BARROW CELTIC JUNIORS FOOTBALL CLUB PEACE PLAQUE AT FLANDERS PEACE PITCH, MESEN, BELGIUM.
CELEBRATING OUR SHARED HISTORY
“125 Years of Memories: Barrow’s Big Football Roadshow” Launches This Saturday
Historic Objects, Supporter Stories, and Special Guests from the Football Heritage Podcast
Barrow AFC and their fans will celebrate its proud past this weekend with a unique Barrow 125 Football Roadshow, inviting supporters to dive into more than a century of Bluebirds history. The event takes place in The Cross Bar on Saturday 24 January, when Barrow host Crawley Town at the SO Legal Stadium.
As part of the club’s 125th anniversary celebrations, fans are encouraged to bring along their own memorabilia, stories, photographs, and matchday memories to be shared, recorded, and preserved for the future.
The Roadshow forms a key starting point in the Barrow 125 heritage programme: a year-long effort to catalogue, celebrate, and protect the history of Barrow AFC for generations to come.
Visitors will also have the chance to explore an impressive display from Barrow supporter‑historians, who are showcasing a collection of rare and fascinating objects—some dating back nearly 100 years. These include vintage shirts, historic programmes, supporter artefacts, and items that tell the story of Barrow’s identity, culture, and enduring community spirit.
Adding to the occasion, the club will welcome special guests from the internationally recognised Football Heritage Podcast, who will be meeting fans, recording interviews, and capturing the stories that make Barrow one of English football’s most distinctive and resilient clubs. Their visit shines a national spotlight on Barrow’s heritage work and the passionate community behind the club.
A Call to All Supporters
The Barrow 125 Team is encouraging fans young and old to get involved—whether they bring a treasured item from the loft or simply share a memory from the terraces.
“Every supporter has a story,” said Bluebirds Trust director Frazer Stewart. “This event is about celebrating our shared history and building an archive that honours the people who have shaped Barrow AFC for 125 years.”
Fan contributions will help form a permanent digital and physical archive, supporting future exhibitions, school programmes, heritage trails, and community projects.
Event Details
📅 Saturday 24 January
🕑 10am-3pm
🏟️ Cross Bar-Barrow AFC
🎙️ With the Football Heritage Podcast & Barrow supporter‑historians
📚 Opportunities to record personal memories and contribute to the Barrow 125 Archive
Bluebirds Trust member Steve Herbert said, “We can’t wait to see what treasures are brought but supporters don’t need to bring anything special—just themselves and their stories.
Barrow 125 is a major heritage project marking the club’s 125th anniversary. It includes a Dock Museum exhibition, education work, an oral-history programme, a Supporters’ Heritage Museum, community events, and a town-wide heritage trail—all designed to celebrate the history and identity of Barrow AFC and its supporters.
Led by supporters organisation the Bluebirds Trust, it includes the club, BAFC Community Foundation, award winning fanzine Give em Beans and The Dock Museum.
ENDS
For media enquiries, interviews, or further information about the Barrow 125 programme, please contact 125@bluebirdstrust.co.uk
A DAY TO REMEMBER
12th November 2025
The weather couldn’t dampen spirits on Tuesday as sixteen Furness primary schools met both to play a friendly tournament and remember those lost in conflict.
Park Leisure Centre stepped in at short notice to host the second ‘Peace Pitch’ tournament for schools as Barrow Celtic’s Boyd Park was waterlogged.
The Barrow Celtic Juniors Peace Pitch is one of less than a hundred in the world twinned with Flanders Peace Field. The events are in partnership with the Children’s Football Alliance who work throughout the world to promote peace and learning through play.
Organised through social football initiative ‘Step up and Play’, local schools played a football fun tournament, pausing at eleven for a short remembrance ceremony, conducted by Mayor of Barrow Fred Chatfield .
“I really enjoyed the event,” said Mayor Chatfield, “it was great to see so many schools involved.”
St George’s coach and Step up and Play organiser Leanne Holmes said, “it was wonderful to see this develop, with more than double the entries this year. It’s not really about the competition, although that was great, it’s about showing respect to those who made it possible for us to be here today.”
Once the impeccably observed silence was over, football resumed. Yarlside won a hard fought final over St Pius to win the Peace Ball this year, of which there are less than a hundred created in the world. The Peace Shield went to Roose School, playing in the tournament for the first time.
The event is supported by Furness Education and Skills Partnership and sponsored by Barrow Town Council.
The children also have the opportunity to use some learning materials relating local footballers who fell in the Great War and life in Barrow-in-Furness.
Other school teams taking part, from all over Barrow and Furness were; Lindal and Marton, Pennington, Low Furness, St George’s, Greengate, Parkside, St Paul’s, Cambridge, Ormsgill, Dane Ghyll, Barrow Island and Victoria. The next Step up and Play event, centered around International Women’s Day is the Stanway Cup in the spring term.
11th November 2024
Barrow Celtic Football Club twin their Peace Pitch with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium, site of the 1914, First World War, Christmas truces.
The first ever Peace Tournament in Barrow in Furness was hosted by Barrow Celtic Juniors Football Club.
Through social football initiative ‘Step up and Play’, local schools played a football fun tournament and officially twinned their Boyd Park Peace Pitch with the Flanders Peace Field.
The official ceremony marked the historic occasion before the tournament for peace. The Peace Pitch pledged to host annual peace games around 11th November each year.
Special guest Barrow Mayor Judith McEwan unveiled the Peace Field plaque at Boyd Park, Barrow-in-Furness, on behalf of Peace Ambassador and Barrow Celtic Juniors’ coaching legend Dennis Boyd.
Representatives from St George’s C of E school lead a short ceremony at the end of the football for fun tournament and mayor of Barrow, Judith McEwan, unveiled the Peace Field plaque and Dennis Boyd’s sister, Jean, signed the Declaration for Peace Certificate.
The first ever team to win the Commemorative Peace Poppy Ball was Parkside Academy, Barrow-in-Furness. The Peace Poppy Ball will be handed over to the winning school in future peace tournaments.
Barrow Celtic Juniors Football Club
PRESS RELEASE
CELTIC JUNIORS PITCH to be twinned with Flanders Peace Field site of The First World War 1914 Christmas truces
11 November 2024: 9.15-11.30
Through social football initiative ‘Step up and Play’, local schools will play a football tournament and officially twin their pitch with the Flanders Peace Field in Messines, Belgium; site of the 1914 First World War, Christmas Truces.
An official ceremony will mark the historic occasion before the tournament. The Peace Pitch will pledge to host annual peace games around 11th November each year, each time with a different focus.
Special guest Barrow Mayor Judith McEwan will unveil the Peace Field plaque at Boyd Park, Barrow-in-Furness at 11.15am, on behalf of Peace Ambassador and Barrow Celtic Juniors’ coaching legend Dennis Boyd.
Representatives from St George’s C of E school will lead a short ceremony at the end of the football tournament and mayor of Barrow, Judith McEwan, will unveil the Peace Field plaque.
QUOTES:
Ernie Brennan, CFA CEO, added: “There are many monuments commemorating war and rightly so; the peace pitch not only commemorates war, but celebrates peace. There are currently 75 Peace Field Project Peace Pitches in 6 continents. https://www.childrensfootballalliance.com/football-and-peace/international/international-peace-field-projects/ The CFA welcome Step up and Play and Barrow Celtic Juniors Football Club into a very special global network facilitating peace through play.
Steve Herbert, Headteacher of St George’s and Step up and Play organiser, said, ‘This is a brilliant way for the children to enjoy themselves and also to think about war and especially peace in a respectful context they understand.’
Mayor McEwan, whose Barrow Town Council’s council provided funding support for the plaque and who attended the event said ‘we are very proud that our local juniors pitch here in Barrow is linked throughout the world for peace on such an important day.’
For Barrow Celtic Juniors, Jamie Harris said, ‘Celtic Juniors always have been a very inclusive club- it’s all about getting children to learn through play. Schemes like this are fantastic for both the area and club.’
‘Step up and Play’ are four schools in central Barrow-in-Furness, working together outside school time, with help through the Furness Education and Skills Partnership.
We want to make sure that all children aged 4-11 in Central Barrow (where nearly 50% of the children currently live in poverty) get as many chances as everyone else to join a local sports club if they wish. They do this by helping children attend training, practising and competitions. Schools provide transport and escorts to the different sports clubs by picking the children up and dropping them off in the evenings and on Saturdays. In the last three years, over two hundred local children have been supported and many are playing regular competitive sport, including many at Boyd Park.
The primary business of Barrow Celtic is as a junior football club; to provide opportunity for all to perform on the football field to the best of their ability. However, the Club has a wider role and the responsibility of being a major Barrow social institution promoting mental and physical health, well being and inclusion of all children and families. Barrow Celtic Juniors are a club for everyone and anyone in the Furness area who believes in the power of football to enhance the lives of our young people- giving them positive memories, values and habits as well as an appreciation of the game itself.
Our peace field, Boyd Park is named for Barrow Celtic Juniors’ legendary chairman Dennis Boyd- who we have chosen as our Peace Ambassador. A founding member of the junior sections in 1953, Dennis was involved with the club through coaching and serving on the board from then until a few years ago. Thousands of children and families have benefitted from his hard work and dedication to providing football for generations of players.
The four schools; St George’s C of E School, Sacred Heart RC Primary Academy, Ramsden Infants and Greengate Junior School’s met other schools for a friendly tournament on Boyd Park on 11th November 2024 in the name of Peace.
