11th September 2025
O60’s Stripes
Manager Ken Biggie
Squad:
Mike Bartram ( C )
Keith Gillespie ( GK )
Steve Hassall
Andy Richardson
Alan Blackley
Never Kitchen ( hope that’s spelled correctly)
Pete Schevtschenko
Danny Mitton
The day started on a sad and solemn note with the pre-game announcement that a fellow walking footballer had succumbed to blood cancer at the age of 62.
His name was Gilson Rogers. Known to his friends as Gilly. He played his football mainly at the Bolton Arena facility. I played against Gilly a few times and he was one of those players who was very comfortable on the ball, it was obvious from his interactions with other players that he was well liked and respected and he came across as a very thoughtful person. When not playing he would go out of his way to support his teammates and always had a few choice words of advice when they were playing crap 😊. He was a proud Welshman and was part of the Welsh National Walking Football Squad.
A lovely man who will be sadly missed.
Gilson “Gilly” Rogers
Bury’s first game was against Salcom.
Substitute-Alan.
This was a fast game that Salcom had control of for the most part but there were notable performances from Bury players. Pete “ Velcro “ was on top form beating his man early on as Salcom tried to push high up the pitch Pete neatly sidestepped and executed a lovely pass up front to Andy who was on good form himself using his trademark “ round the corner “ technique to lay balls off for Nev and Dan but only one shot on target which was supplied by Nev but not enough power to trouble the keeper.
Bury picked up three infringements out of nowhere that had all the crowd baffled (the term “ crowd “ might be considered exaggeration but remember three’s a crowd). Bury then picked up another infringement which in typical Heywood mathematical terms added up to a total of … yup…. three…. the crowd said nothing 😊.
Salcom did most of the attacking and managed four shots two of which were on target, Keith Gillespie as usual was superb saving at full stretch with both hands and feet.
Bury were a little slow in closing down the shots but luckily Keith was alert to the danger.
The heavens absolutely opened half way through this match first with rain in bucketfuls then hailstones everyone soldiered on to a fair goalless draw.
Bury 0 Salcom 0
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The second match was against Ribble Valley
Substitute Nev.
Proper back and forth game this with Ribble edging it , lots of shots from both teams.
Keith again saving the day with seven superb saves some from point blank and at full stretch.
Andy again having a great game with good hold up play and superb layoffs to Al who had a couple of shots one of which on target, Al returning the favour for Andy who also had two shots one of which on target. Mike was busy with some neat footwork but couldn’t get a shot on target. Ribble had seven shots all on target Bury had six shots two of which on target. Played well really against a strong Ribble team, some very nice passing moves throughout.
Bury 0 Ribble Valley 0
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Third match against Bolton Arena.
Substitute Pete.
Statistics don’t always reflect the game… but….in this case….Bury had two shots none on target , Bolton had nine shots four on target.
Tough game again in absolutely horrendous weather … rain… more rain and then some. The crowd had to abandon brollies due to lightning… and really it should have been called off at that moment.
Keith as you may recall had a statue erected of him after his last game against Bolton…. ( in my mind at least) he was on top form again saving at absolutely full stretch on several occasions . Bolton are very tricky with ex-professionals on their team but a combination of Keith’s agility and Al’s timely blocks seemed to be enough to frustrate the Bolton strikers but alas a momentary lapse in concentration was Bury’s undoing, Bolton had the ball deep in Bury’s half to the right of the box, two Bury players facing but nobody closing down the shot… the Bolton player took his shot which was buried in the far corner of the net , Keith with little chance against a powerful shot coming through bodies blocking his sight.
Bury did rally towards the end but to no avail.
Bury 0 Bolton Arena 1
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Fourth match against Rochdale Strollers
Substitute Andy.
The sight of Danny trying his best to squeeze out the excess water from his shorts kind of summed up the mood at this point….. the match kicked off and Rochdale had an early shot off target, Ian McKinnon had wisely abandoned his umbrella earlier on due to lightning… I rather foolishly trying to protect my notebook kept my umbrella up…. but not for long….. an almighty crack of thunder and a huge bolt of lightning narrowly missing the nearby church steeple saw me throw my brolly away along with everyone else on all the other pitches doing the same thing… the officials finally called the whole thing off … match abandoned.. and a collective sigh of …. “ thank f**k for that “
Perhaps a fitting end to the day that the weather was reminiscent of a typical day in the Welsh mountains and valleys .
Perhaps Gilly was having a laugh at our expense
Nice one Gilly … Rest In Peace ❤️
Bury Relics 