Former Derbyshire mining community celebrates its football heritage and commemorates colliery workers as three plaques unveiled

Willie Layton (1875-1944) and Billy ‘Fatty’ Foulke (1874-1916).

The project was headed by football historian and author Mark Metcalfe, with support and funding from former Manchester United director and Carlisle United chairman, Micheal Knighton – great grandson of Willie Layton.

Mark said: “It’s a combination of my personal passion to remember the footballers of the past and Michael Knighton’s willingness to fund this to make it possible, because of his great-grandad’s connection to the coal miners. So that’s how this has come about.”

A plaque was unveiled at the village’s pit-wheel monument commemorating 70 former colliery workers who lost their lives while working down the mine as well as the names of seven men killed during a pit explosion on November 11 1895.

Before the unveiling there were short speeches from two Blackwell primary school children as well as Bolsover Council leader and former miner, Steve Fritchley. A representative of Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre, Colin Hampton also made a speech and gave a reading from a poem about the pit disaster titled Sad Explosion.

A descendant of William Martin – one of the miners killed in the pit disaster - Denise Scouthern, who was given special invitation to the event also said a few words.

Later in the afternoon, two plaques dedicated to the footballers, Willie Layton (1875-1944) and Billy ‘Fatty’ Foulke (1874-1916) were unveiled at Blackwell’s community centre.

Speeches were given by pupils from the local primary school, as well as representatives from both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United, Michael Knighton and Richard Foulkes, a relative of Billy Foulke.

Beginning their playing careers for Blackwell Miners Welfare FC and working at the village colliery, both men would go on to play for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday respectively. Each would go on to win England's old First Division and the FA cup with their clubs.

Willie Layton was particularly fortunate as he was due to work on the November 11 1895 shift where an explosion claimed the lives of several colliery workers. The Sheffield Wednesday fullback had taken the evening off to rest before he played a game for Wednesday's reserves the following day.

Football historian Mark learnt of Willie's connection to Blackwell and the pit disaster whilst researching another former Sheffield Wednesday player, Fred Spiksley.

Being born in a north-east mining community, Mark was brought up on stories of the Easington Pit disaster which claimed the lives of two of his Uncles, Mark felt a particular connection to Willie Layton’s story.

Through his research Mark met Michael Knighton and discovered that Layton played alongside Billy Foulke for Blackwell.

Mark and Michael then came up with the idea of putting up plaques to commemorate the two legendary footballers.

Mark said: “We had a chat and we thought it would be lovely to commemorate both the footballers and connect the seven men, Willie's friends, at the same time.

“Whilst we wanted to name the seven men on the plaque as you will see, we wanted to remember, in general, the coal mining community.”

Michael said he was “bursting with pride” to see his great grandfather being honoured with a plaque.

The former Manchester United director was raised in Alfreton by his grandfather who told him many stories of Willie's footballing exploits.

Michael said: “My great grandfather Willie played for Blackwell Miners Welfare with “Fatty” Foulkes and they both went on to have great professional careers. Which I’m very proud of of course.

“To say you’ve won the FA cup is no mean achievement during that era.”

Tony Gascoyne, a Blackwell parish councillor, was approached by Mark and Michael about putting up the memorial plaques in the village. The councillor described the plaques as being “massively important” to the village's identity.

He said: “I think if we don’t remember these people then they will get lost to time, and nobody will actually know about what happened. I think we’ve all been guilty of living in the moment and not remembering what's happened in the past.

“We are a mining community and that’s been lost because of the pits closing and the open cast mining coming in after that. So our identity has been lost to a certain extent.”

Tony gave thanks to both Mark and Michael for all they have done to bring these plaques to the village.

He said: “Mark’s been brilliant and very proactive in what he does, and Michael as well who has come along and funded the plaques.

“It’s been eye-opening to have the interest of somebody who's not really involved with the village personally, but who has got a lot of time to get things organised and push this forward.”

Tony was also one of the speakers at the unveiling ceremony.

Beside the plaque unveilings there were displays of artwork produced by local school children and pictures, newspaper clippings and information boards collated by local people, including local historian Tony Mellows in the Community Centre. A buffet was put on after the unveilings in the Community Centre for those who attended.

Once working for the Professional Footballers Association, Mark Metcalfe has helped to put up several plaques around the country, commemorating footballing legends of yester-year; including Frank Swift, Jimmy Armfield and Kenny Davenport.