A THEATRICAL performance in Bolton will pay tribute to one of the world’s first professional women footballers.

An exhibition will also be held along with a tea dance and food at the Greenway Centre, Hall i’th' Wood Lane, on Saturday, November 3, from 1pm to 3pm.

The event is free, but space is limited and a ticket is required to secure a place.

The event is being hosted by the Wonder Woman Group, starting at 1pm until 3pm and will include a performance by various young female actors who will take on the role of characters from the past.

UCAN project officer Christine Fitton said that the event was made possible from an Awards for All grant, which was the culmination in a number of workshops including sewing and making period costumes, crafts, learning to waltz, drama, 1918 food recipes, research and field trips.

One of the women who will feature is Florrie Haslam, who began playing football during lunch breaks at a factory in Bolton.

A team from Preston played against Bolton Ladies on Christmas Day, 1918 and its boss Alfred Frankland, was so impressed by Florrie’s footballing skills, he persuaded her to join his Dick Kerr Ladies side.

He arranged for her to work in Preston and paid her 10 shillings a week every time she played for his team (the equivalent of £100 in today’s money). Two years later the team went abroad touring both Canada and the USA with all monies going to war charities.

Elizabeth Anderson was born in Darcy Lever in 1890. During the First World War she established the first branch of the Women’s Relief Corps(WRC) Elizabeth put her own first aid skills into action in September 1916 when Bolton was bombed in a Zeppelin air raid.

She never married, but travelled widely in the UK and Europe. She died in 1983 in Bolton, at the age of 92.