What a carry on! Bags of stress on the airlines W

THE women who trailblazed football 100 years ago will be remembered in Holmfirth author Tom Ashworth’s new book due out next year.

Tom has previously published Dark Hours: 1916 A Valley At War; and Photos On The Wall about 34 young men from New Mill who died in the First World War.

His next work is provisionally titled The End and the Aftermath.

“It’s about the end of the war in 1918 and what happened afterwards, when the women involved in war work were sacked en masse as the men came home,” he says.

Women’s soccer started during the war when factories encouraged their women workers to take up sport.

Some recruited and financed football teams and the most famous was Dick, Kerr and Co Ltd of Preston, Tom says.

“Huddersfield Atalanta Ladies weren’t connected with munitions or steel, but with the much more genteel professions of teachers and clerks. They were a ‘white-collar’ team,” he says.

The factory teams were E flew to Ireland from Liverpool at the weekend on a trip we have done many times but which still comes with stress levels old and new.

Even though I double checked I had all documents and money when we left, I stopped halfway down the road and reversed back, just to make sure I’d locked the front door. Of course I had.

Before leaving home, I had dressed age appropriately: I put on shoes that were easy to take off without falling over at security because there are never any chairs around just before you get body checked. And why do I always get body checked? Full scanner machine and a personal pat-down by a chap I hardly knew.

As we headed for the departure gate, I once again considered the founding rule of airport marketing: Never have enough seats for travellers, thus forcing them into cafes, bars and shops.

This is why massage chairs are never used for massage but are taken captive by rebellious holidaymakers fed up of yet another delay and the price of a bacon buttie.

Many years ago, budget airlines encouraged passengers to take only carry-on luggage to speed up the turnaround on flights.

This has backfired and bitten them in the bum as there is no encouraged by management to kick a football around the cobbled courtyards during lunch breaks and he quotes Alice Norris, one of the young women who played for Dick, Kerr: “We used to play at shooting at the cloakroom windows. They were little square windows and if the boys beat us at putting a window through we had to buy them a packet of Woodbines, but if we beat them they had to buy us a bar of Five Boys chocolate.”

Tom says some of the players had formidable skills.

“Lily Parr, one of Dick, Kerr’s ladies, was a 6ft tall, powerful winger who scored over 1,000 goals in her career, including 34 in her first season aged 14.

“She was the first lady player to be sent off for fighting and was paid partly in Woodbines. What a woman!” longer enough space for everyone’s carry-on if the flight is full.

The last time we came back from Ireland there was plenty of anger when passengers at the back of the queue had their bags taken from them and put in the hold because there was no more space.

Ryanair has warned it is to get tough on anyone abusing the on board size allowance and most budget airlines offer a solution: Pay extra for Priority Boarding so you can get on first and make sure your luggage stays with you.

For a family, that could be expensive but we always go Priority to be on the safe side

Fortunately our flight from Liverpool wasn’t full and everyone was accommodated, unlike last time when too many carry-ons turned into a real bad tempered and belligerent carry on. There was plenty of anger when passengers at the back of the queue had their bags taken from them and put in the hold.