Charles Bannerman

The first few programmes were like that. It appears that the new board were not very organised in that department and requested the jounalistic talents of 'Dots' and your pal, a certain Mr L. Cannon :015: Mr. L. Cannon?? :symbol_question: By the way I think John McGinlay played for Bolton that night. I also think it was just before that game that the Rebels painted the gents' urinals (sorry... tautology... I've never seen ladies' urinals!) black and red. The programme in question can be seen to the left in the photo which TBB linked to.

Its got a nice beach though. Also the Brahann Seer is reputed to have been born there. But he probably foresaw the need to get out...

I know I'm in the minority here but I simply find the Proclaimers cringeworthy!

"March, July, October, May... nones on the seventh, ides on the fifteenth day." That was how the rhyme went that you had to learn in the Latin class to remember the months that the nones and the ides weren't on the 5th and the 13th. The other reference point in the Roman month was the Calends which were always the 1st day and from which we get the word calendar. So SP, the 7th of March is not the ides of March but the nones. The Ides of March ("cave idus Martias - beware the Ides of March" as the soothsayer said to Caesar just before he got the point!) are the 15th and tomorrow is the Ides of October. Anyway... to get back to Inverness football.... I have certainly seen 1885 and 6 for Caley and 1884 and 5 for Thistle but always understood the real foundation dates to be 1886 and 1885 respectively. As an aside, it's quite amazing the number of sporting institutions which were founded in the final quarter of the 19th century. The timescale for Caley Thistle is that both clubs agreed to merge on 9th September 1993 (although Sherriff Fraser's judgement of March 1995 said that Thistle did not actually in law decide to do it that night but at a later meeting.) The decision to merge was confirmed by Caley members at the First Battle of Rose Street on 1st Dec 1993 and Caledonian Thistle had its first board meeting and was constituted as a club on 21st February 1994. The team played its first SFL game on August 12th 1994 and final agreement was given to asset transfer by Caley and Thistle on 1st and 8th December 1994 respectively.

I was in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden yesterday and managed to uncover a copy of George Campbell's Citadel booklet. Unfortunately I only got to it shortly before I had to leave but I did manage to get a quick look through and very interesting it was too. Apart from the Citadel content, I couldn't help but smile at the final page on the future of Inverness football. This was clearly written in June 1990 since it regretted that, with the calling in of the receivers at Clach, another Inverness football team had gone the way of Citadel. Clearly the deadline had just missed the dramatic 11th hour rescue! The same passage also reflects on the possibility of a merged Inverness team bidding for Scottish league membership and comments that, whilst the powers within the SFL might like the idea, the attitude of fans would surely mean that the realisation of such an idea was a long way away! They seem to have in the library there all the books that I'm aware of ever having been written about Inverness football, including the very rare "Hub of the Hill" Thistle booklet. Other items of local interest include a display which includes an Inverness Thistle sign and keeper's jersey big enough to have been Jimmy's (!), a 1997 Div 3 Championship mug and the programme for the original July 1994 friendly v St. Mirren which - a true sign of the times - on the front cover more or less says "Caledonian FC" in bold blue with a little apologetic red "Thistle". There are also about 6 minutes of audio from Renzo Serafini describing his footballing experiences as an Italian internee on the Isle of Man after Churchill told his men to "collar the lot".

The Bay City Rollers were really just the another in a long series of Scottish entertainment embarrassments... Harry Lauder, The Krankies, The Proclaimers, The Alexander Brothers, Andy Stewart.... The List is endless. Where's Tam Paton these days, by the way?

You've heard about the Sounds of the Sixties... well what about the Sights of the Seventies?! The 1970s must be the most sartorially cringeworthy decade in history. Flares, tank tops, perms (male), platforms.... It was AWFUL! I can understand Kingsmills being deeply ashamed of his brief BCR period. BCR just about epitomised all that was embarrassing about the 1970s.

The Caley Thistle tartan was first worn by Dougie McGilvray and Dougie Riach who had kilts made from it for the Division 3 Championship celebration function in May 1997. I haven't seen much of it since.

In these days of automatic chokes, where do lady drivers hang their handbags? :015:

Smee... do you not remember when "Billy Connolly" was Caley manager and won the title on the last day of the season in 1984 through a trademark Urquhart goal v Keith at Telford Street? Raymond then stepped down as manager and was succeeded by Peter Corbett but then wanted to come back as a player but Corbett turned him down. I remember that was one of the first football stories I covered. Is that not the Garage? Was the laundry not the next building up towards the canal? Did that then become Frozen Foods?

Just in case anyone is in doubt, Bumbers Lane is an alternative title for Balnacraig Road, linking Fairfield Road with Telford Street along the back of the Howden End. The it named after "The Bumber" who was headmaster of Merkinch Primary School in the early years of the 20th century. It was unmetalled until about the 1970s - I certainly remember going through the potholes and the puddles on my way from Dalneigh to Telford Street on Saturdays in the early-mid 60s. I'm interested to hear SP talk of the beginnings of Dalneigh in around 46-50. That presumably would be Lilac Grove or possibly Hawthorn Drive. I suspect at the other end Laurel Ave and Dalneigh Road would also be on their way up with the Swedish Houses not too far away either. Inverness was no different from the rest of the country inasmuch as there was a chronic housing shortage to which the response was a massive building programme, including the prefabs which we hear a lot about on this thread. It seems remarkable that, hard on the heels of a war which had crippled the country economically, the post war Atlee government managed to fund so many of the Welfare promises of the Beveridge Report and came up with the NHS, Council Housing etc etc. There was definitely post war austerity but at the same time so much was done in so many respects. I'd be intrigued to know how they financed it.

The new section of road is due to link the present distributor road (which would be realigned) with the A82. Thuis link up would take place near Torvean. The two options discussed at the Council on Thursday were a high level bridge and a much more expensive 0.9km tunnel (?100M). By I think 41 votes to 21 the Council went for the tunnel. It so happened that earlier in the day Holyrood announed the canelleation of EARL (Edinburgh Airport Rail Link) and perhaps HC thought it might get its hands on a slice of the ?600M that won't be spent on that.

Gordy... the very same Iain Clark. Stayed in St. Mungo Rd. Buckett... I never knew Gordy Bennett, although i know he died the very same day as my mother. I happened to be speaking to his widow Avril last night who was with her in laws in the Heathmount. Oops... I'm only now noticing that if you scroll down you get all the names! :029:

I was surprised to see the photo was as early as 76-77. Others in there include Billy Urquhart, Ray MacKintosh, Alex Main, Tichy Clark(?), Billy Sanderson, Hamish Munro, Norman Miller, John Stewart, Charlie Gair, Hugh Grant, Rodwill Clyne, Gordy Fyfe. Unfortunately, of these Messrs Miller, Gair and Clyne are no longer with us.

I don't suppose "TheresNoEsInBlack" conceals an anonymous former Jaggie who is as a result in denial about who Tommy is!?

My mother used to get her groceries delivered weekly by Willie Ross who had the shop up by the canal. He would phone her for the order and a couple of hours later it would be delivered personally. Each month when she paid the bill there would be a box of chocs thrown in as well. Willie was our family supplier of MacKintosh's Lemonade... remember the Queens Cup? But eventually, despite the personal service, Willie just couldn't compete with supermarket prices and we had to get our stuff from the Coop. On a Saturday when Caley were at home, Willie would come out of the shop for a wee while and watch the game standing on the wall at Greig's garage.

"The radio commentator" said Tokely set up Wyness.

Sportsound 810 medium wave - Commentary from John Barnes on Hamilton v Kilmarnock plus pre match, half time, full time updates etc from me at the Caledonian Stadium. Programme is on air at 7:15.

You mean, apart from events of the last couple of weeks, like the Caley stand (1950), the Clach stand (1988) and the Thistle stand (1995)?

I had the goal clip sitting nicely in my BBC local sports bulletin for this morning, but unfortunately we had a technical problem and the thing didn't get broadcast! It's a wonderful clip from Scott Davie but, to save anyone asking, I'm afraid, for copyright reasons, I don't have the authority to release it to anyone.

I was wondering exactly the same thing on Sat morning as I was wandering up Baron Taylor's St. (past a woman in a Hearts strip with a fag in each hand outside the Keg as it happens). When the merger battle was sorted, Thuistle also signed their Social Club over to CT and as I recollect the it was sold some years ago. I don't know who the present owners are but as far as I could see the place is not currently in use. However Caley Thistle bearing the cost of city centre premises seems a bit unlikely perhaps? Quite a good story from a news point of view, though, that Inverness fans go into a major national retailer in the city centre to be told they can only do Celtic strip numbers.

Rare mistake by BBC Sport there! The score was actually 3-1 because Craig Brewster wasn't the only veteran substitute striker to come on and score in Inverness yesterday afternoon. Victor Smith got a late 3rd for the Fort which is referred to in the BBC Website report but they've forgotten to update the scoreline.

As the American Basil Fawlty said "You started it, you bombed Pearl Harbour."

A local hoop confronted me today with the highly original one liner "5-0!" I looked at him querulously for a couple of seconds before, appearing to see the light, replying "I knew that sounded familiar. Bratislava - July 2005!"

"Young" and "Gifted"? You're not telling me that the former Jags support was able to muster an example of each of these virtues are you? :015: