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Gerry Wolstenholme

Gerry Wolstenholme is an English writer who was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England on 25 March 1946. He attended local junior and primary school before going on to Baines Grammar School, in nearby Poulton-le-Fylde. He left school at age 17 and went to work in HM Treasury, Whitehall, London. He served there for 11 years before returning to his native Blackpool to work at the Department for National Savings.

He married Linda Obeney on 24 February 1968 at St Mark's Church, Bethnal Green and they had a daughter, Deborah, born on 1 March 1975. They were married for 36 years until Linda passed away on 25 June 2004, aged just 56. Gerry continues to live in Blackpool.

Writings

Gerry began writing at a young age, having a poem published in the school magazine when aged 14. He wrote his first book, unpublished, in 1961. It was an account of the 1961 Australian cricket tour of England. It eventually found its way to his daughter's house in Glastonbury and from there it mysteriously disappeared. He is still hoping that it will someday resurface!

He took up a secondhand and antiquarian bookselling career, as well as continuing his professional job, and his interest in Victorian literature found him writing articles for various booksellers; subjects covered were such as Robert Louis Stevenson, one of his favourite authors, William Harrison Ainsworth plus GPR James and Albert Smith, the last two long forgotten Victorian novelists.

He has always been a keen footballer and cricketer, playing at a reasonable amateur standard, and he began writing sports articles for various newspapers and magazines. This led to his first book, 'The West Indian Tour of England, 1906', which was published in 1992.

Since then he has gone on to write a number of cricket and football books, he is a keen Blackpool Football fan, as well as a volume of poetry that told of his nervous breakdown and the loss of his beloved wife. In addition he has written introductions and appreciations in a number of books published in facsimile reprint form.

He has also edited his own magazine, 'The Cricket Postcard Collectors' Journal' and for six years he produced a day-by-day account of the Cheltenham Cricket Festival entitled 'The Cheltenham Spectator and Festival News'. He has also written extensively in Blackpool Football Club's matchday programme.

In addition he produces a very limited edition run of articles on a variety of subjects from Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens and Harry Houdini, to the All-England XI versus Rossall Past and Present in 1862 and the Tragic Death of Blackpool Football Club's Jimmy Hampson. There are 56 volumes in the series as at March 2014.

Bibliography

The West Indian Tour of England 1906 (1992) From Peak to Pool A Short History of Lancashire versus Derbyshire Matches at Blackpool (1994) Cup Kings Blackpool 1953 (1998) The Life of Johnny Briggs by Herbert Turner (new introduction) (2000) Lancashire County Cricket by Frederic Reginald Reynolds (new introduction) (2000) Cricket Across the Seas being an account of the tour of Lord Hawke's team in New Zealand and Australia 1902-03 (new introduction) (2001) Reminiscences of David Hunter The Genial Yorkshire Stumper by David Hunter (new introduction) (2001) The Tour of "The Gentlemen of Philadephia" in Great Britain in 1884 by John Pugh Green (new introduction) (2002) Forty Seasons of First-Class Cricket by R G Barlow (new introduction) (2002) Trumper Triumphant His final first-class century in England, Blackpool 1909 (2002) Harold Larwood Blackpool Cricket Club professional (2003) Bloomfield Road A Brief History of the Home of Blackpool Football Club (2003) Cricket Across the Sea or The Wanderings and Matches of the Gentlemen of Canada, 1887 by Dyce W Saunders and George GS Lindsay (new introduction) (2003) Seaside Caps Blackpool Football Club's International Players (2003) Fleetwood Cricket Club: Northern Premier League Champions 2004 The Story of the Season (2004) The £10,000 Goal Blackpool Football Club's fight against relegation in 1930/31 (2004) Gordon Garlick The Cricketing Life and Times of a Gentleman Professional (2004) Sheila's Shop and Other Poems by Deborah Wolstenholme (editor and introduction) (2005) Blackpool Football Club The Early Years 1877-1886 (2005) 'Jock' Dodds (2005) Cricket with Laughter Sir Lindsay Parkinson's XI v West Indies, Blackpool 1933 (2006) The Italian Job Blackpool Football Club's Anglo-Italian Success 1971 (2006) Towering Success The Eighth Australians in Blackpool August 1893 (2007) The Khaki Years Blackpool Football Club The World War One Seasons 1915/16 - 1918/19 (2008) Mine Host at the Mitre 'Bobbie' Peel at Blackpool, 1905 (2009) Return to the Top Flight Blackpool Football Club's Promotion Campaign 1969/70 (2010) Cheung Chi Doy (2011) Blackpool FC Miscellany Seasiders Trivia, History, Facts & Stats (2011) First-class Cricketers from Rossall School: The Victorian Era (2012) Reminiscences of 'Plum' Warner by Philip A Snow (afterword) (2012) 'They are not going to set the Thames on fire ...' The All-India Cricket Tourists 1911 (2012) More First-class Cricketers from Rossall School 1868-2012 (2013) Runs at the Rectory Blackheath Cricket Club entertain All India 12 May 1932 and West Indies 1 May 1933 (2013) By Bus to Wollongong Blackpool Football Club's World Tour 1958 (2014)

Magazines

The Cheltenham Spectator and Festival News, Annually 1991-1995 The Cricket Postcard Collectors' Journal, 24 issues 1992-1996