Newton Spurs in the 1960s

I'm glad you'd "grown out of that" by the time I played there Dave as you'd have been around fourteen by then! ;D

Yes that bath, we had a joker at the club called Stuart Shaw (one of those Geordies who came from Crook Town)who used to "play up a bit" if he got subbed and I can remember coming in at the final whistle once to finding a bite being taken out of every after match pasty, another to a certain person's trouser bottoms being cut off, shoe laces going missing and the piece de resistance; the ruddy plug being stolen from the bath! Friggin' cnut!!!!!!!!!!

There WAS a dedicated player's entrance into the dressing rooms, but when I played there if you used it you would have to do battle with the stinging nettles outside and then squeeze past all the empty beer barrels and crates of old beer bottles.

Taking a closer look at the racecourse too, one can see the new "cheap ring" stand newly constructed alongside the old (and now replaced) wooden grandstand in the Tattersall's Enclosure.

There's a marvellous photograph of that old stand in Tescos accross the road from the racecourse (or at least there was the last time I was in there) taken in Edwardian times when it seems it was compulsory for everyone who attend to wear a hat!

This is a marvellous thread about the recreation ground in Newton Abbot. It’s just a shame that some of the images have disappeared. Jon and I were discussing this site’s reliance on links to Photobucket and similar sites the other day. We agreed it’s sadly inevitable that we’ll eventually lose images for a variety of reasons. Passage of time, accidental deletions, etc, etc. I better apologise in advance if I ever suffer such a mishap.

Anyway I was in Newton Abbot during the week. The gates of The Rec were open. I ventured in. It would have been rude not to have taken the opportunity:

I've been lent a couple of scrapbooks and memorabilia, including programmes, match reports and photographs, by a player who turned out for Newton Spurs in the early sixties, so may scan some of it to go here if there is interest. There is way too much for one go, so it would be done over a few months...

Thank you, Jon, for the map indicating the walk between Ivor Dewdney's Newton Abbot branch and The Rec.

Strangely enough it's a path I took only last Tuesday. There are seats along the way, next to the river, where you can rest and enjoy your pasty.

What Newton Abbot has that Exeter lacks.

The list is endless...

  I spoke to one of the local SDCC players -Dave Webber - on Friday night and decided against having a conversation with him about the dismissals of both Basil D'oliveira and Merv Kitchen for the fear of still being there talking to him about it today.

 Fascinating stuff. 

Interesting looking at that cricket fixture line up and blimey making me feel old as played a few times against Dave Webber, Joey Oliver and Chris Hunt. Despite being a Newton lad I didn't enjoy it at the Rec when I went as a youngster in training and went out to Bovey Tracey instead and played for them for several years. Dave Webber was my form teacher too and didn't like me not playing for them and had to laugh when Bovey took South Devons place in the Devon league.
South Devon have had a horrific couple of years and are at the lowest league level they have ever been, playing league matches with sides they wouldn't even have had a sunday friendly with back in that scorecards era.