Wilf Livingstone

[FanzoneFan]

I’ve just come across a book from 1970- 71ish. It’s called Lancashire Soccer edited by Tom Tyrell.

There’s an article by the then Barrow secretary Wilf Livingstone.
If I could download the article I would.

Apparently the club had plans to build a social club, grandstand, private box set up along one side of the ground housing offices, and dressing rooms that would have cost £80,000.

There’s a drawing of the plans - it was going to be funded by breweries and government but sadly the government put a clampdown on spending at the time - and the club had to settle for the ‘Bluebird Club’ instead that cost £30,000.

Also didn’t realise Barrow had been top of Division 3 North for 48 hours at Christmas time in 1948- 49 season the year they played Chelsea in the FA Cup.

[John_Bucks]

Would love to see the drawings of those plans. Love stuff like that.

[blue nige]

We also topped the old 3rd division (league 1) for 24 hrs after beating Hartlepool away 4 -1 on a Friday night in 1968 !

[L NOTS]

1970s in Soccer Shop
there was a picture of proposed new stand and said with 2nd division football in the 80s

[Suffolk Blue]

Someone should do a book on Wilf. Far more influential than most would think in keeping the club alive during some awful times in the early sixties and early 70s.

He was a friend of my farther so I knew him as boy. He was what you would call a ‘gent”. In those days when the club was.generally run by absentee directors Wilf as Secretary, was really the force behind the running of the club.

Quietly spoken but with a real presence and a very incisive mind. I was a little in awe tbh. It was he that really got me involved as a ball boy. I believe Wilf also played for Barrow around the war years and I think played with my father at HS for the army or so I was told.

The plans referred to and the subsequent development of the Bluebird club were very much his “baby”. It’s a pity that the funding that we take for granted these days wasn’t available. As far as legends go, Wilf is right up there.

[pjdaly]

Apparently the club had plans to build a social club, grandstand, private box set up along one side of the ground housing offices, and dressing rooms that would have cost £80,000.

There’s a drawing of the plans - it was going to be funded by breweries and government but sadly the government put a clampdown on spending at the time - and the club had to settle for the ‘Bluebird Club’ instead that cost £30,000.

It's sad and frustrating to hear of those dreams that never came to pass. Instead we went with Plan B which involved demolishing the Steelworks End, removing several rows of steps from what is now the Ray Wilkie side, wrecking the pitch and getting demoted to the Northern Premier League. But, whatever the rights and wrongs, Wilf Livingstone seems to have been a great servant to the club, from playing days through to all his admin work.

[FanzoneFan]

He goes on to say the club needs £50,000 a year to operate and they have to make half of it outside football so they need to bring in £500 a week. Apparently the club ran a Welfare Fund ( presuming a kind of lottery ) that Preston North End and Southport were involved in. For a shilling a member could win £800.

He goes on to say he was the first player to sign for Barrow following the League break during the War. Went on to play (after a short spell at Netherfield) until 1951 for Barrow. He was a part time professional and got £1 for playing but his trade was an electrician and he worked five and a half days so had to take Saturday mornings off which meant he was actually out of pocket playing for the club.

From 1956 until 1962 worked nights as an electrician and during the day was Barrow’s part time secretary for £4.10s a week. In 1962 he was asked to take a months leave from his job to take over fund raising. He eventually became full time secretary. Goes on to say how a strike in the Yard had a detrimental effect on the club.

[Hadrian]

Wilf Livingstone was very much Mr Barrow AFC, working hard in all aspects of activities behind the scenes. He would be known as a Chief Executive nowadays but then he was simply a tremendously committed servant of the club doing all that needed to be done. This included the idea of a vision which was not part of the general running of a football club where survival was very much the Holy Grail. He was also responsible for the design of a club badge that could be used on merchandise for the club to sell. (This was the badge* that was used until a modernised version was developed in the Casson era.) Prior to this, the club were allowed to use the County Borough crest on ties and blazers but could not do so for commercial purposes. At that time it would not be usual to find a club badge on players' shirts.

Mike Gardner's The Definitive Barrow AFC tells us that Wilf was born in Barrow on 22/10/1919, joining the club from Holker Old Boys in 1948 and leaving to join the Admin Staff in 1949, having made four League and three Cup appearances for the first team, scoring twice in the Cup matches.

* (WEL wrote a detailed explanation of the badge's design - I think it appeared in a club publication - and I have tried unsuccessfully to locate a copy of this for some time. If anyone has that publication, I should be grateful if they would contact me by PM.)

[saltcellar]

I’ve just come across a book from 1970- 71ish. It’s called Lancashire Soccer edited by Tom Tyrell.

There’s an article by the then Barrow secretary Wilf Livingstone.
If I could download the article I would.

Apparently the club had plans to build a social club, grandstand, private box set up along one side of the ground housing offices, and dressing rooms that would have cost £80,000.

There’s a drawing of the plans - it was going to be funded by breweries and government but sadly the government put a clampdown on spending at the time - and the club had to settle for the ‘Bluebird Club’ instead that cost £30,000.

Also didn’t realise Barrow had been top of Division 3 North for 48 hours at Christmas time in 1948- 49 season the year they played Chelsea in the FA Cup.

I think the plans had the pitch turned round 90°.
Would have been fantastic for the club if it had happened.

[bluessupporter]

https://www.facebook.com/page/110715270 ... ivingstone