Stephen Wainwright

Stephen Wainwright recounts how 17-year-old Flora Critchley and her friend Phyllis Lowe walked nearly 33 miles from Blackpool toward St Helens in high heels after losing their charabanc on a hot day in 1936. A woman near Wigan raised money to pay for their bus journey home. The story is placed in the context of a period when local people routinely walked long distances, including St Helens rugby supporters who walked roughly 200 miles to Wembley for the 1930 Challenge Cup Final, where Widnes defeated St Helens 10–3.