C O M M E N T S
/  H I G H L I G H T S

SEC

9th out of 9

FAC

No competition

AC

No competition

LC

Tooting & Mitcham Utd

0-8

SSC

No competition

Mr H.C. Pettett
(Charlie) Hon. Secretary of Epsom Town F.C.

Home
Ground:

West Street, Ewell

Club
Colours

Blue and White

Woking left
League and were replaced by London Fire Force, who were sharing with Dulwich.

10/7/42
reported that Geoff Collins was reported missing, presumed killed in the
Middle East. Had a

promising future, and was already up to 106 appearances
for Epsom. He had attracted the attention of several first

class league clubs, but preferred to remain an amateur.
Worked at the Joint Electrical Authority in Dorking before

the war, and
was a former pupil at Epsom County School for Boys.

It transpires
that Geoff is now buried in Libya.

In September 2022 John Collins gets in touch with
information about Geoff who was his uncle, and Jackie who was his

father. Geoff was buried in a shared grave in Libya
Knightsbridge Cemetery as he was in a tank that was blown up. His

middle name was Guy which was his mother's maiden name. He
was born on 28th June 1916 and was killed on 12/06/42.

July 42
Charles Pettett elected as a member of the Executive Council of the Surrey
Branch of the Chartered

Surveyors
Institution.

Aug 42 Epsom
FC Club President Arthur W Turner becomes manager of Tottenham Hotspur! He
had been

Club Secretary
for many years, and would complete 43 years service before his death in 1949.
Manager 42-46.

During his time, he signed Bill Nicholson, and was
"an unsung Tottenham legend" according to the official website.

Had previously
come from an accountancy background.

Aug 42 Sutton & Cheam Hospital Cup is running, and
Epsom will enter their reserves again for the Junior section.

Sec WA Breeze
16 Haslam Avenue, Sutton Tel. Fairlands 9213.

Aug 42 Epsom
Town announce 5 home games to start the season. AA Signals, Irish Guards,
Royal Corps of

Signals, Welsh
Guards and Dulwich Hamlet.

29/8/42
supposed start date of season.

Sept 42
Reference to DWG Jones being Headmaster of Ewell Boys School for 20 years
now. In 1939 it became

only a junior
school, and seniors including Roy Marlow, were transferred to the new school
in Ruxley Lane.

12/9/42 J
Youdale, Cecil (CB) Weller and "Watkins" (prob HV Watkins) playing
for Leatherhead Rose v RAF.

Cecil Weller
would score 50 goals in under 30 games this year, while Watkins would also
play for Goblin Sports

in later years.

26/9/42 Opened
season against Royal Corps of Signals (London Command). 4 regulars were on
duty, so

Chenery,
Bewlay, Cook and Skelton came in. Les Rolls played well as Epsom won 2-1 HT
2-0. After the game,

the Signals
were entertained to tea as is the usual compliment with Forces teams.

3/10/42 Irish Guards sent 11 well known pros including
Pearson (Derby g/k), Roberts (Bolton), and Halford (Derby)

"A goodly
crowd" saw Pearson play well as Epsom could have been 2 or 3 up in the
first ten minutes. Roberts

got a HT for
the Irish Guards. HT 1-5 but Ruffell and Collins reduced arrears before the
visitors pulled away to

win 7-4. 2
goals for J Skelton (could be Skilton, papers vary constantly on this).

10/10/42
Jackie Pullen unable to get away at last minute for Dulwich game, so F Corby
came in and Georgie

Brown moved to left half. Bad first 5 minutes saw Epsom
1-0 down, but Collins levelled it up. Burke played "on top

of his
form" as Epsom went 2-1 up. HT 2-2. Former player Gillespie scored
against Epsom for Dulwich - 4-2.

Epsom pulled
it back to 4-3 with one of Williams' "unstoppables" and the crowd
got quite enthusiastic, but

Dulwich pulled
away for a 6-3 win. Dicks HT for Dulwich.

17/10/42 Epsom
only had ten men throughout, but defeated A.A.Signals 8-1 anyway. In the
second half, a

new formation
was tried with 6 forwards and "goals came with unfailing
regularity".

24/10/42 Full
Welsh Guards team visited with exception of their Welsh International keeper
Poland of Liverpool,

who was playing
for Wales v England at Wolverhampton. Best known player was Bassett the
Cardiff

and Welsh centre half. The Guards also arrived one jersey
short and had one other that was blue with a white 'V'

on it, which
confused Epsom who also played in blue. Guards were 2-0 up at HT inc penalty
from Bassett

after Ogle had
made a fine two handed save with the keeper beaten. Williams scored, then
Brown was fouled

and Williams'
penalty made it 2-2, but then the Guards got two more through Clark (Walsall)
who was wearing

the blue shirt,
and was passed to twice by Epsom players. L 2-4.

31/10/42
Dulwich win again and coped much better with the heavy ground than the
heavier built Epsom players.

Players were
missing again due to injuries, but the reserves did well. Bishop HT for
Dulwich, and Leader for

Epsom was injured after 50 minutes. 10 men. Near the end a
Dulwich player also suffered a nasty injury, and both

teams finished
short.

Nov 42 former
Epsom and Redhill player H.W. "Mick" Colwell playing for Tooting
& Mitcham briefly this season.

7/11/42 Was
there any first team game? Definitely not any competitive one.

14/11/42 A
strong Army side was expected,  with
many big names listed including James (Chelsea), Dell (West

Ham), Cull
(Mansfield), Mee (Notts F) Was this Bertie Mee?, and Scott (Ipswich g/k).
However, Epsom won 6-2,

and it is not
clear how many of these played in the end.

Bertie Mee was
born in Nottingham but according to wikipedia only played for Derby and
Mansfield.

However, he
was only 24 at this point and was in the Royal Army Medical Corps, making
guest appearances

also for
Southampton. However, his older brother Georgie Mee played for Notts County
so it could

have been him.
However, the elder Mee would have been 42 by the time of this game having
retired four years

previously
after a spell at Accrington Stanley amongst others. It was almost certainly
one of these two.

21/11/42 HH
Bridge and W Ridgers played for Sutton v Epsom Town. Both ex-Epsom wartime
players.

G.Cumberlidge
joins from Tooting & M, and makes debut v Sutton. Epsom 3-0 down against
Sutton after

5 minutes
before replying in a goalmouth melee where woodwork was struck many times
first!

F Jones also
played his last game this season on leave from the RAF. Vaughan HT for
Sutton. Rolls, Jones,

and
G.Cumberlidge also played well.

28/11/42 Epsom
got a 1-1 draw with last year's champs Erith & B, and were actually
leading with 4 minutes left.

Rolls played
well again, but new c/f Macabe missed two easy goals. 8 of last years Erith
side played.

5/12/42
Another HT for Charlie Vaughan against Epsom, who were 6-1 down before making
the score 6-3.

12/12/42 No
game for first XI.

19/12/42 Epsom
were 2-0 up at HT but lost 5-2 to Walton. Red Cross POW collection raised £2
1s 7d.

Parker got HT
for Walton.

2/1/43 Army XI
(H) Lost 2-3 but only 2 of regular first XI played for Epsom.

9/1/43 Missing
Burke and Williams Epsom put up a good fight, and only lose 6-4 to Tooting
& Mitcham, and

missed other
chances. T & M said it was the best game they had taken part in that
season.

Epsom were 6-2
down before 2 late goals from Barnes makes the score closer.

Cook (inside right) scored our first goal to put us ahead
but were 3-1 down at HT. We went 4-1 down before Judge

pulled a goal back before T&M got two more, the first
of which was a penalty but Barnes (outside right) "scored a

grand
goal" for us and Barnes then intercepted a back pass to score our fourth
and his second.

16/1/43 Epsom
lose 4-1 at home to Bromley. Reported in Bromley Times and not mentioned in
Epsom Herald.

16/1/43 Epsom
& Ewell NFS v Sutton NFS at West Street. 5-1 to Sutton not E&E as I
had originally. Sutton

Advertiser
provides their scorers.

23/1/43 Was
there any first team game? Definitely not any competitive one.

30/1/43 Epsom
Town "were on the defensive right from the start". Keeper J Burke
saved Epsom from a rout, as

Tooting &
Mitcham won 8-0 in the League Cup 1st round. HT 0-4.

Feb 43 A
"regular reader" who wished to remain anonymous wrote in to praise
Charlie Pettett's "valiant efforts"

to keep
football going in the area. A welcome diversion to the worries and stress
that comes to all in war time.

Apparently he
is always encouraging players from the side lines, despite some heavy
defeats.

6/2/43 Epsom
Town lose 8-0 at Met Police. Result advised by Daily News / News Chronicle.

13/2/43 Future
player coach Pat Lynch plays for Tufnell Park in 8-0 defeat by Tooting &
Mitcham in LSC.

Game was
played at Claremont Road, which Tufnell Park were sharing with Golders Green
since they lost their

ground in Sept
39. It might explain how Pat Lynch ended up at Hendon.

13/2/43 Epsom
arrive 30 minutes late and are hammered 14-1 by Erith & Belvedere. No
report - just as well!

Lew Bedford got
6 for Erith.

20/2/43 First
home match for first team in 3 weeks v Army Pay Corps. It was one of the
fastest games seen on

this ground for some time. W4-1. All injuries are sorted
now, and full strength side won 4-1, but this was harsh on

RAPC whose only
fault was to be a bit over elaborate. Stan Davies playing his first home game
scored. HT 2-1.

27/2/43 London
Fire Force win 3-1 at Epsom. New centre forward Les Dowding gave a "very
fine display".

It appears that
LFF had eleven well known players all from Isthmian and Athenian clubs.

6/3/43 Was
there any first team game? Definitely not any competitive one.

13/3/43 HT 0-3
v Walton, but Epsom fought back with their left winger scoring two, either
side of a penalty miss

(SAVE) by a
back. All Walton's goals were headers.

20/3/43
Provisional match (H) v Royal Navy but no report.

27/3/43
Friendly at home to Epsom & Ewell N.F.S. (National Fire Service) in aid
of the London Fire Service

Benevolent
Fund (Orphans Adoption Scheme). Epsom Town won 3-0 but no scorers are
advised. HT 1-0

3/4/43 Epsom
Town lose 5-2 at London Fire Force. Result advised by Daily News / News
Chronicle.

10/4/43 Last
home league game v Met Police (H) Their side only varied by four players from
the side that had

beaten Epsom
recently at Imber Court, but Epsom won this game 5-1 which was Met's heaviest
defeat of the

year. Roy Dymott was home on leave and played, while Ford
and Russell changed places in 2nd half. Brown was

the best player
on the field.

10/4/43 South Eastern Combination play a representative
match v Herts & Middlesex League at Dulwich winning 2-1.

17/4/43 Tooting & Mitcham become Champions of the
League this day following their 7-2 win at Dulwich Hamlet.

17/4/43 Epsom
lose 5-1 at Bromley. Reported in Bromley Times and not mentioned in Epsom
Herald.

Apr 43 S.Tingey
playing for Tooting & Mitcham Reserves.

24/4/43 Final
league match of season at Tooting & M - lost 4-0 with the home side
attacking throughout.

26/4/43 Final
of the Leatherhead Hospital Shield at West Street 11am. Leatherhead Rose beat

R.A.M.C. Banstead 5-4 (Herald wrongly says 5-3).
Previously at Pixham Lane, and Ashtead FC. (Woodside Road)

1/5/43 Leatherhead Rose brought the same team that won the
Leatherhead Hospital Shield, but Epsom won 8-3.

8/5/43 League
cup final Tooting & M 2-1 Met Police @ Tooting & M. HT 2-1.

May 43 Reference
to Stone's Athletic Ground, East Street. Also referred to in 1932 papers.

Reserves:

No League entered

SHC

SF

Reigate Priory

1-2

LHS

Tooting & M
won both league & cup this year

SHC 1 (H) to
Phillips sports by 12/12/42 with the winners at home to Benhams or Wandgas in
QF.

As it turns out
the first round is a walkover and we will play Benhams in the next round.

31/10/42 Res
lost 7-4 to "a clever Army side, who fielded one or two old pros"
which taught Epsom a lesson.

7/11/42 Friendly against last year's Balham & District
League Premier Division Champs Fairlight Athletic. 1-2 down at

HT but we
equalised after 55 and a penalty then put us ahead before a late Fairlight
goal made it 3-3.

28/11/42
Another friendly at Kings College, Mitcham but Fairlight won 7-0 this time.
HT 2-0.

23/1/43 Res at
home for first time since 5/12/42 and played Reigate Priory, who were a
little late, and two short,

so Epsom
loaned them two players including Stan Davies who had arrived late. Then
Maynard was injured for

Epsom. 10 men.
Davies scored both goals for Reigate Priory. Williams played well in goal.

30/1/43 Res
beat Benhams 2-0 in Sutton Hospital Cup. Reserves are current holders say
Herald.

6/2/43 Friendly loss 2-3 at home to Long Grove Home Guard
but the main headline was the injury to L.Cairns who sustained

two cracked
ribs and internal bruising and was detained at hospital for a couple of days.

13/2/43 Res
defeat TMA 3-2 in friendly probably.

6/3/43
Provisional match v RAMC in SF of Leatherhead Hospital Cup, but no
report.

27/3/43
Charity match for London Fire Service Benevolent Fund (orphans adoption
service) at West Street.

NFS thanked
Charlie Pettett for organising it. Res won 3-0

15 year old
Gordon Cairns gave "a brilliant display"

3/4/43 Better
side lost to the much heavier Reigate Priory side. Their goals scored by
Latham and Howick.

17/4/43
Ravenstone failed to appear so Reserves had no game.

8/5/43 Mixed
reserve game with a few first teamers v Quicktho, who had won Balham League
Division 1 quite

easily, and
led 3-2 at HT, but Epsom won 7-3 in the end. Quicktho's last ever game it
appears, as they never

took their place
in the Balham League the following season.

22/7/42 Train
derailed at Epsom Station at 11pm. Bus service required to Ewell East the
next day.