Hot on the heels of recent features about Everton’s first biographer, Thomas Keates, the Everton FC Heritage Society has released a new documentary film about the links between Everton village and the football club which adopted its name in 1879.
Produced in-house by father and son team Mike and Lewis Royden, the 25-minute film recounts the historic decision at the Queen’s Head pub on Village Street to rename the St Domingo football team as Everton FC. Molly Bushell’s famous Everton Toffee, first developed just across the road from the Queen’s Head and which gave the Blues their enduring nickname, is discussed by co-presenters Ken Rogers and Rob Sawyer.
The production team (l-r): Rob Sawyer, Lewis and Mike Royden, Jamie Yates and Ken Rogers
Society member Crawford Miles has contributed some wonderful archive footage of the early 1970s Toffee Lady mascot at Goodison Park to the film. The presenters go on to cover the inclusion of the lock-up tower on Everton brow in the club’s crest in 1938 – 40 years before it first featured on the royal blue shirt.
Leaving the studio, Ken and Rob take a tour of the old village – much changed by the bulldozers in the 1960s and 1970s – and get rare access inside the famous lock-up, which is in sight of Everton’s new stadium on the waterfront.
The film can be viewed on the Heritage Society’s website, directly on their YouTube channel or below: