38-677: The Cheshire Phoenix are a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port , United Kingdom. Founded in 1984, they are members of the Super League Basketball and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena . From 1993 until 2015 the team was based in Chester , where they enjoyed their most success. Under previous ownership, the team was known as Cheshire Jets , but due to financial difficulties
76-473: A first language. According to the 2011 census, the main religion of Ellesmere Port is Christianity with 72.1% of the population. 20% have no religion, 6% are unspecified, 0.4% are Muslim, 0.2% are Buddhist, 0.1% Hindu and 0.2% other. Ellesmere Port is located at the southern end of the Wirral Peninsula , in the county of Cheshire. Its suburbs include Overpool to the north west, Westminster to
114-525: A loss of competitive advantage caused by steam engine-related economic advances (nationally, regionally and locally) during the first decade of canal construction. During or before the construction of the canal the village of Netherpool changed its name to the Port of Ellesmere, and by the early 19th century, to Ellesmere Port. Settlements had existed in the area since the writing of the Domesday Book in
152-560: A number of tourist attractions including the National Waterways Museum , the Blue Planet Aquarium and Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet . The town of Ellesmere Port was founded at the outlet of the never-completed Ellesmere Canal . The canal (now renamed) was designed and engineered by William Jessop and Thomas Telford as part of a project to connect the rivers Severn , Mersey and Dee . The canal
190-590: A player must have either: Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( / ˈ ɛ l z m ɪər / ELZ -meer ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire , England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula , six miles (ten kilometres) north of Chester , on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. The town had a population of 61,090 in
228-719: A site near the Coliseum shopping park. Ellesmere Port was nearly included into the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral , in Merseyside , when that was formed on 1 April 1974. It was removed from the proposals before the Local Government Act 1972 had its first reading, and instead remained in Cheshire as part of the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston . Plans were announced which proposed combining
266-634: A steady mid-table development until, in 1991, they won the divisional title despite suffering five defeats. The same year, the Jets moved up into the BBL joining in with Britain's elite basketball teams. Later however, the arena in Ellesmere Port became unsuitable, and so in 1993 the Jets were forced to move to Chester , and into the Northgate Arena . The move was reflected in another name change to
304-676: Is also an infrequent service to Warrington . The Manchester Ship Canal joins the Mersey estuary north-west of Ellesmere Port at Eastham , but the town is also the northern terminus of the Shropshire Union Canal (which used to exchange goods with seagoing boats at what is now the National Waterways Museum). Speedway racing operated at the stadium in Thornton Road in the mid to late 1970s and in
342-507: Is part of the Ellesmere Port and Neston parliamentary constituency. As of 2021 , the current Member of Parliament (MP) is Justin Madders (Labour). The 2011 census records 27,134 households in Ellesmere Port, with 40.9% of the population aged between 30 and 59. It lists the ethnicity of the town as 95.2% White British, 0.8% White Irish, 1.6% White Other, 0.8% mixed ethnicity, 1.1% Asian, 0.2% Black and 0.1% other. 97.8% speak English as
380-767: Is served by the local newspaper, Chester and District Standard (formerly The Ellesmere Port Standard). Ellesmere Port is located near the interchange of the M56 and the M53 motorways. The A41 road between Birkenhead and Chester , also passes through the area. The M56 carries the European Route E22 in this area. There is a bus station in the town centre with frequent services to Chester, Liverpool , Runcorn , Elton , Helsby , Frodsham , Birkenhead and Neston . There are also services to Mold , North Wales operated by Stagecoach. Occasional National Express coaches serve
418-412: Is situated on site of the old Stanney High School by Cheshire Oaks, the Coliseum and M&S. The following people are natives of Ellesmere Port, or have lived there for a period of time. [REDACTED] Media related to Ellesmere Port at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] Ellesmere Port travel guide from Wikivoyage London Lions (basketball) Too Many Requests If you report this error to
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#1732780389256456-598: The 2011 census . Ellesmere Port also forms part of the wider Birkenhead urban area , which had a population of 325,264 in 2011. The town was originally established on the River Mersey at the entrance to the Ellesmere Canal . As well as a service sector economy, it has retained large industries including Stanlow oil refinery , a chemical works and the Vauxhall Motors car factory. There are also
494-527: The St Saviour's in 1984. The team was initially named after their sponsors 'Motocraft Centre Ellesmere Port'. However, after the loss of their sponsor, they renamed themselves Ellesmere Port Jets. The Jets were admitted to NBL Division 2 in 1986 and finished last in their first season, with just a single victory. Edging up to seventh in 1987–88, they then changed their name to Cheshire Jets, though still continuing to play in Ellesmere Port . They continued
532-601: The 11th century, which mentions Great Sutton , Little Sutton , Pool (now Overpool ) and Hooton . The settlement of Whitby was a township in the ancient parishes of Eastham and Stoak , within the Wirral Hundred . The township, which included the hamlets of Ellesmere Port and Whitbyheath, became a civil parish in 1866. To enhance the economic growth of the area, the Netherpool, Overpool and Whitby civil parishes were abolished on 1 April 1911 to become parts of
570-521: The 1980s; since March 2013, the stadium has been back in use for greyhound racing. Ellesmere Port Gunners raced in the lower tier Leagues. The Gunners' best season was their last, 1985, when they won the National League championship. The campaign was marred by a career-ending injury sustained by inspirational captain Joe Owen. Owen was hurt in a track crash at Birmingham. Ellesmere Port Town F.C.
608-520: The Chester Jets. The real turning point for the Jets came in 1996, when the application of the Bosman ruling to basketball resulted in the departure of many of the top English players to European clubs, and the BBL changed its eligibility rule to entitle teams to use five non-national players. Trans-Atlantic recruitment by coach and co-owner Mike Burton resulted in a team which finished fifth in
646-645: The League table in 1997. Subsequent seasons have seen their best-ever performances in 2002 (Northern Conference Champions) and 2003 (3rd in the re-unified League), and a string of successes in the BBL trophy (4-times winners, from 2001 to 2004), culminating in the League Championship in 2005. On 7 April 2007, prior to the Jets' season finale at home to Guildford Heat , an 81–102 defeat, club owner and head coach Mike Burton announced that he would be retiring from
684-710: The Queen's cinema adjacent to Ellesmere Port railway station in the 1960s the town's only cinema had been a single screen in the EPIC Leisure Centre. Since 1974 Ellesmere Port has been an unparished area when the civil parish of Ellesmere Port was abolished and all its functions were assumed by the new district of Ellesmere Port and Neston . The district was abolished in 2009, and the town no longer has its own council. In August 2012, Marks & Spencer opened their largest store (apart from Marble Arch in London) on
722-774: The UK for Sport Relief saw him pass through Little Sutton village centre and Hooton. The footage is only minutes long however. In 2012 Ellesmere Port played host to the Paralympic Flame as part of the Paralympic Torch Relay celebrations. West Cheshire Colleges campus in Ellesmere Port was one of the drop off points for the flame as well as the EPIC leisure centre and the David Lloyd Leisure Centre. Events included sporting demonstrations and
760-467: The borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston with the Chester and Vale Royal districts to form a new "West Cheshire" unitary authority . The new unitary authority came into being on 1 April 2009 as Cheshire West and Chester . The Conservatives won control of this council in shadow elections in May 2008, winning a majority of seats in the Ellesmere Port area for the first time. At national level, Ellesmere Port
798-545: The bus station. Most services are operated by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire with one service operated by Helms of Eastham and another by Arrowebrook Coaches. Ellesmere Port railway station is on the Wirral line of the Merseyrail network and has a train service to Chester via Hooton and also Liverpool via Birkenhead. The line was electrified from Hooton to Ellesmere Port by British Rail in 1994. There
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#1732780389256836-567: The club and fulfilling its fixture list as planned. On 28 January 2024, the Phoenix won their sixth BBL Trophy following an upset win over the favored London Lions in the final. Notes: Note: Flags indicate national team , as has been defined under FIBA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non- FIBA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA -sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed. To appear in this section
874-551: The club and preserve their future, the Jets was renamed as the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets to cover the wider demographic of Cheshire county in line with BiG Storage's market coverage. When BiG Storage terminated the sponsorship, the managing director of the company arranged a successor sponsor; Cheshire West and Chester Council . The club was plunged into chaos in November 2012 when, after only 7 games into
912-446: The club that they were unable to fulfil their fixture this weekend. The BBL is currently exploring a number of options to ensure the continuation of the franchise. It is anticipated there will be a further announcement in the coming days." (Cheshire Chronicle) The club had until the end of November to find £50,000 to preserve its status in top-flight basketball. Local businesses were found to donate money and become sponsors, thus saving
950-448: The franchise at the end of the 2006–07 season . Burton's announcement, after 19 years at the helm, raised serious doubts of the clubs' future, with mounting debts and lack of financial backing. Shortly after the announcement, fans formed a committee to help save the club and received the backing of players including former Jet James Hamilton . Following a sponsorship deal agreed during the summer of 2007 with local firm BiG Storage to save
988-418: The franchise was withdrawn from the League in November 2012 and reformed as the Phoenix. The team's head coach is Ben Thomas. The Phoenix have won two BBL championships, one BBL playoffs, two BBL Cups, and six BBL Trophies. Home games of the Phoenix are played in the Cheshire Oaks Arena , which holds capacity for a maximum of 1,400 people. The team was first formed from the ruins of the Ellesmere Port team,
1026-641: The mid-1980s, the Port Arcades, a covered shopping mall was built in the town centre. By the 1990s, it was the retail sector rather than the industrial that was attracting workers and their families to the town. This was boosted with the building of the Cheshire Oaks outlet village and the Coliseum shopping park, which also included a multiplex cinema; prior to this since the closure of the cinema in Station Road, Little Sutton (King's cinema) and
1064-487: The new civil parish of Ellesmere Port. The first houses in Ellesmere Port itself, however, grew up around the docks and the first main street was Dock Street, which now houses the National Waterways Museum. Station Road, which connected the docks with the village of Whitby, also gradually developed and as more shops were needed, some of the houses became retail premises. The main employer at this time
1102-726: The north, Rossmore to the north east, with Whitby and Wolverham to the south. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada . Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. With its close proximity with North Wales , BBC Wales and ITV Cymru Wales can also be received from the Moel-y-Parc TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Merseyside on 95.8 FM, Capital North West & Wales on 97.1 FM, Heart North West on 105.4 FM, Smooth Radio North West on 100.4 FM, and Dee Radio on 106.3 FM. The town
1140-735: The opening of the Vauxhall Motors car plant in 1962. Opened as a components supplier to the Luton plant, passenger car production began in 1964 with the Vauxhall Viva . The plant is now Vauxhall's only car factory in Britain, since the end of passenger car production at the Luton plant in 2004 (where commercial vehicles are still made). Ellesmere Port currently produces the Vauxhall Astra model on two shifts, employing 2,500 people. In
1178-623: The parade of the Paralympic flame. Construction began in January 2014 for the new multimillion-pound Sports Village in Stanney Grange which initially was to incorporate an Olympic sized swimming venue (now smaller), tennis courts, football pitches and other sport halls, and will be the new home of Cheshire Phoenix , the local professional British Basketball League team from the start of the 2015/16 BBL Championship season. The village
Cheshire Phoenix - Misplaced Pages Continue
1216-496: The season, the British Basketball League withdrew the club's franchise from owner Haydn Cook after he notified them that he was going to cancel the players contracts and cancelled all future fixtures. A statement from the BBL said: "The BBL have withdrawn the Cheshire franchise from its operating company with immediate effect. "The decision follows an urgent review of the franchise following notification from
1254-592: The surrounding areas to work in the factory, settling in a specially built worker's village named “Wolverham”. As the expanding industrial areas growing up around the canal and its docks attracted more workers to the area, the town itself continued to expand. By the mid-20th century, thanks to the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 and the Stanlow Oil Refinery in the 1920s, Ellesmere Port had expanded so that it now incorporated
1292-559: The villages of Great and Little Sutton, Hooton, Whitby, Overpool and Rivacre as suburbs. The town centre itself had moved from the Station Road/Dock Street area, to an area that had once been home to a stud farm (indeed, the former Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council officially referred to the town centre as Stud Farm for housing allocation purposes) around the crossroads of Sutton Way/Stanney Lane and Whitby Road. The foundation stone for Ellesmere Port Civic Hall
1330-583: Was Burnell's Iron Works which had been set up at the end of the nineteenth century. This was followed by the setting up of the Mersey Ironworks factory by the Wolverhampton Corrugated Iron Company In 1905 who settled on Ellesmere Port as a way of exploiting the company's international trade through the nearby ports of Birkenhead and Liverpool. Initially 300 workers and their families came from Wolverhampton and
1368-584: Was intended to be completed in sections. In 1795 the section between the River Mersey at Netherpool and the River Dee at Chester was opened. However the canal was not finished as first intended; it never reached the River Severn. Upon reevaluation it was decided that the costs to complete the project were not projected to be repaid because of a decrease in expected commercial traffic. There had been
1406-691: Was laid by the Chairman of Ellesmere Port Borough Council, Horace Black, on 2 May 1953. It was designed in the modernist style and completed in 1955. The Ellesmere Port Council Offices were constructed just to the southwest of the civic hall and completed in 1969. In the 20th century, a number of new housing estates were developed, many of them on the sites of former farms such as Hope Farm and Grange Farm. Many estates consisted of both council housing and privately owned houses and flats. Ellesmere Port, in more recent times has had an influx of immigrants from Liverpool . Thus demand for housing increased with
1444-616: Was once of town's main football team before the founding of Vauxhall Motors F.C. in 1963. Ellesmere Port Town F.C. was founded in 1948 and folded in 1973. The club's main achievements were playing in the Northern Premier League (The 7th tier in the English Football Pyramid) and reaching the F.A. Cup First Round in the 1971–1972 season, losing 3–0 to Boston United. Vauxhall Motors F.C. are the local football team. In 2009 Eddie Izzard and his run around
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