Charles Bannerman

I think it was part of the Lifesaving training.... related possibly to pulling a rescued person up from the bottom. I THINK the Lifesaving technique was called the Holger-Neilsen method when you got behind the person, put one hand to either side of their head and pulled them backwards with a breast stroke kick. The kiosk was the place that sold the Puff Candies. In later years I think it was taken over by someone called George. We used to go to the Baths from Dalneigh by double decker too. It was the wee blue Pagliari's van that did the Harry Lime theme. When I was in Italy (sorry... I sound like Jonathan Watson doing Denis Law!) last week it was SO good to get real Italian ice cream for once. PS - the Morettis were quite good too, if a bit expesive in some bars. Drink prices ranged from a fiver a pint (OUCH!) to a mere 90p for quarter of a litre of wine... but I digress.....

Don't know too much about this since I am now home but I gather the Pistoia team were at least a bit more competitive, which is what the manager said he wanted. Dargo - 2 McCaffrey Wyness Wilson. 1-0 HT. More than that I don't know. What I have is just the result of a quick call to Trevor Martin on the team bus back from the ground at Pistoia to Montecatini. If Italy win the Final, all left over there will have a WONDERFUL time tomorrow night!

OK so that does make Rory McAllister's goal last night ICT's fastest ever. I remember checking that up when Dargo scored against Celtic before Christmas but last night could only remember that the fastest was in an earlier friendly. The time escaped me. Thanks Scotty. I'm now heading home so won't be able to post on the second game but the club seem to be well on the ball on that anyway.

I have been particularly impressed by Parratt, both in tonight's game and on the training field.

A number of club records broken in this one. The 12-0 scoreline certainly eclipses the 8-1 against Annan Athletic and the attendance of 7 (SEVEN) members of the public must also be a record low (it rose to 19 by the end.) Also, given that the media are strictly neutral, this must be the first ICT game with NO ICT fans present! I couldn't get a hold of Ian Broadfoot to check whether Rory McAllister's opener after 19 seconds is also the fastest ever goal, but I do know there was a very fast one in a pre season friendly some years ago. It was almost totally one sided although Mark Brown did have one decent save to make in the first half. MIchael Fraser came on in the second along with 5 others but Michael had very little to do. The goals were - 19 sec - McAllister header. 2 - Wilson - lovely 20 yard volley. 27 - Keogh 32 - McAllister 38 - McAllister completes his hat trick. 5-0 half time. 48 - Black - largely made by himself. 61 - Dargo straight into the top corner from an acute angle on the right. 67 - Duncan header. 70 - Dargo penalty. 77 - Dargo completes his hat trick. 82 - McCaffrey scored what Stuart describes as the best goal of the game! Barry might dispute that! 90 - Wyness. Charlie said that although there was a big differenece between the teams it was a good and worthwhile start for his side, although he hopes that Saturday's game against another local side will be tougher. The starting eleven was - Brown, Parratt, Golabek, Munro, Dodds, McBain, Wilson, Wyness, McAllister, Keogh, Morgan. There were mass substitutions at half time and nobody who was in any danger at all of worsening any minor injury was played at all.

Kick off time was advanced by half an hour yesterday to 8:30 local time, 7:30 UK time. It definitely won't be on BBC online. We have about 20 min on the bus back to the hotel after the match but IF we can get a hold of the necessary internet facilities, we'll do our best to put a score and outline details on this site as soon as we can. But in any case I'll have a report on the BBC's Highlands and Islands bulletin just before 8 tomorrow morning. Report and photos will also be sent to most national papers. I understand the team will be playing in white this evening. We are also wondering if this will be the first ever ICT game where there is not a single ICT fan in support?

The first game is tonight, kick off 7:30 UK time, at a ground which we have come to call "Stadio del Big Hill behind Montecatini Terme". It looks a wee bit like the Queens Park in Inverness. It's where the team have been training much of the time, working extremely hard and looking very fit. But to return to the game, it's against Montecatini and seems to be of a level which suits Charlie perfectly. There will be a match report on the BBC Highlands and Islands bulletin sat 7:50. There are also hopes that something will arrive with the Scottish press tomorrow morning. There's a second game against another side on Saturday night. It's been extremely hot out here with temperatures up to 35C. The players have been doing double sessions in this, except today when there's just a single morning session in advance of the game.

Just to let ICT fans know that there will be a small "media" group in Italy not too far away from the ICT squad so news will get back here, hopefully quite soon. Kenny MacPherson and Trevor Martin will be there to do pics for various newspapers, including the local press. Alasdair Fraser will also be doing newspaper reports . I'll have stuff fairly regluarly on BBC local bulletins either at 0750, 1254 or 1654. This can be accessed on 92-95FM but only within the Highlands and Islands. I also hope to have an overview on radio after the team returns and there will be coverage in the Highland News both this coming week and next. I'm not sure what The Courier are going to have, but there WILL be information available if you keep your eyes and ears open.

caleydon... I will both answer your questions and take issue with a couple of your statements. No, Tullochs will not be "pulling out of the club". They will still retain two "Tulloch" directors on the Board and shares will be transferred to the Inverness Sports Trust whose directors will be David Sutherland and his Tullochs deputy George Fraser. Also, in response to a direct question from me in an interview on Wednesday night, David Sutherland quite categorically stated that support for Caley Thistle by Tullochs would continue. (However I would add my own opinion here that the football club also needs in the longer term to become more self sufficient.) As far as the 4th stand is concerned.... how often could the crowd exceed the current limit of 7500 and by how much? How often, for that matter, are there fewer than 2000 empty seats at the moment? Is it worth spending upwards of £1M for the sake of something like three games a season? As for the "present waffle about a gas main" being "just a load of codswallop", the situation, again described publicly by David Sutherland in an interview, is that to build something as heavy as a stand over the gas main would need a device called a "cantilever". This would be extremely expensive and couldn't be justified in relation to the usage a third stand would get. Something lighter like a family enclosure might be realisitic but there are other items of expenditure which have higher priority. Finally, with reference to your statement that "£200,000 would be better spent on the stadium rather than some airy fairy trust"... you seem to have forgotten that ICT is not the only sports club in town and that Tullochs are very aware of the need to support other sports. They have mentioned athletics, shinty and rugby as examples. The £200,000 is NOT specifically, if at all, for ICT. Unfortunately I detect on these forums an occasionally proprietorial attitude towards Tullochs. ICT are not Tullochs' only beneficiaries, even within football, and indeed the company was supporting other sports before Caley Thistle was even a glint in ther eye of the enlightened gentlemen who got it here. In the intervening years, Tullochs have helped football to catch up on other sports in Inverness in terms of standards. Before 1994 many other sports were producing performers up to advanced international standard (and still do) whilst football (partly because of the intransigence of the SFL clubs) was struggling along at local level - ie the Highland League. We are all familiar with the revolution which has allowed football to play a welcome catchup in the last 12 years. That has been assisted by Tullochs' money and all Tullochs are doing now is to re emphasise their previous policy of helping a wide range of sports.

All I would add is that, over the years, ICT and the greater Inverness community have had a constructively symbiotic co-existence. They have benefited each other hugely, although I would have to add the caveat that whilst Inverness could have survived without Caley Thistle, the converse is not the case. But that's merely an historical analysis. Fortunately both are going from strength to strength to their mutual benefit.

Scotty... "breakpoint chlorination" I think they called it. That, if anything, was the most limiting factor in terms of how long you could stay in. And then when you went outside afterwards it hit you again. Donnie Ross.... the very man who taught me to swim. Lesson 1 was by numbers sitting on the floor of a store room. My poison after a swim was Puff Candy, without the chocolate coat... so I'm surprised I have as many teeth left as I do. Willie Bell baiting was always a wonderful sport. I think the street you mean might be Friars Street.

Nice one Bigtams! I'll ask him next time I see him (Clacher taht he is!) PS - where did you get the animated Lithium atome in that post?

Caley D.... 1) irrespective of who underwrites the debt, the fact is that the setting up of the ICT Trust was fundamental to saving the club from oblivion and the inclusion of sports other than football was fundamental to being able to set up the ICT Trust. That, however, does not detract from the fact thas it is the ICT TRUST. 2) You still cannot escape the fact that Caley Thistle owes its existence to the fact that substantial sums of public money were invested in the club. On a number of occasions between 1993 and 1996, the future of Caley Thistle hung on a knife edge. One of these was in 95-96 when the Common Good Fund's £900,000 was absolutely vital to survival. The "public" could just as easily have invested £1.3M in the link road, if it thought necessary, even if there had been no football club there. Then you have to additional contributions from INE, Objective 1 etc. 3) The "local and football politics" which you say led to going to East Longman were, in fact, entirely football politics. Stratton Farm was the strong choice of INE and a cross funded stadium could have been built there at minimal cost to the club. It was the CLUB'S insistence that they went to the more expensive option of East Longman (which planinng requirements then made even more expensive.) So in reality, the public money was needed to bale out the club's own more expensive preference. 4) A lot of public, Tullochs' and other people's money has helped football in Inverness to catch up on the performance levels enjoyed by other sports in the city for years. Perhaps now, with Tullochs' help, the entire Inverness sporting community can move forward together without becoming too partisan.

Caley 100.... I seem to recollect that, even when the ICT Trust was set up in 2001 (to rid the club of £2M of debt and save it from the receivers), the Trust had to be constituted to include the interests of all sports and not just football in order legally to qualify for tax breaks. Given that Caley Thistle were effectively saved from oblivion by this move and by Tullochs' money, I wouldn't get too territorial about what is the club's and what isn't. I would also, incidentally, mention the £1.8M of public money from which ICT benefited when the Stadium was built. However the ICT Trust is a completely separate issue and we are talking here about the new Tulloch promoted Inverness Sports Trust. Given the role that Tullochs have played in the transition of Caley Thistle from a near bankrupt First Division outfit to an unusually solvent SPL club, I think they should be left to support such sports as they see fit - which they've been doing for some time anyway.

Caley 100's memories of the smells of the Shows are spot on. I also remember continually looking over one shoulder in fear of getting a doing from the Ferry Boys!

Y'know.... I've got a funny feeling this thread would be better placed in the Old Folks Home section. "When Scotland used to qualify...." Can't be too many people who remember that. Possibly the 8 surviving World War 1 veterans featured on the news last night and that's about it.

DJS... had you never heard of that famous incident? When it was decided that Telford Street and not Kingsmills wouild be Caley Thistle's first home in 1994, Telford Street (Property of Caledonian FC) did get a degree of upgrading. This included quite a lot of painting and of course there were plenty of willing Caley fans.... including not a few Rebels... who were more than happy to help paint the whole place. The only exception within a ground which rapidly became "predominantly blue" (and white) (I understate for the sake of artistic licence) was the urinal in the Gents' toilet ....which became Black and Red!

Are you sure it wasn't 3-0? I was manning the studio at the BBC that Saturday afternoon so Hugh Dan MacLennan got the job of match reporting. The first Caley Thistle game I was at was the friendly v Bolton Wanderers, I think the following midweek...I believe that may have been the one where the Rebels painted the urinals black and red!!

Sandy... as a matter of interest, can you remember what a school dinner ticket cost in 1954? I certainly remember that for much of the 60s it was 1 shilling for the first child, and a penny cheaper for each subsequent one. Mr. MacIntyre the Dalneigh minister had so many kids that I think the youngest got their lunch for about 8d!

I definitely remeber it being built when I was in my latter years at Dalneigh School (I left in 65). I remember the building site. there was also a play park there with swings and a roundabout. I'm just trying to think WHOSE Memorial Pavilion it was.. McBean.. Morrison... MacDonald? John MacLeod used to live in the Moyness Hotel at the bottom of Bruce Gardens. He was partial to a dram or several. My only contact with him in school was when he took the Gaelic Choir (DON'T ask me how on earth I got into it!) The thing was, he wouldn't tell us what the phonetics we were singing from meant.

I remember when they built the "Pav" in the early/ mid 60s. It was a memorial to somebody but never seemed to be used very much. I could never see the point in this empty, and as DJS says, "cavernous" structure. I suppose it was inevitable that it had to go. I'm trying to remember who taught in R16 in Dalneigh school, at least when I was there in the early 60s (that was the one on the upper floor at the end of the building, wasn't it?). MacLeod the Deputy was in 15 wasn't he?

Still think it would have been far better if the Germans had actually caught the Von Krapps. It would have saved us a great deal of nausea and fury over the years. Julie Effing Andrews peaked with Mary Poppins.

Alistair... I think you mean Palgliaris blue van, the one that played the Harry Lime theme. "Pagliacci" is an Italian opera by Leoncavallo. The Greig Street shop was Salvadoris. I think the old man was called Salvatore. the son was Vaaro. Great ice cream... lovely raspberry sauce on it. I agree with Jagster though... the Ness Cafe was best by a short head with Stratton remarkably good for non Italian. As for Mr. Whippy..........

I can't remember exactly when the Empire closed, but I think it was early 70s. I certainly remember being at a performance there in 1969 (OK... I'll have to admit it... it was the Opera Company's production of Finian's Rainbow!) There was also the Arts Centre in Farraline Park which has now become our Local Council Tax Payer-accessible, "city centre" public library. Meanwhile Inverness's less than adequate Museum, much frequented by towrists, took over the much better site in Upper Bridge Street.... but I digress. I think the Palace became a Bingo Hall in the early 60s. I also seem to recollect that these Legion kids' outings were notorious for dissolving into bedlam! It was a wee bit like an annual re-enactment of the Battle of el Alamein.

Gerx13... thank you for that wonderful blast from the past with that photo of the Playhouse! Must be quite and old photo. I believe the Playhouse burned down as long ago as 1972. MFTJ... memories of coming through to Grantown from BB Camp at Carrbridge to see The Great Escape for the first time. (It hadn't aspired to the Christmas slot by that stage.)