Forthcoming Events

AT WESTHOUGHTON LIBRARY STARTING AT 10:30

January 19th    Was your grandfather a professional footballer? 

Peter Holme National Football Museum

Peter’s talk starts with the background to the setting up of the National Football Museum in Preston  and its transfer to the present site in 2012 in what was URBIS in Manchester. There will be a brief overview of the history of football. A game which has been played for hundreds of years

February 16th    Wesley’s Westhoughton Legacy and the Wesley Stone Story

David Kaye

This presentation summarises the history of Methodism in Westhoughton, from the ‘seeds’ planted  by John Wesley during his visits to Wingates in 1784 & 1785 and embracing the subsequent  building of no less than 10  Methodist places of worship. Inextricably linked with the narrative is the fascinating story or arguably Westhoughton’s most noble historic artefact - the Wesley Stone, which David chronicled in an 8--page illustrated essay in 2022.

March  16th   My life in cricket

Ruth Duckworth

The story of Ruth’s family history and involvement in the cricket world.

April 20th What the papers said

Judith Atkinson

Regular speaker at Westhoughton. Judithj entertains us with amusing stories from Victorian newspapers.

May 18th     The Duke of Bridgewater’s Underground Coal Mining Canals 1760 to date 

Alan Davies

Mining expert and historian Alan Davies will explore the 37 miles of underground canals around Worsley that stretch as far as Plodder Lane.

June 15th  Bolton and the Bridgeman connection

Ray Jefferson

Bolton has a very long relationship with the Bridgeman family (ennobled in 1815 as the Earls of Bradford)

The Bridgeman family inevitably became involved in many colourful episodes during Bolton’s history and these are the inspiration for this talk which recognises that Bolton would be a very different place today without the influence and interest of this significant family.

July 20thThe last laugh of The Railway King (Edward Watkin)  -                Geoffrey Scargill

The story of Sir Edward William Watkin who was a British MP and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary  and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects. He eventually  became chairman of nine British railway companies. Among his projects were his expansion of the Metropolitan Railway, part of today’s  London Underground. He also had a failed attempt to dig a channel tunnel under the English Channel to connect his railway empire to the French rail network.