"The mid-1800s witnessed a mass exodus from the Pennine Dales. Farmer and miners sought a new life – some in the New World, but others closer to home. Many former farmers became Liverpool Cowkeepers, selling milk to a rapidly expanding population. The cows kept in Liverpool back yards became part of the life and economy of the city and continued to serve its people for over a hundred years. The Cowkeepers overcame many challenges, and survived through hard work, good Dales business nous and the ability to adapt. Later, they became suburban milkmen – part of the best doorstep food delivery service in the world and a key part of the British way of life.

'Dave Joy draws on his own family history to tell the story of the lives and times of the Liverpool Cowkeepers. The Joy family came from the Upper Wharfedale valley in the beautiful Yorkshire dales and established cowhouses in the Liverpool districts of Wavertree and Garston. Dave’s first book, ‘My Family and Other Scousers – A Liverpool Boy’s Summer of Adventure in ’69’, is a memoir of his childhood days spent at Wellington Dairy, the family-owned, horse-drawn milk business in Garston, Liverpool. "His second book, ‘ Liverpool Cowkeepers’, documents the history of the many Dales families who, in the mid-1800s, left their rural existence and rode the wave of the Industrial Revolution to become city cowkeepers in the burgeoning metropolis that was Liverpool. Both books will be on sale at the end of the talk."

• Date: 2nd June 2021
• Wednesday 7.30pm
• Online via Zoom
• Speaker: Dave Joy
• Booking Eventbrite booking details

"Jerome Caminada (1844 – March 1914) was a 19th-century police officer in Manchester who served with the police between 1868 and 1899, and has been called Manchester's Sherlock Holmes. In 1897 he became the city's first CID superintendent. His most famous case was the Manchester Cab Murder of 1889, in which he discovered and brought the initially unknown perpetrator to trial and conviction only three weeks after the murder. His personal story, he was born into one the city's most notorious slums and raised in the most abject poverty.

'Joseph O’Neill is a freelance writer and broadcaster whose work appears in all Britain and Ireland’s leading family history and genealogical magazines, including Irish Roots and Who Do You Think You Are? His work has appeared in a wide range of publications dealing with historical and religious issues. He was born and raised in Manchester where he worked for thirty-five years as a history teacher. A graduate of Warwick University, he holds an MA in political science. He is the author of six books, including The Manchester Martyrs (Mercier Press) which deals with a major incident in the development of Irish nationalism and Britain’s last public multiple execution and Crime City (Milo Press), the story of Manchester’s Victorian underworld, which was voted best social history book of 2008 by Family History Monthly. His latest books, The Secret History of the Victorian Lodging House and Manchester in the Great War, which deals with the profound impact of the war on the city’s civilian population."

• Date: 7th July 2021
• Wednesday 7.30pm
• Online via Zoom
• Speaker: Joseph O'Neill
• Booking Eventbrite booking details

"Victoria Coyle has always had a passion for history, which led her to complete a BA Hons degree in History and English in 1996. A successful teaching career followed, and Victoria began researching genealogy and family history as a hobby. Victoria then embarked in 2015 upon the Genealogical, Paleographical and Heraldic Studies course with the University of Strathclyde, completing her Masters in 2018. She is a member of the Register of Qualified Genealogists, the Guild of One-Name Studies and undertakes genealogy work for clients. Her masters’ dissertation was a genealogical, socio-economic study of the Cotton Famine in Bolton and this is the basis for her talk.

"Some of the points discussed include:
How badly affected was Bolton as a whole?
Which townships of Bolton suffered the most and were only cotton workers affected?
What were views at the time?"

• Date: 4th August 2021
• Wednesday 7.30pm
• Online via Zoom
• Speaker: Victoria Coyle
• Booking Eventbrite booking details

"Anna Watson is a retired professional archivist with over 30 years experience working at Lancashire Archives in Preston, specialising in probate and Church Court Records.

"The latter has led me to looking into how to find our illegitimate ancestors, a stumbling block for many family historians. My talk looks at legislation and sources beyond the filiation and maintenance order, hopefully offering new avenues for genealogists to explore. Image: Hogarth's print of the examination of a pregnant woman, c1729"

• Date: 1st September 2021
• Wednesday 7.30pm
• Online via Zoom
• Speaker: Victoria Coyle
• Booking Eventbrite booking details

"David Tilsley is an archivist at Lancashire Archives, Lancashire County Council's archive service, where he have worked for 14 years.

"My talk will look at sources that tell us about the schooldays of our Lancashire ancestors in the nineteenth century. Who went to school? How did elementary education develop? Which sources contain information about individuals?"

• Date: 6th October 2021
• Wednesday 7.30pm
• Online via Zoom
• Speaker: David Tilsley
• Booking Eventbrite booking details

Our Meeting Rooms

We hold our meetings at the Montserrat Room, [First Floor], Bolton Old Links Golf Club, Chorley Old Road, Bolton, BL1 5SU. 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 7-00pm for the helpdesk and meetings start at 7.30pm.

Our Venue

Bolton Old Links Golf Club has ample car parking facilities but access to the first floor is by stairs only. The venue is easy to get to by car and meetings are always popular and well attended.