It's been almost a century since Littlewoods Football Pools officially began and hundreds of employees made "friends for life."
The Liverpool ECHO recently took a look back at Littlewoods' Football Pools, speaking to former workers Kathleen and Angie about their memories from years gone by. Before the National Lottery, the most popular way for people to try and win a fortune was to play the Football Pools - the country's oldest football betting game that was born in Liverpool.
Beginning in 1923, the Football Pools offered people a chance to win large sums of money by predicting the outcome of matches - and many will remember the teatime ritual of listening to the football scores and marking off score draws on coupons in the hope of getting a line of crosses next to the right games. Loved by the nation, Sir John Moores was one of the trio who founded the company, with Littlewoods being the first to sell the pools.
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Littlewoods, who had sites across Merseyside, were later joined by Vernons and Zetters, though following the arrival of the National Lottery and the decline of the business all three were bought out by Sportech and were rebranded 'The New Football Pools,' the ECHO previously reported. ECHO readers have since been sharing their memories of working at Littlewoods across Merseyside.
On our website, Digsy said: "I worked with Kathleen and Angie too and yes it was the best job and you really felt looked after. Team camaraderie got us through many difficult times and although it's 30 years since we worked together the memories are some of the best of my life."
idontikemondays said: "Started in Littlewoods (WHA) three weeks before my 17th birthday and left at the of 36. What an amazing place & family to work for. The friends you made were lifetime friends. Didn't only send you for days out I had the pleasure to go to Clentrool for five days while still getting paid. Everybody must remember a visit to the matron of a Monday to get you curer. BEST TIMES EVER."
Do you remember the Littlewoods Football Pools? Let us know in the comments section below.
On Facebook, Lorraine Biscontri-Murray wrote: "Littlewoods Crosby was a brilliant place to work but sadly didn't realise how much until we got made redundant and the Crosby site closed. 1975 - 2009 xx." Irene Phillips wrote: "I worked in Littlewoods in Crosby on mail order payments we were moved to Old Hall Street in Liverpool when Crosby closed."
Barbara Smith posted: "I worked at Walton Hall Avenue. I remember my last day in work before I got married the girls set up a table in the toilets with a drink (sherry I think )and snacks on, and one by one the girls came in and wished me well they also had a collection and gave me gifts I left with all kinds. I met my future husband through the girl I sat next to she took me on a blind date."
Paul Traynor commented: "Me mum worked at Canning Street in Birkenhead, she loved it there, out of all the jobs she had this was the best and her workmates " the girls "as she called them , she always said they were the best, a gang if them went to London to watch the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana, also she spoke highly of how the company looked after the workers."
Grace Crispin Wild commented: "Littlewoods mail order Crosby 1978-2009 best days ever." Denise Coy said: "My mum worked at Littlewoods and when she married my dad cycled to work from the Wirral to Liverpool. She said some of the best days of her life."
Jane Williams wrote: "Me and two friends left school and worked in Littlewoods Racing section in Oldham Place. The company took everyone to Blackpool for the day every year. We were taught to settle bets and football fixed odds. We also were taught touch typing at Walton Hall Avenue. When the racing was cancelled because of the weather, we marked the pools coupons. Dixie Dean worked as a porter in our building. He was a lovely, quiet, unassuming man."
Cathy Obi posted: "My nan worked there. There were some brilliant photos of when she retired. Wish we'd kept them." Iris Roberts posted: "Worked at Walton Hall Pools on the switchboard best time ever."
Irene Dunroe said: "I worked there as an audio typist before I left to have a baby xxxxx." Kerstin Davin commented: "Many happy memories of working at Littlewoods Pools."
Linda Jones wrote: "Best place to work, fantastic friends which 30 years on are still mates x" Martin Fergusson wrote: "I loved doing the pools. Only ever won £2.15 but they were worth doing for the fun of checking my coupon on a Saturday afternoon."
Irene Vegas Murphy commented: "Littlewoods Edge lane. 24yrs there full time. What a wonderful place x And Vicky Wilkes said: "My nana and my mum worked there x."
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Kathleen Donaghy, 53, was living in Kirkby when she started on Littlewoods' Football Pools as a teenager. She recently told the ECHO: "I was still at school, you had to be 16 and three months to start a Saturday job and that's what I was.
"Both my aunties worked there at the time, one was a supervisor and one was a head supervisor. I got the Saturday job and then it took me another 18 months to get a full time job in there.
It was really hard to get in and a lot of families worked there. When I started full time I was 18, but there were people there up to retirement age, mainly women. There were only a few lads who actually started when I did.
"The Football Pools was massive, even from when I was little. There was Vernons as well but Littlewoods was the biggest - everyone did them."
Kathleen remembers the rows of tables where workers sat that were split into different sections and how everyone would wear rubber thumb guards whilst sorting through papers. She said: "On a Monday it was always marking the pools, that took up a lot of the day.
"You'd do overseas post which would come in with coupons or cash. You'd have to sort postal orders, change of addresses - loads went into it."
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Through the years, John and Cecil Moores, who owned Littlewoods, also garnered a reputation for genuinely caring for their workforce, ensuring they were paid the highest wage in Liverpool and organising mass employee away days to seaside resorts. Kathleen said: "They just looked after their staff. Every Christmas you got a week’s wages as a bonus.
"They put on parties for everybody and even though it was hard work, the overtime you got was great. Everyone got on and we just had a big laugh. It was brilliant and we still all say it's the best job we ever had."
Kathleen, who worked on Littlewoods Football Pools for nearly a decade, has remained friends with many of her former Littlewoods colleagues and described the workforce as like "one big family." Kathleen said: "We used to go to the little club around the corner and on our dinner we’d have our lunch and then a couple of drinks and then go back to work.
"I don't know how that would even happen now, it’s just unbelievable how we’d get in through security when we’d been drinking at dinner time. But that's what you did.
"It was just like a big family, everyone knew each other and even the managers, it’s not like that now. Everyone looked out for each other."
Over the years, reunions have been held for the former Littlewoods Football Pools workers and this year there are plans for another celebration to mark 100 years since it began. Kathleen said: "There’s never been anything like it since. They way people work with each other now, you don't see that now in the same way.
"Littlewoods was always the best place to be, with the best job and the best people. I don't think anything will ever top that."
Kathleen's friend Angela Gilbert, 53, now lives in Huddersfield and worked in Littlewoods from 1987 to 1995. Angela told the ECHO: "My friend told me about the job and I had an interview and got it.
"Five of us got the job together and have remained friends ever since. I started as a standing forecast/standies clerk, marking coupons, checking for winners, opening and processing post, paying out winning cheques, sending correspondence, keeping filing up to date. I then moved onto the query unit which investigated any queries that came in.
"The Football pools were massive, with Littlewoods and Vernons. They were big employers in the city and most people knew someone who worked for the pools."
Angela said different events were held throughout the year for workers, from Christmas lunches in the canteen to Christmas do's in the Grafton. Colleagues were also part of sports teams playing football, netball, volleyball and more and at one point, Angela's friend was a finalist at the annual Miss Littlewoods event.
Angela said: "It was the best job ever - we laughed from the minute we got there to the minute we went home. The lady I sat next rented us videos, our own mini Blockbuster.
"Pay day was a Wednesday so there was always a mass exodus to Broadway to spend our wages, usually in Dodo’s. Outside the building we had a sweet and fruit man, so Wednesday's were our treat days.
"We had a massive canteen which used to do the best food, like the best school dinners - 12p for a bowl of soup. In the summer when the football season had finished we all had the option to do short time, work three days and get paid for four, work four and get four-and-a-half or just work the week. As you can imagine the three day option was very popular."
Colleagues would also go on trips to Blackpool and London and milestone birthdays, weddings, pregnancies and more were always celebrated. But as time went on and the lottery was introduced, life as everyone knew it at Littlewoods changed.
Angela said: "The lottery had a massive impact on the pools, we were all offered voluntary redundancies. At the time a group of us even went down to London to lobby parliament.
"The trip was arranged by the union. We also went to Blackpool with the union and stayed there for a weekend.
"I definitely miss it. I drive down Walton Hall Avenue and the building is no longer there but it brings back so many fond memories. We were so mischievous too, we used to always play practical jokes on each other, it was such a laugh.
"I worked in a job that didn’t feel like a job, with the best people you could meet. I’d go back in a heartbeat."
After the landmark Littlewoods building went up in flames, The Football Pools has resurfaced online in more recent years. But many of the former Littlewoods workforce still keep its legacy alive with their memories and photos.
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