TONY MARTIN, from Ashurst, handed us this pic from 1970.
He is pictured on the front row (fifth from left) which shows Up Holland Labour Club’s A and B teams at Chequer Lane fields in 1970.
It was taken just a year after he moved into Elmstead from Croxteth.
He started at Glenburn but only had four months of full-time education left.
Eventually, he started at the EAST LIGHT FACTORY but his abiding memory of the town at that time is that there was very little here.
“There was no POLARIS or HIGHWAYMAN pub,” said Tony, formerly of Beechtrees.
“But there was the old CROSS KEYS pub, which used to be near the Grimshaw, and there was the Tawd Bridge further down at the bottom of Ormskirk Road.
“There used to be the RIBBLE BUS which would take us back to Liverpool. It costs 2s 11d and funnily enough the bus number was the 211.
“At that time, most of the kids in GLENBURN were old Skemmers, there were only about 20-24 Scouse kids there so there was always a lot of rivalry.
“There was no police station near the CONCOURSE, it was still the old one in CLAYTON STREET, Old Skem, and Tanhouse had no shops.
“We moved in the April and it was dead hot but later we had massive snow.”
As a youngster, he was really keen on football and even donned a pair of Alan Ball-style white boots, which were extremely rare at the time.
“The Labour club’s A-team played in green and black but the B team played in this horrible orange and black strip.
“As I was in the A team I don’t really remember any of their names.”
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Skem Advertiser wrote...
***UPDATE***
Team manager JOHN McFARLANE rang in just a few hours after the Addy hit the streets to help us name some of the squad members.
It turns out the teams were UP HOLLAND LABOUR CLUB and HOLLAND MOOR, the latter being set up only because after a plea for squad members exceeded all expectations.
John helped set them up after coming to Skem in April 1967 from Anfield after getting a job at HARTWOOD HOSIERY on Gillibrands.
His first home was in BIRLEYWOOD but later he moved to ABBEYSTEAD.
“Me and TOMMY MCCANN started it up in ‘67 but we had to wait until ‘68 to get into the Sunday League,” he told the Advertiser.
“We put a poster up asking for players but we were inundated so we thought ‘we need to give these lads a game’ and we set up Holland Moor, so they were both linked.
“At that time, I’d say only a third of NEW CHURCH FARM was built, as was part of DIGMOOR and LITTLE DIGMOOR.
“TANHOUSE and BIRCH GREEN was just fields then and there was nothing there. The picture was taken at SPENCERS LANE but the fields have now gone as they were used to build the likes of AMERSHAM.
“On that day, I remember Up Holland won 4-3 and DAVE REES scored a hat-trick. It was actually one of the toughest games of the season!
“I was involved for around five to six years and was later league secretary. I was also involved with ASHURST and VICKS, (PROCTOR & GAMBLE).”
John, who now lives in Birch Green, has managed to give full names for all the players apart from three of them. Can you help with the rest?
The team was:
Front row (from left): Kenny Morgan, John (second name unknown, but he was Scottish), John McFarlane, Jimmy Knowles, Ray Radford, Neil Ward, John Kayll, Colin Weston, Jimmy Topping, Tony Campbell, John Green, Phil Fleming, unknown, Frank Edwards, Mike Haake, Tommy McCann, unknown, Peter Gray, John Moore, John Turner and Ray Fleming. Front row (from left): Bobby Mills, Derek Rankin, Frank McNally, John Bibby, Tony Martin, Dave Rees, Terry Hale (later went onto manage Skem Utd), Mick Corkhill, Alan Whitehead, Joe Croft, Steve Topping and John Walker Code NA
Posted by: Skem Advertiser | September 6, 2007 10:21 AM