David Kaye on cricket, brass bands and local history

Oh, and words and language.

David is very keen on them, as he explains in the beautifully created library at his Blackrod cottage home which boasts more than 3,000 books and over 500 Lever arch files of information of all kinds.

David is 82 now but as vital as ever and always eager for more knowledge in his chosen fields.

Born and brought up in Horwich, his earliest memory is of being at the old Chorley New Road Infants School, having a daily afternoon nap on a fold-up bed surrounded by other similarly reclining youngsters.

He was lucky enough to be born into a cricket-mad family; lucky because he loved the sport from the off.

His father, Wallace Kaye, began playing for his church team Holy Trinity in the Horwich Sunday School League in 1924 as a young man, then later at St Elizabeth’s. He was also a great supporter of Horwich RMI CC.

David’s elder brother Alan was very successful in the sport and David – who’d developed his love for it via back-street cricket – played for his school, Rivington & Blackrod Grammar School (now High School).

He also played for St Elizabeth’s and RMI juniors including a stint as “tin lad”, becoming the scorer’s assistant and hanging up the tin plates bearing the scores each match.

From 1959 to 1964 he became an engineering apprentice with De Havilland Propellers Ltd in Lostock. This later became Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, then British Aerospace before becoming MBDA.

At 19, David joined the company cricket team and this year – 63 years on – he celebrates 25 years as president of the now independent Lostock CC.

He was never, however, “just” a player.

As he explains: “My involvement in cricket has embraced playing, administration, historical research, writing, speaking, local radio broadcasting and diverse involvement at club, league, county and national levels.”

That historical research helped him chronicle the fascinating story of local cricket which began in the 1830s.

He has also been an active member of England’s “Barmy Army” of supporters – a veteran of 26 overseas Winter tours following the national team.

David is also a lifelong supporter of Bolton Wanderers FC and a season ticket holder for almost 40 years.

In his working life, he joined the Bradley Fold arm of American bottling machinery manufacturers Barry Wehmiller Machinery Company Ltd in 1965.

He was there four years before joining another American company in the same industry and then in 1975 joined Krones UK Ltd, initially in Manchester and then later at Wingates Industrial Park in Westhoughton.

This is the UK subsidiary of a Bavarian-based world leader in the design and manufacturing of high-tech bottling, canning and packaging machinery. David became Sales Manager, then Sales Director and then Managing Director from 1979 until his retirement.

It was in his MD role that David came into contact with world-reknowned Wingates Brass Band.

When planning the finale to the 1991 opening ceremonials of the new headquarters, David organised an upmarket “Lancashire Banquet.” He hired a line-up of local amateur entertainers with Krones’ eminent new neighbours, Wingates Band, topping the bill.

The famous ensemble “blew away” a gathering of 500, which included a large contingent of German, French and Italian guests.

As fate would have it, this involvement proved pivotal. The band was just losing its long-term BAE sponsorship because of redundancies there and faced a very uncertain future – in spite of being one of the favourites in another imminent national competition.

David and his fellow director felt that, “since they were a local band and we were now a local company”, they had to step in.

They offered to pay the expenses involved in entering the competition.

This continued into Krones being the band’s benefactor and David and his long-term partner Pat becoming actively involved in the band’s administration.

He was president of Wingates Band from 2000 to 2016 and is still a vocal champion for them.

Local History also became a passion for David. He has been a member of Horwich Heritage Society since 1988 and was awarded Honorary Life Membership in 2020.

His services there included speaking, writing, research and exhibition management.

He has also been a member of Westhoughton Local History Group since 2008 (Chairman since 2017), is a member of The Victorian Society and a member of The Chetham Society.

Small wonder, then, that in 2012 he was given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton (now the University of Greater Manchester) and Westhoughton Civic Medal for local community, twice.

The enduring irony is that, in any local history of both Horwich and Westhoughton, the name of David Kaye would now probably have to figure often.