It's Pinch and a Punch Time Again

The 1st September is probably one of the top ten most important dates in our history, if that doesn't sound to facile. It was the day of course in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland resulting in, two days later, the famous declaration of war and then nine-months of the 'phoney-war' before Germany invaded Belguim and Holland.

The day war was declared was also my paternal grandfather's birthday and my grandmother always blamed him for war breaking-out, she was funny my Nan. Anyway my Grandad served during the war as part of some secret mission behind enemy lines. Despite growing up as an East End boy he was lucky enough to go to the George Green School which was, at the time, a Grammar School where German was taught and he was recruited on that basis.

My Grandad didn't speak much about the war, not unusual to be honest and nobody really knows what he did after he'd finished his training. He actually kept quiet about quite a lot of his life although he was great to spend an afternoon with talking about football, cricket, music etc. When he developed problems with his hips we would spend Saturday afternoons in the company of Richie Benaud watching the test matches and he would get increasingly annoyed with the likes of Gower, Randall and co as they flashed hopefully and hopelessly at balls outside the off stump. His real love was music and when he died in 1984 I asked if I could have his collection of classical music albums which I still have.

About twenty years ago when I began researching my family history I found a report in a newspaper about his sporting activities. He was playing for his school against Poplar in a mens Saturday league match, the report was in the East End News dated 17 June 1932. His match figures were 9-0-18-7 and he helped George Green School beat Poplar at Millwall by 47 runs.

After the war he worked in a bacon factory in Rotherhithe before the company relocated one of its factories to Fordingbridge in Hampshire in 1963 when he was manager until his retirement in 1975. He died in the Swindon Army Hospital on 31st August 1984, he was in hospital to have a hip replacement but a blood clot killed him during the early hours.

We used to talk, laugh, argue (particularly about me being a Labour voter and party member from what was a staunch working class Conservative voting family). He always said that if you had an opinion it didn't count until you told it to somebody else, he also said that the two things you shouldn't criticise somebody for were their religion and their politics. Challenge their opinions but don't impose your own - I like to think that's something that's rubbed off on me.

Anyway, to end with here's two photographs: The top one is the 1932 George Green School Cricket Team, my Grandad is in the front row second from the right. The bottom one is me scoring a penalty in 1981 or 1982, as somebody pointed out when shown the picture I was a cocky sod, I'm already celebrating before the ball has gone in!































The penalty was the result of a bit of gamesmanship on my part. I was playing left-wing, instead of right-back, and went in for a fifty-fifty tackle about twenty five yards from goal. The ball went out of play and whilst the opposition was arguing with the referee about whose throw-in it was I picked up the ball and threw it towards our centre forward, their centre half thinking it was his teams throw caught it and the referee gave a penalty. I took the penalties for whatever team I played for but this was a particularly sweet moment as the opposition that day were my employers!