Barrow AFC.net

Hoping for a bit of help from this forum-partly for the 125 website but also for an article on Beans.

We are planning adding at least one Walney stop off on the Heritage Trail. Obviously, playing homage to Brian Arrowsmith will be a huge part of that information and to the fore (not just playing, but the shop, his birthplace etc etc) but I'd like to make sure we've plenty of suggestions and views for Walney's place in the team and town's history.

I know Keith Eddy is a Walneyite as well, which also allows us a look at New York Cosmos etc. So if anyone has any Walney related Barrow Soccer input they'd like to share, this would be fabulous and much appreciated.

Mick Hartland lived on Walney, Plymouth Street, in fact.

Our former hugely-well regarded left full-back, Tommy Cahill, lived on Walney. I think he was signed from Newcastle and he played for us for about ten years, from about 1955 till 1965. I believe that after he retired from the pro-game he played for Vickers S.C. for a couple of years before hanging up his boots completely. He continued to live on Walney for much of the rest of his life (maybe with a brief spell away). When he signed for us I think he created some sort of club record, that, I think, being that he was the first signing that we ever made from a top-flight club who was actually still on their books and had not been put up for transfer. I believe Tommy ran a bookies on the Promenade in that row of shops very close to the traffic lights and the Jubilee Bridge. I don't think it's a bookies now, possible a take-away or something. I do know Tommy was in the first Barrow team I ever saw in the early 1960's and although I can't remember a great deal I seem to think that he was regarded as class, despite being in a struggling Barrow team.

Brian Arrowsmith, Jackie Keen, Billy Gordon, Kenny Gordon, Joe Armstrong, Keith Eddy, Tommy Cahill all lived on Walney.

[SwearFilter] Robinson lived next door to me on West Shore Road.
Alan Cook was a teacher at North Walney Juniors when I was there.

Cubbins Paratrooper wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 2:22 pm Mick Hartland lived on Walney, Plymouth Street, in fact.

Yes, I believe that was one of the houses owned by the club?

When I was a kid I seem to remember Joe Armstrong living at the bottom of Darrent Avenue just past the junction of Duddon Drive.
Am guessing circa 1962.

Can remember sitting on the wall near the HS end and Tommy Cahill coming over to retrieve a ball. Was hit by the strong smell of wintergreen ( the liniment not our forum member) and thinking this is what professional footballers smell like.

mall wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 11:33 am When I was a kid I seem to remember Joe Armstrong living at the bottom of Darrent Avenue just past the junction of Duddon Drive.
Am guessing circa 1962.

That sounds about right. Joe originally came from Southend United with John Costello and both lived with my family, who were keen Barrow fans, at Ocean Road, We had Barrow players as lodgers when they came before getting permanent accommodation. I know that Joe bought or rented a house in the Vickerstown area but couldn't remember the name of the street. He was transferred to Workington but travelled from Barrow. He subsequently moved to South Walney either in or very near to Jason Street and became an Insurance Collector after he retired from playing.

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 2:56 pm Brian Arrowsmith, Jackie Keen, Billy Gordon, Kenny Gordon, Joe Armstrong, Keith Eddy, Tommy Cahill all lived on Walney.

In fact, there were actually 3 Keen brothers from Walney who all played for Barrow. As well as Jackie, there was Alan and I think the third was called Herbert.

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 1:50 pm

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 2:56 pm Brian Arrowsmith, Jackie Keen, Billy Gordon, Kenny Gordon, Joe Armstrong, Keith Eddy, Tommy Cahill all lived on Walney.

In fact, there were actually 3 Keen brothers from Walney who all played for Barrow. As well as Jackie, there was Alan and I think the third was called Herbert.

Yes, Russell, I think the three brothers created a bit of history when they all played in one particular match and it was the first time a FL team had had three brothers in it. Probably round about the mid-1950's.

I think Bert was the Dad of Nigel Keen who played for us in the 1980's. Nigel played for us in the oh-so-entertaining Vic Halom team that won the NPL title in 1983-84. I know it was lower level than where we are at the moment but, even so, that team was entertaining on an epic scale. By the time of the famous FA Trophy semi-final saga of 1988 Nigel was playing for Enfield. I recall a quote in the Evening Mail in which Bert was asked who he was wanting to win and he replied something along the lines of "well, blood's thicker than water . . . "

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 1:50 pm

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 2:56 pm Brian Arrowsmith, Jackie Keen, Billy Gordon, Kenny Gordon, Joe Armstrong, Keith Eddy, Tommy Cahill all lived on Walney.

In fact, there were actually 3 Keen brothers from Walney who all played for Barrow. As well as Jackie, there was Alan and I think the third was called Herbert.

Not quite Russell. The Keen brothers originated from School Street in town. Jack moved to Juno St Walney when he got married later moving to the new builds on Shearwater Crescent where Tommy Cahill was his neighbour.

pjdaly wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 2:03 pm

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 1:50 pm In fact, there were actually 3 Keen brothers from Walney who all played for Barrow. As well as Jackie, there was Alan and I think the third was called Herbert.

Yes, Russell, I think the three brothers created a bit of history when they all played in one particular match and it was the first time a FL team had had three brothers in it. Probably round about the mid-1950's.

I think Bert was the Dad of Nigel Keen who played for us in the 1980's. Nigel played for us in the oh-so-entertaining Vic Halom team that won the NPL title in 1983-84. I know it was lower level than where we are at the moment but, even so, that team was entertaining on an epic scale. By the time of the famous FA Trophy semi-final saga of 1988 Nigel was playing for Enfield. I recall a quote in the Evening Mail in which Bert was asked who he was wanting to win and he replied something along the lines of "well, blood's thicker than water . . . "

Yes, I'd forgotten 'young' Nigel!

Wintergreen wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 2:29 pm

russell_anderson wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 1:50 pm In fact, there were actually 3 Keen brothers from Walney who all played for Barrow. As well as Jackie, there was Alan and I think the third was called Herbert.

Not quite Russell. The Keen brothers originated from School Street in town. Jack moved to Juno St Walney when he got married later moving to the new builds on Shearwater Crescent where Tommy Cahill was his neighbour.

Indeed. Jackie was the one my parents knew on Walney so I'd assumed the whole family lived there.

xerxes wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 8:36 am

Cubbins Paratrooper wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 2:22 pm Mick Hartland lived on Walney, Plymouth Street, in fact.

Yes, I believe that was one of the houses owned by the club?

This is what Pete (Thompson) says in his own words relating to having Mick Hartland as an immediate neighbour:

That front drive was our pitch. Gates at one end was one goal, Mick’s garage doors at the other end was the other goal. Mick was as uncompromising on that pitch as he was at Holker St. Even two or three of us would struggle to get the ball off him. If we did we got a swift kick!