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The Owners Before telling the story, it’s necessary to look away from the ship itself and understand the people who first had the vision to start a venture Those people are Pat Scott and John Rowley. Both are very much peoples, people, both are from humble backgrounds and both have remained committed to the ship for over thirty years. Pat comes from a large family, having two brothers and two sisters and was predominately brought up by her mother Katy Baker. Katy was the main breadwinner of the family, working a fruit stall in Liverpool’s famous St. John Market. Her efforts made her become regarded as a stalwart and a shining example of her trade, she even had the honor being introduced to the Queen. Pat soon followed in her mother’s footsteps, working many of the markets in North Wales and the North West of England. She became very well known and regarded at markets at Wrexham, Connah’s Quay and Kirby, but the list didn’t stop there. Through hard work, early mornings and working through all weathers, Pat built up a strong reputation for providing people with value for money. John also comes from a large family having one brother and three sisters, but that’s where the comparisons between their respective upbringings end. John is the son of a Nottinghamshire coal miner, born in the village of Carlton-in-Lindrick near Worksop on the border with Yorkshire. Having passed his 11+ and entering into King Edward VI Grammer School at Retford, John’s talent for football was recognized by one of the premier English clubs of the day, Wolverhampton Wanders. John signed with Wolves as a professional footballer in the 1962-63 season, at which time was a team graced with some star players of the day like Alan Hinton and former England Captain Ron Flowers. Football in the 1960’s wasn’t as it was today with £100,000+ per week contracts, celebrity wives and footballers more often than not making the front pages rather than the back. The Premier League and the serious money provided to the English game from Sky Television were still thirty years away. Unfortunately John suffered a serious injury, followed by a failed knee operation in his first professional year which to his mind left him too slow to compete at the highest level. Disheartened by his shortened football career, John stayed in the Wolverhampton area taking on a number of wide and varied jobs from Lab Technician to Navvie Ganger. However his passion for football meant he continued to play in the bucket banger leagues. It’s at this point where John followed a similar path to Pat, becoming a well know street trader in Wolverhampton selling garments, especially sheepskin mits during the winter months. John and Pats paths first crossed at a Sunday Market on the car park of Bernies Car Auctions at Queensferry in North Wales. John was immediately taken by Pat’s trading skills, believing them to stand out a mile and it was during these early meetings that they discussed the possibility of going into business together. At that time, public trading in the UK was severely limited by the 1950's Shops Act which in the 1970's seemed very archaic and every market trader of the era was looking for ways to cash in on the public demand for Sunday opening. Sunday was after all the only day of the week that many families had to spend time together, it was also a time of great financial hardships for many families who were increasingly looking for the types of bargains that Sunday Markets provided. As such a number of niche ventures were started in order to circumvent or find loopholes in the 1950’s Shops Act. So John studied the 1950’s act and came across a very simple but never the less ingenious way to by-pass the act and found an instance where the Sunday Trading Laws didn’t apply. The words leapt off the page “The foregoing provisions of this part of the act shall not apply to any seagoing ship” The idea for The Funship was born. |
