Jul 26, 2020 | Football Writing
This article originally appeared in the Prescot Cables v Skelmersdale United Programme, 22nd April 2019. I’m republishing it now (July 2020) as the English Schools’ FA has effectively barred seven schools from nominating players to a local District...
Jul 26, 2020 | Football Writing
This article originally appeared in the Prescot Cables v Radcliffe Programme, 26th January 2019. I’m republishing it now (July 2020) as the English Schools’ FA has effectively barred seven schools from nominating players to a local District Schools’...
Jul 23, 2020 | The Main Blog
During Lockdown, I’ve been working on a number of projects. One has been researching our Family Tree, while another has been designing a paperback book, then helping to turn it into a reality. A Football Club in Prescot covers the first 50 years in the life of...
Jun 16, 2020 | Family Matters
The biggest problem with taking up genealogy is that, in many ways, it is just a really nerdy game of Whack-a-Mole. Just when you think you have an understanding of a situation, a piece of information appears that changes everything. Suddenly, you’re working on...
May 17, 2020 | Family Matters
One of the most interesting discoveries I’ve made during the course of my research is the sheer number of my ancestors who either emigrated to Australia, or were born there because of their parents’ decision to leave the ‘mother country...
May 15, 2020 | Family Matters
For a long time, I would be told that I was just like my father. I certainly look like Dad, but the comparisons between us went deeper than that. We both loved music and to explore the world and there were odd coincidences along the way, like Dad leaving Stockton as a...
May 7, 2020 | Family Matters
As far as I can ascertain, the Coates family lived in Yorkshire for more than 200 years. That changed somewhat in the early 19th century.“ Robert Coates, my fourth great-grandfather, was born in 1781 and baptised in St Cuthbert’s Church, in the Peasholme...
May 4, 2020 | Family Matters
Run a Google search for the meaning of my surname and you’ll see this: “English: status name for a cottager, or a topographic name for someone who lived in a relatively humble dwelling (from Middle English cotes, plural (or genitive) of cote, cott), or a...
May 4, 2020 | Family Matters
Who do you think you are? As a question, it can have negative connotations and is usually asked of those considered “bolshie” or with plenty to say for themselves… which might explain why I seem to have heard it rather a lot. But it can also be a...
Mar 29, 2020 | Football Writing
If a week is a long time in politics, it must be a veritable era in non-league football, so dizzying have the events of the last seven days been. On Monday, I predicted the season would be brought to a close, because of the Coronavirus pandemic. I was right about...
