Just part of Graham’s collection now in safe storage
15 years ago this month, in the bright sunshine, a Brentford supporter was walking down Ealing Road, with some (of many) A3 folders of Brentford FC memorabilia under his arm. This was only part of Graham’s extensive series of articles he had written for and about the club. He was eagerly looking forward to the final Bees game of that season ( Division Two against Hereford Utd) and he also intended to meet another supporter, Rob Jex, to share the Bees memorabilia with him . Rob had spent many fond hours of discussion with Graham explaining the value of scanning Graham’s treasures and this would have been the first batch to scan in perpetuity. This was typical of Graham’s unselfishness and enthusiasm.
Sadly, within just a few hundred yards of Griffin Park, Graham collapsed.
A short while later, blissfully unaware, I was just commencing the match day commentary alongside Mark Burridge, when a club official tapped me on the shoulder and told me that the emergency services had rushed Graham to West Middlesex Hospital. As I was a close friend of Graham and his family, I handed over the microphone to Mark Burridge and dashed to the hospital. Very sadly, Graham had passed away shortly before I arrived. We then had to break the terrible news to Graham’s wife Janet, and the rest of the family, and friends.
By that evening tributes were flooding in on the Griffin Park Grapevine and one such tribute came from Mark Chapman
markbfc said: ” I think of Brentford as one big family, and we have just lost a very valuable member. His commitment to write for the programme for well over thirty years should not be underestimated, if you tot this up, it’s around 800-900 articles and perhaps just short of a million words written on the Bees since the mid-1970s – truly incredible.
Around that time he used to travel to the local libraries in Hounslow, Richmond, and Ealing to photocopy all the local papers in order to mine them for Brentford-related nuggets of information. I was one of the few that got to view his famous Brentford “shack”, which was a big hut located outside his house, covered in Bees clippings, photos and memorabilia – a real treat.
His crowning glory was co-authoring the book “100 Years of Brentford” for the club’s centenary. The book exudes warmth, written with a real passion and a tome that will not be bettered; even with the Internet age, it remains the first reference point for facts on the club. Graham liked to talk, especially on Brentford, and before the email age my phone bills attested to that! There is no doubt his (and Rob Jex’s) articles in the late 1980s inspired me to be interested in researching the history of our great club and for that alone I can’t thank him enough.
Graham was also very encouraging of the setting up of Bees United, being one of the very first to pay a subscription. I can reveal that he also, anonymously, paid for two youngsters to join up. But perhaps Graham was best known for his prolific and detailed research on the club. In the early 1970’s, with the permission of the then legendary programme editor and club Press Officer, the late Eric White, Graham started a regular feature in the club programme, serialising the club’s history. He not only did this in forensic detail, but he also wrote it in a very entertaining way, bringing in some wonderful anecdotes and turn of phrases. I particularly liked his comment when, after seasons of austerity, the club decided to spend decent fees on new signings:
“The Brentford Manager no longer went into the transfer market with a handful of peanuts,
but with a fistful of dollars!”
And his description of muscular Bees midfielder Terry Hurlock:
“He made tough guy actor John Wayne look like the Sugar Plum Fairy!”
Much of Graham’s work was prior to the Internet. Graham had to carry out most of his earlier research manually. He spent hours, and made long journeys from his Sussex home, to visit local libraries, and to contact and interview old players and past club officials. The articles were brilliant.
Supporters’ Club Chair Peter Pond-Jones and BFC Chair Walter Wheatley (right)
But perhaps the most outstanding revelation was his discovery that our club had, in fact, been founded in 1889, and not 1888, as had previously been thought!
This caused quite a stir at the time, but it enabled the club to put the records straight.
Watch for another article soon with all the detail about the dispute in the early 1970’s, “when were the Bees really founded?”
Often former players and officials would be delighted to be contacted by Graham, and were delighted to learn that they had not been forgotten. One former coach was quite tearful …
Graham also helped Eric White, and one or two others in the club, arrange fund-raising events, and matches for long-serving Brentford FC player testimonials. Alan Nelmes was particularly grateful. And every single thing Graham did for the club was completely voluntary.
Graham, and Eric White, wrote to a professional standard and set the marker for other Brentford fans to turn their hand to writing about the club they love.
They will no doubt be looking down with approval at some of the great work being done by other Brentford supporters, some of whom are now sports writers and publishers.
In next month’s edition, we tell how Graham put off a heart operation so that he could witness promotion, how he helped me enlist the help of the then England Team Manager, and how we landed up speaking to the last Brentford player, before Ivan Toney, to play for England and score for Brentford at Wembley!
Up The Bees!