Published Wednesday 23 March 2022 at 12:29
The proud family of an English footballing hero from Blackburn have officially unveiled a new street named after him.
Fred Pickering was a star of the 1960s and early 1970s while playing for Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Birmingham City, Blackpool and England.
Blackburn with Darwen Council were keen to recognise the role he played locally for Rovers as well as his contribution to English football in general.
‘Fred Pickering Place’ is located on the new Great Places development at New Wellington Street in Mill Hill – where Fred lived all of his life.
His daughter Debbie Pickering and son Andrew Pickering were joined by their family and delegates on Monday for the official unveiling of the street named after their dad.
Debbie said:
This means so much to us all as a family.
My dad used to always joke that Pickering Fold was named after him – he would have been over the moon to have seen this.
It’s so fitting that the street is in Mill Hill where he lived all of his life.
We all live close by too and it’s so nice to walk past and see our dad’s name proudly on show.
Striker Fred signed for his hometown team Rovers after leaving school.
The converted defender netted 61 times in 134 matches in two spells with the Ewood Park team.
He was subject to a record transfer between British clubs when joining Everton in March 1964 for £85,000.
He then went on to solidify his legend as one of Everton’s great goalscorers.
His England career saw Fred score a hat-trick on his debut but he narrowly missed out on the World Cup Winning 1966 squad through injury.
Councillor Jim Smith, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Environment and ward councillor for Mill Hill and Moorgate, knew Fred and led the campaign for him to be honoured.
He said:
Naming the street after Fred is a way of us recognising the massive contribution he made to English football both locally for Blackburn Rovers, for Everton, Birmingham and Blackpool and on the international stage for England.
Fred was born in Blackburn and lived in Mill Hill all his life.
Having a street named after him felt like a poignant way for his life to be celebrated and his achievements to be remembered.
Fred Pickering Way is part of a new development of 42 two and three bed homes all offered for affordable rent. The houses were built by Great Places’ contractor, Hargreaves.
It’s one of four sites that Great Places and its contractors have worked on in Blackburn as part of a wider £19m housing regeneration scheme.
This includes:
- Shakespeare Way, Griffin – £8.1m scheme – 56 new homes
- Bowen Street, Mill Hill – £3.3m scheme – 24 new homes
- Shorrock Lane, Mill Hill – £2.8m scheme – 16 new homes
- New Wellington Street, Mill Hill – £5.1m scheme – 42 new homes
Helen Spencer, Executive Director of Growth at Great Places, said:
Our focus at Great Places is on building strong communities and so it’s incredibly fitting that this street is named after Fred who was so well known in Mill Hill.
It was also lovely to see how much it meant to all of his family – including his great-grandchildren who were at the unveiling too.
We hope the new customers will enjoy living in the new homes on Fred Pickering Way – we’ve already heard so many stories about how our schemes in Blackburn are transforming lives.