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

CL

6th out of 9

Sub Cup

1st out of 5 unfinished

FAC

1q

Walton & Hersham

0-11

AC

3q

Redhill

0-5

LC

1st

Maidenhead United

4-7

SSC

1st

Vickers

1-3

LSC

1st

Pinner

3-5

Home
Ground:

Started at Kings College Lavender Avenue,
Mitcham, but then moved to Old Halleyburians

Rugby Club in Ruxley Lane (Now a squash club
and playing fields) starting 10/11/45

Club Colours

White with two blue hoops, blue shorts

President

Stephen King JP

Chairman

H.C. (Charles) Pettett

58-62 High Street Epsom

v-c Phil Parr

Secretary

(Acting)

H.C. (Charles) Pettett

Manager

Selection Committee

Treasurer

Gordon
Brogdale and S.Tingey both join Epsom FC from Epsom Town.

June 45 Mr WS
Basford ex-Secretary, revives the Sutton & District League after the war
with N.Hibbert as Chairman.

22/6/45 Epsom
Town release statement advising that they are unable to use West Street any
more and will be

announcing a
new ground as soon as they get one, but are prepared to become a roving side
if necessary.

They also
announce that they were not a war time club, but a completely separate club
formed prior to the war and

that were
accepted into the Surrey Senior League for season 39/40, playing one game
before the war ended the season.

20/7/45
reported that the club almost have a ground, and that they have entered the
newly formed Corinthian League.

Res in Surrey
Intermediate League, and Pettett will be carrying on as Secretary while
"Bronk" Challis is away with the services.

Bronk Challis
is WH Challis, who played for Epsom in the early 30's.

Also Pettett
responds to Tuck's letter to say that this club is a separate entity and was
definitely accepted into SSL in

May 39 with a
President of Mr Stephen King JP, Chairman Charlie Pettett, v-c Phil Parr,
Secretary "Bronk" Challis, and

a Committee
with such names in it as Reg Marlow and Bill Dayman amongst others. Also
Pettett says he is only a

trustee of
the ground not the club. He says that the club had agreed terms for a
groundshare of sorts with dates advised

and agreed
with the Epsom club. He defends his right to continue throughout the war for
morale purposes, and says

that some 100
services teams were entertained throughout the war from Holland, Belgium and
France, and some Army

sides were
almost all 1st division professionals who gave many sparkling exhibitions. He
said he had been Chairman of

Epsom F.C.
for 18 years (presume up until now?) but had now resigned. He is a joint
second mortgagee on the ground

and one of
the guarantors of the overdraft so is still holding an interest, although he
believes that Albert Tuck is trying to

suggest
otherwise. Also advises that the object for the Trustees was to secure the
West Street ground "for all time"

17/8 reported
Epsom Town AGM (sort of) Apparently Chas Greenfield was on holiday so Harry
Border chaired it.

Due to the
courtesy of London University, they have been offered the use of Kings
College, Lavender Avenue, Mitcham.

Apparently
one of the best dressing rooms and pavilions exist. Also due to their
location, they have become members of

the London
F.A. Apparently 18 players were at the first training on Thurs 9/8/45. Also
hoped that Challis would return.

22/8/45 Walton
FC dissolved and Walton & Hersham FC created.

They keep two
sides this season, one in new Corinthian League, and one in the London
League. Although they say there

will be no
distinction between the strengths, it is the Corinthian one that will be
retained next year, as Walton leave London

League in
1946. Club proud of keeping two sides going throughout the war.

25/8 two
trials at Kings College with 38 players. New names at trials were Kitchenham,
Hunt, Parrish, Gosney.

Old faces
also there Parker, Dowding, Tate, Loye, Weller, Redman, Brown, Williams and
Welshman. Redman is captain this year.

Announced the
team for 1/9/45 v Walton from Brown, Welshman, Williams, Bennett, Redman,
Gosney, Moore, Dowding,

Tate, Loye,
Weller and Lucas. Trial finished Whites (probables) 3-1 Colours (possibles)
with Loye, Parrish and Green scoring

for whites, and Weller for colours.

Aug 45
Jamiesons Sports become West Ewell

1/9/45 Epsom
Town go 1-0 down but recover to win 7-1 against Walton & Hersham. First
match at Kings College.

Walton on top
for first ten minutes with the wind. HT 3-1.

8/9/45
Twickenham are Brentford's nursery side, and included 7 players who had
played for Brentford v Portsmouth the week

before. Epsom
Town still won 2-1. Game was advertised at Lavender Avenue, so Twickenham
appear to have

played both
league games at Epsom Town, although at two different venues. It is believed
that they played their other home

games at
Brentford F.C. this season before leaving the league. They certainly played
some there.

15/9/45 Tate,
Crowther, and Lucas all missing this week. Bennett then pulled a muscle.
Passenger.

22/9/45
Dowding taken to hospital with cracked ribs. 0-3 down at HT but lost 11-0 at
Walton in FAC 1q having had a bye in PR.

Afterwards
moved from Walton Hospital to St James' Hospital in Balham. Still lying in
plaster.

22/9/45 3 hat
tricks for Walton players, Hoyle, Hayes, and Godding this day.

They will go
on to play away v Sutton or Wimbledon in the next round.

29/9/45 Epsom
Town draw with Erith, who were London Senior Cup holders at the time. One
Erith goal was a penalty.

Last game at
Kings College.

6/10/45 Alan
Redman cut head. Returned but couldn't head the ball for fear of further
damage. Slough Express says that

the result was
harsh on Epsom, who didn't deserve a 6-1 loss. HT for Nicholls (W & E).

13/10/45
Record attendance at Merton, who played at Cannon Hill Lane, Merton.

Oct 45 Tate
now appears to be playing for Corinthian Casuals.

20/10/45 H
Loye injured 2nd half. 10 men. Walton & Hersham started very quickly like
in the FA Cup game, but after

8 minutes,
suffered an injury to their keeper, which made the game more even. W & H
still won 2-1 win with ten men.

The keeper
returned near the end as a passenger, but Herbert remained in goal.

24/10/45
Dorking FC meeting at White Horse Hotel discussed reform, and a meeting on
19/11 agree friendlies can be played.

27/10/45 Epsom
Town depart the Amateur Cup 5-3 at Redhill. Weller mispen.

2/11/45
reported that Committee advise that from 10/11/45 they will be moving to a
ground at Ruxley Lane (see above)

17/11/45
Barking send full Athenian League side but lose 2-1 at Ruxley Lane. Barking
Advertiser says it was "a travesty of the

run of
play". Both Epsom Town goals were from breakaways. HT was 2-0 up before
a late penalty for Barking. "Epsom Town

goal keeper
had a field day."

24/11/45
Cook, Dinham, and Dymott all unavailable, so 3 reserves required. Also
Etherton and Thomas were playing for Erith,

but had just
recently played for Charlton Athletic. Did well to lose 2-0.

Nov 45 Roy
Dymott appears to have left Epsom Town to join Epsom FC who he played for on
1/12/45.

24/11/45 Lost
2-0 but Erith Observer says Erith should have won by more.

1/12/45
Vickers arrived late so when the game was 2-2 after 90 minutes, the referee
didn't bother to start extra time.

Ex-player
Fred Stenning scores two for Vickers, and 2 in the replay. This was the first
competitive game at Ruxley Lane.

8/12/45 2
changes from last week's side for visit of Pinner in LSC which is drawn.
Killick made "miraculous" saves for Pinner.

8/12/45 no
extra time was played in this match. Looks like it wasn't meant to be played
in LSC first match anyway, it appears.

According to
Harrow Observer, Forbes scored not Beglan. Game played at Cuckoo Hill. Brown
was the Charlton Ath amateur

keeper says
Harrow Observer. One of the best games seen at Pinner this season.

15/12/45 Could
not see the other end of the ground because of bad light as game was ending.
2-0 up but lost 4-3.

29/12/45
Pitch at Pinner and surrounds completely flooded, yet game was played. Pinner
had recently moved other games

to opponents
venues as a result. Lots of sawdust. Game played at Cuckoo Lane. Lock fell in
the mud after 2 minutes and

was completely
covered! Epsom were 3-1 up just after HT.

29/12/45 Bert
Green scores second goal but injured in process. Passenger. Game also
abandoned after 8 minutes of extra

time through
bad light. Second replay venue decided by toss of coin, which Epsom Town won.
However, they still lost.

5/1/46 Brian
Beglan unavailable as he has to return to Europe with the services. Green and
Redman still injured from the

previous week.
Pinner win 5-3 and now play Ilford in the next round.

12/1/46 Epsom
Town play the same side as the week before except Williams who stood down to
allow Ray Chenery to

play while he
was home on leave. The referee was late for the game and was replaced by Mr
Goodman - Linesman in the first

half. Even
with the late start, Maidenhead had only ten for the first few minutes.
Referee and Linesman had breakdown on the

way from
Slough.

12/1/46 Jack
Lock pulls muscle almost at HT. Passenger 2nd half, and unavailable the
following week. Was able to cross the ball.

19/1/46 Epsom
Town supporters club staged their annual social at the pavilion in Ruxley
Lane. 60 members of the club

were present.
Music provided by Ray Meyers plus quizzes and other bits. Captain Ron Edwards
was the M.C.

Ground at
Ruxley Lane had Pavilion end and Court Avenue ends.

19/1/46 A
"rush" from Gill and Clements took them and the keeper and the ball
into the net for the first goal. Credited OG.

26/1/46 Frank
Rawkins plays in goal for Grays Ath v Epsom Town. Future player. Grays
narrowly win match 4-3.

26/1/46 Match
programme issued by Epsom Town for the visit of Grays Athletic. Prog Y. From
programme it looks as

though this is
a regular matter.

In 26/01/46
programme there is mention of a Supporters Club Social being run on Feb 16th.
There was one on 19th January too,

and they are
organised by Ron Edwards.

2/2/46 Game
marred by heavy wind at Grays. 3,000+ still attended. Grays and Thurrock
Gazette says Epsom were unlucky

to leave the
field without scoring. Brown was excellent.

9/2/46
C.Nicholls had a fractured foot from the previous week. Unavailable, as was
Forbes with flu.

Feb 46
reference to Twickenham playing London Fire Force at Kneller Hall.

Feb 46 papers
advise Tom Grant (Dulwich), Ken Wright (Wimbledon Res), and S Pendrey
(Pinner) all joining Epsom Town.

16/2/46 Walton
had only ten men in the second half due to a cartilage injury. Already 2-0 by
then.

23/2/46 Game
was due to be away but London Fire Force have no ground, so played at Ruxley
Lane.

2/3/46 Every
player caked in mud at Grays after ten minutes. Sleet and snow on pitch. Lost
8-0

Both Welchman
and Priestley were temporarily knocked out after heading the ball, and
Dowding was injured after 80 mins

in a similar
way. 10 men. Horrible day but a good crowd says Grays and Thurrock Gazette.

9/3/46 New
stadium at Slough United. Presume that this was the Dolphin Stadium that they
had left in 1939 due to the

war, but it
could have been at Belfast Avenue, where they moved in 1943 when Slough FC
amalgamated with Slough

Centre, who
played there. Epsom Town's first visit but pitch was suffering badly from the
effects of war time damage.

Attendance
was "well over 5,000" for this match. Slough Observer said "if
not for Brown, it could have been double digits" as

Slough United
played as well as they had ever done previously.

As it was
Epsom's first visit to Slough, they were entertained at a dinner after the
game.

16/3/46 Jack
Lock and Tom Grant are unavailable for this match.

23/3/46 Erith
& B played ten of the eleven who had just played Marine in the Amateur
Cup QF. Drew 2-2 despite having

Simpkins
injured in the first half. Passenger 2nd half.

30/3/46 Large
crowd for the visit of Slough United but lost 3-0. Slough Observer says that
Epsom Town are "not to be confused

with the
better known Epsom team". This Epsom Town are "nothing more than a
good junior side".

6/4/46 Large
crowd for the friendly match at Kingstonian. Houson scores from 35 yards, and
it is 3-3 at half time. Lucas

is injured in
the 2nd half and is a passenger out on the wing, but still scores the
equaliser in a 4-4 draw!

13/4/46 Lucas
already injured during game and then is "grassed rather badly"??
And off field for 10 minutes.

April 46
London Fire Force announce that they have resigned from the Corinthian League
as of the end of the season.

22/4/46
London Fire Force turn up with two players short and minus kit. Epsom Town
lend them some kit and loan two

of their
players Ron Edwards (gk) and Tom Dawson who both play really well. Also Joe
Priestley injured during 1st half and

Epsom Town
lose 3-0. Epsom Town programme says that the injured player was John
Priestley, but I believe this was an error.

Corinthian
League Subsidiary Cup matches played v London Fire Force on 13/4/46 and
22/4/46 were both

played at
Ruxley Lane as LFF had no ground. Results show two 3-1 wins, but one on
22/4/46 was a 3-0 loss.

League table
shows it as a win, but this is wrong and has been amended here.

24/4/46
Corinthian Casuals play last ever match groundsharing at Richmond Road, and
will move to Chiswick Poly next year.

27/4/46 Joe
Priestley, Lucas and Grant all unavailable through injury. 3-2 win over
Grays. Originally a friendly had been

arranged with
Erith and Belvedere (poss Sub Cup?). Maurice Gill injured mid 2nd half. 10
men.

Future Epsom
FC player Frank Rawkins played for Grays v Epsom Town this day.

Following game
supporters staged their last social at the Ruxley Lane pavilion, which was

packed to
capacity. The supporters club then donated £75 to the club which was accepted
by Charlie Pettett, who thanked

everyone for
their support, and said they'd do their best to keep both first and reserve
clubs going.

May 46 West
Molesey OB and Molesey United to merge into Molesey FC

year of
existence it said.

4/5/46 Grant
hits the foot of the post, only to see the ball travel up the post and go
over the top "A phenomena rarely seen"

4/5/46 Epsom
Town's final match is a 1-0 defeat at Maidenhead United.

First ever
Memorial Shield Final is between Grays Athletic and Twickenham. Prog Y.

May 46 The
Subsidiary Cup is never completed according to the book on the Corinthian
League by Mike Wilson.

Friday 17th
May at Reid's Restaurant, part of Reid's Department Store in Ashley Road saw
the Epsom Town

annual
dinner. Councillor and Mrs David Reid, the Mayor and Mayoress were present,
as well as Captain Ron

Edwards,
Arthur Coward (London FA Treasurer), Joe Priestley, and W.E.Kilbourn the
Corinthian League

Secretary.
Jack Crump (AAA Team Manager) proposed at toast to "The Club" and
outlined the club's record, and

reminded
everyone that if it wasn't for Charlie Pettett and the players, there would
have been no first class

amateur
football for 6 years in Epsom. Their efforts "at the request of the
FA" gave workers hours of relaxation

and
entertainment not to mention about 110 games where all top service teams were
entertained. The club

thoroughly
deserved its reputation in top amateur circles, he said.

As a local resident, he thought that
the Borough was not one which could hold two senior clubs, and saw no

reason why
with a bit of give and take and goodwill, the clubs could not get together
and form one of the

strongest
sides in the south. He had followed the news of both clubs and felt that
people were undecided about

watching
football on a laid out ground with stand, or watching a higher level of
football on a temporary ground

with no cover.
He and the Chairman had been pressing the Borough to use a "Borough
Stadium"

and hoped the
ground situation would be resolved soon.

In
responding, Charlie Pettett thanked Mr Crump "for being so blunt",
and had not yet decided whether this was a

challenge or
a compliment. Thanked everyone for their loyalty, especially the committee of
Border, Murrell,

Braime, and White, and also made special
reference to the work of Ron Edwards.

Mayor also
thanked both Charlie Pettett and Alderman GCA Mann, and said that
"everyone in

amateur
soccer knew Charles". He said that every effort would be made to get a
ground available for the Town.

Many ladies
were present at this meeting.

Entertainment
at the meeting was provided by Miss Wynne Gosling, H Breeze, and F Simkins.

29/5/46
reported that there may be a possible amalgamation. Charles Pettett is
"awaiting the intervention of the

mayor"
as he is apparently to act as "the diplomat" between the two clubs.
Clearly there were two problems between

Pettett and
AE Tuck and/or others on the Epsom FC committee. The papers refer
historically to Epsom Town being

because Epsom
FC could only have one team at West Street due to late thirties groundshares
with Ewell & Stoneleigh

and Venner
Sports. Paper says Pettett severed his connection and restarted Epsom Town FC
at Ruxley Lane "who

played in the
Surrey Senior League before the war" This must have been 1939/40 season.
They are technically

correct,
except that they groundshared at West Street for that brief part of 1939/40
and Pettett did not sever his

connections
until late 1939 ish after Epsom Fc had closed down.

Old
Halleyburians are reforming in 46/47 and will have their ground back at
Ruxley Lane, so Epsom Town negotiate

for a site at
Horton Hospital but this is unsuccessful. If request had been granted by
London County Council, the

admission
would have had to be by programme only, "as is the case at
Catford". Epsom council are also being urged

to proceed
with the Borough Stadium at Cherry Orchard, which Epsom Town would hope to
make their home there.

Epsom Town
also hope to be readmitted to the Corinthian League on 27th June.

3/7/46 Epsom
Town have no ground. Charles Pettett is hoping to run a Wanderers team, but
they have had to resign

from the
Corinthian League in the meantime. This was the beginning of the end. An
effort to amalgamate with

Epsom FC
"has failed". There was a meeting, where Jack Crump represented ET
with the power to agree what was

required, but
the Epsom representatives had to report back to a special meeting, where
plans were thrown out,

despite the
Mayor's attendance at the meeting, and the offer from a local resident to
make a ground available for

both reserve
sides to use, if both first teams played at West Street. The papers remarked
on the irony of the fact that

Pettett was
still a trustee of the ground.

Epsom Town were
entered into the FA competitions for 46/47 but never formed.

Reserves:

Surrey Intermediate League

Position

5th out of 10

SIL had
reformed for this season after the war.

Epsom
Advertiser says Carshalton Athletic Reserves join to bring the number of
teams up to 12 but 11 start.

Acc & Tab
started the League but withdrew around xmas time, and Dorking Reserves took
over their fixtures.

Salford
Wanderers played at Earlswood, Redhill

Welsh Guards
usually played at Sandown Park, with occasional games at Imber Court. Game v
ET was at Sandown Park.

RAOC Merstham
also started but withdrew, after playing Epsom twice.

Acc & Tab
had played at Aurelia Road.

Aircraft
Precision played in Beddington Park

8/9/45 Res
play v Devas. Mitcham paper suggests game is "also at Lavender
Avenue", but another report says away.

15/9/45 Res
play at home to RAOC Merstham, despite first XI playing there too. Two
pitches, or just a staggered kick off?

Mitcham News
says it was a 2-4 loss, not 2-3 as stated in Herald. Advertiser also says
2-4. I will amend but check Herald.

29/9/45 Res beat Carshalton Athletic Reserves 6-2 in a
League match. Was this after the first team had played as they were at home
too?

13/10/45 Forbes gets HT v Reigate Priory despite Epsom
being a player short throughout. RP's first home defeat in 3 years in all
comps.

20/10/45 likely game this day in Sutton Hospital Cup 2.
Epsom got through this round as it appears they face Frinton Rovers in round
3.

27/10/45 Reserves get a point at Sandown Park v Welsh
Guards with Simpkins scoring. He was a deputy for Forbes who was assisting
the Firsts.

03/11/45 A
"very fiercely contested game" Epsom win 3-2 at RAOC Merstham.

Reserves were
at the top of the table until a 3-0 loss at Aircraft Precision in Beddington
on 10/11/45

24/11/45
Wimbledon Reserves win 1-0 in a friendly with a goal in the last minute.

1/12/45
Wimbledon Reserves are defeated 4-1 at Plough Lane.

8/12/45 Epsom concede two goals in the opening three
minutes as they are beaten 3-1 at Sutton United in the Surrey Intermediate
Cup. They

were missing
Bond and Gosney but offered stout resistance according to the Epsom
Advertiser.

Paper also
advised that we would be at home to Frinton in the Sutton Cup on 15/12/45 but
we hosted Banstead Hospital in the SIL.

15/12/45
Banstead Hospital win 2-1 but took the lead while Epsom's keeper Hood had
still not arrived!

29/12/45 Epsom Advertiser says match v Guards Depot was
cancelled but I have a result for this day of 5-3 to GD presumably from
Herald.

Jan 46 Acc & Tab withdrew from the League so Dorking
inherited their fixtures starting on 29/12/45. Epsom played Dorking twice
this year.

Dorking were
back at Pixham Lane after being reformed after the war.

5/1/46 Due to
play Salford Wanderers at home this day but fixture switched and we played
the away game instead. Home game

rearranged for
06/04/46.

12/1/46 Epsom
travel to Pixham Lane and win 2-0 at Dorking in an Intermediate League match.

19/1/46 Two
late goals for Banstead Hospital as they win 4-0 in a League match.

Royal Army
Ordnance Corps Merstham withdraw from the league due to the demobilisation of
many players. They had two fixtures

scheduled for
12/01/46 and 19/01/46 v Reigate Priory and Carshalton Athletic but neither
appear to have been played.

23/2/46
friendly with Manor Rovers at Manor Hospital sees four ex-Epsom Town players
playing for Manor.

They were Tom
Ogle, Robson, Williams, and Tommy Rochester.

9/3/46 3-2 up
but lost 7-3 to Worcester Park.

March 46
Reserve players Burke and Owens chosen for Surrey Juniors v Kent in County
QF's. Won 6-0 on 30/3/46.

20/4/46
Reserves are 1-4 down at HT but recover to win 7-6 v Reigate Priory.