History of St Thomas Football Club

1890-1989

In 2018, in the Facebook group “I Belong to Bolton”, Ian Christopher Brody asked about memories of Holy Harbour. Mark Winrow shared a photo of a card with the following history by Alan Barton:

The club was formed in 1890 and its association with the Church was to be a catalyst during nearly 100 years of football at Holy Harbour.

The club reformed after the 2nd World War, and the ground was levelled in 1950, under the guidance of Bob Moores, W. Ashworth, Cliff Mortimer, with team managers Alf Tollady and Jack Blackburn.

The team started playing again in the Boys Federation under the names of Kirkmans FC, and then Vanstones FC. These were the names of the acting vicars of St Thomas at the time. They were one of the founding members of the Bolton SSS League, and won both the Marshall and Chadwick Cups, as well as winning the Division.

The club moved to the Bolton Combination, then into the Lancashire Combination and later into the North West Counties League. Under the committee of C. Mortimer, F. Lawson, A. Barton, B. Brownlow, E. Kershaw, B. Roberts with the management team of J. Nichol, K. Robinson, B. Nedderman, A. Farnworth and B. Marsh.

During this era the club won the Westhoughton Charity Cup twice and were R/up to Wyresdale in 77/78, as well as R/up in the Bolton Hospital Cup Final. Some well known players such as Roy Greaves, Tony Moulden, Gary Owen had spells at Holy harbour, as well as Eric Wood (Rochdale) who was one of the first professional players to play for St Thomas’s.

St Thomas’s hosted numerous Semi-Finals and Finals for Bolton’s Cup Competitions, and Easter Weekend and New Years Day witnessed some great matches, always creating a unique atmosphere on the Harbour….

Alan Barton