GORTON STREET GAZETTE victories from 30 games with 399 points scored and T.S. Stevens and R. Cameron selected for Lancashire. In 1906/07 many ground improvements were made and J. Clerc, three-quarter of the In September 1912, a gate of 3,000 gathered at Barton to watch Eccles v Kendal in the opening match of the season. 1913/14 season. In the Eccles would win 17, draw 6, and suffer just two away defeats at Manchester and Kersal and one home loss to Broughton Park by a single drop goal to nil! Eccles fine 1XV were on the rise and forward Harold Bowker and Half-Back Reginald Lightbrown Bolton contributed nine tries each that season and were selected to represent Following the declaration of War rugby fixtures were abandoned in September 1914. ‘Pals’ battalions were raised to encourage work colleagues and team mates to serve together. Employers displayed recruitment posters, speeches were given at rugby matches, young men lied about their age and queued up to volunteer in their thousands. Many Eccles players were amongst the first to enlist. Harold Bowker joined the Duke of Lancaster Yeomanry and went on to become a 2nd Lt. in the Royal Air Corp, surviving the war and playing for Swinton Lions until 1920. Reggie Bolton, Capt. Manchester Regiment, was killed at sea in 1918 when the hospital ship he was aboard was torpedoed by German U-Boat. His brother John Bolton, goal- kicker for Eccles, was killed
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