Memories of Football and Rounders at Holy Harbour
In 2024, Gene Watts posted a photo from 1949 of a football match between Park Street and St Edmunds at Holy Harbour in the Facebook Group “I Belong To Bolton”.
The photo prompted a lot of comments as people reminisced about Holy Harbour. Here are some of those comments:
“I remember those days! Lived on Rushey Fold Lane and got locked in that ground as a kid.” Ian Christopher Brophy
“I remember getting stuffed 9-1 by St Thomas’s in the Hospital Cup late 60s playing for Ryders. However better memories of playing there for Old Smiths when it was our home ground.” Brian Wignall
“My dad used to play for Park Street, so there’s a good chance that he’s in this pic. Falcon Mill in the background.” Steve Sharrocks
“Played on there for St Thomas Junior School, Bolton Schoolboys, St Thomas Sunday School League team, various other teams in Cup games. Also refereed a couple of Boys Fed Cup Finals. Good memories!” David Thornley
“I played there for Oldhams Lane Primary School around 72/73 then, many years later, for Bolton St Thomas’s in the Lancashire Combination, then the NW Counties League until sadly the ground was developed for housing.” Andy Leeds
“Loved the Thursday night cup finals back in the 70s when my dad and grandpa were involved in the Boys Fed.” Debbie O’Mara
“I used to mark lines on the pitch with my grandad using sawdust in the early 60s.” Graham Brophy
“That was our home ground for St Thomas CofE School in the early 70s. It was a massive pitch when you were 10 years old!”
“I used to go to Church Road School. One day Mr Woodward, our teacher, announced we’d be going to Holy Harbour to play football. I’d never heard of it before and it sounded like a long way away on the coast, so I was really worried about how I was going to get home!” Chris Tunnah
“[They] also had rounders matches on there. My mum played for Park SC and Chorley Old Road Meths. Many fierce matches against St Thomas’s. Florrie Cunningham springs to mind as one of St Thomas’s. It would be around the early 1960s. Great Days! ” Frank Dearnaley
“Florence was my Nan! She loved her rounders.” Tracy Almond
“A good player and very competitive, but sporting too. My mum used to say she was the kingpin of that team.” Frank Dearnaley
“Think of all the football grounds that have disappeared – Holy Harbour, Walker Avenue, Grundy Hill, Silcoms at Darcy Lever.” Dave Lowe
“Wow! That brings back memories – some good, some not so good. I played for Thomas’s when ex Wanderers Roy Greaves was managing, and played my last game there breaking my leg of the second time in the Hospital Cup semifinal on 7th May 1985.” Michael Farnworth
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A similar post in 2018 prompted other memories of Holy Harbour:
“It used to be brill on Holy Harbour. We had schools sports on there, Rose Queen, Scout and Guide huts. It was where all the kids went back in the day.” Ann Green
“Yep. I went to Brownies and Guides there. The Scout hut was next door, which was always a reason to keep going. That was our Friday night fun every week. Sunday night was St Thomas’s youth club.” Gloria Wayne
“I grew up on Cloister Street opposite the tennis courts.” Ash Lee
“Tennis courts?” Jane Watkins
“Yes. At the side of Holy Harbour football field there was a tennis court. The football field was where the estate now is, Rusheylea Close and so on, and the tennis courts were where the new houses are now on Cloister Street, next to the Vicarage and then there was an old dirt track lined with garages which ran between the football pitch and the graveyard.” Ash Lee