Denis Chamberlin

The HAWES CUP was THE trophy the school football teams were battling over when Denis Chamberlin was at Grange Park. Here, he recalls the sweet taste of victory and shows us the winning side. Another highlight of his time at the school was TV star, Jimmy Edwards opening the brand new pool.

Another victorious Hawes Cup winning side - season 1958-59. After beating Yeading in the semi final at Hayes Park School, we played Charville in the final at Warren Park on a warm, early summers evening. With spectators circled around the ground, the game was drawn 1-1.

There were no penalty shoot-outs in those days and the organising committee decided that both schools could hold the cup for six months each. Solid silver medals were presented to all of us at school assembly by the headmaster. As I remember we also won the league that year. Some of the team went on to Mellow Lane School where we won the Hawes (Senior) Cup in 1963-64.

Those pictured are - (left to right - back row) David Grubb, Peter Wood, Alan Pankhurst, Denis Chamberlin, John Muir, Michael Rowley, (middle row) Michael Stretton, Chris Buck, Peter McGuinness, Philip Reardon, Malcolm Southwood, (front row) Raymond Scrimshaw, Eddie Richards, and John Padley.

TV's Jimmy Edwards opens the new swimming pool!
Another famous event I remember is the opening of the school swimming pool. After months of hard saving the project finally got underway and was completed in time for the summer of 1959.
The actor Jimmy Edwards (from BBC TV's'Whack-O') opened the pool one summers evening. He arrived in a vintage car that was towed across the playground to the pool site and I was one of those pulling (or was it braking) him along. Happy days!

See our albums - webmaster The pic on the right shows one of the boys "towing" the car...not Denis in this picture, sadly. But maybe he's one of the boys in the picture below?