Steve Williams is Secretary of
Brindle Historical Society and
a WW1 historian. In June 2002 he
co-founded the Society with the
current Chairman, Ian Whyte. Earlier
that year he started researching
names on Brindle War Memorial.
Steve at the Thiepval
Memorial, 2004
Since then he has presented talks
to the Society and groups around
the North West of England - his
passion is very much for the First
World War. This has led him to make
numerous trips to the WW1 battlefields
on The Western Front in France and
Belgium, as well as a trip to Gallipoli
in Turkey. Each time he had paid
respects to men from the village
buried or commemorated on the battlefields.
He has also made visits to World
War Two battlefields in France –
to Dunkirk where his father fought
in 1940 and to D-Day beaches in
Normandy.
Steve with BBC Reporter
Peter Marshall on
The Somme, 1st July
2006.
In May 2004 he organised and
led a coach trip for Brindle Historical
Society members visiting graves
and battlefields on The Western
Front, where many men from the village
fought in World War One. Two years
later, in July 2006, he led a similar
trip to be in the Accrington Pals
trenches at Serre on the Somme –
90 years to the minute when the
‘Pals’ went over the top at 7.30
a.m. on the 1st July 1916. That
trip was covered by BBC television
and radio in the North West. Since
then he has made a radio documentary
for BBC Radio Lancashire and contributed
to a WW1 story on BBC Television
‘Inside Out’ programme.
His third coach trip was in November
2007, being at the Menin Gate in
Ypres on Remembrance Sunday. He
has been asked to organise and lead
trips to The Western Front in 2008
for the Royal British Legion and
the Irish Democratic League.
A "Flashback" article
by Steve in a recent
edition of theChorley Guardian.
Steve is currently writing a
book entitled ‘Brindle and Hoghton
Pals’, about the 320 men from the
two villages who fought in the First
World War; it is due to published
in March 2008. A book is planned
about the history of the Chorley
Pals, aimed at raising money for
the appeal fund.
He is a regular contributor of
articles to local newspapers and
magazines, including the ‘Flashback’
feature in the Chorley Guardian.
Born in 1952, Steve has worked
in sales and marketing for most
of his career. He lives Brindle
and has been associated with the
village since 1974, serving on the
Parish Council since 1996. He is
also a Trustee and Vice-Chairman
of the
Brindle Community Hall Management
Committee, helping build a new hall
in 2006 – 83 years on from the first
Parish Institute, built by men from
the village who fought in World
War One.
