As you get older and birthdays seem to flick by quicker it's not often you get something that touches the middle aged heart strings. It was my 54th birthday today and my mother in law wrote me a poem that brought a tear to my eye. It's TRUE that some of the best gifts cant be measured in pounds and pence.
Her name is Muriel Hudson and like all my wife's family follow Preston. Why did she pick Derek Ufton for a theme? I think years ago I pointed out to her that Derek Ufton's mother has a stained glass window in St Paulinus, Crayford's parish church. She was a WVS volunteer killed in 1944 when a Doodlebug hit Crayford Post Office whilst she was registering evacuees. I put the story in a little animated film we made, Bartram the Blitz and Beyond.
https://www.crayfordhistory.org.uk/videos/animated-film-bartram-blitz-beyond
Muriel must have remembered that England's oldest international was a Crayford boy like me.
DEREK UFTON AND PETE
- TWO CRAYFORD LADS
(a poem for Pete’s Birthday)
Two lads were born in Crayford,
thirty nine years apart
Both loved the game of football,
each took Charlton to their heart
Derek was born in twenty eight
and Pete in sixty seven.
Both proud of their Crayford roots
each loved the Charlton eleven
Pete often appears at Charlton,
up in the stands he is found
at practically every home match
at his beloved Valley ground.
Derek also appeared at Charlton
a player of great renown.
Pete would have loved to have been there
when Charlton played Huddersfield Town.
The year was nineteen fifty seven,
a cold day in December
A day that players and fans alike
were going to remember.
Derek, the captain, got injured
and left his team to their fate
With the captain gone and only ten men
Charlton’s prospects didn’t look great.
Huddersfield Town was winning five-one
with twenty seven minutes to go
but Summers came to the rescue
And it looked like being a draw.
It was six-six ‘til the eighty ninth minute
When Charlton scored one more
and Charlton’s ten men were the winners,
seven-six was the final score.
Charlton’s players were elated
but Huddersfield’s players cried
because, although they had scored six goals,
they were still on the losing side.
Poor Derek was injured and missed it
and Pete wasn’t born, it’s unfair!
Both Crayford lads, player and fan
wish that they had been there.
But it’s just as well that you missed it Pete,
or you might be seventy, say
so raise a glass and be thankful
you’re only fifty four today.
Comments
She is so talented and such a great way of making 54 still seem young.