A former photographer for the Wigan Newspapers, Frank Orrell, has recently written & published a book called Wigan Amateur Sport. The book features over 502 photographs of local amateur sport; including 53 pages covering our very own Orrell RUFC. Some of the 114 photographs of Orrell RUFC include:

Orrell Rugby Union club captain Des Seabrook chaired by team-mates holds aloft the Lancashire Rugby Union Challenge Cup after beating Liverpool 16-0 at Waterloo on Sunday 16th of April 1972.

Muddy hell for Bob Kimmins on the right and fellow contenders in a line-out during a Courage League Division 1 match against Gloucester at Edge Hall Road on a stormy afternoon on Saturday 19th of March 1988. Orrell lost 9-13.

Frank worked for 42 years as a photographer and covered many Orrell RUFC matches and the photographs in the book cover just a small selection from some of those games.

This book is one of nine that Franks has self-published regarding all aspects of Wigan and district life. The reason that he published this book is because Wigan was well represented at many levels of sport and deserved recognition. Frank has reproduced some of the photographs with the permission of the editor from Wigan Observer, Janet Wilson. Orrell RUFC would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to Frank for allowing us access to these great memories and I’m sure we’ll all look forward to reading a copy of the book.

Frank will be joining us today at Winstanley Tennis Club for some post-match refreshments and will be bringing some copies of the book with him. Please come and join us and have a chat with Frank