A Pat on the back From Shevington

IT isn’t every day we get a pat on the back, but the directors now in command of new-look Oldham are only human — and it’s nice to be told you are doing a good job.

This thank-you comes from lifelong Oldham fan and Roughyeds devotee Tony Bostock in an email sent to club president and media manager Roger Halstead.

Tony is not your rank-and-file Oldham fan in that, although born and brought up in Oldham, he moved to Shevington, near Wigan, many years ago when he was a young school teacher and got a job over there. Retired now, he is still living surrounded by Pie Eaters, but he has never lost his loyalty to, is allegiance to or his love for the team of his birth — the Roughyeds.

He often leaves Shevington and all things Wigan behind to drive the 30 miles or so to Oldham on a route he knows like the back of his hand — the road to the Roughyeds.

A year or two back Tony and the family were devastated when his very active wife and mum, Lynn, suffered a stroke, but it was typical of her that, even in her wheelchair, she was determined to be part of the EIGHT Bostock family members who watched Oldham beat Cornwall at Boundary Park.

Later, this email arrived from her husband.

Tony wrote:

“ Mike Ford said try to bring a friend to the match, so I brought SEVEN from Wigan – my wife Lynn, daughter Kate, her husband Warren, boys George and Arthur, our son Richard and girlfriend Carla ( over here from Munich ).

“I regard Richard as Munich Roughyed. Carla was watching her first rugby league match. Kate’s family (Wigan fans) and Richard are also fanatical Roughyeds supporters.

“We all thoroughly enjoyed the Boundary Park experience. The boys in our group were totally engaged chanting with the crowd. Cornwall came to have a dig at Oldham and contributed to a good game, in which there was some amazing rugby played by the Yeds.

“Richard said afterwards that PLT was exciting to watch and that he reminded him so much of the great Wally Gibson. I had to agree.

“Another plus was the sight of so many young supporters there in Oldham memorabilia of one kind or another.

“We will definitely be coming over again, though we would go for seats at the top of the stand rather than on the front-row,

“Since she had a stroke, Lynn has to use a wheelchair. Disabled parking was superb and the response from the stewards was first class. Nothing was too much trouble and they helped us settle in the ground thanks to their efficiency and their professionalism.

“Everyone said it was a great afternoon’s entertainment. Thank you, Oldham, for looking after us”

Top of the table Oldham, four wins from four and winning matches with an average score of something like 52-6, don’t have a league game this weekend so they will travel to Salford to play Salford Reserves in an opposed session.

Next week, they go to Midlands Hurricanes on SATURDAY, April 27 and they are next back at BP on Sunday, May 5 when Newcastle Thunder are here.

If you have not yet sampled the match-day experience at BP put May 5 in your engagement list. You might just derive from it as much feel-good factor as the Bostocks.