A Substantial Sporting Reputation

From the 1920s through to the 1970s, Whitstable Boys School built a formidable reputation on the sports field. With 400 plus pupils, it was one of the biggest schools in the district and, being a wholly boys establishment, it had a wealth of talent from which to select its football and cricket teams. It also had a whole host of enthusiastic male teachers to do the selecting!

However, it wasn't just the personnel that created the school's sporting traditions. From the late 1920s, Whitstable Boys had access to some excellent facilities at Church Street playing fields. In those days, the field was q swathe of rich green turf lovingly cared for by a full time groundsman. It boasted 5 football pitches, 2 cricket squares, changing rooms, toilet block and store hut.   

So let's take a look at the exploits of some of the school teams. If you can add to the story, please let us know!     

Football Team of the 1920s....

Football Team of 1928/29

By 1928, the school team had ditched the stripes and was wearing kit of a very different style. The photo below has been kindly supplied by Chris Nutten.....

Not only has Chris been able to identify his dad, Frank Nutten, in the photo.... he has also been able to name the entire team! Some of those names come from very well known Whitstable families.

Of course, the shirts aren't the school's familiar "red". So, what were they? Well, the answer comes from Cliff Cuttelle whose father, Charlie Cuttelle, also features in the shot.

Old friendships last a lifetime and that was certainly the case with the team of 1922 as David Smith reports.....  

Football in the Late 1940s

By the late 1940s, the school's football team "managers" were seeing red again. The photo below was kindly forwarded from Timaru (New Zealand) by Brian Bishop and it features the team of 1948/49.... 

Whitstable Boys School Team - 1948/49

The shirts served a dual purpose as they were used by both the school side and, for inter house competitions, by Marlowe House who also deployed "red" as its colour. The design was similar to that used by Puskas and the great Hungarian side of the early 1950s - with the distinctive round necks pulled together by red cord.

Football of 1952/53..... 

Those shirts continued into the next decade - albeit in the form of a fast fading pink! The photo below is one of the most well known of the school's photos from the 1950s.

Thanks to Mr Quinney, (who features on the far left of the back row), we can provide all the names.... and, of course, many will be recognised by our readers. It's certainly a piece of family history for me as my brother (John Taylor) appears third from the right in the front row.  It also shows that the school served local families for generations. You will notice that, like the 1928/29 team photo, the Nutten family is represented.

Mr Quinney has also provided a fascinating news clip about the 1952/53 trophy success. This tells us that the school had failed narrowly to lift the Junior Schools Cup in 1948 and 1950 when they were beaten finalists. However, in 1953, it all came right when they defeated Holy Cross School (Canterbury) 4-1 in a cup final at Church Street playing fields. They were one of seven schools competing in the competition and they reached the final courtesy a 5-0 home win over Herne Bay and a narrow 1-0 triumph at Wincheap.

The cup final started badly with Holy Cross taking a 1-0 lead. However, the Whitstable Boys turned it all around with goals from Newlyn (2), Taylor and Maflin. The reporter described the secret of the team's success as 'better teamwork and stronger kicking'. It was all very technical in those days!.... until, in the same year, a guy called Ferenc Puskas turned up at Wembley in a Hungarian side that deployed a deep lying centre forward and demonstrated that 'strong kicking' wasn't going to be enough in the future!

Despite England's 3-6 humiliation under the twin towers, the '53 school triumph gave rise to a bit of a 'do'.  The Whitstable FC Supporters Club kindly donated individual medals and these were presented on the stage of the old Regal Cinema (now Somerfield's supermarket)... before a packed Thursday night audience. The lads were introduced by cinema manager Mr. C. H. V. Barker. 

It's fascinating to note that the presentation would have taken place shortly after the flood of 1953. The Regal would have been recovering from seawater that submerged the auditorium and the families of some of the players would still have been repairing flood damage to their homes. 

It's also interesting to hear of a 'packed cinema audience' on a Thursday. By the 1960s, the Regal was struggling and, of course, the auditorium eventually gave way to the town's first supermarket (Fine Fare). The balcony gave rise to another 'first' - the town's first Chinese Restaurant (The Jasmine Tree). Of course, the reason behind the demise was the TV set. There were very few TVs in 1953. However, by the 1960s, Whitstable had its first TV rental company (Rentaset) to make home entertainment available to most people. Cinemas were about to take a downturn and we would eventually lose both the Regal and it's arch rival, The Oxford in Oxford Street (now the Oxford Bingo Hall)..

Football of 1953/54..... 

The photo below shows the team of 1953/54 and, again, it is a piece of my family history as my brother appeared in the school team for a second year. Thanks to Phil Page (Ramsgate), we can provide the names of all the team members.... 

Phil has also provided some background information....

Although quite a few players (of both the 1952/53 and 1953/54 teams) did go their separate ways, some remained together to forge a bit of early sporting history for the new Sir William Nottidge Secondary Modern School that opened in Bellevue Road circa 1952 (click here to view). Many also reunited to represent the highly successful Whitstable Old Boys FC amateur club of the 1960s (click here to view)

Football of the Late 1950s......

By the late 1950s, those red shirts had given up the ghost and the school team commandeered the blue shirts of Becket House for inter-school competitions. I can now introduce my own team of the 1959/60 academic year....

This picture was taken at Herne Bay Primary School on the opening day of the season... and we won 12-0. We lifted the league title that year.... but suffered a major upset in the cup semi-final by losing 1-0 to North Preston. The cup was eventually won by a very strong St. Stephens team from Canterbury. 

Much of the sides success was down to the youngster second from the right in the back row - Morris Albert. he seemed to be half a team on his own.

Cricket of 1959/1960... 

Although there are a smattering of football team photos available to us, i have yet to see any pictures of the cricket side. This is a shame because the school also excelled at the summer sport.

For example, in 1959/60, the school won every match.... thanks, in large part, to a young lad who remains one of the best young cricketers ever to emerge from Whitstable. It was, of course, the late and sadly missed Nicky Delo.

In a match at North Preston, Nick top scored with 40+ and then bowled out the Faversham side for just 8 runs. I have a feeling that most of the North Preston total comprised extras as Nick was so fast that the wicketkeeper struggled to keep pace! Against Nick, being "caught" or "lbw" was an achievement in itself.

At the end of the the year, there was a School v Staff match at Church Street playing fields. I was out to some very unsporting bodyline bowling from Mr. Hardy (the music man)! The biggest mismatch of the afternoon came when, kitted out in a tennis skirt, the school secretary (Mrs. Eve) strode out to face "awr Nick". We won... or, rather, Nick did!

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