SKELMERSDALE AND UPHOLLAND

Welcome to the Skelmersdale and UpHolland group's home page. Within these pages you will find information relating to our group, where we meet, upcoming speakers and any projects we are carrying out.

The group meet at the UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland ,WN8 ONR on the 1st Tuesday of the month. Traditionally there are no meetings in July and August, please see our programme page for full details. The meetings will start at 7.30 p.m. Project work may well continue into July and August though not in the Community Centre.

If you wish to get in touch with the group for further details you can go to our on-line form here.

New members are always welcome to any of our meetings and members are always willing to try and help break down a 'brick wall'.

History

Back in the late 1970's, Audrey and Les Walker became interested in trying to trace their ancestors, but weren't sure how to go about it. They discovered a night school class was starting at Glenburn high school and quickly joined up. They found the course most interesting and made a number of new friendships. At the end of the course they became members of the Liverpool & District FHS and after meeting with Harold & Joyce Culling it was suggested they helped to form a local Branch in Skelmersdale.

Our first Chairman was Tony Lancashire and our early meetings were held in a room at the Highwayman pub, then later for a short time at Quarry Bank. Eventually we heard about the Hall Green meeting room where the group still meets to this day.

In the early days of the group we helped with the transcribing of the 1851 Liverpool Census, also with a number of other members we recorded and indexed the monumental inscriptions for the churchyards at St. Paul's, St. Richard's and St. Thomas the Martyr in UpHolland.

Les was Chairman of the group for a number of years - Audrey and Les also became Project Secretaries for the Liverpool Society.

Date	Day	Time	Place	Subject	Speaker(s)
04 November 2025	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Ghost stories near and far.	Andrew Johnson
02 December 2025	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Christmas bring and share tea. (Please note no meeting in January)	None
03 February 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Pills, Potions and Poisons	Louise Wade
03 March 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Liverpool Women Transported to Van Diemandsland	Ian Mooney
07 April 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Help night	No speaker
05 May 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Nursery Rhymes part 1	Jean Finney
02 June 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	A Trip to the Zoo (Please note no meetings in July and August)	Louise Wade
01 September 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Welcome back research and help night	No speaker
06 October 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	AGM	No speaker
03 November 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	West Lancashire War Heroes	Dot Broady-Hawkes
01 December 2026	Tuesday	7:30 pm	UpHolland Methodist Church , Alma Hill, UpHolland WN8 ONR	Christmas bring and share tea	No speaker