Published: 11/02/2009 00:00 -
Updated: 29/01/2010 12:34
The internet is a funny old thing! I wonder in its endless recesses how much stuff is available to view in this limitless media.
I was aware after years of trawling through Shrovetide Football related leads that the only cine films of our ancient games historic past were available to be viewed in still form on the British Pathe website.
Among its treasures were stills of the ball being unhooked in The Green Man and presented to Sir George Kenning on Shrove Tuesday 1954, and some great scenes of Ashbourne stalwarts in a colour selection from 1963, showing the ball maker Percy Chadwick and painter Jack Roberts.
I was led quite by chance to the MACE archives on a completely different matter totally un-Shrovetide related, when it occured to me what may happen if I put in shrovetide on MACE's search engine.
Safe to say I was stunned when five old films , all able to be watched in preview format, appeared!
The first is views of the game in 1926, depicting the ball being turned up on the grassy knoll on Shaw Croft, then a field, and some energetic water play with the ball being hurled about by very few players an evident one being the late Charlie Sowter.
The next is Shrove Tuesday 1960 with the ball being turned up by Derbyshire CC captain Donald Carr, some more play in the river and street against the shuttering of the old WH Smith shop! The late Don Lowndes is seen in the thick of things.
Next is 1964, but as there is no turn up only street play in Compton I'm unsure to which day it is.
Some players scaling a road sign and the top of a wall in the bus station is a classic!
Then comes the turn up of Sam Longson on Shrove Tuesday 1967. The first of three balls turned up in one day, and the last time it was done. Shots of the hug entering the river and some water play below the old back bridge follow.
I suppose the only piece of film that was taken in my lifetime is the only one to be viewed in colour and with sound is the ATV Today coverage of Don Lowndes turning up the ball on Ash Wednesday 1974.
It is amazing to see Don, flanked by the late Jimmy Grant and Colin LeGrice, kiss the leather and send it high in the air, with the Shaw Croft flats, then still under construction in the background.
The river scenes follow with a shot of Chris Tarrant, then an ATV reporter descending the bank complaining to join the hug.
I clearly recall Ian Bates, who goaled that ball, recalling Chris Tarrant coming to cover the game in his luncheon speech when he turned up the leather in 1990.
Ian recalled how he had seen Chris Tarrant interviewing Don on the fishpond meadow, stopped his van and jokingly said to Don "that's a nice ball Don, I'm going to goal that tomorrow!" many a true word said in jest, and Ian did exactly that!
There is a link on the Ashbourne News Telegraph Website to these previews and I hope you get as much thrill as I did watching just this glimpse of the past!
I was aware after years of trawling through Shrovetide Football related leads that the only cine films of our ancient games historic past were available to be viewed in still form on the British Pathe website.
Among its treasures were stills of the ball being unhooked in The Green Man and presented to Sir George Kenning on Shrove Tuesday 1954, and some great scenes of Ashbourne stalwarts in a colour selection from 1963, showing the ball maker Percy Chadwick and painter Jack Roberts.
I was led quite by chance to the MACE archives on a completely different matter totally un-Shrovetide related, when it occured to me what may happen if I put in shrovetide on MACE's search engine.
Safe to say I was stunned when five old films , all able to be watched in preview format, appeared!
The first is views of the game in 1926, depicting the ball being turned up on the grassy knoll on Shaw Croft, then a field, and some energetic water play with the ball being hurled about by very few players an evident one being the late Charlie Sowter.
The next is Shrove Tuesday 1960 with the ball being turned up by Derbyshire CC captain Donald Carr, some more play in the river and street against the shuttering of the old WH Smith shop! The late Don Lowndes is seen in the thick of things.
Next is 1964, but as there is no turn up only street play in Compton I'm unsure to which day it is.
Some players scaling a road sign and the top of a wall in the bus station is a classic!
Then comes the turn up of Sam Longson on Shrove Tuesday 1967. The first of three balls turned up in one day, and the last time it was done. Shots of the hug entering the river and some water play below the old back bridge follow.
I suppose the only piece of film that was taken in my lifetime is the only one to be viewed in colour and with sound is the ATV Today coverage of Don Lowndes turning up the ball on Ash Wednesday 1974.
It is amazing to see Don, flanked by the late Jimmy Grant and Colin LeGrice, kiss the leather and send it high in the air, with the Shaw Croft flats, then still under construction in the background.
The river scenes follow with a shot of Chris Tarrant, then an ATV reporter descending the bank complaining to join the hug.
I clearly recall Ian Bates, who goaled that ball, recalling Chris Tarrant coming to cover the game in his luncheon speech when he turned up the leather in 1990.
Ian recalled how he had seen Chris Tarrant interviewing Don on the fishpond meadow, stopped his van and jokingly said to Don "that's a nice ball Don, I'm going to goal that tomorrow!" many a true word said in jest, and Ian did exactly that!
There is a link on the Ashbourne News Telegraph Website to these previews and I hope you get as much thrill as I did watching just this glimpse of the past!
