IT IS great to read of the possible return of Trowbridge Town to Western League football. This for me has brought back many memories of those early post-war days when at this level Trowbridge were then a leading non-league club. There was always great excitement as the Town invariably progressed to the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and from time to time into the first round proper. Over the years well-known league teams came to Frome Road.

One of the most memorable, just after the war, was Brighton and Hove Albion. It was a draw, and probably for the only time we were in the second round draw of the cup.

Victory in the replay was however not to be, no giant killing, with a possible trip up north to play Hartlepool United. There was then none of today’s extensive TV or radio coverage but Doris White who sold the Bath Evening Chronicle from outside the local office at the corner of Manvers Street and Fore Street would always keep us up to date with the latest score from Frome Road!

She later returned in the evening with ‘The Pink Un’. All the league results on the front page with local matches as stop press news at the back. This was eagerly anticipated with Mrs White somewhere in the middle of a large crowd doing her best to keep everyone happy and informed.

For Western League matches there could sometimes be a crowd of up to 2,000, especially if teams such as Chippenham Town, Wells City or Glastonbury were the visitors.

These were the local derbies but if, say, Bath City or Weymouth Town came in the cup there might be virtually a sell-out. Health and safety was not then such an issue. Crushed tight up against the railings on the Dursley Road side of the ground, with a large crowd on the banking, pressing down on you. If you lived locally the way to the ground was on foot and looking back from Cradle Bridge after a match there was still one long line of spectators coming down the length of Mortimer Street.

Come on Trowbridge, bring back the glory days, and hopefully we might again be cheering you on in the Cup.

Stanley H Jones, Horse Road, Hilperton Marsh