When this topic came up, I immediately thought of my Dad and his long association with Letchworth Town Football Club in Hertfordshire UK.
Dad was always sporty, something
that I certainly haven’t inherited! I am
more of an ‘armchair athlete’ although I was ‘average’ in a class of
outstanding athletes in my school. I’m small (under 5 feet) and always seemed
to be paired with the tallest girl in the class for the 100 metres – I think I
did 2 strides to her 1. I was quick out
of the blocks but had sadly faded by the end!
I was a ‘reserve’ in the Rounders
team, a sport that I enjoyed and was good at.
Whilst I was at school, we did Hockey and Netball in the winter and
Tennis, Rounders and Athletics in the summer – with swimming and Gym activities
all year around. I was average at most
sports and took part in the annual House sports day representing my House in
the Long Jump, 100 metres and the ‘fun’ events such as the Egg and Spoon, which
I won one year, and the 3-legged race.
However, from my Dad I learnt how to kick a ball as soon as I learnt how
to walk. On one Sports Day we had a
‘beat the goalie’ event where I managed to get 2 goals past the Letchworth
goalkeeper in my 3 attempts. Not bad.
But I digress, back to my dad’s
story and his involvement with local football teams in his life.
Dad was born on 2 July 1916 in
Letchworth in Hertfordshire UK, the sixth child, and fourth son, of Alfred
Charles and Alice Nickels. Dad was born
at home in Shott Lane in Letchworth. The
birthday day is interesting as it was also the same day and month as his elder
brother Dick and his step Auntie Gert.
Dad’s sports passion was
Football. Whilst still at Pixmore School
in Letchworth he was in the football team.
A few of his school friends also mirrored his involvement with other
local football teams.
Pixmore School Football Team - Dad is in the back row, far right.
My Dad had a couple of scrapbooks
and many newspaper cuttings which he had kept over the years of his involvement
in the local football scene from the mid-1930s to the mid-1970s which I
converted to a specially bound book as a gift to him. I still have the book on
my family history bookshelf. I called it
‘The Football Years - 1935 – 1974’.
There is not much about the early
years apart from some newspaper cuttings.
I also have Dad’s silver football winners’ medals in the family archive
i.e. a box in the attic. Although we
have the cuttings, many are not dated so it took some time to arrange the pages
in chronological order.
The earliest newspaper article
and photo of Dad ‘in action’ has the caption ‘Nicholls opens the Stevenage
score with a lightening shot from a flag kick by Shepherd’. Thus, I learned that Dad had played for
Stevenage, a town about 5 miles from Letchworth, but this would have been
before the New Town was built.
During the 1930s he was in the
winning teams for the following matches, where he received a winner’s silver
medal.
1936-37 –
Spartan League Winners – Letchworth
1938-39 – Greg
Cup Winners – Resilia (the Team of the Foster Instrument Company)
1938-39 – Mid
Herts League Winners – Little Berkhamsted
Dad told me the story about one
match he played in during the winter in the days of leather football boots and
leather footballs, which when wet got heavier and heavier. Dad felt something ‘go’ in his ankle during
the first half and carried on playing. He assessed it himself during ‘half time’ and carried on playing in the
second half. It was only when the game
finished and got in the bath and he took off his boots that his ankle swelled up
and he was unable to walk on it. A visit
to the cottage hospital in Letchworth confirmed that he had broken his
ankle. I guess the boots which were
tightly laced had provided support during the match.
There is a ‘break’ in the
cuttings during the Second World War when Dad was working in a reserved
occupation and doing his bit in the Home Guard in Letchworth.
The next photographs I have are
of Letchworth Town Football Club, I guess shortly after the War. With this Team, known as the Bluebirds, he
played at Back when they won the Spartan League Division II.
And also Wymondley, where Dad was on the Team that won the North Herts F.A. Division II in 1950-51.
By the 1950s Dad must have realised that his playing days were numbered. It is then that we have cuttings referring to him as on the committees of various local football teams, such as Ickleford where he became the Chairman. Many of the photographs we have are from the local newspaper, the Herts Pictorial. There is also the first of the international trips to play similar teams in Europe. Ickleford for example, visited Nieppe in France in 1960 and 1961.
On 19 October 1962 Dad was appointed
Chairman of Letchworth Town Football Club, where he had once been a player. One cutting, which looks like it has come
from a LTFC programme states:
'CHAIRMAN - We are pleased to announce that Mr
A.E. Nickels has agreed to accept this office.
We know him to be a keen sportsman, a shrewd businessman and a good
leader. We welcome him and trust he will
be with us for many season’.
Further cuttings give more
information about Dad. ‘Joint managing
director of the Letchworth firm of Green and Nickels, he is also a director of
E.E. Shaw (Letchworth) Ltd and Wilmond Engineering Co Ltd, Hitchin.’
The Letchworth Town Football
Ground was in Baldock Road, near to our family home, the same site, as the
Hertfordshire County Ground today.
Letchworth Town Football Club Ground c. late 1950s
I remember as a child going to
matches in the old wooden stand. Dad was
always quick thinking and keen to ‘get on with the job’. One newspaper cutting states that on noticing
that there were excavators working on the new Jackman’s Estate in Letchworth he
mused that they would be just the thing to clear a roadway and car park on the
ground. A hurried phone call to the HQ
of the excavators and three hours later a 120 yard long, 15ft wide road had been
bulldozed between the Baldock Road gate and the other side of the road. Cheeky, but it worked. Dad was not afraid to take a chance! If you don’t ask, you don’t get. With his business contacts Dad suggested
writing to local businesses asking if they would become ‘Vice Presidents’, over
80 said yes, which showed the interest in local sport in the town. There were proposals to extend the recreation
hall – which I remember as a venue for birthday parties for me whilst all the
Dad’s were all at our house watching the FA Cup Final as my birthday weekend always
seemed to clash!
Charity matches and socialising
between teams was important for Letchworth and the other local teams such as
Hitchin and Stevenage. There are records
of ‘home’ and ‘away’ matches with other teams in the Amateur Cup and Spartan
and Corinthian Leagues. Intense cold
during a match at Harlow in 1963 reflected the arctic conditions the country
was experiencing. There is also a
photograph of Dad and a colleague kicking a ball on a snow-covered Letchworth
pitch.
The 1960s were a time when
Letchworth Town were playing well and playing such teams as Uxbridge, Dorking and Wealdstone
in the Corinthian League, even getting a mention in the Daily Telegraph
‘Letchworth are now unbeaten for 15 matches and top the table with 24 points,
Erith have 23 and Uxbridge 22’.
There were monetary incentives
from a local businessman of £1000 if they won the Amateur Cup and a further
£100 is they won the Corinithian League, with a second businessman sending a
cheque for £50 if they beat Harlow (which they did), £100 if they won the
Corinithian League and £1000 if they won the Cup. No small incentive in the 1960’s.
In less than ten years Letchworth
Town FC graduated from Spartan League, through the Delphian and Corinthian
Leagues to the Athenian League. The
Ground also improved itself with floodlighting and a new Stand. The Club had made a profit and these profits
were being ploughed back into the facilities it had to offer members and Letchworth
citizens.
Dad still had links with
Ickleford FC, Baldock and District Youth League and was also Secretary of the
Letchworth and District Sunday Youth League.
Apart from the matches there was
the all-important social activities, charity fundraisers and prize giving at
the Annual Dinner and Christmas parties. Shields were given for Player of the Year with
the Dinners usually taking place at the Icknield Halls in Letchworth as the
Harper Memorial Hall at the Club became too small. There was one memorable
occasion when the serving staff dressed up in the Letchworth stripey strip.
Many of the charity raffle prizes were donated by local businesses, no doubt coerced by Dad! On one occasion in 1963 ‘the top prize – a large hamper – was won by the club Chairman Mr Arthur Nickels. He not only donated the prize, but it was his wife who pulled the winning ticket from the drum’. Oops! - Red faces all ‘round! The hamper was immediately returned to be auctioned; the person who purchased it returned it for another raffle. The second raffle winner, the Club Secretary, returned it to be auctioned again, with the purchaser returning it for a further raffle. In the end it was decided to send the hamper to the Dr Barnardo’s Home in Bedford. Such good sportsmanship and support from the club members and supporters.
In 1964 Letchworth became the
second holders of the Hitchin Centenary Cup when they beat Yewsley 4:1. With a
membership approaching 1000 the Club realised that there was too little room to
accommodate everyone with the Clubhouse was being used like a social club, with
a bar, bingo, and dances. A proposal for an extension to the ground floor hall
and the building of a luxury lounge and cocktail bar upstairs for those who
preferred a quiet drink was agreed which cost the Club £5,000.
1964 was also the year that
Letchworth Reserves won the Athenian League (Division I) Reserve Section. There was concern however when several key
first team players moved on to other local teams. Dad was also the President of the Letchworth
and District Sunday Youth League and presented them with a Shield for
presentation to the champions – I wonder where that is now? Letchworth Town FC was in a healthy financial
position but as a cutting header stated ‘Football Club made profit of £1800 but
Players leaving ‘frustrating’ says chairman.
There had been a Whitsun tour of Holland, but Dad mused that ‘perhaps
the lure of the Isthmian League is too strong’.
1965 saw Letchworth drawn at home
to Hitchin in the preliminary round of the FA Cup which meant that one local
club would be defeated at the first hurdle.
They also won the Athenian League Memorial Shield, beating Harwich in
the final 3:1. This was also the year
when a group of 70 of the Club members, families and supporters went on a
Whitsun tour to Amsterdam.
Dad had recently ‘retired’ from
Green and Nickels Ltd as he felt it was time for a change, but he was still a
Director of Wilmond Engineering Ltd and of E.E. Shaw (Letchworth) Ltd, roofing
contractors. Green and Nickels, founded
in 1946 by Dad and Russell Green, had merged with the East India Produce Company
in around 1963 with Dad and Russell continuing as joint directors on the Board. It
was an amicable arrangement. He told the newspaper that ‘I’m going to have
a good holiday’ and pointed out that he and his wife now had a baby daughter
(me) and he had a garden to work on. At
this time, I was 3 weeks old but still I hospital due to my low birth weight of
3lb 5oz.
Up to the ‘off’ it was doubtful
if Dad would be going on the Amsterdam tour where the Letchworth team were due
to play A.N.I.M.O., who had visited Letchworth in 1962, and Z.S.G.O. Among the party was the Chairman of the
Letchworth U.D.C. Cllr. D. Kennedy and a rep from the local paper, The
Citizen. There was also the doll mascot, which my Aunt Nellie dressed, and
which I still have in the loft. The
party flew from Luton Airport, with Dad who did go in the end, as I had much
improved.
January 1966 saw a ‘rebirth’ of the Letchworth Sports Development Council in response to a government initiative to obtain grants for development schemes for all sports in the town. Dad had initially agreed to become a Vice-Chairman but decided to withdraw. The subject of Sunday afternoon soccer was raised, which Dad supported. Meanwhile Dad was still Chairman of Letchworth Town FC in its Diamond Jubilee year; a year that saw a rebuilding of the team following the exodus of several players to other local teams. Both my parents were often pictured at football related events in the local newspapers such as dinners and fundraising events. The Diamond Jubilee was also the catalyst for the Diamond Jubilee Appeal, primarily to modernise the Club facilities with an appeal to local industrialists, tradesmen, and citizens of Letchworth to ‘support us in our efforts and confirm our belief that the people of Letchworth do care for the future on their football club’. Initial donations were promising, but a second ‘push’ was needed via the local press. A fundraising dinner was held at the Icknield Halls, Spurs player Pat Jennings came to a match at Baldock Road, and there were preliminary talks to visit Kristiansand in Norway which had recently been ‘twinned’ with Letchworth. Letchworth Town FC had been made full members of the F.A. in 1950.
The team were mentioned in the Sunday
Telegraph on 15 October with a critique of the match between Letchworth and
Chesham United by Frank King. There was also coverage of the lifting of the suspension
of local man Sid Stapleton who had been banned from all football grounds in the
country by the FA in 1964 for admitting taking illegal payments – nothing is
new! Mr Stapleton had been a President
of Hitchin Town FC. Local newspapers reported on the Club
financial position, the ground developments and their aspiration to ‘be out for
promotion to the Premier Division of the Athenian League next season’. The Annual Dinner, still held at the Icknield
Halls, had 200 guests.
Letchworth didn’t have such a
dominant season in which they were described as ‘unpredictable’ and ‘inconsistent’
and failed to gain promotion in the Athenian League but did win the Athenian
League Memorial Shield for the second time beating Hertford 5:3.
In 1967 Letchworth Town hosted a
visit from the 21 strong Kristiansand youth football team Start, who played
four matches on their visit – two against a Letchworth and District Youth team,
one against Borg Warner Ltd (a local firm) and one against Stotfold. Their team manager Ejil Kjell Drosdal who I
remember, even though I was only 2½,
as he and another Norwegian official stayed with our family.
1968 - 69 saw Letchworth in the
Memorial Shield final again, but the Club was having problems with the local
Council over parking. There were moves
by the Council to stop football fans parking on roads outside the Club
ground. Dad locked horns with a local
councillor and told him to ‘do his homework more thoroughly’ over the question
of a car park for the club. There was a
fall in ticket sales, dwindling support and the club found itself ‘in the red’.
There were then talks regarding a car
park and sports facilities including athletics track at the Ground which were
favourably supported by the Council. Dad
was often in the papers stating that an active social committee was essential
for the running of a club – a statement that can be applied to any sort of club
activity. The charity raffle was a fixed feature with
the donated prizes exceptional, including a Ford Anglia deluxe.
1970 saw the Club financially
stretched with local newspaper reports aplenty.
Lack of volunteers to run the Club and social activities, troubles facing
other similar clubs, such as Harlow Town, Erith and Belvedere, Hounslow and
Eastbourne United, regarding the costs of being in the Athenian League. These costs, ever rising, would have been Referee
expenses, the cost of travelling to away fixtures, laundry bills etc all added
up to the club needing to find c.£3000 a year to ‘live’ in the Athenian League. The club’s main source of revenue, apart from
the falling gate receipts, was the social club.
Despite the expansion, the upstairs lounge proved to be a ’white elephant’
and was hired out as a roulette casino, but the gaming fees reduced the actual
return. This coupled with changing tastes in entertainment for ‘downstairs’ led
to less profits, even though it was subsidised from the Bar profits, to assist
the Football Club side. A dilemma. The
matter came to a head when the Bluebirds team offered to play for nothing, they
were prepared to waive their expenses if it would keep the Bluebirds in the
Athenian League. An Appeal was launched
to try and raise the money to pay off the debts. The
Club could not see any way out of the problem with the difficult decision to
make whether to withdraw from the Athenian League, cancel cup commitments and offer
the ground to Youth teams. The decision
to do so was reported in the local newspaper, The Pictorial, on 24 July
1970. Most of the failure was put down to lack of support at matches. ‘Over the past seven years home attendances
have dropped from over 600 to less than 120 per match’. People were following the ‘big teams’ and not
their local side. With more and more people
owning a television, the way in which football was being watched had changed.
Although the Wilbury Youth side
still played at the Club, the senior team never really recovered and was a
shadow of its former self.
Dad was Letchworth’s longest
serving Chairman, having seen the glory years and the sad demise of the once successful
and proud club. Dad resigned as Chairman
in 1974, having joined the Club as an official in 1963, and was made a Life
Member. He also became the club’s second
Patron.
Dad’s ‘retirement’ in 1965 did
not last long – he went into partnership with another engineer shortly
afterwards and founded Revolek in Hitchin. I remember accompanying him to work
on a Saturday morning and meeting all the men in the factory, and the Secretary
in the office. During the school
holidays I was usually asked to small jobs and came away with a ‘pay packet’
envelope at the end of the week. He finally retired in 1983 with just a quick
speech to his employees to say ’I’m retiring on Friday’.
In retirement, the second time, he
enjoyed watching football on TV, shouting at the Ref, and analysing the
play. I enjoy watching a good game of
football with ‘no pussy-footing about’ as my Dad used to say. My husband despairs of me when I yell when a team
score a goal. I wonder what Dad would
have thought of the resurgence of ladies football?
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