Roger Penfold

The Club went on tour most Easter holidays and the favoured location was Torquay in Devon. One tour in particular sticks in my mind, the Easter tour in 1965. We all met at The Olde Talbot in Deansway early on the Good Friday and boarded one of Ted Burnham's Charabancs for the journey. The vehicle only had three forward gears, the maximum speed attained was 55 mph and that was downhill with the wind behind us. No motorways, so you can imagine the trip to Devon took a long time. We played three games on tour, the first was on Good Friday, the second on the Saturday and the last game was against Weston-Super-Mare on the Bank holiday Monday.

We stayed in an hotel in Torquay. I remember that on the Saturday evening after having played in the afternoon, copious quantities of beer had been consumed. John Dutson was the star of the evening, dressed as a French Maid, complete with a white apron, a little mop cap and very little else. Later that evening, we were joined by two local Police Officers, who had arrested one of our number, a Scotsman by name Alistair McKelvey. He was charged with a Breach of the Peace; caught playing the bagpipes at the end of Torquay pier and dressed in full Scottish regalia. The Officers were very understanding and having plied them with alcohol said that they would not be pressing charges; they drove back to the Police Station in their Police Panda car, a Ford Prefect. The evenings festivities were brought to a premature close, after Midnight, when we tried to see how many people we could get into the lift and got stuck between floors. The Manager of the hotel had to get out of bed and manually wind us up to the first floor. Needless to say he was not amused.

Following the weekends activities, we were lucky to field a full side for the game against Weston-Super-Mare on the bank holiday Monday. I can't remember the score but I know that we lost. From memory, the charabanc got back to Worcester in the early hours of the Tuesday; we all had to go to work later that morning, but a great time was had by all. A tour never to be forgotten.

Have your own story to tell?

We would be delighted to hear from you. Please either visit our contact page, or email your text and attachments to info@wrfc2021.co.uk

← Back to Personal Stories page