Charles Bannerman

To my recollection no. I think the first Provost I remember in the early 60s was Robert Wotherspoon who had a widespread reputation of being an out and out crook. When he died (and he IS deid Scotty so don't worry about defamation!) Miss Barron at The Courier tasked her Chief Reporter to write the Obituary. He only direct instruction was reputed to have been "and under no circumstances mention the word integrity!" Then there was Bobo MacKay of old Caley memory. In the 60s it was regarded as a bit unusual to see Provosts' lamps outside a Council House. (I seem to remember an earlier debate about whether it was Caledonian Road or Lilac Grove.) There may have been somebody else between Bobo and Iain Fraser and then we moved into the era of Bill Fraser (the butcher) and Allan Sellar. These gents are quite frequently to be seen together at home ICT matches. It has to be recorded that both played their parts in the early history of ICT and Allan is still a Trustee. The present incumbent is Bill Smith. Then there was the man who came so close so often but never managed to clinch the top joband that was Tom MacKenzie.

Yes Canuck, but Paddy did also have a leg problem - which usually afflicted him around 10 o'clock on a Saturday night! The problem was that his legs seemed to cease working! 10 o'clock it would have been in these days too - that was closing time right up to the mid 70s. Violet (Mrs K) was heard more than once to remark that it was New Year every Saturday night in their house. I also seem to recollect that the Kavanagh family had quite a late addition, a wee girl some time after "Kavvies" had become resigned to being an only child. Did Paddy not work on the railway? I seem to remember going through the cemetery near the Bruce Gardens gate a few years ago and coming across Paddy's grave. I have a vague memory of the Sutherlands as well. Just over the road, in the last Swedish houses on the angle of St. Andrew Drive there was also an old guy called Fraser who used to be Heedie at Hilton. The other half of that semi was occupied by Billy Robertson who I think used to play (in goals?) for Caley or was it Clach or both? On the same side of St. Valery but slighly further up there was a Mrs. Mitchell who was the mother of Ronnie Mitchell who also used to play for someone in the HL. Mrs. Mitchell worked in Salvadori's in Greig Street. The MacIntyres - Elizabeth, I believe, was the oldest, then Duncan who took up a scholarship to Fettes College which my mother always thought was a bit ironic given the Rev M's strong Socialist leanings - but that of course was a few decades before New Labour. Sheila is the same age as I am and Helen (the blonde a lot of the guys used to fancy) was a year younger. Hamish (who was killed in a mountaineering accident) was a couple of years younger than that and Jean was a further two years younger, so four in five years there. No wonder Mrs Mac went prematurely grey! We lived in St. Andrew Drive in one of several Swedish houses which backed on to The Manse. When we arrived first, Jean was still in the pram and my mother said she'd never heard a baby make such a noise. I wish I could remember who it was who had been in the Manse one day and was the only person we ever heard claim to have seen the hairless MacIntyre cranium, on to which the "rug" was about to be placed.

Johnboy.... RESPECT!... so nice to see somebody who knows a past participle when he sees one. This can be a rare species in football when we frequently hear statements such as: "We should have saw that they would have went straight up the park and scored." Johnboy... I don't suppose you have any ideas why, over the last four or five years, managers and players seem to have changed from the past to the perfect trense when they are describing a game AFTERWARDS? eg "McGeady has hit a great strike but MacGregor has pulled off a fantastic save." This one has been mystifying me for a while.

I like to think of it as a verb, or a "doing" word...!! If you add "in" at the end, as I'm quite sure Charles's friend does, then it becomes an adjective.... :017: It's a present participle used in the form of an adjective.

Gas lamps. The last ones I remember were in Bruce Gardens and Park Road.

David Thom was indeed starter at a lot of athletics meetings and school sports in the area. The shop at the top of Stephen's Brae has been a number of things over the years and is currently a flower shop.

Johnboy.. have you ever tried one of Gordy's gammons? Huge steak, mountain of chips, TWO fried eggs, peas, onion rings, mushrooms, tomato. And all for £4.50. You can upgrade that to steak for a fiver! And you're completely right about the predictability of this old guy's adjective!

The school teacher in charge of the 3rd BB woyld have been David Thom, Depute rector of the Royal Academy. Did you not also go to BB Camps at Carrbridge? I had a very interesting chat with Jackie Sutherland at a recent ICT game. Jackie, it seems, still keeps an interest in the old BB Campsite at Carrbridge. iOM if you're an old boy from the Crown you might be taken aback to learn that the Royal Academy playing field has now been blitzed to accommodate the new Millburn Academy. Do you also remember Morrison's the Bakers and their wonderful pies. It's now an optician's. The Heatmount and the Corrie are still there of course. Frankie Jew's (aka Galloways) is now a gents' barber's. The Royal Academy is now the Tecky College. The Crown School is still the Crown School though.

Many years ago my dad took me to the Scotland v England international at Hampden. We could have got standing room but he went for the expensive North stand seats - 30 shillings - a fortune at the time. However the whole game was ruined by the constant foul mouthed abuse (and I mean the whole 90 minutes) from this one guy in the row in front. I've never forgotten that. Nowadays I'm more concerned with swearing in the Social Club. I had been in the habit of going in there for my tea on a Monday night but really I've got so fed up with having to listen to this foul mouthed old Weegie geezer who parks himself at the corner of the bar and Effs incessantly. It's mindnumbing, as if he needed the alternate Eff word to give him time to think up his next normal one. (Shame because Gordon's gammon steaks are excellent.. if somewhat demanding on the waistline.)

And it seems like just yesterday that Sergeant Major Shutup, to the hilarity of millions on "Ain't Half Hot Mum", was telling his troops "You are ay Bunch of P**fs!"

Perhaps Kingsmills could help us out on this one. Could a fan be proceeded against if he was able to demonstrate "veritas" - in other words what he was saying was true?

Perhaps I should have added earlier on the thought that in some respects Ross County's SFL bid in 93/94 was actually stronger than Caley Thistle's never mind Elgin's. In particular I would point to the fact that Ross County was a stable , existing club while CT's bid materialised at a time when it was far from certain whether there would even be a club there. The bid actually squeezed through during a narrow four week window of the "phoney peace" when the Rebels suspended their actions against the Committee. I would also point to how much better County have done than Elgin after they eventually got in but, as Kingsmills says, this is ancient history and I'm only too pleased to see all three North teams in national league football... the higher up the better for all three And congrats to Robbie for getting Elgin off the bottom at last!!!

Smee... I can't even come close to agreeing with your suggestion that Ross county only got into the SFL because Elgin City "cheated". I'm assuming you're referring to the adverse effect that the Teasdale Affair and the stripping of the 1993 HL title had on Elgin's SFL bid. I certainly don't think that did City any good, but I also don't think City ever were going to get in ahead of superb bids from both Caledonian Thistle and Ross County. I saw County's efforts to be elected at first hand and their really presented an excellent case. The contribution of Bobby Wilson shouldn't be underestimated here. They absolutely deserved to get in on merit and that has been confirmed by their progress since which, although not as dramatic as ICT's, has still been very good. They have also, throughout, maintained a very professionally organised club structure. Obviously things have not been so good "overthebridge" this season and they're now bottom of Division 1 and 5 points adrift of safety. I for once sincerely hope that Ross County weather this storm and remain in the First Division.

I've been following the Clach saga for the last 20 years and find it quite fascinating although, as someone who wishes them very well, I'd prefer if there wasn't a story there to follow in the first place. Clach struggled and declined through the late 80s under the second generation Rodgers and Willie MacLennan era until the club was snatched from the jaws of the receiver (the winding up order had actually been signed by the Sheriff) in 1990 by the consortium put together by Davie Love and from which David Dowling emerged as the major player. They got rid of much of a large 6 figure debt by selling off the part of Grant Street Park which had accommodated the stand which mysteriously burned down around 1988. On the park, starting with one signed player (Derek Rudkin), Roshie Fraser rescued Clach from a situation where they'd ended season 89-90 on three points (3 draws) and 153 goals conceded. By 1993 they won the North Cup and have had other larger triumphs since, notably the League and League Cup, losing the Q Cup on penalties, in 2004. Then in the mid 90s they were hit again by a combination of factors relating to economic conditions in the Merkinch and the growth of Caley Thistle - these are detailed in the second last chapter of Against All Odds. They came within a whisker of moving to Dingwall with Ross County in 1997 but eventually stayed at Grant Street Park which was sold to Caley Thistle Properties for £280K which saw off this latest financial crisis. However, irrespective of how much fuss the Merkinchers may have made on these two occasions when it looked as if the club would be lost, they still haven't matched this with their cash. Attendances continue to be poor and the latest problem has been a decline in Social Club income. This is partly a national problem although the recruitment of Kevin Duff to the Board (NOT as a representative of Carlsberg as has been implied in the Courier) has also sharpened up the management of the Social Club. I also notice from their accounts that they have managed to cut a lot of costs and the Scoial club is already turning round considerably. Certainly the current situation is pretty tame compared with 1990 ansd 1996. But the fundamental problem is that this club which is meant to be so close to the hearts of the Merkinch (and you should have heard the fuss when they were going to go to Dingwall) is not getting the income it needs to survive. They've also been forced to sell much of the "crown jewels" to solve the two earlier financial crises and more or less all that's left now is the capital value of the Social Club. David Dowling says he believes Clach will be down there "for many years to come". I'm sure he's right. I certainly hope so.

Laura... I never realised that was the postie you meant! (BTW has someone remembered to put "second post" in the "Things you don't see any more" thread?!)

You'll find a photo of the burning Kingsmills stand on fire in my book. I seem to recollect that one came from Ken MacPherson who lived a couple of hundred yards away at the time.

That used to be the case but Grant Street Park is now owned by the Common Good Fund and leased back to Clach. When Clach had their last financial crisis in 96/97, a company called Caledonian Thistle Properties was set up and bought Grant Street to allow Clach to pay off that debt. I believe the sum was £280,000 and I always understood that this was funded by Tullochs money. A few years later the park was sold on to the Common Good Fund who continue to lease it to the football club.

I had the pleasure of being at a very well attended Clach FC Dinner last night with over 200 people (more than you get at Grant Street on a Saturday unfortunately) which, including a very successful auction, will hopefully have earned quite a decent sum for Clach. (Unfortunately, though, those of us who were also at the Tokely Testimonial got second helpings of the same speech from John Rowbotham!) Great night though. I do wonder if there might be a grain of truth in mainstander's theory a couple of posts ago. (Mainstander, please don't take offence but maybe you could try to sort out your spelling - especially "there", "their" and "they're".) Certainly my fairly searching discussions with David Dowling on the matter and the look I have had at the Clach accounts seem to produce a very different picture of a club which is perhaps not doing all that well financially (did Clach ever?) but improving and rumours of whose demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Hadn't heard that one! That particular chant, however, would have been the natural successor of the one of 93-94 vintage which suggested a similar resting place for the "effing merger"!

Frankie Jew's! (Or Galloways if you're over 50) EDIT - OK iOM, I've just seen on another thread that you're 62 so when you were a kid it must have been Tom Galloway's. On the other hand, if you left Inverness in 1973 you'd remember the shop as Frankie Jew's when you were a young man!

Absent Friend... you're probably right. I'm an Invernessian of partial Caithness extraction. (Up 'ee Rodd)

The 4th defending the Empire! Love that! However the only part of the Empire some of the lads from the 4th were likely to have seen was Australia... after they were Transported!

God! Were you the old Dalneigh postie? That old bike of mine was a wreck! Willie Shand eventually became Firemaster and then a Highland Regional Councillor for Nairn.

Three of four times a week Charlie Christie faces a large gathering of journalists. What he says, he says publicly as Charlie Christie, Manager, ICTFC. Once a week his players take part in matches. They do not wear masks. Everyone also knows who they are. On this board, there is a minority who either seem to need football as some means of expressing deep and fundamental dissatisfactions in their lives or who have a personal grudge against Charlie Christie, or both. In doing so, they hide behind the anonymity of a pseudonym. If these people have such comments to make, if they have such unshakeable faith in their own viewpoints, why can't they find the moral courage or the integrity to let it be known who they really are?

Clubs and swords! What he **** were they thinking about dishing out weapons to the boys from the Ferry!? (But now you remind me, I do remember the 4th Company's illuminated clubs.) At the game yesterday there seemed to be a party of what our generation would call Life Boys. And, incredibly, the woman in charge of them was the same woman as used to be a Lifeboy leader when I was in the Lifeboys! Now if that isn't long service.... Sir William Smith was still a young man in these days. Remember when Lifeboy Leaders wore navy blue twinsets with a pale blue lanyard round one shoulder and navy blue three cornered hats? (Well the women did anyway.) absent friend... "I can sing like Calum Kennedy, I can sing like Calum Kennedy, I can sing like Calum Kennedy, And there is no f*****g remedy!"