March 9Mar 9 1 hour ago, Zico said: Been mentioned before only 6 actually from Bolton Always stuck with me how many were from Leigh and Atherton
March 9Mar 9 1 hour ago, Zico said: Been mentioned before only 6 actually from Bolton I count 7, but your point stands. All bar a handful were a 30 minute or less direct train ride from Bolton, though. In those days, you could get a direct train to Bolton from Atherton, Leigh, Bury, Rochdale, as well as those other places, such as Wigan and Blackburn, where you still can. Remember also, that Wigan were slumming it in the Lancashire Combination at that time, so we pulled a lot of support from Wigan from the more enlightened round-ball types.
March 9Mar 9 49 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said: Always stuck with me how many were from Leigh and Atherton I was brought up in Atherton and Battersby is one of those surnames I associate with Atherton, there was a Battersby in my class at school and others in the town, but I haven't come across many elsewhere. Sad to see two Battersby brothers (presumably) on the list, I've always wondered if my classmate was related. Not to make this about football because its far more significant than that, but from a BWFC perspective all those victims never got to hear of Nat Lofthouse or the cup finals in the 50s. Tragic.
March 9Mar 9 Author My mum was at the match but in the Lever End with her friend. She used to tell the story of how exciting it looked on the Embankment with the crowd swaying, they had no idea of the deaths. They then walked home to Farnworth where her mum was at the end of the street waiting for her as she had heard on the wireless about the tragedy and didn’t know if my mum was involved.
March 9Mar 9 Think I've mentioned before but Joseph Platt was my Great Grandad. My Mum who has just turned 80 lost her Grandad at 6 weeks old. I don't think my Nan was very close to her Dad so all this feels a bit factual rather than me getting emotional about it. I notice some relatives of the victims got hospitality on Saturday so could leverage that in future I guess. 🙂
March 9Mar 9 1 hour ago, jayjayoghani said: I notice some relatives of the victims got hospitality on Saturday so could leverage that in future I guess. 🙂 I’m sure the club would have been honoured to host you and your mum on Saturday. They appealed for relatives to get in touch, last week. https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/remembering-33-80-years An Appeal to Relatives The club would be grateful to hear from any relatives or descendants of those who lost their lives in the Burnden Park Disaster. As we mark 80 years since the tragedy, we are keen to ensure that the families of the 33 remain connected to the club and are aware of the commemorative events taking place. If you are related to, or know of relatives of, any of the 33 victims, we would warmly encourage you to get in touch with Paul Holliday at the club. Contact: Paul Holliday Email: pholliday@bwfc.co.uk It is disappointing that previous administrations had not kept in touch with the families of those we lost. The current owners are clearly trying to address this. and I’m sure they would still like to hear from you.
March 10Mar 10 3 hours ago, jayjayoghani said: Think I've mentioned before but Joseph Platt was my Great Grandad. My Mum who has just turned 80 lost her Grandad at 6 weeks old. I don't think my Nan was very close to her Dad so all this feels a bit factual rather than me getting emotional about it. I notice some relatives of the victims got hospitality on Saturday so could leverage that in future I guess. 🙂 My grandad was also at the match - William Platt (my mums dad), I assume your great grandad wasn't related. Fortunately my grandad was unaffected by the tragedy, and as others have said, was unaware that there were deaths. Again, as others have said, my grandma was aware and was frantic with worry... she walked to the bus stop awaiting my grandad's arrival and was in a flood of tears when he stepped off the bus - he had no idea why at that point.
March 10Mar 10 2 hours ago, Rival Son said: I’m sure the club would have been honoured to host you and your mum on Saturday. They appealed for relatives to get in touch, last week. https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/remembering-33-80-years An Appeal to Relatives The club would be grateful to hear from any relatives or descendants of those who lost their lives in the Burnden Park Disaster. As we mark 80 years since the tragedy, we are keen to ensure that the families of the 33 remain connected to the club and are aware of the commemorative events taking place. If you are related to, or know of relatives of, any of the 33 victims, we would warmly encourage you to get in touch with Paul Holliday at the club. Contact: Paul Holliday Email: pholliday@bwfc.co.uk It is disappointing that previous administrations had not kept in touch with the families of those we lost. The current owners are clearly trying to address this. and I’m sure they would still like to hear from you. Does Qantas First Class have a free bar? I'm in if so. Things on that front certainly have got better. I was only joking about the leverage but I did once attempt to use it when they brought out the 70th (?) anniversary commemorative shirt during the Anderson years. Emailed the club shop and said I'm a relative could you reserve one please? Got a firm no and was told ask a ST holding mate to buy one. That mate who is a mutual friend of @desperadowent out on the piss or something and I missed out. He's a good lad and I forgave him btw.
March 10Mar 10 8 hours ago, JOGLER said: My grandad was also at the match - William Platt (my mums dad), I assume your great grandad wasn't related. Fortunately my grandad was unaffected by the tragedy, and as others have said, was unaware that there were deaths. Again, as others have said, my grandma was aware and was frantic with worry... she walked to the bus stop awaiting my grandad's arrival and was in a flood of tears when he stepped off the bus - he had no idea why at that point. I was told on Saturday about all the buses coming along Chorley New Road to Horwich after the match and there were crowds of people at every bus stop waiting to see if their relatives were getting off the bus. It makes me fill up just thinking about it. And bearing in mind very few cars in the 40s, with a huge crowd, hard to imagine how many thousands must have travelled by bus.
March 10Mar 10 My wife's grandad was there. Again, the same story, that he wasn't aware of anything having happened until he got off the bus. He lived in St. Helen's & worked at Pilks. Loads came from there. The Whites were a massive club with a wide following.
March 10Mar 10 7 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said: I was told on Saturday about all the buses coming along Chorley New Road to Horwich after the match and there were crowds of people at every bus stop waiting to see if their relatives were getting off the bus. It makes me fill up just thinking about it. And bearing in mind very few cars in the 40s, with a huge crowd, hard to imagine how many thousands must have travelled by bus. My grandad was on the Chorley Old Road bus. Same story. Bewildered by the crowds gathered at each stop as he was in The Lever End so hadn’t realised what had happened. Seem to think that my Dad hadn’t been de-mobbed at that point and was still in Gib or N Africa or he would have been there. He did tell me all the stories but my memory is fading
March 10Mar 10 Similar tale from my Grandad. He'd been on the Lever End and came home unaware of the scale of the disaster. The wife's uncle, a young lad was passed over the crowd along with lots of other kids and told me how they all sat along the touchline as the game went on. The linesman had to run inside of the line for most of the game it was so packed.
March 10Mar 10 Same story as most on here my Dad was there normally in the Embankment with my Uncle could not get in and ended up in lever end both went for a pint after match unaware of my mum and auntie frantic with worry auntie 3 months pregnant unfortunately became ill with worry and had to go to a crowded hospital when they got home and had a miscarriage sad day for all involved
