OLDHAM Rugby League Heritage Trust is to launch its latest publication ‘The Roughyeds Kitbag’.
Author Michael Turner will be at the launch event at Gallery Oldham on Saturday, October 13 between 10am and 2pm to sign copies of the book that charts the club’s story during the First World War.
Information boards relating to significant developments at the club during the WW1 will be on display.
Priced £20, it is a limited edition of 500 copies, packed with facts, figures and images, the book, 192 pages and in full colour is a chronological review of the running of the club during one of the darkest periods in the history of the country.
Read how just finding 13 players to pull on the jersey became a major struggle with so many of the club’s personnel away in the services.
The poignant letters home from players and officials writing from the trenches some filled with hope and some with despair.
How the mood of the country changed as the ‘home before Christmas’ attitude gave way to the realisation that the conflict would endure for years.
The bravery and sadness as some players were honoured and others were lost.
There is also a detailed report, by the Oldham player Dave Holland, of the famous 1914 tour deciding Great Britain v Australia Rorke’s Drift test match, played in Sydney on the eve of the war.
Written just hours after the conclusion of the game, little did Dave realise that by the time he returned home the heroics of himself and his team-mates would have become the stuff of legend and the country would be at war.
To order a copy, contact the Heritage Trust at oldhamrl1895@gmail.com or 01457 810197.