Drivers Milk Bar near the bus station was a much frequented establishment by myself and other classmates. Also frequented by the aforementioned Eric, the hunchback, who was always on the bot for a cuppa! The owner would keep an eye on proceedings and as soon as your cup or glass was empty he was over to either get you another or kick you out. One learned to keep a centimetre of slops in the vessel at all times.

tp

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) tpdesign@primus.com.au

Current location (optional) www.studiofour.com.au

Downstairs? The Palace. Been closed and padlocked for at least thirty years. Hopefully, it's just like it was inside. We should break in and find out. There was also the Alassio in Cavendish St.

You lads dint know you were boarn!! Coffee bars - down Lawkholme we had to mek do with t'pea and pie shop near t'Vic Park gates in Bradford Rooad - and sometimes t'mint sauce was off!!

They don't sell many pork pies down Lawkholme Lane these days.

Good to see that life (but not as we know it) still exists amongst kbgs old lags - I seem to recollect a strange lighting system in the downstairs coffee bar which had the unfortunate ability to highlight dog hairs and sperm stains - I think everyone I knocked around with made sure they washed their hands before meeting up there. !

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) g.eccleston@ntlworld.com

Surely there are whole piles of scrumptious pork pies sold in Lawkholme Lane before the lads kick off in the current rugby league games. By the way is there anybody out there who saw those those league greats Billy Boston and Tom Van Vollenhoven play against Keighley. The place was packed to the rafters. We are talking early to mid sixties here. By the way our are Pakistani friends watching Keighley rugby league at all.

In the early to mid sixties, the downstairs coffee bar along from Driver's and Speke's the outdoor clothing shop was called the Caprice. Don't know if that was before or after it changed to the Palace. In any case, it was a rite of passage to hang out there after school, in the hope of plucking up the courage to speak to somebody from KGGS.

The only good thing about Keighley Cougars is that you know where every numpty in Keighley is on a Sunday afternoon.

Ah! Tom Van Vollenhoven who ran with such a high leg action that any would be tackler was likely to get a knee in the teeth, and Billy Boston who was like a runaway rhinosceros - two of the greats. I once saw Keighley (not Cougars in those days - won't they please get rid of these appalling Americanisms?) when Mel Smith played on the wing against Wigan, directly opposite Billy Boston. Though Smith was a former northern counties 100 yrds champion he was rather slightly built. Part way through the match the ball was fly kicked and Smith and Boston both went for it. Boston bent to gather the ball but Smith took a fly kick at it, missed and caught Boston full in the face laying him out. It was a tribute to Smith's speed that, though Boston spent the rest of the match trying to get his revenge, Smith managed to keep out of his way. Smith even scored a try by getting the ball on his wing (faced by Boston) and running the width of the field behind his own team, beating the opposing winger and scoring in the wrong corner.
Keighley still lost - so some things don't change then.

Yes - Vollenhoven, Boston and other greats such as Alex Murphy and Mike(?)Sullivan. Saw them all at good old Lawkholme Lane. We had a robust winger - Dave Smith I think - who's tackle usually consisted of a shoulder charge that could knock an opposing winger into the scrattin' shed. Also, a big mean forward by the name of Shreeve - lotsa knuckle in those days - far too soft these days - they should be allowed a bit of biffo, nobody really gets that hurt in a brief punch-up. I agree with the comment re the ridiculous Cougar name - my dad used to say the team's name was The Steam Pigs - anyone else recall that moniker??
Seem to have drifted away from coffee bars a bit.

tp

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) tpdesign@primus.com.au

Current location (optional) www.studiofour.com.au

Terry Hollindrake(sp):pin-up boy,played for England or GB once(?),could be spotted with ladder,bucket,chamois, much the same as Beckham now.Most Rugby League players were window-cleaners. Roy Sabine, fine stand-off for years at Keighley. I saw Billy Boston in the red and white hooped Wigan shirts.Ex KBGS Dave Jeanes played for Keighley League team I believe,or was it Wakefield Trinity?Perhaps both.

If I recall correctly, Dave Jeanes went to Wakefield RUFC. He had a talent that would be spotted for representative rugby with a club like Wakefield. He was spotted by Trinity and played there - and eventually Leeds - and then GB.
My Dad used to refer to KRLFC as the steam pigs. Playing in winter on wet grounds, when the pack got down for what in those days really resembled a scrum, the steam rose from their wet shirts and the whiff of wintergreen reached the back corners of the scratting shed. He also refered to the "forrards" as "footballers' labourers".

Dave Jeanes play rugby union with the then Keighlians before going to Wakefield. He played in the Rugby Leaugue final at Wembley when Don Fox misses a penealty in the final minutes which would have won the game for Wakefield on a pitch that resembled a swimming pool.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) d.r.boddy@btinternet.com

"'e's missed it! 'e's missed it! Poor lad!" as Eddie Waring said.

Alan. To your list of notable KRLFC players we should add "Cuddly" Dudley who was the greatest exponent of the stiff arm tackle that the game has seen.

Can't recall cuddly duddly.Anyone recall Sam Keighley? He played for the Keighlians at fly half.I believe he died very young.Don't know if he attended KBGS.
I seem to remember forwards at the 13 aside game used to basically get the ball,stumble a couple of yards in the mud,fall down...and that was that. I do them an injustice. I once saw Hunslet slam Keighley,topping 60 points,at Lawkholme.

Nowt to do with coffee bars but I recall a Welsh chappie who worked at N.S.F. Apparently he played in the Keighley Wembley team when they got tonked a lot to not so many although I seem to remember someone telling me that there was a dispute about appearance dosh and several of Keighley's better players didn't turn out. Of course this chaps name was .......Taffy Lloyd and a grand chap he was.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) g.eccleston@ntlworld.com

I heard that a classmate of mine, Dave Lightowler who played for the Keighlians for a while, went on to greater things in League - can anyone confirm?

tp

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) tpdesign@primus.com.au

Current location (optional) www.studiofour.com.au

Re: The infamous Rugby League Challenge Cup Final.
My father went to see the final and would regularly tell the tale - it clearly still had a traumatic effect many years later.
According to his version, Keighley had a team consisting of roughly half-and-half Welsh ex-RU players and locals. The club was approached by the Welsh players in the run up to the match demanding an extra bonus payment of they would not play. The club agreed. The locals found out and threatened not to play if the extra bonus was paid.
Whatever the oucome - bonus or not - the two sets of players were so at odds with each other that, in the final, they refused to pass to each other and so Keighley lost.
Whether parochialism attributes the dispute to a Welsh origin, whether the two groups did actually refuse to pass to each other or whether the whole story makes an ingenious excuse for Keighley's defeat I don't know - but it is a good tale.

Re Trevor's posting Nov 7th - Dave Lightowler's entire rugby career was spent in the Union game.
He played over 500 1st team games for Bradford & also had spells @ Skipton,Halifax & Keighley.
He is aware of this site but as yet has not mastered the skills to access it.
Training takes place every Friday night but after 5 or 6 pints of Joshua Tetley's,"ALE"ZHEIMERS sets in & we're back to square one.
Will try again tonight - Watch this space !

TC

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) trevor@advanced-couplings.co.uk

Back to coffee bars - wasn't there a coffee bar called the Alassio, or something of the sort, in Cavendish Street?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

For the benefit of you young fellas------- here is a list of autographs I collected on one sheet in the early 50s. I wonder how many recognise some of the names? J.Mills (capt) Jackie Mills could kick goals from the touchline consistently. E.T. Spillane.(may have been a trainer) F.Barrett. ( I read where Freddie passed away a year or two ago).F.Rule. R. Thatcher.E.Hudson.G.Elias. (George was a big guy who played left wing.)A.Gilson.(or Gibson) Joe Flanagan. (Joe was a long serving player and was very popular).F.Farrar. (Fred was another long server).J.Grace.K. Hoy. R.P. Hulme.P.J. Fell. A McManus. A.Zyhr (?)looks like !Ken Davies.Derek Illigworth.Alf Markham. There are a couple more which I can't decipher. Two well known names missing from that era are Len Ward, who also died not long ago. right wing with a huge sidestep. It was said that it was his loyalty to Keighley which prevented him earning higher honours. The other name missing is Melville de Lloyd. As good a stand off as you would ever see.
The sheet is a bit grubby after nearly 60 years BUT it has survived.There is also F.Winterbottom and from memory he was the trainer.whew.
Geoff Moore was the best ex KBGS player in my time and he went on to play League for Leeds. I think Geoff was the era of Tom Punt so if Tom comes on and sees this he may be able to add more on Geoff. Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

Bill,

Thanks for that 'memory jogger'. I remember most of the Keighley RL players of the early 50's which you list. I attended many of the home matches, standing in the 'scratting shed' with my dad, who had played for Keighley in the 20's. Dad was a 'forrard'. Do you remember a huge gorrilla-like chap called Chris Brereton, prop forward, who came to Keighley from Leeds? I recall seeing him at Wembley in 1947 playing in the Cup Final against Bradford Northern. He spent most of his time just lumbering about the pitch. Elias, a welshman, I recall very well. He was what my dad called 'splather footed' and Mills, who used to engage in kicking competitions with the opposing full backs. Isn't the game different today?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45 -50

Current location (optional) Norfolk UK

What a memory-jerker. I remember Chris Brereton, usually played with "8" on his shirt. The other prop during my spell on the terraces was Britton. Brereton was a very effective distributor of the ball. Standing still, he would offer it to the opposition, dummy in both directions and eventually pass when he had drawn sufficient of the opposition. My dad said he was a gentleman which was borne out to my satisfaction one Saturday. After the game, I caught him coming out of the changing rooms and asked for his autograph. I was most impressed by his off-the-field appearance - camel hair coat, gold rings on his fingers, "posh" voice - and if I remember correctly, a monocle.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Nice try Shaun to get the thread back on track.
If contributors wish to change the subject why not start a new thread?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1959-64

Current location (optional) Keighley

Yes Bill (and Denis) - thanks for those memories. I remember being at the last game Jack Mills played - can't have been later than 1951. The ET Spillane you mention, Bill, must have been the legendary Ted Spillane who, if memory serves me right, played at stand-off in the late '30s. My dad used to say that so popular and good a player was he that if there had been any doubt about his fitness to play in any given week, bill-board men were sent around Keighley on Saturday morning to confirm that he was fit and would be playing. I seem to recall he came to Keighley from Wigan.

Chris Brereton and Mel De Lloyd (a Warrington reject when they were the best team in the League) really came together the season that the already-ageing Dai Jenkins was signed (I think from Leeds) as scrum-half. In just that one season - possibly '52 or '53 - they mesmerised all opposition with their back passes, scissor-movements, dummies, all 'the tricks of the trade'. The season started badly with several defeats but then they launched into the longest-running period in any season without defeat and finished about eighth in the League. I saw them slaughter Bradford Northern at Odsal and they even drew with Wigan at Lawkholme. They were brilliant.

Bill, the Davies you refer to was, I think, Ivor Davies, a forward, usually a prop, who played for certainly the first half of the fifties (the years seemed longer then, somehow!). Terry, was not Britton the hooker who replaced Pritchard who was transferred to Huddersfield (also fielding one of the most glamorous, Aussie-studded, teams in the League)? Thatcher was a centre (along with Martin Creaney who partnered Len Ward) who transferred to Dewsbury but long continued to train with Keighley on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Sorry for 'going-on' but that's stuff I've not thought about in years!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Local lads in and out of the side were - Ernie Redman (stand-off) - who lived next door to the Eastwood Tavern - and "forrard" Jim Bargett - who could be seen in the week working for the local council as a labourer - probably good preparation for the match. Derek Hallas, who joined Keighley, worked on the shop floor with my dad at John Smith Cranes. He later transferred to Leeds and had representative honours for GB. I have to bow to your superior knowledge of the Keighley "steam pigs", Doug, because I think you lived about 5 yards closer to the Lawkholme Mecca than I did.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Well we seem to have swung right away from coffee bars but as there is a lot of interest I guess we'll keep going.
I well remember Chris Brereton-huge shaggy guy with long hair always over his face. Almost as big as Frank Whitcombe the Bradford Northern prop who was almost as big as the Airedale Heifer, the beast which had a pub named after it and which Frank Whitcombe took over when he retired.
I had forgotten Ernie Redman and Derek Hallas but I can recall their faces now I have been reminded.Jack Mills took his own life later on, in his home town/city of York when he "fell" in front of a train.I remember when George Elias retired we signed Bill Ivill who had the biggest thighs I had ever seen at that early time in my life.Scratting shed-I haven't heard that exprssion for many years. Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

Had no idea, Bill, that Jackie Mills had ended in that way. What a coincidence that you should mention him almost in the same breath as Ernie Redman, who also took his own life. Bill Ivill - yes, a very good centre three-quarter he was too (though also often on the wing). It was about that time too that Terry Holindrake came on the scene wasn't it?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Doug,

Sorry to alter your posting.

It was ERIC Redman (Eastwood School) who took his own life.

I spoke with Ernie Redman In Keighley Town Centre a week ago.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 50 - 55

Current location (optional) KEIGHLEY

I realise weve gone off thread here but Bill mentioned Freddie Barrett. As I visited my father (88) last night I asked him about Fred because I knew he was one of Dad's mates.
Dad played amateur rugby league with Fred in the two seasons leading up to the war for a team called Victoria Park. They were unbeaten in those two seasons, and Dad still has a couple of cups form that time (Shaun has seen them I think). Fred, Dad and a third team member (he told me the name last night but I've forgotten) were offered trials with Keighley RLFC, but only Freddie actually went. At that time Dad was well into an apprenticeship at Dean Smith and Grace, and I suspect didn't want rugby to impinge on his work. He worked there until he retired in 1983 (47 years service). He still has a photo of the team and thinks that there is just himself and a guy called Rowe still living. He confirms Fred did pass away a couple of years ago.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re your dad, Brian. When I was last home a couple of years ago, I saw his photo on the sideboard at my cousins house in Westburn Ave. They play/played in the same bowls team. Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

Derek, thanks for the double correction. I've lived fifty years believing it was Ernie who had died and that Eric (whom, as you know, I knew well enough) must still be alive somewhere!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Thanks for that Bill, yes , it will be Lund Park Veterans Team. Dad has still been playing this season at age 88. I think he has he same photo.
It's odd to think that a couple of them on the photo are only a year or two older than me ! Veterans indeed !

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

That's right Brian. My cousin Malcolm Walsh, also KBGS, is 72.Make you feel old eh?
I like the slogan-you don't stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing.Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ