TWO Ark Royals, the boat Dr Livingstone used to explore the Zambezi and Cunard’s second Mauretania are among the many ships to have been built at Birkenhead’s Cammell Laird dockyard.

But for playwright Brian McCann, it’s the people behind the vessels that are more interesting.

After several successful productions in Wirral, his musical, Down Our Street, which tells the stories of the workers and their families, is crossing the Mersey for a three-day run at the Unity Theatre.

“We found that the stories of the people connected to the yard were fascinating,” he says. “But one conundrum was how to put the whole history of a shipyard into a single show. Then we thought of setting it in one Birkenhead street.”

McCann has reworked the original script to incorporate some of the memories of people who have been to see the show. The most significant of these was Bruce Laird, the great-great-great-grandson of shipyard founder William Laird.

“He sent me some ideas of lyrics for a song he wanted to write, about his pride for his family, so I put some music to it and we’ve made it the finale of the show, which he’s delighted about,” explains the writer.

“I played it to him, his wife and his daughter and his wife sat there with tears in her eyes.”