Classic Weightlifters 1977

Matt Hilliard on the Weightlifters photo :

What a classic photo that is, I joined APPH in 1978 so I do remember some faces, 4th head from the right is Terry Moore from Assembly. The 7th face from right is a guy called Anthony Macauly (I was on same PT degree course at Liverpool Polytechnic but he left AP before I arrived), 8th face from the right is Steve Grosart from Tech Support Dept (was assembly)

The bloke looking down at the Blackboard ran the weightlifting section and I remember his name was Frank Morris. Actually when I was in the doldrums in 1993-4 at the prompting of Brian Rogers (we called him LORN GREEN because of the grey hair) I joined that group of men that pumped iron in the Metal Box Club changing rooms twice a week, I was always the last saddo one in there at 10pm and had to put the weights away and lock up! Keys handed behind the bar!

Frank helped me a lot and was a great trainer, he told stories of Olympic weight training and boxing in his younger days and was a qualified coach and all that. He had the nouse to see that I was at a loose end and told me the weight training would take my mind off things and release agression that was brewing during that time. Great bloke, hope-he is still fighting fit, he was in great form and still weight training in December 1994, I had a going away pint with him and Brian Rogers in the Metal Box club.

Now there is one last bloke, Frank Kelly, he’s in a black tracksuit next to and on the left hand side of Frank (No. 14 or is it 44). He was always wandering around in a white coat selling sports and social fund raising tickets "tickets anyone?" would ring through the office as he would pass through the DO every monday morning. Dave Henry will know him because he used to flog the same tickets. Frank Kelly was one of those blokes that you wondered what his real job was cause he was always doing Sports and Social club stuff!.

Great Days and Personalities-Sad sports kit though! look at the lamp on the wall and your mind will tell you where the photo was taken-note also the typical 'Speke' cast concrete lampost that typified that area.

Dont know why but those lamposts stuck in my mind way back from the first interview I went to in Speke for an apprenticeship, so much more modern than the ones I was more familiar with in the Dingle!

Matt Hilliard