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The Goodison Bugler’s Last Post – The Life of Francis Hamill

The Goodison Bugler’s Last Post – The Life of Francis Hamill

Rob Sawyer Unlike many clubs, Everton FC has always eschewed the use of in-match music to spur on the team or celebrate a goal – or so I thought. Tom Walker A conversation with veteran Toffees supporter Tom Walker gave me this nugget about the late 1940s, "‘The Everton Bugler used to sit in the top of the Bullens Road stand and sound the charge if we were attacking." Further corroboration of the existence of a supporter (or supporters) bringing a touch of brass to Goodison comes from Sir Paul McCartney. When recalling his childhood for the mid-1990s Anthology project…
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Derek Temple and The Story of Everton’s 1966 Cup Glory

Derek Temple and The Story of Everton’s 1966 Cup Glory

by Rob Sawyer with Derek Temple Derek Temple with his wife Maureen, pictured at home with Rob Sawyer in July 2023 As Everton kicked off their 1966 FA Cup campaign the omens were inauspicious, the club’s previous taste of cup glory had been 33 years previously when Dean, Stein and Dunn hit the goals to defeat Manchester City. A season of underachievement in the league had boiled over the previous weekend. In the aftermath of a 2-0 defeat on an icy pitch at Bloomfield Road, the infamous ‘Blackpool Rumble’ (© David France) took place in the car park. Some Toffees…
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Barry Hewitt (1953-2023) – A Tribute

Barry Hewitt (1953-2023) – A Tribute

by Rob Sawyer, with members of Everton FC Heritage Society Members of Everton FC Heritage Society were saddened to learn of the death of Barry Hewitt on 12 November 2023 from cancer. He may have been Suffolk-born, but his devotion to the Toffees was absolute for more than half a century, and he was a great friend to the Society. Barry was born in Ipswich on 19 May 1953. Always keen on football, he had been a talented goalkeeper in his youth – he represented Suffolk schools and had a trail at Ipswich Town but chose not to pursue it…
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The Opening of Goodison Park! – A Picnic, a Firework Display, a Friendly, the First League Game

The Opening of Goodison Park! – A Picnic, a Firework Display, a Friendly, the First League Game

Mike Royden The year 1892 was iconic in the history of Everton Football Club, famous for the dispute with John Houlding, which cumulated in the potentially club-ending gamble of moving to a new, undeveloped site, in time for the opening of the forthcoming 1892-93 season on 3 September.  It was a tall order of course, but once the decision had been made, the directors and club officials went into overdrive to ensure their dream move would become a reality in the very short time available to them. Work began in May 1892, contractors were engaged, and the pitch area –…
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Richard ‘Dickie’ Boyle

Richard ‘Dickie’ Boyle

By Rob Sawyer [Above photo: Dickie Boyle of Everton c.1894(colourised by George Chilvers) ] Everton was awash with Sons of the Rock in the early years of the Football League: fellow Dumbarton-raised John Bell, and the long-serving Jack Taylor, the latter being the captain of Everton’s first victorious FA Cup side in 1906. No less vital and dedicated to the Toffees cause in the last years of the nineteenth century was Richard Hill Boyle. Commonly known as Dickie (or Dicky), he was one of those indomitable Everton servants, like Peter Farrell and Mike Lyons, who never earned the silverware he…
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Pat Nevin interviewed by EFC Heritage Society in St Luke’s

Pat Nevin interviewed by EFC Heritage Society in St Luke’s

Before the Bournemouth home fixture on 7 October 2023, former Everton star winger Pat Nevin made a visit to St Luke’s to meet fans with copies of his latest book ‘Football and How to Survive it.’ Rob Sawyer and Lewis Royden of the EFCHS Media Team met up with Pat before his book signing session, to talk about his career and his new book. https://youtu.be/vYZqg9kiuTU?si=bPWGsBXRg-ehBaLg Pat Nevin with Lewis Royden (left) and Rob Sawyer (right) Photos by Sarah Deboe (EFCHS / MintCollective) and Rob Sawyer Click for Amazon linkClick for Amazon link
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Remembrance at Goodison Park 2023

Remembrance at Goodison Park 2023

Armistice Day Service, The Fallen of Everton FC Memorial, Goodison Park [This year, due to the away fixture at Crystal Palace on 11 November, the Armistice Day service was pulled forward to 9 November 2023]. Many thanks are due again to Paul Kelly (right) of Everton FC Heritage Society (supported as ever by his wife Jean), in organising the service, despite a period of very poor health – this is an event they have now organised with dedication for a decade. . Click to open PDF leaflet The service was conducted by the Reverend Henry Corbett, Chaplain to Everton Football…
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A Remembrance Day visit to Chile, November 2011

A Remembrance Day visit to Chile, November 2011

John Shearon (The Ruleteros) The Background to the Everton FC War Memorial Plaques When Dr. David France first started the search for the Everton players who had given their lives in the two World Wars, who would have thought the net would have fallen as far as South America? While Paul Wharton, Dr. John Rowlands and Dr. France set about identifying the Goodison fallen, Frank Gorman and Linda Lines from the Ruleteros Society were busy tracking down the details of two ex-pats, Frank Boundy and Malcolm Fraser. These co-founders of Everton Football Club in Chile both died on the Somme…
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Tammy Burgess in conversation with Rob Sawyer

Tammy Burgess in conversation with Rob Sawyer

Tammy Byrne (now Burgess) was one of the emerging talents in the Everton Ladies squad which won, to date, the club’s only league title. Not a follower of a particular club, or football in general, as a child, the course of her life was changed by an encounter at Moss Farm in the mid-1990s. Here, Tammy describes the transformative impact on her of football and her Everton clubmates. I had older brothers and played football in my area, Croxteth, with the likes of Francis Jeffers. I hadn’t played football in a team, so I didn’t actually know how good I…
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Everton FC Heritage Society on Radio Merseyside

Everton FC Heritage Society on Radio Merseyside

On 14 September 2023, EFCHS members Rob Sawyer and Lewis Royden were interviewed by Paul 'Salty' Salt on BBC Radio Merseyside about the Society's activities, and our new venture into making films on the history of Everton Football Club (beginning with our recent documentaries on Thomas Keates and Everton Village). The full interview is available here: ⁩ (left to right): Rob Sawyer, Lewis Royden, Paul Salt (left to right): Paul Salt, Lewis Royden, Rob Sawyer (left to right): Paul Salt, Lewis Royden, Mike Royden ⁩ .
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