Newspaper Article from The Review
July 24^th, 1999 Edition

By GINA GULUTZ - Special to the Review - EAST LIVERPOOL
East Liverpool gained a few more honorary citizens in the waning weeks of June, when city native Robert "Jack" Eardley returned home to spread the word that ties between the pottery towns of East Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent, England, have been upgraded from a friendship link to a heritage link.

Eardley noted the heritage link status, recognized by the International Twinning Association, was granted in October 1998. He explained the heritage link designation was given because of the number of Stoke-on-Trent area potters who immigrated to the United States and settled in East Liverpool to work in potteries here. "This is an ancestral link," said Eardley, "a blood link, making it stronger than a twinning link."

Since 1996, Eardley has worked to rekindle the ties between East Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent, seeing the potential not only for reconnecting long-lost relatives, but also in establishing trade and tourism ties between the two towns. Eardley's efforts are an outgrowth of his research into his own family genealogy. Through that research his family tree has branched out to more than 2,500 Eardleys throughout the world, the majority of which are in Great Britain. Just shy of a year from now on July 15, 2000, there will be an Eardley family get-together at St. James Church in Audley, not far from Stoke-on-Trent. Eardleys from all over the world are invited.

Since 1996, when Eardley brought his distant relative Robert Francis Eardley, to East Liverpool for an East Liverpool High School Alumni Association Scholarship Banquet, there have been visits back and forth between the two towns. In October 1997, former Lord Mayor Doug Brown visited East Liverpool with his wife and granddaughter. In April 1998, a contingent of about 50 East Liverpool area visitors went to Stoke-on-Trent. Two months later a Stoke-area contingent, including several young choristers and band members, came to East Liverpool to participate in the bicentennial celebration of the town's founding and for the East Liverpool High School Alumni Association's "Lookin' Great in '98" All-School Reunion. During those festivities, Robert Francis Eardley was made an honorary citizen of East Liverpool.

Jack Eardley and Robert Francis Eardley (picture of them) were back this past June for another visit. This time they brought along Richard Gibbins, the managing director of Tacklers Sports Management (International) Limited. Gibbins also is a member of the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The men were here to continue the development of trade and tourism links between the two towns.

Through their efforts, it appears that a bit of the East Liverpool area culture will soon be evident in North Staffordshire. Frenchman Bruno Moliere is the new manager of the North Staffordshire Hotel. He has agreed to feature in three of the hotel's display cases a bit of East Liverpool. According to Jack Eardley, one display case will feature ware from Hall China Co. A second will display ware from Homer Laughlin China Co., and a third will feature some Lou Holtz memorabilia in a Hall of Fame display. In exchange, the men are hoping to be able to secure a guitar from famed Liverpool, England native and Beatle member Paul McCartney that would be displayed in the Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame. Eardley emphasized negotiations are still in the tentative stages, but he adds they are encouraged.

Gibbins said there is an interest on the part of some in Liverpool with establishing a connection with East Liverpool and it goes beyond the name similarities. Gibbins explained that Liverpool, England, played an important role in the Stoke-on-Trent/East Liverpool connection of the past. Many of the Stoke immigrants, he noted, traveled from Longport via the Trenton-Mersey Canal to Liverpool, England, to board ships that brought them to Philadelphia, Pa. "Liverpool was the point of departure for many of those immigrants," he said.

Jack Eardley said in researching his genealogy he learned that about 5,000 families came from the Stoke area to America. "Prior to the opening of Ellis Island," he said, "many arrived in Philadelphia."

While in East Liverpool, Gibbins was made an honorary citizen by Mayor Dolores Satow. Honorary citizen certificates also were made for former Lord Mayor and present councillor Doug Brown and Staffordshire Sentinel journalist John Abberley, both strong advocates of developing links between the two towns; former Lord Mayor and present Councillor Alan Edwards, who was among the contingent visiting with the choir last summer; Radio STOKE personality Sam Plank, who has done several live broadcasts that have aired simultaneously in Stoke-on-Trent and over WOHI in East Liverpool; Mike Thorley, director of the Stoke City Youth Band that visited last summer; and Ron Fargher, director of the Stoke City Schools musical program, who also visited in 1998.

Jack Eardley noted that several other seeds of interest surrounding heritage, trade and tourism links between the two towns have been sown. One, he noted, involves linking church families from St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in East Liverpool with parish families of St. James Church in Audley. Another includes establishing a mutually beneficial link through the North American-British Trade Council, where some inroads have been made.

Jack Eardley said a teleconference between East Liverpool government and chamber officials and their Stoke area counterparts has been set for Sept. 8 to continue to strengthen the links.

"The bottom line as I see it," said native son Jack Eardley from his Lexington, Ky., home Friday night, "is to increase the visibility of East Liverpool to keep the profile up and to keep broadcasting East Liverpool. I can't see how the city could help but benefit from that.

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