Torquay United Supporters Club in the '60s

That looks a great treasure and I must confess I have never seen one before, are you hoping that someone will be able to find the missing one for you? I do hope one can be found to make yours complete.

Seeing this supporters club badge takes me back to my first year at secondary school - 1967/68 - when a lad in my year turned up one day with one of these (with several years of membership clearly evident) pinned to his blazer. It was an object of some desire amongst us and - indeed - a fair degree of speculation given his lack of form as a Torquay United supporter. It's a sad little story because it had been given to him and - even at the time - it was pretty clear that he, who as an individual was often bullied, was wearing it to school to win a bit of kudos. I remember him leaving our school soon afterwards to move elsewhere. I hope I'm wrong about this and that he retained an interest in the club for a long time afterwards.

All in all, that first year at the grammar school played a big part in consolidating and deepening my interest in TUFC. Admittedly it was a special season but my interest changed from being rather lukewarm in the summer of 1967 - I doubt we ever considered going to Brisbane Road rather than White Hart Lane that August afternoon - to being far more committed. By the end of the season I was putting pressure on my father to take me to an away game and, indeed, my first venture was to that game at Reading in May 1968.