Amble link to Chelsea FC
Local history hounds Eddie aged 11 and Eleri Cockayne aged 7 were delighted to be asked by members of the Chelsea FC Graves Society to help them on a local hunt.
The Graves Society is committed to finding, recording and celebrating all the players that have served the London based club over the year. Having mapped nearly 290 of the 362 Chelsea first team players, they turned their attention to the listed reserves. It was there that they uncovered James Sproat Nickalls who played for the team between 1928 and 1931.Records suggest that he was born in Amble and lived at 6 Marine Rd.
Andrew Rowley of the Chelsea Graves Society contacted the local children through friends and they were delighted to see if they could find James’s grave – which turned out to be in the Amble West Cemetery. Mr Rowley commented, “recording sports history is so important and its great to find Amble has a connection with Chelsea – the children were so helpful going and finding the grave, knowing his house is still there is a bonus!”
Eddie Cockayne added “it’s great finding that Amble has so much history and it would be nice to think that James would be pleased to be remembered nearly 100 years later”
Anyone wanting to know more about this project can find them at Chelsea Graves Society on Facebook. If anyone has any more information about Mr Nickalls or remembers him and his family, let us know via The Ambler.