PETER Firth is a Boltonian through and through with a knack of helping people using skills that have impacted on thousands of local lives.
He is one of life’s natural enthusiasts. Ask him about one aspect of his life and he’s quick to dash off into another. “Did I tell you about …?” is probably his favourite phrase and his energy is palpable.
His background and achievements, though, are legion. He’s spent a lifetime working with charities, especially managing community centres. This is closely rivalled by a love of the town and its history that he shares through his writing, music and popular guided talks.
Peter was born in Bolton. His father was a carpenter/joiner and the first generation in his family not to work in the mills. His mother was a nursery nurse and he has two brothers and a sister.
The family lived in Ainsworth, where Peter made a pivotal connection with Ainsworth Methodist Church which still influences him today.
He was a bright lad and, when he passed his 11-plus exams, went to Stand Grammar School. There, he fostered an early interest in music, having learned piano through the grades and later switching to keyboard in one of numerous young bands.
An interest in social work took him to a course at Salford Tech and after that he went to work at Bolton YMCA on Deansgate. He spent nine years there, developing and promoting programmes for young people and setting up and overseeing a project for unemployed young people under 25.
He did everything here from deputising for the Chief Officer to devising children’s outdoor play schemes in local parks. He secured grant funding and even set up a drama youth club and a samba band.
He moved on to become Chief Officer at the Mosses Community Association in Bury, managing a busy centre, finding funding, organising activities and developing a charity from three staff to 20, creating over 40 regular weekly activities.
At the same time, he took an Open University masters’ degree in business administration (MBA).
Peter worked in Bury for 16 years, leaving to work back in his favourite town. He says that on his first lunch hour he headed to Ye Olde Pastie Shop and the Parish Church grounds.
He then worked briefly for two charities in the town before deciding to launch his own organisation using his extensive experience.
The Community Help & Information Service – a Community Interest Company – was born in 2017. This enables Peter to work with a variety of different charities and voluntary organisations, helping them with grants, day to day running and a realistic way forward.
Of course, being Peter, not all his “work” is paid for - he can’t resist helping local charities to navigate today’s paperwork and funding problems. He is one of life’s natural helpers.
He has just finished his allocated six year role as treasurer of the Bolton Methodist Circuit and is involved still with Ainsworth Methodist Church and, as he now lives in Harwood, with Harwood Methodist Church.
Peter is also Deputy Chair of the steering committee overseeing the Proper Good initiative supporting Community Enterprise and based at Bolton CVS.
Always interested in Bolton’s history, in 2017 he joined community-based arts and heritage organisation Live from Worktown.
He helped the organisation become a Community Interest Company. Some of his current roles are as treasurer, producing and editing Side Door - their regular radio show on Bolton FM.
Three years ago, Peter started running Heritage Walks in memory of Dave Burnham, Bolton’s well-known late historian and author.
These are circular routes ranging from three to five miles, involving walkers pausing at various points so Peter can share interesting stories about the local history and heritage of the area.
They began in Harwood and have since expanded to include Turton, Hall i’ th’ Wood, Tonge with Haulgh, Bolton town centre and the Burrs Country Park in Bury. Next year’s walks include one in Seven Acres Country Park.
“I thoroughly enjoy planning and leading these walks,” he explained. “Bolton is rich in intriguing stories and sites of heritage and has great surrounding countryside that add to the pleasure.”
He is fascinated by quirky local historical facts. “For example, within sight of the Market Cross on Churchgate – the site of the Earl of Derby’s execution and where John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) was once pelted with stones – you can find the highest church tower in Lancashire.
“There is also, within site of the cross, the oldest independent family-run music shop in the country, the oldest independent family-run pie shop in the country, the sites of two historic theatres and the former pub where one of the country’s most famous hangmen was landlord.”
Then it’s off to the next piece of intriguing research and “Did I tell you about …..?”
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