Workington on a wet afternoon


As the West Cumbrian battle to be jam-eaters, or not, contest opens :lol:
I’m an RL fan, brought up watching Workington Town. In the early to mid 90’s when we had a reasonable team, some locals published a fanzine called Jam Free. The battle continues, I have a foot in both camps being a ‘highsider’ by birth and family location, but lived in and went to school in Whitehaven
 
We heard all kinds about it when we worked over there yet I found the places great.

Superb places, locals that I've met & spoke with were also top whack. It's only when you are over there and get to know what the places & people are like that you find out.
I’m an RL fan, brought up watching Workington Town. In the early to mid 90’s when we had a reasonable team, some locals published a fanzine called Jam Free. The battle continues, I have a foot in both camps being a ‘highsider’ by birth and family location, but lived in and went to school in Whitehaven

I had read somewhere (online) that "highside" was the apparent origin of the "jam-eater" in days gone by (?). So you can be the expert on the subject :lol:
 
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Work with Deggsy who was Workington manager at the time of the Salford PO loss. There always seemed to be money clubs blocking their way to promotion from the Northern Prem; FCUM, Salford, Darlington, etc. When he talks about that season you can tell he’s still pissed off at the credit those two at Salford got for getting them up, when the reality is their budget was ridiculous compared to Workington’s and they only won it due to a goalkeeping howler in the last minute.

Derek Townsley? Good player in his day too.
 
Workington is a class night out :lol: As many have said, West Cumbria has many similarities to the NE. I grew up not far from there and most people are culturally similar to us. Likewise has many of the same issues since opportunity has been taken away. Its a working class area.

Reds are a decent little club that does not have a lot of investment but keeps going despite the challenges. A few notable players came through there, Glenn Murray and Grant Holt to mention a couple who went on to play in the PL. Played against them both on many occasion back in the day, they both knuckled down and grafted to get to where they got to, while the rest of us were out on the lash at The Forum, Passions or Elliots :lol:
Reds have always produced decent players. There's the likes of Kyle May too who didn't quite make it at pro level but have been excellent servants to the club.
 
Aye big Deggsy, good footballer at Hibs and Motherwell and top fella.
We (Barrow) had him on trial one pre season but he ended up in Scotland and had a good career as you say.

Workington always seem to have a good nucleus of local lads coming through but never quite enough to make it back to national football.
 
We (Barrow) had him on trial one pre season but he ended up in Scotland and had a good career as you say.

Workington always seem to have a good nucleus of local lads coming through but never quite enough to make it back to national football.
Did you rate Graham Anthony and Holty when they were at Barrow?
 
I bet if everyone born in the area did a family tree, 1 in 5 would find a relative from Whitehaven etc going back 120 years, because loads came over here to work the pits and setlled.

I knew a little bit about my recent famiy tree, and an old friend that was interested in genealogy checked mine a bit further for me, I couldn't believe what he unearthed from Census records [I have downloads]. My Maternal Grandparents were both from Cumberland [Grandfather: I knew about came from Barrow, (died early 1950s)], but he found that my Grandmother was born in Whitehaven (died 1930s), both came to the North East in the early 1900s to settle on Tyneside] I was amazed because it said a lot about my love of the Cumbria area. [Both had died long long before I arrived so I never met them & Grandma had gone when my Mother was very early teens so she said very little about them]. My Wife's tree led her to Dalston, Cumbria where some had been a century earlier.

So I agree that if we all did a tree you'd discover a Cumberland link.
 
Did you rate Graham Anthony and Holty when they were at Barrow?

Of course - although I didn’t think Holt would have the career he did, I thought he missed too many one on ones to make it pro but I got that wrong! He was bloody hard worker though - I remember him playing for us on a Saturday, driving down to Exeter on the Sunday to play a trial game on the Monday then back up to play for us on the Tuesday. Got his reward in the end.

Billy’s a postie in Carlisle now, I think? You know him as well? Ian Arnold was another from Carlisle. Matt Henney from Egremont. Going back even further the likes of Billy Gilmour and Gary Messenger.
 
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Of course - although I didn’t think Holt would have the career he did, I thought he missed too many one on ones to make it pro but I got that wrong! He was bloody hard worker though - I remember him playing for us on a Saturday, driving down to Exeter on the Sunday to play a trial game on the Monday then back up to play for us on the Tuesday. Got his reward in the end.

Billy’s a postie in Carlisle now, I think? You know him as well? Ian Arnold was another from Carlisle. Matt Henney from Egremont. Going back even further the likes of Billy Gilmour and Gary Messenger.

Some old names in there
 
Of course - although I didn’t think Holt would have the career he did, I thought he missed too many one on ones to make it pro but I got that wrong! He was bloody hard worker though - I remember him playing for us on a Saturday, driving down to Exeter on the Sunday to play a trial game on the Monday then back up to play for us on the Tuesday. Got his reward in the end.

Billy’s a postie in Carlisle now, I think? You know him as well? Ian Arnold was another from Carlisle. Matt Henney from Egremont. Going back even further the likes of Billy Gilmour and Gary Messenger.
Aye he's a postman in Carlisle. Ian Arnold still local too, as is Tony Caig.
 
Just a couple of years older than me. Did you grow up around there?
Moved there in 83, moved away in 89 (to Blackpool, then Lancaster) but by that time my brother and I had settled on them as our team so Dad had to carry on taking us til we were old enough to travel under our own steam. Looking back, doing a 4 hour round trip to watch non league football was above and beyond….what a Dad!

How about you?
 
Aye he's a postman in Carlisle. Ian Arnold still local too, as is Tony Caig.

Being a postman seems to be an attraction for peple that play football, I knew a few lads who went into that from local non lesgue standard after being released at a young age from clubs.
 
Moved there in 83, moved away in 89 (to Blackpool, then Lancaster) but by that time my brother and I had settled on them as our team so Dad had to carry on taking us til we were old enough to travel under our own steam. Looking back, doing a 4 hour round trip to watch non league football was above and beyond….what a Dad!

How about you?

That is commitment!

Moved near there from Sunderland as a kid so grew up about 8 miles from Workington. Ended up at college there for a bit and was playing football in the Cumbria leagues through school levels and local teams throughout childhood up to about 19 before moving away. Parents are still there. Played with loads who also played for Reds over the years and used to go watch every now and again. Carlisle ended up as my second team though as a young lad going up with mates to stand in the Warwick Road End, although years since I have followed them. Just SAFC.
 
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I knew a little bit about my recent famiy tree, and an old friend that was interested in genealogy checked mine a bit further for me, I couldn't believe what he unearthed from Census records [I have downloads]. My Maternal Grandparents were both from Cumberland [Grandfather: I knew about came from Barrow, (died early 1950s)], but he found that my Grandmother was born in Whitehaven (died 1930s), both came to the North East in the early 1900s to settle on Tyneside] I was amazed because it said a lot about my love of the Cumbria area. [Both had died long long before I arrived so I never met them & Grandma had gone when my Mother was very early teens so she said very little about them]. My Wife's tree led her to Dalston, Cumbria where some had been a century earlier.

So I agree that if we all did a tree you'd discover a Cumberland link.

Both myself and the missus have great, great grandparents from that way. My Grandad on my Mams side surname is 100% from Cumbria, Tatters.
 
Both myself and the missus have great, great grandparents from that way. My Grandad on my Mams side surname is 100% from Cumbria, Tatters.

Then the fun begins with great, great family if you look a bit further back and you discover links that head all over the place. My Paternal side & my Wife's Maternal side took us over to Ireland pre-census. The surnames were a dead giveaway, plus the fact slight changes at birth reg. & census entry had been made to get away from the feelings toward the Irish influx around late 1700s/early 1800s. My Mother & Father believed their descendants had come from Scotland, which they probably did as a stop off en-route from Ireland in the search for employment/income that led them to the NE after being employed in Cumberland ( I actually found & saw one place & unit a relative had worked in Cumb.). I'd possibly expect your surname to also lead to Ireland. I'll p.m. you the surnames
 
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Of course - although I didn’t think Holt would have the career he did, I thought he missed too many one on ones to make it pro but I got that wrong! He was bloody hard worker though - I remember him playing for us on a Saturday, driving down to Exeter on the Sunday to play a trial game on the Monday then back up to play for us on the Tuesday. Got his reward in the end.

Billy’s a postie in Carlisle now, I think? You know him as well? Ian Arnold was another from Carlisle. Matt Henney from Egremont. Going back even further the likes of Billy Gilmour and Gary Messenger.
Know Holty quite well, good lad who, like you say, worked his arse off to get where he did and fully deserved it. Got seen off by Roddy Collins at Carlisle, came back from Australia to play in a couple of trial games against Newcastle and Celtic. Collins told him if he did well in the second game against Celtic he would get a contract, he scored 2 and was best player on the pitch. Went in next morning and Collins told him he’d changed his mind, see ya later!

Graham Anthony’s a postman and runs a guest house in Carlisle, I work with him. Good lad, comes from Jarrow originally. Arnie came from Carlisle but was from Boro originally, still lives in Carlisle now, big Newcastle fan.
Being a postman seems to be an attraction for peple that play football, I knew a few lads who went into that from local non lesgue standard after being released at a young age from clubs.
Definitely mate, the hours seemed to work well with playing part-time non-league football. Lad who I work alongside now played for Workington, Bedlington, Bishop Auckland and Whitley Bay whilst working as a postie, good way to supplement your wage, although made for a long day Saturday - 5am start, finish for 11.00, shoot over to NE to play in Northern League then home for 9pm!

When Royal Mail ran a national football tournament before Adam Crozier put a stop to it all, Carlisle had a cracking team, won the nationals a few times. Had 3/4 ex-pros alongside another 6/7 semi-pro Northern League lads. They beat a team from Coventry with Micky Gynn (FA Cup winner in ‘87) in the final at Boreham Wood one year.
 
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