Peter Blackmore

Peter Blackmore was born at 10 Rydal Grove, on the Town Hall estate, on 11/11/1960. His father John, moved from Dublin with his Grandfather and his family, to 29 Speakman Street, in about 1923. His mother lived at 3 Arthur Street, and worked at Savages, before she married Peter's father in 1957.

Peter attained an ‘O’ level in History, at the Grange Secondary School, and he was always interested in general history, but it was his father who got him interested in local history, through Ray Miller’s column.

He left school and worked for Halton Borough Council, in the Parks and Gardens department. He has also had various jobs, such as UPVC fitter, making electrical connections and control systems, working in the Walled Garden at Norton Priory, cleaner at Runcorn Shopping City, making water features and pathways in Murdishaw Woods and also an archaeological dig at Halton Castle.

There was a publication of the Halton Castle dig, which he co–wrote a section in it about the clay pipes that were found on the dig.

Peter has been on three further digs at Halton Castle, and on the second one, two skeletons were found. They are the only skeletons, to be found buried inside a castle walls, in the country. They are unique.

He joined the Historical Society in 2005, through an invite by Diane Stanley, and it wasn’t long before he became an ordinary member of the committee. In 2012, he became chair, mainly because no one else wanted to do it! Their constitution rules state that anyone can only be chair for three years, before having to stand down. This he did in 2015, handing over the reigns, to become vice chair. 2016 Peter was chair again, till 2019, again becoming vice chair. In 2020, sadly then chair, David Sterry, died three days before the AGM. So he took the reigns again. Then Covid hit! The society was closed down, until the all clear. They resumed in September last year, and have made the steady climb back to getting back to some form of normality. Because of the lockdown, his role of chair, has been extended, as of the 18 months of inactivity.

During his tenure as chair, he has started a Facebook page, been a representative for the Society in the Halton Heritage Partnership (for which he is Vice Chair, yes, no one wanted that job either!), continued to make contacts with various other groups and societies, given talks to schools and other groups and also helped with advice and consultation. All of this has been with the help and support of Diane Stanley, who without her, a lot of this would not have happened.

He has a large collection of Runcorn related items, which would look nice in a dedicated museum, including mineral water bottles, watches, post cards, ephemera of all types, an oil can, long case clock and even a pair of false teeth!

Peter is passionate about Runcorn, and also promoting the town and it’s history.