The Grand Old Lady, July 10th 1964

[markf]

Aug 22, 2023 10:28:43 GMT oohaah said:

from the 1920 image there appears to be no way through from Gander Green Lane (could be covered by trees I suppose). However there appears to be (larger than now) turnstiles at the Collingwood Road end. I wonder if this was the main (or only) way in then?

About four years ago I wrote a brief article for the programme about the ground. That included some of the answers to the above.

The main side of the ground was indeed the rec side as there was no other access. I assume the GGL access came with the building of the houses now behind the GGL end. Find when they were built and you will probably learn when that became an entrance.

I wrote a piece about the car park for Gandermonium some of it based on supposition. Seems I was wrong as I read the car park became so in the late 1940s. And the main stand added in the early 50s. So possibly the GGL entrance came after WWII.

The ground was sometime refered to as being in Collingwood Road so perhaps that structure in the corner was indeed the main entrance. There was another entrance behind Rose's tea hut. The stands you see in the 1929 photo housed dressing rooms, well the one on the left in the photo did.

Re Ted as the 1964 groundsmen. I thought he was Clary's assistant when I started watching in '69 so I would have thought not.

Great photos though.

[davef]

Dave Holland told me that he used to assist Clary

[halftimet]

I am of an age where I remember both Clary and Ted as a ball boy at the time. I also remember the stands and a white picket fence in front of them. I understood the grander stand was originally from Epsom racecourse.

[davef]

Do you mean one of the two wooden stands came from Epsom ?

[jr]

Aug 22, 2023 10:24:09 GMT oohaah said:

Aug 22, 2023 9:30:09 GMT localboy86 said:

A couple of great finds those images.

In the 1920 image there’s a small(ish) covered stand alongside the Collingwood Rec side - was this considered our Main Stand in those times?

It's actually 2 small stands next to each other. They were still there in the 70's.

1980's as I sat in one when Joycey scored his 9 goals (has he mentioned that before!)

[oohaah]

Aug 22, 2023 15:59:11 GMT halftimet said:

I am of an age where I remember both Clary and Ted as a ball boy at the time. I also remember the stands and a white picket fence in front of them. I understood the grander stand was originally from Epsom racecourse.

You MUST be old if you remember them as ball boys 😉

[halftimet]

Aug 22, 2023 16:19:06 GMT davef said:

Do you mean one of the two wooden stands came from Epsom ?

That’s what I was told. The more ornate one, but I could be wrong.

[davef]

Thank you, that’s not something I’d ever heard.
Stands from Epsom, floodlights from Highbury, turnstiles from the Empire Stadium; we were like Steptoe 😀

[os]

Aug 22, 2023 16:19:06 GMT davef said:

Do you mean one of the two wooden stands came from Epsom ?

Didn't one get burnt down, and the other one fell down?

[pinewalker]

I remember cycling to GGL in the 1960's. I used to padlock my bike to railings near the station. I always stood on that terrace to the West of the grandstand in a position where the floodlight pylon just did not obstruct a view of the goal. The Borough Sports Ground it was in Summer - not just for Sutton. Perhaps there was no similar facility in Carshalton UDC, because Carshalton Primary schools held their sports day at GGL. In 1959 I remember running round that cinder track and jumping into the long jump sandpit.

[hobart]

I'll see you (Jimmy) - and raise you:

Sutton and Cheam primary schools held a partial sports day at the ground in 1966 - that is "throwing the cricket ball" and the "high jump".

I was in both - got a point for throwing the cricket ball (in the first nine) and was reasonably pathetic in the high jump (eliminated at about 3' 6").

A guy from Avenue Road primary won the cricket ball throw - hurled it like Colin Bland.

[cheshire]

I attended Avenue Primary School back in the day and in my final year, summer 1980, I was part of the athletics team which competed at the District Sports day at GGL (alongside other schools in the borough). By then the events (sprints, relays, etc.) took place within the pitch area, nothing as far as I recall on the running track. The 2 old wooden stands on the rec side were most certainly still there then

[davef]

My memory might be a little hazy but I think that the track wasn't 400m, so Sutton & Cheam Harriers could train but not use GGL for events. Steve M might know more as his sister was an athlete there. Whether they could ever use the track and the rules changed, I don't know.

In the early 80s I remember Barrie Williams organising a sponsored walk and we just went round and round the track for an hour.

[oohaah]

Aug 23, 2023 10:00:17 GMT davef said:

My memory might be a little hazy but I think that the track wasn't 400m, so Sutton & Cheam Harriers could train but not use GGL for events. Steve M might know more as his sister was an athlete there. Whether they could ever use the track and the rules changed, I don't know.

In the early 80s I remember Barrie Williams organising a sponsored walk and we just went round and round the track for an hour.

Singer Tommy Roe took part too. It inspired him to co-write 'Dizzy'.

[Andy K]

Aug 23, 2023 10:00:17 GMT davef said:

My memory might be a little hazy but I think that the track wasn't 400m, so Sutton & Cheam Harriers could train but not use GGL for events. Steve M might know more as his sister was an athlete there. Whether they could ever use the track and the rules changed, I don't know.

In the early 80s I remember Barrie Williams organising a sponsored walk and we just went round and round the track for an hour.

Did he do it dressed as a Tellytubby?

Because I know a manager that did that at the club they are currently at! www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/sport/marathon-effort-by-dartford-boss-dowson-290276/