People   (Re-unions, trace old friends and relatives.)

Hi Jake, Happy new year.
A good topic and I hope I can give a bit of useful info.
As a kid and watching football at Springfield Park I often heard the more older chaps shouting something to the like of "Don't play about with the ball, bloody Porr it!"
I guess a term still used in the 60s and with it's roots in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
I read a book quite a while back by Martin Cruz Smith (an American author) that was quite different from his usual genre. He came to Wigan to research the area for his book 'Rose' and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book mentions the clog fights - , Scholes being a no-go area and references to many landmarks... and as you say, clog fighting was referred to as 'porrin'. The book is a kind of romance/investigation/adventure as a theme and indicates many recognisable features/buildings around Wigan... but manipulating them to accommodate his storyline. Not usually a type of book I would read but found it intriguing. His research is impressive and it is a very good read. I was actually amazed that the celebrated author came to our little town to write a novel! Apparently we have are internationally famous.