhill is the world's first bridge to cross over a railway at an angle — built from sandstone and still standing.

🪧 The milestone on the Skew Bridge pointed the wrong way for years after being moved during widening. It wasn't corrected until 2005!

🎤 Melanie C (Sporty Spice) from the Spice Girls was brought up in Rainhill before moving to Widnes.

⚽ Trent Alexander-Arnold, Raheem Sterling, Jordon Ibe and Ben Woodburn all attended Rainhill High School.

🎬 David Yates, director of four Harry Potter films, was brought up in Rainhill.

🎭 Willy Russell, playwright of Educating Rita and Blood Brothers, was born in Whiston Hospital and lived in Rainhill as a child.

🎸 George Harrison referenced Rainhill in his 1982 song "Gone Troppo" — "Quite like, you ain't seen a sunset. Could be, living in Rainhill."

📜 Rainhill's name dates back to Norman times, believed to come from the Old English personal name "Regna" or "Regan."

🐴 By 1820, Bartholomew Bretherton was stabling at least 240 horses in Rainhill, running coaches to Manchester 14 times a day from Liverpool.

🏥 Rainhill Hospital was once the largest mental health asylum in the world — housing 1,990 patients in December 1911.

👤 The population of Rainhill at the 2011 census was 10,853. It lies within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside.

🏏 Mohammed Ashraful, captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team, made several appearances for Rainhill Cricket Club in 2006.

🚉 Rainhill railway station opened in 1830, making it one of the oldest railway stations in the world — on the Liverpool to Manchester line.

🎉 In 1979, the 150th anniversary of the Rainhill Trials was celebrated by a cavalcade of trains through the ages, including replicas of the Rocket.

Rainhill Roots

🏫 St Bartholomews → Longton Lane Primary → Rainhill High School
🌳 Grew up playing out at Pennys Pit — still take the kids there now

Current Obsessions

Retro Computing Electronics Repair Classic Horror Arcade Cabinets 8-bit Music CRT Displays

Smiggy Says

"If it has a circuit board, I'll try to fix it."

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The Smiggy Ecosystem

All roads lead back to Rainhill. Explore Smiggy's network of sites and projects.