In the first of a three-part series, former First XV captain, John Cook, who joined in 1965, takes a stroll down memory lane as he explains the way the club is run has evolved in the past six decades.

He notes: “I’m grateful to my cousin Rodney Huggins, and also to John Taylor and Richard Garland, for helping with their recollections of the club in 1965.

My apologies too to the visitor who fell into our cesspit around that time – he wasn’t from Old Creightonians as I wrote previously, but from Pennanians.

It may be hard for current members to understand, but in the 1960s the club was largely run by the players.

This is because the non-playing support amounted to wives, girlfriends, less than a handful of other supporters and a dog.

The dog was a fine and protective Great Dane belonging to vice-captain Tom Bucknell.

The previous year this dog had spotted Tom being reprimanded by a referee – its reaction led to the following complaint from the Referees Society: “I have a complaint from one of our referees...it appears during the game he was savaged by a dog belonging to a spectator, the resulting injury to his arm requiring medical attention (and stitching). From hearsay, I learn this is not an isolated incident concerning this dog.“

The small body of supporters included Gwyn Francis, who had played a few games for the club in 1925-26 and became President in 1966, and RW ‘Tom’ Thomas, who played in the 1930s, retired aged 52 and became the one regular touchline supporter.

The result was that for the club to exist meant it being largely run by the players.

The jobs of the three captains began on a Monday evening when they would meet with the team secretary to pick the sides.

They then sent out cards, posted that evening, advising players of their team and arrival time.

By Friday, with a fair wind, most players would have contacted the team secretary who was Clive Rowden, Ashley’s dad. After a good playing career, Clive was now second-team vice- captain.

The next job of the senior home captain was to pick up the food on Saturday morning.

This had been bought during the week by Frank Jenner who lived in Edinburgh Road, near to Reading West Station.

Frank generally came to games, but he never owned a car, hence the Saturday morning visits.

The club had a caretaker who lived with his fierce Alsatian dog in a caravan on the golf club boundary.

His job was to light the coke boiler, but sometimes it would go out.

The second job of a captain on Saturday was to check the boiler and to re-light it if necessary.

The final job was to check the lines on the pitch and sometimes to re-mark them.

Pitch marking was the job of vice-captains, but some were more reliable than others!

Part Two tomorrow explores how the players used to run the bar!