Skip to main content

Bolton FHS Meetings at Bolton and Online

Events to appeal to Boltonians and all members of the Society

Henry Dawson's presentation album and T Taylor Ltd of Bolton

3 April 2024 - In-person and online

Maggy Simm -  Maggy is a retired teacher and has been involved in local history for many years, and latterly a member of the u3a. Following one of her u3a local history talks, fellow u3a member Jenny Mitton got in touch concerning an heirloom in the form of an illuminated photo album, belonging to a late relative Henry Dawson.  Jenny now lives out of the area, but would like to see the album included one day in Bolton's Archives.  In the meantime, she allowed Maggy to photograph it and to invite Bolton Family History Society to look further into its background.

Please see this You Tube link for more detail. https://tinyurl.com/fkz7udv3

The above YouTube link provides a little more detail and Maggy will be attending in person to elaborate. She has even suggested some homework for us to consider such as 
  • Can anybody identify any of the individuals in the pictures for us?
  • Can any more be discovered about T Taylors, such as have the archives of the business been deposited anywhere?
  • Who were the family of Thomas Taylor MP?
  • There was another contemporary mill in Horwich owned by WT Taylor later called Spirella. Any connection?
Once a teacher ----
  • Date: 3 April 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom To be confirmed
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Maggy Simm
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirm

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

Catholic Research in East Lancashire

1 May 2024 - In-person and online

Kate Hurst - Kate tells us she has a passion for family history since her late teens, and spent endless hours at the Lancashire Archives in Preston.  Now familiar with some of the records there, she is keen to help those researching in the northwest of England. Previous talks from her have recounted how she  provided  information relating to the episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” about Sir Ian McKellen, and she has also spoken on Ribble FM, contributed to a Family Tree Magazine's feature, and assisted in a Yale University project. 

In her spare time, she is the very active Chairperson of Ormskirk & District FHS and has made several talks available on You Tube youtube.com/channel/UCjqphfIqaFRYR3zxQhUrpJw

This talk will discuss amongst other things:-

  • the “Prohibited” Era - anti-Catholic laws, recusant statistics, how recusant records can be useful for family history in the absence of formal parish records.
  • the Catholic Relief Act (1791) - why it was important, and what it allowed Catholics to do, establishing the first parish in Bolton.
  • give examples of parish records and the opening of new Catholic churches in the Bolton area.
  • establishing a community - schools, events and activities, newspaper items about events connected to the churches.
  • Date: 1 May 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Kate Hurst
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

How the American Civil War affected the Lancashire Cotton Famine

5 June 2024 - In-person and online
Stephen Irwin - Stephen an historian, recently retired after more than 17 years as the Education Officer for Blackburn Museum and he has entertained and enlightened many with his depth of knowledge about Lancashire history over the years visiting most kinds of educational establishments, plus giving interviews on the radio.
 
He tells us this talk explores the impact of the American Civil War on the people of Lancashire.  It explores its impact on the cotton trade and how the people of Lancashire responded to the issue of slavery and the war itself.  We will also look at the broader questions surrounding the war and ask just how close did Britain come to war with the USA? 
  • Date: 5 June 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Stephen Irwin
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

Bastards! Illegitimacy in Lancashire from the 16th century to the 19th

3 July 2024 - In-person and online
Dr Alan Crosby - Freelance local and regional historian, writer, editor and lecturer, working mainly in Northwest England but with National and increasingly International connections.  Lectured and teach for many Universities during the past 30 years, including Oxford, Liverpool, Manchester, Central Lancashire and Keele, while maintaining a strong connection world wide of local and family history.  Currently as Council member of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Chetham Society,  honorary research fellow at the Universities of Lancaster and Liverpool.
 
Almost all of us have illegitimate ancestors in our family tree, and nowadays few of us are bothered by it.  In fact, they are often among our most interesting forebears.  Not so in the past, of course.  How was bastardy viewed by the authorities under the Poor Law?  How commonplace was it?  What can we find out about those people?  What were their circumstances. 
  • Date: 3 July 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Dr Alan Crosby
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

Family History: The Future of Family History or Any topic relating to Family History

7 August 2024 - In-person and online

Mike Coyle - is an experienced Local and Family History Researcher and Presenter.  Following a career in Education and speaking on issues relating to Local, Military & Family History and War Memorials, he runs a Blog at:  fyldecoaster.wordpress.com  

As a member past Chairman of Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society, Mike has a keen interest in family history research and its future.   Mike volunteered with Blackpool Heritage Services for several years and a Master’s Degree in Management Sciences and a BA(Hons) in History & Heritage Management, gained in 2012.  

Authored a number of professional journal articles on a wide range of topics relating to Food, Hospitality and General Management.  In retirement, he is involved with the Imperial War Museum’s ‘War Memorials Register’, the War Memorials Trust, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Family History is an attractive pastime.  Its related research will absorb those who pursue their own family’s history.  The talk offers help to beginners and the more experienced researchers.  Future Family History will be affected by current trends. 
  • Date: 7 August 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Mike Coyle
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

Sir Harry Kroto 7 October 1939 – 30 April 2016 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry, and Boltonian

4 September 2024 - In-person and online
Dr Brian Iddon - Brian Iddon DSc, CChem, Hon FRCS and retired MP for Bolton South-East, is a Lancastrian who attended Bolton School, then Hull University, from 1958 until 1964.  After working at Durham then Salford Universities, he left academia on his election to the House of Commons in 1997.   He served until 2010, campaigning on several issues and helping to steer though 3 Acts of Parliament.   Brian was elected to Bolton MB Council in 1977 and served until 1998, when he became an Honorary Alderman.   Brian’s work has earned him other awards for his work both in higher education and as a politician.
 
In retirement he hasn’t stopped, just diverted and he is proud amongst many other things, of his series of 7 books and articles on Bolton's Labour Members of Parliament (24 of 25 of them), his 80-pp booklet on his family history for his family members, and his autobiography Science & Politics (in 2 volumes).
 
Brian met Harry Kroto, when he was a Parliamentary adviser to the Royal Society of Chemistry and attended the RSC’s Council Meetings in Burlington House, London.  He will be talking about the Kroto(schiner) family, Harry’s education in Bolton and the discovery which led to the award of his Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996 for co-discovering the new carbon allotrope, Buckminsterfullerene, was knighted in the same year and was President of the Royal Society of Chemistry from 2002–2004.  It’s a fascinating story.
  • Date: 4 September 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Dr Brian Iddon
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

The Town That Vanished: "The Rise and Fall of The Town That Vanished, Bolton Lancashire's Biggest Mill Town” In 1937

2 October 2024 - In-person and online
Ian Robinson - Ian has taught history in several secondary schools throughout a forty year career in education.  He has a passion for the history of his home town, Bolton, where he has lived all his life.  Inspired by the story of his mother's life, Ian's first book, "The Town that Vanished", was launched with a talk at Bolton Library in December, 2018.  Taking Mass Observation's ground breaking study of Bolton between 1937 and 1940, as its starting point, the book examines what this important mill town once was, and just as compelling, what it has become.   Ian has been so pleased at the response to his first book, that he has now begun  work on a second book which will look at the history of Bolton's people through ten milestone days, a project he hopes to complete over the next two years.
 
Bolton was the centre of a ground breaking investigation into the daily lives of ordinary working people.  For two years wherever Boltonians went - the pub, the shops, the cinema, the football match- they were secretly observed.  The result: 40,000 documents and 800 photographs which provide an unparalleled, vivid record of one Lancashire mill town at its peak.  The investigators called Bolton "Worktown" - a type of industrial town defined by working class communities and a particular way of life.
 
At the time, Worktown seemed permanent and enduring but before the twentieth century ended, it had all but disappeared.  In The Town that Vanished, Ian Robinson uses the Worktown investigation to frame the story of what the town of Bolton once was and, just as compelling, what it has become. 
 
This book is for anyone who feels a nostalgic yearning for Worktown's cobbled streets, corner shops, pubs, cinemas, towering mills and smoking chimneys; who wants to know more about why they all vanished; and who are we inclined to believe when landmarks like the Odeon cinema, the Palais dance hall and Burnden Park were demolished this once proud northern town lost its soul. 
  • Date: 2 October 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: Ian Robinson
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.

CWGC Architecture and its Conservation – discover the unique architecture and conservation work of the CWGC

6 November 2024 - In-person and online
James Hutton - has had an interest in both military and political history for many years.  He recently retired from the NHS, and he is now undertaking volunteer roles
with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission both as a speaker and visiting, conducting surveys and simple maintenance of War Graves and memorials.  His main interest focuses on the 1982 Falkland’s Campaign with emphasis on both the naval engagements as well as the diplomatic negotiations.
 
James keeps busy in his spare time as an instructor with the Army Cadet Force, teaching military and other skills to young adults. He is also trying to keep on top
of the rust on his classic Rover from the 1970’s. 
  • Date: 6 November 2024
  • Wednesday 7.30pm
  • Bolton Golf Club & Online via Zoom Eventbrite
  • Booking: In-person at Bolton Golf Club (no booking required)
  • Speaker: James Hutton
  • Booking: Online via Zoom Eventbrite to be confirmed

Please note: All events are subject to last minute changes due to circumstances beyond our control.  Please check our monthly Newsletter and Facebook page for any last minute changes, as that is the only way we can contact people.


Our Meeting Venues

Our Venue

Bolton Golf Club has ample car parking facilities, access to the first floor is by stairs with a lift for those with mobility problems. The venue is easy to get to by car and meetings are always popular and well attended.

Our Meeting Rooms

Our meetings are normally held at Bolton Golf Club, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 4AJ.

There is ample seating and also room for a helpdesk, and a stationery (for sale) table. Coffee and tea is available and the bar is open. The room opens at    7pm for the helpdesk and meetings start at 7.30pm.


About Our Meetings

Important Things to Know

Booking

It is no longer necessary to book for the physical meetings, however we may have to restrict numbers in the room to comply with fire regulations. You still need to book for Zoom attendance.

Check first

As bookings are confirmed we shall provided dates for the meetings. Please check these pages and social media before travelling to ensure that the meetings are able to proceed as planned.


Bolton FHS meetings are usually held at 7.30pm on the first Wednesday of the month (please check first).

[First Floor],
Bolton Golf Club,
Chorley New Road,
Bolton, BL6 4AJ

The Society is a friendly group who are happy to welcome visitors [entrance fee £3] and ALL members of the MLFHS.  Tea / Coffee [£1] is available from 7.00pm, as are drinks from the bar.

The talk starts at 7.30pm. There is a table of free information/advice leaflets and old genealogy magazines and facilities to purchase stationery and various publications, and we have a Help Desk before and after every talk.