FURTHER to my recent letter regarding Charlie Hallows, I am just writing to thank you for your very successful contribution to my search for the answer to the question of whether the January 1914 Southport footballer was the Lancashire cricketer of the same name, (“I need help with a question of sport,” The Bolton News, November 28).

I gather that the piece appeared in last Friday’s The Bolton News, and it brought an immediate response. In fact within 24 hours I had been contacted by five different people (three times by one of them!) and each a step nearer to the subject than the previous caller. This progression finished up with a phone call from the cricketer’s 85 year old SON — also Charlie Hallows — not only still alive but in fine form and with a terrific memory of his famous father. His father certainly did play a bit of football in his early days but, of course, he had no knowledge of his one appearance at Haig Avenue; he was less certain about his grandfather having had a bit of a football career but, since this would have occurred in the 1890s, it’s not so surprising. I never really anticipated a cut and dried answer to the question immediately, but to get so close to the family so quickly was a major breakthrough and I can’t thank you enough for your help!

We’re going to keep in touch if anything further develops regarding either his father or his grandfather’s football careers and maybe we can resolve the matter one day.

Again, many thanks.

Geoffrey S Wilde, Grosvenor Avenue, Great Crosby