DAME Patricia Routledge DBE is expected to be given Wirral’s highest award later this year as councillors moved plans forward to give the award to one of the UK’s most prestigious actresses. Dame Routledge, who made her professional stage debut in 1952, was born in Tranmere, Birkenhead.

At a regulatory and general purposes committee meeting on September 5, councillors unanimously approved to move the nomination of Dame Routledge for Freedom of the Borough to a full vote by councillors at a later date. At the same meeting, councillors also agreed to also give the same honour, the highest the local authority can award, to YMCA Wirral which helps the homelessness.

The award has been given to a number of high-profile figures, from the late Paul O’Grady and Glenda Jackson MBE to Baron Frank Field of Birkenhead to the Hillsborough 97. The award has been given out 16 times.

Dame Routledge was born on February 17 1929 and attended Mersey Park Primary School, and subsequently Birkenhead High School where she sang in the choir and ran the Sunday School.  She later went on to study at Liverpool University where she graduated with honours in English Language and Literature before attending the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and London’s Guildhall School of Music.

She made her professional debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1952 in A Midsummer Nights Dream. Her first television appearance was in 1956 in the ITV play of the week and her first film appearance was in 1967 in To Sir with Love.

However, she is best-known for playing Hyacinth Bucket in the comedy series, Keeping Up Appearances, that aired from 1990 – 1995 and in respect of which she won a British Comedy Award. Over her career, she appeared in nine films, 66 TV shows, and 56 times on stage and has been awarded a Tony Award, an Olivier, an OBE, CBE, and DBE for services to theatre and charity.

Dame Routledge recently gave a reading at a memorial service for Baron Field, who was the MP for Birkenhead, which was praised by Cllr Allan Brame during the September meeting. At the service in June, she told the LDRS Lord Field was “a rare person” and it moved her as someone from Birkenhead how passionate he was about the town.

YMCA Wirral is also expected to be given the award later this year after councillors also unanimously approved the move. The council is giving the award because of the organisation’s work in supporting “some of the most marginalised and vulnerable members of society, not just in Birkenhead but across the whole of the borough.”

A council report presented to the committee said: “On the nights of the year, where the weather is at its worst, YMCA Wirral opens its doors to anyone in need of a warm place to stay and feel safe and secure. In 2023 that meant YMCA assisting 97 local people. In addition, at Christmas time YMCA provided four days of temporary accommodation, food and gifts to those who have nowhere and no-one to share with.”

The report said they were “widely regarded” for the work they do, adding: “YMCA Wirral showed their incredible service during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to front line staff, supporting people through the impact of the Covid-19 restrictions, upgrading living spaces in communal areas and providing an enhanced set of activities for residents to prevent boredom, isolation and to enhance emotional wellbeing.”