Blackwell miners and footballers who played for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday to be honoured this Wednesday

 

Blackwell miners and footballers who played for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday to be honoured this Wednesday

Don’t worry if you hear a loud voice echoing round Blackwell Colliery streets this Wednesday morning from 11am onwards. It will be town crier David Purdy calling residents to a special ceremony that begins at the pit wheel monument at 1pm before moving to the community hall at 2pm.  

Three plaques are to be unveiled on the afternoon of the 17^th.

The first at the pit wheel will honour all 71 colliers who lost their lives at the colliery until its closure in 1969 and will name the seven men, some descendants of whom will be present, who died in a mining accident on November 11 1895.

The two plaques that will be unveiled at Blackwell Community Hall will be dedicated to two footballers who worked at the mine and kicked off their playing careers for Blackwell Miners Colliery Welfare FC.

Billy ‘Fatty’ Foulke (1874-1916) and Willie Layton (1875-1944) would subsequently play for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday respectively, where both men went on to win England's old First Division and the FA Cup. Foulke, who also represented Derbyshire at County Cricket, played for England and Layton for the English Football League.

Amongst those who will be making short speeches prior to the unveilings are Bolsover Council Leader and former miner Steve Fritchley, Richard Foulke, John Garrett of Sheffield United, comedian Ross Brierley and former Manchester United director Michael Knighton, great grandson of Layton. Parish councillors Tony Gascoyne and Ian Newham will be saying a few words.

There will a display of residents’ art work centered on Foulke and Layton in the community hall following the unveilings. The ongoing work to record residents’ sporting memories will also be continuing, there will also be other displays and the world record 9^th wicket cricketing stand that was achieved at Blackwell in 1910 by Warren and Chapman of Derbyshire will be recalled.

If you want to find out more about the footballers then take a look at these 2 short films: -

Layton: https://youtu.be/1k1fcY5vtPo

Foulke https://youtu.be/zei3KpirqW0

For more details contact Mark Metcalf 07392 852561 and metcalfmc@outlook.com

Plaque to be unveiled to Spireites player of the Victorian era in Derbyshire village

 

Plaque to be unveiled to Spireites player of the Victorian era in Derbyshire village

A Chesterfield Town player from the Victorian era who went on to win the FA Cup and League title twice with Sheffield Wednesday is to be honoured with a plaque unveiling on 17 April in Blackwell Colliery where he played for the local Colliery Welfare FC before playing for the Spireites in 1894-5.

Full back Willie Layton, the great grandfather of former Manchester United director Michael Knighton, represented Chesterfield in the Sheffield and District League in which they only just lost out for the title to Sheffield Wednesday reserves against whom he played at Olive Grove on 17 September 1894 in the following team: Ballance, Todd and Layton, Holmes, Ross and Swain, Mundy, Cutts, Ross, Nicholls and Taylor

It was reported: ‘Chesterfield again attacked with spirit and Layton with a long shot from midfield sent the ball just over the bar’. Goalless at the interval, Ballance, who made many good saves, was beaten with a fine long shot for the only goal on 72 minutes by Regan. Towards the end of the game, Taylor forced a fine save from Jimmy Massey.

Layton went on to share full back responsibilities throughout the season with Todd and Short. Amongst the highlights for the player were a fine performance against Buxton, won 4-0, in the FA Cup third qualifying round and at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United reserves whose XI included Arthur Wharton, the first man to run 100 yards in ten seconds and the first black professional player.

Good runs by the home right wing were cleverly stopped by Layton before Ross opened the scoring in a fine 4-2 winning performance in which Herbert Munday scored one of his 100 plus goals for Chesterfield Town including the opening Football League effort on 2 September 1899 in the first ever game at Hillsborough.

Layton’s performances during the season were enough to persuade Wednesday to sign him as a reserve team player for the start of the 1895-6 season. His wages were poor and so he continued working as a miner at Blackwell Colliery. However, on 11 November 1895, he took time off work in order to be fresh to play against Sheffield United reserves the following lunch time. It proved a very fortunate decision as a gas explosion rocked the pit killing seven of his mates. Now, in order to honour those brave men a standing plaque to them will also be unveiled on 17 April as will a plaque to Billy ‘Fatty’ Foulke who worked at the mine and played in the same Blackwell Colliery Welfare FC as Layton.

The ceremony starts at the Blackwell Colliery pit wheel at 1pm on 17 April. Further details from Mark Metcalf on 07392 852561 metcalfmc@outlook.com

New book: THE OLIVE GROVE YEARS: Sheffield Wednesday 1887-1899

The open embrace of professionalism in 1885 provided the impetus for the lavish expenditure in 1887 on a new ground by The (Sheffield) Wednesday, the club that, in a drive to win more matches, had in 1876 become the first to secretly pay a player, Scotsman Jimmy Lang.

It proved to be money well spent. Over the following 12 seasons The Wednesday (Sheffield not being officially added to the name until 1929) were to sweep away all their local rivals, when after winning the 1889-90 Football Alliance League – set up as a rival to the Football League – the club secured a place in the Football League at the very top level in 1892-93. They then became the first Yorkshire side to win a major trophy when, after losing in the final in 1890, they captured the FA Cup in 1896, by which time a fierce rivalry had been formed with Sheffield United.

Between 1887 and 1899, when Wednesday moved to Hillsborough, Olive Grove was a fortress. This was especially true in the FA Cup, and this success meant players such as George Waller, Billy Mosforth, Fred Spiksley, Alec Brady, Jimmy Massey, Ambrose Langley and Tom Crawshaw became revered household names across Sheffield, the surrounding districts and the rapidly expanding football world.

2024 marks the 125th anniversary of the last match on 15th April 1899 at Olive Grove and the first at Hillsborough on 2nd September. This extensive book on Olive Grove retains the original material of the first edition published in 2017 and expands on the written content on a ground where Sheffield Wednesday enjoyed a glorious 12 years.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

In 2017, Sheffield Wednesday celebrated their 150th anniversary and invited Clive Nicholson, a descendant of Gainsborough-born Spiksley, and Metcalf, a Sunderland fan with an extensive knowledge of football prior to WWI, to organise a special night for Wednesday fans keen to discover more about their club during the Victorian era. The success of this event and the popularity of the first edition of the Olive Grove book, which is now out of print, prompted this second edition.

Tariq Ali's half hour captivating tribute to E.P. Thompson

 On 3 Feb @calderdaletuc hosted a successful EP Thompson at 100 event & although he was not well enough to make the trip to Halifax, Tariq Ali captivated the large audience with his half hour captivating tribute to E.P. Thompson. 

 https://youtu.be/O1bDAEMFyUY?si=n7m5jplz76rB4_a6

 

What we must rebuild is working class education - John Dunn and Gawain Little

 On 3 Feb @calderdaletuc hosted a successful EP Thompson at 100 event.

Here is a short piece from the day on: 

What we must rebuild is working class education - John Dunn and Gawain Little

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7wbnp2aCIg

Judy Cox on Women in E.P. Thompson's classic work - The Making of the English Working Class

 On 3 Feb @calderdaletuc hosted a successful EP Thompson at 100 event and one of the speakers was 

Judy Cox on Women in E.P. Thompson's classic work - The Making of the English Working Class 

Her is what Judith had to say:- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqrVpyWVzp8&feature=youtu.be

Short film on renaming King Street, Halifax in honour of Samuel Crowther

In August 2022 a plaque was unveiled on the outside of the Calderdale Industrial Museum that finally honoured those who lost their lives or were badly injured in August 1842 in Halifax at the height of the first ever General Strike whereby over one million workers rallied in support of better wages and an extended franchise.

One year later a film: Bread Not Bayonets: Halifax 1842 was released and has been well received.

The next part of the campaign to continue highlighting what happened in 1842 is to have King Street, just yards from Halifax Minister, renamed as Crowther street. This will be in honour of Waterloo veteran Samuel Crowther who was shot by the military on 16 August 1842 outside his home on King Street, where no disturbances were taking place. As Crowther was left crippled for the remainder of his life he was unable to continue working as a nailmaker and endured great poverty. 

Here is a short film on this:- 

https://youtu.be/tniJnV7MWhc

 ‘Bread not Bayonets’ film is at:- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0UxMadnIEA