Paul Allen tells the story behind the scrapbooks (the piece below is from 2014)
My brother and I did the scrapbooks. My brother, John Allen, he was older than me and he did a lot of it. We were ardent United supporters.
My father, Bert Allen, played for Abbey Crusaders. I can’t find out anything about those. He was born in Beech Road in 1901. I’ve been down to the Cambridge Collection and they’ve got very little about United at all, really, so the history really is very sketchy, to say the least. I think he played, I don’t know quite when, 1915-1925, that sort of time. I thought he played for a team called Abbey Crusaders, but I don’t know if they played Thursday afternoon or Saturday afternoon.
I know they were a fore-runner, in that area, of football but I don’t know quite where they played. It’s certainly somewhere up this area, but I can’t find out anything. I’ve written to Barnwell History Society and asked them if they’ve got any history about it. That’s as far as I’ve got at the moment. I’ve asked my cousin, he’s older than me. The whole family were ardent United supporters.
I used to come up here Thursday evenings, because my father worked Saturdays and there was a little wooden stand. We used to sit in there. So it goes back a long, long way, before any of this (the supporters’ club) was built, really. I can’t find out anything about it. Whether or not it was anything to do with the local church around Beech Road, I don’t know, but again, I can’t find out anything at the moment. We’re still trying, but that’s as far as we’ve got.
I’ve followed them since the early fifties, when they were in the Eastern Counties League, and I used to come up with him before I was allowed to come to football on my own and it proceeded from there and I still come. That’s all I can tell you about it really. But my brother was four or five years older than me and between us we made the scrapbooks. I think it was really his enthusiasm more than mine. I used to help cut them out and he used to stick them in the book. That’s all I can tell you about them really.
Then when he died, I didn’t know what to do with them. I didn’t want to throw them away, so I gave them to Cambridge United . He was also a shareholder and those shares have now come to me. There weren’t a lot of shares, but I think it was just so he had an excuse to come to the AGM. I think that was the reason he joined, really.
There are four, from ’61 to about ’64. I’d have been about 19 or 20. He’d have been in his early 20s. We had a typewriter, which was very old and that was about it really. It was definitely a real labour of love. The drawings on the cover were my brother’s work, not mine!
I think the cuttings were all from the Cambridge Evening News. There used to be one called ‘the Blue-ey,’ I think, used to come out Saturday evenings, but I think it was all from the Cambridge News. I can’t think where else we’d have found anything.
My son was a mascot up here one year. We played one of the Bristol teams, Bristol City or Bristol Rovers. We never got in the game. I think they’d have done better if he’d stayed on the field with them! That was about 30 years ago.
My brother and I did the scrapbooks. My brother, John Allen, he was older than me and he did a lot of it. We were ardent United supporters.
My father, Bert Allen, played for Abbey Crusaders. I can’t find out anything about those. He was born in Beech Road in 1901. I’ve been down to the Cambridge Collection and they’ve got very little about United at all, really, so the history really is very sketchy, to say the least. I think he played, I don’t know quite when, 1915-1925, that sort of time. I thought he played for a team called Abbey Crusaders, but I don’t know if they played Thursday afternoon or Saturday afternoon.
I know they were a fore-runner, in that area, of football but I don’t know quite where they played. It’s certainly somewhere up this area, but I can’t find out anything. I’ve written to Barnwell History Society and asked them if they’ve got any history about it. That’s as far as I’ve got at the moment. I’ve asked my cousin, he’s older than me. The whole family were ardent United supporters.
I used to come up here Thursday evenings, because my father worked Saturdays and there was a little wooden stand. We used to sit in there. So it goes back a long, long way, before any of this (the supporters’ club) was built, really. I can’t find out anything about it. Whether or not it was anything to do with the local church around Beech Road, I don’t know, but again, I can’t find out anything at the moment. We’re still trying, but that’s as far as we’ve got.
I’ve followed them since the early fifties, when they were in the Eastern Counties League, and I used to come up with him before I was allowed to come to football on my own and it proceeded from there and I still come. That’s all I can tell you about it really. But my brother was four or five years older than me and between us we made the scrapbooks. I think it was really his enthusiasm more than mine. I used to help cut them out and he used to stick them in the book. That’s all I can tell you about them really.
Then when he died, I didn’t know what to do with them. I didn’t want to throw them away, so I gave them to Cambridge United . He was also a shareholder and those shares have now come to me. There weren’t a lot of shares, but I think it was just so he had an excuse to come to the AGM. I think that was the reason he joined, really.
There are four, from ’61 to about ’64. I’d have been about 19 or 20. He’d have been in his early 20s. We had a typewriter, which was very old and that was about it really. It was definitely a real labour of love. The drawings on the cover were my brother’s work, not mine!
I think the cuttings were all from the Cambridge Evening News. There used to be one called ‘the Blue-ey,’ I think, used to come out Saturday evenings, but I think it was all from the Cambridge News. I can’t think where else we’d have found anything.
My son was a mascot up here one year. We played one of the Bristol teams, Bristol City or Bristol Rovers. We never got in the game. I think they’d have done better if he’d stayed on the field with them! That was about 30 years ago.