Happy Faces

Randomly search through your collection of pictures taken by various photographers – or people who took the pictures, who may not be the same at all – and two distinct groups stand out for their propensity for happy faces.  First off are the wedding pics; by which I am not including miscellaneous shots of the reception, but the bride and groom themselves; it was their most adventurous day after all.

The second group contains teams, especially if they were winners of an immediately preceding competition, and especially if they were excitable children.  So your collection may include several of each, and the latter group may contain a press photo from the local newspaper; how long ago will be revealed by the amount of yellowing the newspaper has endured even while hidden away in a shoe box inside a darkened cupboard.

Recently I received such a photograph from Ray who appears, along with his team mates from 1967. Naturally they are all happy; why wouldn't they be, as winners of a football competition.  The details of the competition are immaterial, but just for the record the entrants were third year primary (now called year five) 6-a-side from many of the St Albans' schools.  Biggest credit usually goes to what are euphemistically called "top class teams"; in other words 11 a-side or full teams, and definitely the players who represent their school for that year.  But of course, run forward a year, in this case to 1968, and most of these six players from Wheatfields Junior School will appear once again in the "top class" team photo, having further honed their skills. There may be a copy of that time too; only time will tell.

I searched Bob Bridle and Duncan Burgoyne's book A 100 Years: a History of Schools' Football in St Albans, a remarkable reference source, though no longer in print.  Amongst the copious details for results of the Slade and Marconi trophies in 1966/67, was a little paragraph for the third year competition in that year: "Wheatfields beat Killigrew 2–0 in round one, and Oakwood by the same scoreline in round two.  In the semi-final they knocked out Skyswood by two goals to one and their final, against Windermere, ended goal-less.  Wheatfields won by virtue of gaining two corners against Windermere's one."

There is one further interesting piece of information nested in the Herts Advertiser article:

WINNERS WHEATFIELD (sic): THEY WIN SCHOOLS SIX-A-SIDE

In an entertaining tournament London Colney took the Dearman Trophy for fourth-ear teams, and Wheatfields won the Lyon Cup for third year teams in the St Albans Primary Schools six-a-side soccer competition at London Colney Primary School on Saturday.

The two long-established trophies for the "top teams" are Slade and Marconi.  Slade after a well-known St Albans business family, and Marconi naming the nationally known electronics company which started up in St Albans in 1939.

But what about Dearman and Lyon?  John Dearman was a locally known retailer who began his ironmongery business near Keyfield, London Road c1960 and then moving to a shop near Camp School in Camp Road less than a decade later.  Getting a schools trophy named after you is good publicity for later young grown-ups and their aspiring first homes.

Ronnie Lyon was another relatively new name on the map in St Albans.  He was more widely known, having acquired cheap industrial land in the immediate post-war period and turned them into  serviced factory buildings ready for leaseholders to move into and start trading on day one.  You would recognise the estates anywhere because the access road was inevitably named Lyon Way, as it is in the St Albans version between Oaklands and Smallford.

So, here we are, six smiling faces from Marshalswick in 1967: David Dobbie, Nigel Hiskett, Andy Smith, Peter Robinson at the back; and Ray Bradstreet, Stuart Carter and Malcom Evans up front!

Anyway guys: rather belatedly, congratulations on your school winning the Lyon Cup in 1967!