10 APRIL 1997 THE ARCHER : 0181-914 7280 LETTERS by Anthony Tuck In Memoriam Dear Sir, Editors Comment: We whole- Those who shop at heartedly agree with you, Sir. Sainsbury in Muswell Hill The Archer team has felt so I will never forget where hadn’t dented sensibilities. ing off the rivers Stour and strongly in the past on the I was nor what I was do- Five of the team killed out- Orwell, it seemed as if all walk in from a clean street shocking state of East ing thirty-nine years ago right, the grim picture of poor Ganges was lined up to watch. and pass well stocked and Finchley’s “heart” that we on 6th February 1958. Matt Busby suffering terri- None of us could have possi- well kept flower beds. The have campaigned to have it On that fateful, bleak win- ble injuries, desperately bly caught a glimpse of Gregg pedestrian crossings are cleaned up, pigeons removed, ter morning, I was a sixteen fighting for his life in an oxy- or Foulkes, but we turned out contoured with good grip flowerbeds replanted - or give year old boy entrant signal- gen tent. to pay our respects to them approach paving. up and have it renamed “Pi- man in the Royal Navy based Reading that my personal both and to the team, espe- By contrast those who shop geon Corner”! Your letter has at HMS Ganges, the ‘stone idol club Captain Roger cially those who had died. at East Finchley do not have inspired us to kick start the frigate’ training ship at Byrne was found laid on the Whenever the anniversary any of these things. The former campaign again and we will be Shotley, Suffolk. tarmac still immaculate in his of the tragedy comes round, I grass area opposite the Bald giving you a call. team blazer looking as if he still remember the sense of Classmate Fred Shaw and Faced Stag now has three con- Dear Sir I had ‘colours’ duty at 0800. had simply gone to sleep, I universal shock at Ganges on crete sections of mains water, desperately fought back my hearing the news and how Re: Parking in East As we reported to the guard- or mains sewage pipes stand- Finchley. house to collect the White tears. It seemed unmanly for deeply it affected us all. ing on end and filled with earth. Last week residents park- Ensign and prepare for the me, a young naval rating, to I remember how truly There are a few tired looking ing notices appeared on the end ceremony, the duty Royal cry. Then I saw our instruc- privileged I am to have seen daffodils. of several roads nearby. One Marine bugler, listening to tor, Chief Yeoman Alfred that wonderful team of young Outside the Post Office appeared on the Fortis Green the radio news, told us, “The ‘Nobby’ Clark BEM DSM - men play. Those who died empty flower beds with only a plane bringing the Manches- he had had been decorated and those who thankfully sur- end of Park Hall Road. single forlorn rose bush in one. For the last twenty five years ter United team home has with the Distinguished Serv- vived and overcame their in- There is a recently erected cy- we have parked our car in Park crashed in Munich!” ice Medal during WWII - juries and played again to lindrical advertising monstros- Hall Road because we live on The news sent a shock with unashamed tears in his great success, Dennis Viollet ity outside Budgens. the side of Fortis Green which wave round Ganges. eyes. and Bobby Charlton who has Worst of all are the pigeons. Heroes Return become English soccer’s does not have a drive way in the United Their droppings are offensive: front of the house. When Harry Gregg and greatest ambassador. Pedestrians are likely to slip on In those days football sup- I remember how it was the So I rang the council to see porters were far less tribal Bill Foulkes, both unscathed the mess. They are also likely first time in my young life how I got one of the required than they are today. We stood and hailed as heroes for their to tread the droppings into that I saw a grown man - a parking permits. I was told I on the terraces together and rescue efforts in the crash, Budgens, with its open food war hero - weep and realise did not need one. When I ex- however partisan about our returned to England by ferry counters. via the Hook of Holland, they that it was alright for me to. plained about the notices which own team - I supported Spurs Why can not Barnet Coun- said I did, I was told we would landed at Parkstone Quay, I still unashamedly shed a cil take action to restore East - we still admired the skills of tear in the undying memory be informed when they were the opposing team’s players, Harwich directly across the Finchley to its former pleasant of those marvelous young ready to use them. especially the fabled ‘Busby river from Shotley. atmosphere instead of allow- I walked down to the fore- footballers whose lives were Is it another case of the right Babes.’ ing it to degenerate further unto hand not knowing what the left shore to see the ferry arrive. so prematurely snuffed out. an unhygienic slum!! The newspaper pictures of My eyes are misting over hand is doing. the plane crash were horrify- Despite the dark and the bit- Jack Davey ter cold Siberian wind blow- as I type. G. Wallace ing - television, in those days, Abbots Gardens, N2. Fortis Green, N2