One of Bolton’s best loved and dedicated sporting heroes has been named in the New Year Honours list.
Jack Holt, who has worked with Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club for more than half a century, will start 2023 with a Medallist of the Order of the British Empire Medal.
Club chairman Mr Holt hopes that his success will set an example for youngsters, help to promote the sport he has loved all his life and bring more members to the Wigan Road club.
He said: “I’m very, very pleased with what I’ve got, I’ve been with the club it must be 52, 53 years now so yes its really nice.”
He added: “It’s got to make a different, wrestling has always been a sport, its not like pro-wrestling and some of the kids will come in expecting to do the kinds of things they see on the television.
“But then they learn that it really is a wonderful sport.”
The New Year honours are awarded annually as a way of recognising people like Mr Holt who have made outstanding contributions to their communities.
This year marks the first time they have been awarded under the reign of King Charles III.
Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club can trace its history back many years and has called many places across the town home over the years before settling into its current home on Wigan Road
Always acutely aware of its history, embodied best of all by Mr Holt himself, the club celebrated a centenary of wrestling in the town just last autumn.
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Bolton mayor Cllr Akhtar Zaman visited at the time to join the celebrations where he met with Mr Holt, who he described by representative Lee Meadows as “a true unsung hero of Olympic Free Wrestling and the town of Bolton”.
Mr Holt’s honour has now seen him recognised for all his hard work and he says his whole family have been delighted by the news.
He hopes now to continue seeing more and more people, especially young people take up the sport and carry on Bolton’s proud wrestling tradition for generations to come.
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