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100 YEARS OF COCONUTS
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Jack Bishop 1923-2017

1/20/2017

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100 Years of Coconuts is sorry to report another recent death in the Cambridge United family: that of Jack Bishop, a skilful outside left who, with his full-back brother Bob, played for the U’s in the 1950s.

When the Bishops played in Jack’s debut game, the club’s first ever in the Eastern Counties League, against Great Yarmouth Town on 18 August 1951, they lined up with another sibling pair: Antonio ('Tony') and Jose ('Joe') Gallego. Jack went on to play 47 times for United, contributing five goals. His career in football followed wartime army service that saw him survive detention in a notorious prisoner of war camp and a forced march of hundreds of miles.

Born in 1923 at Southminster in Essex, the youngest of three sons, Jack Bishop showed his talent at football and cricket on a local level at an early age. In 1941 he joined the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, where his training as a tank driver included work on Duplex Drive ‘swimming’ vehicles, equipped with flotation screens enabling them to be launched at sea.

Six-thirty on the morning of D-Day (6 June 1944) found Jack in the first wave of tanks landing on Gold Beach to assault the Normandy settlement of La Rivière. He had been ashore for three weeks when his tank was hit and blown up by an 88mm armour-piercing shell near Caen. Jack tried to help his captain, who had been wounded, but he was captured and transferred to the infamous Stalag VIII PoW camp in Silesia.

With the approach of the Red Army in late 1944, prisoners were evacuated from many camps in order to delay their liberation, and forced to march westwards. Jack’s route took him through Czechoslovakia and Bavaria, then north through Germany before, after 1,500 miles, he was finally freed by British troops in Hamburg. After being flown home and then sent to serve in the 1945-47 Palestine conflict, he was demobbed in 1948.
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Jack Bishop is pictured front left in this team photo, taken at Newmarket Road in 1951/52. Brother Bob is second from the left in the top row.
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Brothers in arms: from left, Bob, Archie and Jack Bishop.
Back in England, he resumed his sporting career with Bury Town, from whom he joined United, with Bob, for the club’s first ECL season. The older brother earned £4 a week while Jack made do with a pound less.

He went on to establish himself as first-choice left winger for most of the season, with Joe Gallego playing inside him at inside left, and demonstrated his commitment during a 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur ‘A’ in October. He insisted on continuing after receiving treatment for a head injury in the first half, but after the match an ambulance was called as concussion was suspected. Jack refused it and left the ground the way he had arrived: wheeling his bicycle.

United finished fourth in their first ECL season, but then Gallego was switched to the left wing and Jack’s first-team outings were scarce until he rejoined Bury Town in March 1953. He later played for March Town United and continued to show his talents as a cricketer.
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Jack was married to Audrey, who survives him, They lived in Bury St Edmunds, where Jack worked as an engineer. He died on January 18.
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Robin Hardy 1941-2017

1/18/2017

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The Cambridge United family lost a much-loved member with the death this week, at the age of 75, of Robin Hardy, captain of Bill Leivers’ side as it rose into the Football League in 1970.

A native of Worksop, Notts, Hardy was born on 18 January 1941. Having worked his way through the youth ranks as a half back at Sheffield Wednesday, he scored once in 30 first-team games while at Hillsborough.

After experiencing differences of opinion with Owls coach Jack Mansell, he joined Rotherham United in February 1965, but his troubles followed him when Mansell was appointed manager at Millmoor. Having endured a fractious season, Hardy asked for a transfer. Rotherham refused the request, so after 42 appearances and two goals for the Millers he hung up his boots and became landlord of a pub in his home town.

Rotherham placed him on the transfer list at £10,000 but, with Hardy’s refusal to return, granted him a free transfer at the end of 1966/67. Leivers was aware of the player through his coach Geoff Hudson, and knew of his ambition to return to football. When Hardy signed for United (after a replacement publican had been found), he had not kicked a ball in anger for two years.

After weeks of intensive training, he made his United debut as substitute on 1 November 1967 in an FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay against Lowestoft Town, After a 2-1 defeat, Leivers said: ‘I want a player who can get a grip in midfield, and in the brief time Robin Hardy was on the field it looked as if he could do the job.'

Given his first start in a 2-0 defeat at Dover three days later, he was an ever-present for the rest of the season in a powerful half-back line with Jackie Scurr and Gerry Baker. After a 2-0 win at Hillingdon, the local paper enthused: ‘Robin Hardy was the general at the back and he gave the type of performance Bill Leivers had promised he would.’ Leivers sometimes experimented with a sweeper system, and Hardy took on the role with great success as United finished in third place.

Appointed captain for 1968/69, he led by example as the U’s challenged for the league title, and in February Leivers commented: ‘Hardy is probably the best reader of the game in the side and is what I would describe as the complete professional footballer.’ He helped to make the defence all but impregnable, was the club's only ever-present in the league and received the supporters’ player of the year award as United won the Southern League and League Cup double.

He continued to lead the team in 1969/70, playing as sweeper, at centre back or in midfield as Leivers varied the tactics from game to game. Injuries restricted his starts, but at the end of the season United were champions again and were elected to the League.

For the 1970/71 season the players elected their captain and Colin Meldrum got the vote. It was a difficult first year in the League for United and he was in and out of the side as they finished 20th. At the end of term he was one of six players released on a free transfer. He had started 188 games, made three sub appearances and scored 11 times in amber and black. He had been booked just twice in his 13-year professional career.

United supporters remember not only a cultured, seemingly unflappable player but also a highly likeable man who was only too pleased to do favours for fans. He died suddenly on on Tuesday, January 18, leaving wife Marilyn and sons Troy and Carl.
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From top: Robin Hardy in the 1968/69 season; manager Bill Leivers welcomes Hardy to the Abbey Stadium in 1967; 'probably the best reader of the game in the side', according to Leivers.
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Graham Atkinson 1943-2017

1/6/2017

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100 Years of Coconuts was saddened to hear of the death, at the age of 73 on January 5, after a brave battle with cancer, of Graham Atkinson.

The lesser known of the two footballing Atkinson brothers – Ron managed Cambridge United on his way to fame as the boss of Manchester United and other top-flight clubs – inside forward Graham passed a highly influential 20 months at the Abbey in the mid-1960s, scoring 32 goals in 62 games. His time at Newmarket Road punctuated a 15-year Oxford United career during which he scored 107 times, and his 77 League goals is a club record.

Born in Birmingham on 17 May 1943, Graham started on the ground staff at Villa Park and played for Aston Villa and Birmingham City junior teams. The Atkinson brothers signed for Oxford, then known as Headington United, in 1959. Graham made his Southern League debut against Chelmsford City at the age of 16 years and 108 days, becoming the club’s youngest player and goalscorer. When Oxford were elected to the Football League in 1962, he scored the club’s first goal at the higher level.

A friendship between Oxford manager Arthur Turner and his Abbey Stadium counterpart Alan Moore led to Graham returning to the Southern League in April 1963; his confidence had been affected by the barracking of a section of Manor Ground fans. The deal was effectively an open-ended loan: Graham signed a contract with Cambridge but Oxford retained his Football League registration. The clubs had a gentleman’s agreement that Oxford could re-sign him when they wished.

He made his Newmarket Road debut on Easter Friday 1963 in a 4-0 defeat by Chelmsford City. He also played the following day in a 1-1 draw at Worcester, but was stretchered off with concussion and spent the night in hospital. After missing the next game he took part in every remaining match that season, scoring twice in nine starts.
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The following season Graham was plagued by injury and illness. In December 1963 he overturned his car near St Neots and was again detained in hospital. Having lost his left ear, he did not return to the first team until the end of February but then played in every league game until the end of the season.
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Graham Atkinson: goalscoring inside forward
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Graham Atkinson is pictured front row, fourth from left in this 1964/65 Cambridge United squad photograph. Back row from left: manager Roy Kirk, Derek Finch, Jimmy Gibson, Rodney Slack, Terence 'Bill' Kelly, Andy Smith, Billy Welsh, Graham Lawrence, Bryan Boggis, Dai Jones, Brian Doyle (trainer); front: Jackie Scurr, Billy Day, Johnny Haasz, Graham Atkinson, Dennis Randall, Peter Hobbs, Matt McVittie, Gerry Greene. Click on the image to enlarge.
Graham came into his own as a goalscoring inside forward during 1964/65, embarking on a fine scoring run that included two hat-tricks and attracting the attention of Oxford manager Turner, who stated his intention of recalling the player under a new contract. ‘I am very happy here,’ said Atkinson, ‘and feel that I am playing better since I joined Cambridge United. Naturally, I must listen to Arthur Turner’s offer before deciding, but it will have to be an attractive one to make me leave Cambridge.’

The lure of the Football League and the prospect of being reunited with his brother proved decisive. Graham’s last Cambridge game was a 3-1 win at Bedford Town on December 5. United’s season then took a dip that was partly attributed to the absence of Atkinson, who finished the season as top league scorer with 13 goals.

He returned to Cambridge United colours for John Gregson’s testimonial in January 1972, and the U’s provided the opposition for his testimonial at Kettering Town in April 1976, by which time his brother was managing the hosts. He had joined the Poppies in 1974.
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Graham and wife Jenni lived in Oxfordshire for most of their lives but moved to Pembrokeshire in 2004.
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​Jack Morgan, 1924-2016

5/5/2016

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The Cambridge United family has lost a much-loved and esteemed member with the death of Jack Morgan at the age of 92 on April 26.

Renowned as the man who first played ‘I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’ over the tannoy, Jack belonged to a diehard U’s family. His mother and father worked tirelessly for the club and Supporters’ Club and his brother Arthur played 110 first-team games between 1947 and 1955; usually but not always in goal.

Jack was born in the Hills Road area of Cambridge in 1924. His family subsequently moved to Ditton Fields; a hotbed of United support. He and his three brothers were soon enthusiastic supporters and later, like his parents, he served on the Supporters’ Club committee.

As Abbey United progressed towards professionalism and the Football League, it was the norm for supporters to help out with all manner of jobs. Jack remembered scrubbing floors and marking the pitch, but a highlight of his work was the playing of records, perched in the little box that still adorns the north-west corner of the ground, through the tannoy on match days.

Supporter Robin Mansfield recalled Jack taking him to his first U’s game in 1955. ‘It was he who first decided to play that record [Coconuts] whenever we had a win,’ he said. ‘I have asked Jack why he chose that particular record. His reply was: “It was purely accidental. I had a pile of records in front of me and thought this one would do!” He just carried on playing it and the tradition continues to the present day.’

Jack, who turned out at right half for United Reserves ‘when they were short’, worked at Marshall’s during World War II. He later became a rent collector for
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Cambridge City Council before being promoted to housing manager, and then worked for the Rent Officers’ Association throughout the East of England.
He and his wife Audrey had one daughter, Jane, and a granddaughter, Sophie.

The funeral service will be held on Cambridge City Crematorium’s East Chapel on Thursday, May 12 at 12.15pm. Jack’s family has requested that no black be worn.
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Jack talked about his life when Radio Coconuts visited his Chesterton home last year. The recording can be found at 100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk/radio-coconuts.html. Robin Mansfield’s story is at 100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk/robin-mansfield.html.
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Russell Crane 1926-2016

3/11/2016

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100 Years of Coconuts and CFU were saddened to hear of the death at the age of 90, on 10 March 2016, of Abbey/Cambridge United legend Russell Crane.

Russell was the only man to play for the club in five different leagues: the wartime East Anglian, the Cambridgeshire, United Counties, Eastern Counties and Southern. It was an indication of the respect that all involved with the club held for Russell, a U’s man through and through, when he was made honorary life president of Coconuts in November last year.

Born on 26 January 1926, Russell grew up in Ditton Walk, a stone’s throw from the Abbey United ground, in a United-focused household. His father Herbie was a jack-of-all-trades helper behind the scenes, a role he filled into the 1950s. He would take the team’s shirts home for his wife Sylvia to wash, and count and bank the gate money from home games.

Russell left school at 15 and it was at that age that he made his U’s debut on 13 September 1941, in a 4-2 defeat of an RAF XI. A diminutive, stocky, speedy left winger with tricky skills and a powerful shot, he made an immediate impact and by 1943 was earning rave reviews from the local press.

By now 17, he was called up for the Royal Navy. He took part in an ill-fated exercise designed to prepare Allied forces for the Normandy landings, and later served all over the world, but returned to play for United whenever he was on leave. Upon demob in 1946 he established himself as a regular in the side and adjusted easily when Abbey joined the semi-professional United Counties League a year later.

Russell blossomed fully during the 1948/49 season, when he was the league’s top scorer with 42 goals in 37 games, a club record. In a 4-1 win at Eynesbury he scored a stunning goal when he picked up the ball in his own half and dribbled past man after man before hitting the net. At Kettering, ‘his marksmanship and working of the ball bore the hallmark of class and the opposing defence never knew what he was going to do next,’ said the press report. He scored four goals in a game on three occasions that season, with two hat-tricks thrown in for good measure.

He played at centre forward and inside left as well as on the left wing as United established themselves in the UCL. When they beat relative giants Wisbech in the East Anglian Cup in 1950, the local paper reported:  ‘If Abbey United are fortunate enough to win the East Anglian Cup this season, the name of Russell Crane should be engraved upon it in gilt letters. For it was the fighting spirit of this human dynamo of an inside forward when Abbey were a goal down after two minutes which largely inspired his team to a one-goal victory. Revealing all the menace of an angry wasp, Crane buzzed and harassed his way among the visiting defenders in a tireless pattern which did much to put a top-gear United on the winning trail by half-time.’

At the end of 1950/51 Peterborough United of the Midland League offered Russell a significant pay rise, but he declined to move out of loyalty to his hometown club. He told Coconuts TV in 2014: ‘As far as I was concerned it was a family affair, you know? My father worked up there, my mother did what she could do at home, my sisters [Edna, Ivy and Freda] all supported them and used to go up to the games …’

The renamed Cambridge United moved across to the Eastern Counties League in 1951. That season United unexpectedly defeated the mighty Cambridge City 2-0 in the Cambs Invitation Cup final before a crowd of 9,814 at Milton Road, Crane scoring both goals in a five-minute first-half spell. At the final whistle United’s ecstatic fans stormed the pitch and chaired Crane off to a rousing chorus of I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.

For the 1953/54 season Russell was converted into an attacking left back, a role he took to with comfort. He was awarded a benefit match in April 1956 to mark 15 years’ service to the club and around that time he turned down the offer of a trial with Ipswich Town.
He filled a variety of positions as United progressed to the Southern League in 1958, and he scored the club’s first goal in that competition, in a 3-1 defeat of Guildford City. That season was his swansong at United and after 18 years’ service, 502 games and 186 goals he remained in local football at Soham and Sawston.

A part-time professional player to the end of his U’s career, Russell’s off-pitch working life encompassed spells at a cable company in Regent Street, the Pye group companies Unicam and Telecom and an electrical wholesaler. He continued to live in the Ditton Walk area until the end of his life. He leaves a daughter, Jane, two sons, Russell and Stephen, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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From top: Russell Crane heads for goal against Cambridge City in 1957/58; with daughter Jane Lyon in the Abbey Stadium main stand; a Cambridge Daily News profile; with memento of his installation as honorary life-president of 100 Years of Coconuts; with centenary shirt; and on the Abbey pitch with John Taylor for the centenary match, 2012.
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​Marcus Gynn, 1979-2016

2/15/2016

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100 Years of Coconuts and Cambridge Fans United,, with countless others associated with Cambridge United, are mourning the death of supporter extraordinaire and Coconuts volunteer Marcus Gynn.

Marcus, who died on Thursday, February 11 after a long illness, was an ever-popular presence on the terraces, home and away, and around the Abbey Stadium. He is greatly missed by his loving family and many friends, who will remember his cheerful selflessness, his devotion to many causes and, finally, his bravery.

Marcus was born on 16 March 1979. He attended St Albans school, Cherry Hinton community junior school and the Netherhall School before studying geography at Bath and Anglia Polytechnic universities.

He worked at Tesco Fulbourn and then for Cambridgeshire County Council, where he was a communications assistant for the children’s and young persons’ services.

Marcus was a Cambridge lad through and through. His uncle took him to United matches from the age of four and he was a mascot in the 1980s. His devotion to the club never wavered. He made valuable contributions to Coconuts meetings and was an ever-smiling volunteer when the group put itself in the public eye.

His other great passion was running, which he took up in 2011. A Newmarket jogger and an honorary Shabba (Short Heath and Bloxwich Branch Amateur) runner, he took part in the 2013 Milton Keynes marathon, the Equinox 24-hour race and many more.

His running exploits were joyfully recorded in a blog – myrunningstories.wordpress.com – and even after he 
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 was stricken by cancer he continued to describe his life and his trials.

Marcus was part of a close family that spends much time together. They include a brother, sister, mum, dad, sister-in-law, nana, uncles, aunts and cousins.
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The funeral will take place at 11am on Friday, February 26 at Swaffham Prior church. A fundraising project to benefit Marcus’s family’s chosen charities can be found at crowdfunding.justgiving.com/runformarcus.
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Sid High 1922-2015

12/31/2015

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Coconuts has only recently heard of the death, on 27 September 2015, of former Abbey United player Sid High, who was for many years a prominent figure in the Waterbeach community.

Sid was born in the village on 30 September 1922 and spent his early life at Denny Abbey Farm, where his father was a horseman. After leaving school he worked at the village butcher’s, Bulls, but his heart was not in the job and it wasn’t long before he was able to take the first steps towards making a living from his lifelong passion: football.

He was on the books of Cambridge Town before making his debut for Abbey United against an RAF XI on 17 May 1941. A right winger, he became a regular for United during 1943/44, during which he was an East Anglian League ever-present. In one game he set up all four of Russell Crane’s goals in a 5-1 defeat of Bourn.

​Sid scored his only hat-trick for the Wasps on 13 October 1945 in a 7-1 thrashing of RAF Quy, but the result was expunged from the records when the servicemen withdrew from the Cambs League. That season he was selected to play for Cambridgeshire against Hertfordshire and Essex.
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Sid High: Waterbeach stalwart.
​He moved into professional football and the Football League with Luton Town in October 1946, but after two years without a first-team breakthrough he moved on to Watford, for whom he scored three goals in seven League games during 1948/49. He then joined King’s Lynn of the Eastern Counties League and scored the only goal when they eliminated Abbey from the FA Cup in October 1950.

Sid returned to Newmarket Road in December 1951, playing at centre forward in a 2-1 home defeat by Colchester United Reserves, but made only one more appearance, scoring the only goal in United’s ECL defeat of Gorleston on 9 February 1952. Plagued by injuries, he retired from football that year.

He had met his future wife, Joan, while in King’s Lynn. They married in 1952 and had one daughter, Susan, and two grandchildren, Charlotte and Stephanie.

Over the years Sid had a variety of jobs: working in an antiques shop; at Pye and Gestetner; and for the University, where he printed exam papers until he retired.

He worked tirelessly for the Waterbeach community for over 25 years, with the annual village feast the biggest item on his agenda. He was part of the Beach News team when the village magazine was launched in the 1970s and helped with its production for many years. After full retirement he coached the Waterbeach School football team and also gave his time to the village club.
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We are indebted to Beach News – beachnews@waterbeach.org – for much of the above information and for the photograph.
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We are family

11/9/2015

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The following article appeared in the Cambridge United programme for the game against Basingstoke Town on Saturday, 7 November 2015.

Every one of us has regrets. Near the end of a life, and especially if that end is premature, those regrets sometimes start to weigh heavily.

At the end of July, Coconuts received an email from Australia, in which Kathryn Ayers wrote of her concern for her father Jim. ‘He has been told he only has weeks to live,’ she said.

‘He played in your reserve team when he was approximately 15 years old. His major regret is not continuing after he was ruled out for a year due to an eye injury sustained while playing. It is one of the few times he has been brought to tears.

‘I purchased a team shirt with his name on it and the lady in the store mentioned your site when I asked if it was likely that there would be any records of his time there.’

Part of Coconuts’ brief is an attempt to bring the extended U’s family closer together. We wrote to New South Wales, promising to find out as much as we could. Kathryn’s reply gave us an insight into her dad’s life.

Jim was born on 3 February 1948 in Gillingham, where his Royal Navy submariner father was based. The family’s move to Barton Mills put Jim reasonably close to the Abbey and, leaving school at the age of 15, he began to make a name for himself. Then came the eye injury.

‘After being told he needed a year off due to the eye injury he began working for an auto electrician,’ recalled Kathryn. ‘He came to Australia on a ship when he was 21, not long after stopping football, and met my mother, Shirley, on the ship. He then went to work in the mines in the Kimberleys [north-west Australia] before becoming an auto electrician here.’

Coconuts historian Andrew Bennett dug out a U’s Youth team programme from 26 November 1963, which showed Jim playing at centre half against Posh. We pointed Kathryn to parts of 100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk that her dad might enjoy, and we put her in touch with the man who had welcomed him into the United fold: Peter Reeve.

‘Dad has really enjoyed browsing your website and was absolutely gobsmacked when he saw the [programme] you sent,’ wrote Kathryn on August 6. ‘He couldn't believe anyone would’ve kept this.’
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Jim Ayers: every manager's dream.
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Team line-ups, Cambridge United Youth v Peterborough Youth, FA Youth Cup first round replay, 26 Nov 1963.
On September 22: ‘I received an email from Peter today. It was lovely and Dad and Mum were both brought to tears, it meant that much to him. Dad is doing reasonably well – he is fighting on and continuing to surprise doctors! Keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle.’

Peter remembers Jim as a quiet, respectful and honest young man, always giving of his best. ‘He was very reliable and popular with all the lads. He enjoyed his football and was proud to be playing at the club: every manager’s dream …
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‘Hopefully there are some of his teammates still around whose own memories will be triggered if they get to read the article in the programme.’

Kathryn wrote on November 1: ‘I wanted to let you know that Dad passed away on the morning of October 29. Thank you again for all your help and support.’

We feel as if we got to know Jim over the last three months of his life. He, Kathryn and Shirley are family.
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Tom Hussey 1959 – 2015

6/30/2015

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We were all touched to witness the outpouring of shock and grief that followed the reporting on the Coconuts Facebook page of the recent death of U's superfan Tom Hussey.

Within a few hours of  the announcement, the news had reached more than 10,000 people, with many posting their memories of a man who was a familiar figure on the terraces for decades.

I can do no better service to Tom's memory than to reproduce Andrew Stephen's moving tribute to a man he called 'a gentle giant'.

Rest in peace, big man.

Harry

CFU is living proof of the fact that any football club is its supporters and the mark of a club is the quality of its fans. A lot has been said about the loyalty of our fans and, rightly so, about our proud history as a family club. Tom Hussey, who died on June 1 at the tragically young age of 55, was one of the very best. 
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Loyalty was at the heart of  everything he did. He worked for 40 years at Sainsbury’s on Coldham’s Lane and devoted much of his spare time to Cambridge United.

Anyone in the habit of sitting in the Supporters’ Club 
after home games, or who was a regular at away games, would have known Tom. Often he would have been with his best friend Terry O’Dell, who regularly travelled with him on the ‘away’ coaches for over 20 years.

In a moving eulogy at Our Lady and the English Martyrs Catholic Church on June 16, Terry referred to his friend as the brother he’d never had and a man who lived for Cambridge United. He was a big 
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A gentle giant: Tom is on the left in both pictures.
man with a big heart whose compassionate nature was remarkable.

He loved meeting fans of other clubs and his respect for them should be a model for all real football fans who appreciate that, despite our fierce rivalries, football fans are essentially a family.

Dave Doggett’s attendance at the funeral was testimony to the high regard the club has for dedicated fans like Tom. Tom himself would have been amazed at the number of fans who attended his funeral. We have lost one of our best. I hope the club will choose to mark his passing – perhaps with a minute’s applause at our first home game. It has been earned.
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Raymond Proctor 1940 – 2015

6/24/2015

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Once again, we are mourning the loss of a dearly loved member of the Cambridge United family: Ray Proctor, brother of United’s Fans’ Elected Director Colin and a committed supporter from the late 1940s. 

Colin writes: Ray was born in Ditton Fields, right next to his beloved club. He attended Brunswick School and moved on to St George’s at the age of 11.

On leaving school at 15 he became an apprentice panel beater at the bottom of Ditton Walk. He did his three-year apprenticeship and then decided to become a fireman on British Rail. He enjoyed his time working with many friends on the railway and his claim to fame was firing on the Flying Scotsman from Cambridge to Liverpool Street. All his mates were very envious of that trip.

Ray left the railway, like many others, when Dr Richard Beeching and the Conservative government axed much of the country’s rail infrastructure in the 1960s. He then joined CIS Insurance and very quickly moved upwards to become an inspector.

Ray’s selling ability was exceptional, and he was in line to become a manager. Our family business (Proctor Upholstery and Removals) was going from strength to strength and in 1975 we encouraged Ray to become Transport Manager, helping us to become the second largest company of its kind in East Anglia. After many successful years our family business was purchased by a London firm in 1983, and Ray worked as a taxi driver from then until the present day.

Growing up, we all had that desire to support Abbey United. It was a fantastic time. In 1954, Ray and I travelled to Newport in Wales to see the U’s play in the first round of the FA Cup. This was a history-making trip for us as we had never been out of Cambridge, and it was also the first time we had played a Football League club. We supported the club with many of our friends, and it was in our blood never to miss a game.

Ray was married in 1959 and had three sons and a daughter. He, one son and a grandson have been season ticket holders for many years. Ray was a long-term member of the Vice-Presidents’ Club.

He will be sadly missed by all the Proctor family and especially his beloved Cambridge United.

His proud brother Colin. RIP Ray.
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    Happy Harry's blog

    I'm the living embodiment of the spirit of the U's, and I'll be blogging whenever I've got news for you, as long as I don't miss my tea. 

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