Boxing Day 1948 v Milllllllllllllllllllllwall.

[leefer]

My oldest Town Program,note from the program we played them away the day before on Xmas day!
Louis Page was manager,we had just beaten Chippenham away 5-0 in the cup.
Our side that day was..Burton,White,Young,Cowie,Ithel,Foxton,Lunn,Dawson,Jones,Bain and the legendary Owen.....incidently i think the winger Lunn opened a restaurent in commercial road that was a big success but died tragically after being knocked over not long after he had finished playing for the Town.
Also the chairmen in his club notes was talking of the good matches v Millwall at there old ground New Cross...thats before they were playing at the Den
Something a little different to recent seasons was the fact that we had reached the 3rd round of the FA cup and were playing Stoke at home.

[Minnesota Fats]

Sadly, Harry Lunn became an alcoholic long after he'd retired from the professional game. I think it was around 1980 when he stumbled into the path of an on-coming car, with a bottle of whisky in hand, when he met his maker.
I can't remember exactly where it happened but it was definitely in Swindon.

[Bedford Red]

He signed for Bedford Town in 1954 for £1000 from Swindon. 55 years later and Bedford don't pay any money for transfers, £1000 was quite a sum in those days for a non league team as well.

I seem to remember it was around 1980 when he died but couldn't confirm.

[leefer]

Looking at a Plymouth program today from my collection...about 1989.
Thy look back at season 1947 when they played Man City at Maine Road on Xmas day dinner time and played at home next day(boxing day) against the same opponents at Home Park Plymouth!
Even by todays standards that is some 24 hour turnaround with that distance by train.
Incidently Plymouth took 700 fans with them on Xmas day morning!

Man City won both matches 3-2 and 4-3 respectively with Frank Swift the England keeper in goal for City...he was to become a journalist and sadly perished in the Munich disaster.