TT No.43: Mike Latham - Mon 3 September 2007: North Lancashire & District Football League.      Galgate v TIC Dynamos; Res: 1-4; Att: 40 (h/c); Admn: no charge; Programme: no; FGIF Match Rating: 3*

View matchday images  01 02 03 04 05   It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon in Lancashire and the last week of the early evening kick-offs in the local leagues before the onset of autumn - perfect timing to explore the village of Galgate for their 6-15pm kick-off against TIC Dynamos.   Galgate is situated on the A6 just south of Lancaster and close to the university campus, a few minutes’ drive from J33 of the M6 motorway.  It’s a busy place for not only does it have excellent road networks, the Lancaster Canal passes by together with the main line railway towards Scotland.   Indeed, Galgate’s name is thought to originate from the old English name ‘Gal-gala’ meaning the road to Scotland. Another theory is that as Galgate was the last village to be passed through by the condemned before reaching Lancaster in the days of public hangings it was originally known as ‘Gallows Gate.’   Either way Galgate more recently entered the public consciousness when a prominent traveller of distinction travelled northwards from the wilds of Essex to visit his son at university.  He stayed in a local pub where the entertainment was advertised as ‘Stipers’- and was still up, being entertained at 3am the following morning by the illiterate ‘Stripers’ and their goings-on.  He still hasn’t recovered and, it is alleged, still visits Lancaster, not to visit his son who has long since graduated, but just to keep an eye on the locals and, of course, tick-off more grounds in the North Lancashire & District League.   Galgate was reasonably quiet and awaiting a fresh influx of students ready for the new term and the main entertainment on offer this evening was a Premier Division clash in the North Lancashire & District League who, by the way, have an excellent website with results, fixtures and ground directions of the first order.  There wasn’t a ‘striper’ to be seen, at least not so-far as I could ascertain.   Easily found, behind the Plough Inn just off the A6 near a railway bridge, Galgate’s Recreation Ground looked a picture in the sunshine, with a neatly pained fence bordering a sloping though well-grassed pitch on three sides.  On the far side the banks of the canal appear behind trees.  A track leads down to a car park and a shared pavilion with the neighbouring cricket ground.  There is also a bowling green, another football pitch and a five-a-side pitch at this splendid community asset.   A phone call to my groundhopping consultant on the Fylde Coast received the thumbs-up for the journey.  “One of the top four or five venues in the league, the top being Ingleton,” he replied.  “It’s a splendid choice.  Enjoy your evening.”  He added, helpfully, that rhubarb is the prolific local plant here and was used to provide colouring for the once prolific local silk industry.  Sometimes you can have too much information.   A few minutes spent in Galgate reveal what a busy place it is- trains thunder by on the main line, canal boats dock at the marina by the Plough Inn, aeroplanes pass by and the A6 is a busy road.  Legend claims that Galgate is the only place in the world where all the four main forms of transport- road, air, water and rail travel in the same direction.    I’m not sure about that but what was certain was that all the goals were going in one direction as TIC Dynamos, the visitors in a smart yellow and black striped attire, started in, ahem, dynamic, fashion, taking an early 2-0 lead.  Though the initially sluggish home side pulled a goal back, a third Dynamos goal soon after the resumption made the game safe and the visitors might have added several more to the fourth goal they added late in the game.   I was reasonably impressed by the standard of football, both sides trying to play constructively and the game was played in a very good spirit.  The light faded remarkably by the time the second half was nearing a conclusion and, within ten minutes or so of the final whistle the pitch was cloaked in near-darkness, underlining the sad fact the autumn is nearly upon us.   The villagers are hoping to build a new pavilion soon on the site, a local informing me that grant money had been obtained. A visit to Galgate comes highly recommended.  Strangely, despite a crowd of around 40 gathering to watch the action no attempt was made to take a gate or collect a raffle and no refreshments or programmes were available, an opportunity wasted to defray some of the expenses of playing football at this level.

amended & contributed on 04/09/07