"Hey Dad There's No Smoke, But..."

[Greenfinch]

When Mum and Dad got bombed out of London, they decided to move to Hitchin,Mum born in Highbury and an Arsenal fan,Dad Palmers Green and Spurs fan.But they soon became fans of Hitchin Town, and supported them for many years,Mum fainting behind the terraces at one stage because she was so cold, and an ambulance was called.
Meanwhile, this particular Saturday, they decided to drive to Bedford to watch Hitchin,my twin brother and younger sister were to stay at Auntie Muriels at Sharnbrook while they watched the match.This was roughly 1959 and us twins were about 8yrs old, and my sister 4yrs old.The car was a Ford 8, but was prone to getting punctures, and the headlamps failing, so my Dad tied bicycle lamps round the sidelamps in case of emergencies, and 3 spare wheels in the boot.Well, by the time we got to Sharnbrook, all the spare wheels had been used,but he did get to the match,and picked us up with no further punctures,and we set off for home before it got dark.We got to Bedford bridge,and calamity struck,another puncture and no spare,Dad went off to find one, Mum thought we would have to abandon the car and get the Birch bus home,then in the distance there was Dad walking towards us with a wheel in his arms.So we set off,and the next task for the car was getting up Hammer Hill,we were flat out at 50mph and approaching the summit,with the car getting slower and slower,we were told beforehand to look out of the rear window to see if the car was smoking,our little wet noses were pinned to the glass,when my Dad enquired if there was any smoke coming out of the exhaust, "Dad there's no smoke, just a 3ft flame" we got home though,and that was my initiation of becoming a Hitchin fan.

[pudgy]

Fascinating story Greenfinch. I remember the Birch buses, superb cream painted coaches a touch more luxurious than the standard Green Line. We had a decent side in 1958/59, met Millwall in the FA Cup first round at Topfield, Peter Hammond giving us the lead with a clever lob, then hitting the crossbar with a header, before Millwall equalised with a penalty. We lost the replay. Don't think we had floodlights then, but we did have a covered stand on both sides of the pitch. Programmes cost 3d., a folded up piece of foolscap, still have some in the loft.