This article appeared in the Cambridge United matchday programme for the Leyton Orient match on Saturday, 8 April 2017.

The United youth teams of the early- to mid-1960s produced a bountiful crop of players who made their mark at the Abbey and beyond. With the likes of manager Peter Reeve and trainer Wally Warren working hard behind the scenes, players such as Alan Payne, Bert Haggis and Peter Robinson made sure the first teamers knew there were youngsters ready and able to take their places.

Several of these young men went on to play in the Football League well before United made it into the Fourth Division: Graham Felton starred on the wing for many years at Northampton and elsewhere; Peter Bowstead’s promising career at Oxford was cut short by injury; Richard Habbin and John Harley became favourites at Reading.

Another player in and around the senior team at the time was Brian Whitmore, whom we welcome, with wife Maureen and friends Sandra and Fred Marshall, to today’s game. We’re hoping a look at the ground, a visit to his old teammate Rodney Slack, a chat with his old youth team manager Peter Reeve and a butcher’s at The Story of the U’s in the Supporters’ Club will stir some memories of happy times over half a century ago.

Brian was a promising striker who made his first-team debut against Histon in the East Anglian Cup on 7 October 1963 (the U’s won 3-0). Two more appearances followed that season, in the teams that beat Soham Town Rangers to win the Lakenheath British Legion Cup and claimed the Wymondham Charity Cup by overcoming Wymondham Town.

In the run-up to the 1964/65 season Brian scored in a 2-1 friendly defeat of Colchester United. During the season proper he played four times (netting one goal) in the Midland Floodlit League, four times in the late, lamented Mithras Cup, once in the East Anglian Cup and in the teams that retained the Lakenheath British Legion and Wymondham Charity cups. The following term he played twice in the East Anglian Cup – scoring twice in the first ten minutes of a 5-2 defeat of Dagenham – and his last first-team game came on 28 October 1965 in a 3-3 Midland Floodlit League draw with Wellington Town. Having scored three times in 15 games for the U’s, he left the Abbey and went on to play for Soham and Histon.

Brian’s short-term memory has been affected by Alzheimer’s, that most cruel of diseases. Some memories of his playing days remain with him, and Maureen, Fred and Sandra hope today’s visit to his old stamping ground will stir some reminiscences. It so happens that this ties in with a project for which 100 Years of Coconuts is seeking funding. We want to use the Coconuts collection and The Story of the U’s to help older people living with dementia and/or coping with depression and loneliness.

We’ve seen at first hand the amazing effect exposure to memorabilia, photographs, documents and other objects can have on people with dementia. We want to further the work of the Sporting Memories Foundation by sharing memories and helping people to connect with others and with their past. We know how well this can reawaken positive thoughts and feelings that might otherwise stay hidden.