I wasn't going to mention this but Mrs. M thought I should as I'm laid up again with a spot of trouble and got nothing else to do, so here goes : today marks the 63rd. anniversary of my catching a no. 72 tram from Abbey Wood to The Valley for my first game. It was Hans Jeppson's last appearance for us and my dad thought I should be able to say in the future that I saw a genuine CAFC legend in action. I was five years old and remember dad putting me through the 'Boy's' turnstile and paying sixpence to get in the ground. I think the crowd was around 34,000 and I had never seen so many people. My old man would be disappointed that I really don't remember too much about the game , just Sam making some saves and Jeppson being carried round by the supporters on a lap of honour at the end. In true Charlton tradition in games like this we managed to lose , to Pompey 0-1. but no-one really cared, the great man's 9 goals in 11 games had ensured our first division survival for another season. Anyone liable to do that for us this season?
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More importantly, it must be 9 / 10 months since we feared you might not be able to post again on here. It is great having you still contributing Terry and being part of the group, and I hope the eyesight etc has continued to recover my friend.
Families eh, fancy expecting me to attend when we are at home, no forward planning at all.
COYR
Great story btw!
Keep well Mr.M and I hope Mrs M and the boy are looking after you!
If you've got spare time, put some more up.
All the best.
I was paddling about on You Tube and found a classic 1952 BTF film about a 500 mile road journey from Greenwich to Grangemouth, involving a 55-tonne, 130 foot long steel distillation column. (Can't give you a link but just enter Dodging The Column and you will find it very easily.) Of course, this was well before the arrival of the first motorways, and there would also have been precious few by-passes. This monster was therefore having to travel through normal town centres, and it presented an interesting story.
About a minute in, it turned out the journey was not actually from Greenwich itself but from Charlton, none other than GA Harvey's factory. The very first adventure was to get out of its own works yard onto the highway, and the first obstacle was an innocent bus stop which was minding its own business and no trouble to anyone. (Incidentally, the stop shows route 53 - does anyone know what this was doing on the Lower Road, and not running along up the top?)
Well, they finally got the vehicle out into the road and after a few last checks it was ready to leave. At that moment the camera took a more distant shot, and it then caught two cheeky trams bowling through !! It's a lovely brief moment of trams in SE7. Being 1952, this was the last year of the trams, and the location of Harvey's works was in classic tram territory. Round the corner to the West lay the Central Tram Works where all of London's trams were given major overhauls and repairs - the short turning near the bridge of the Angerstein railway branch line was the works' entrance and it still shows the name Felltram Way to this day. In the other direction a few hundred yards to the east was Penhall Road, where all the trams were taken to be broken up.
Very best wishes to March, and I hope this modest story has been of interest. If it's been mentioned on here before, my apologies ....