A Picture of Heaven

[+snorbens_caleyman]

Caley, early 70s.  I think that's the League Cup - the others (League Trophy, Q Cup, and North Cup) are bigger, and the Inverness Cup wasn't running at the time.  So, from a quick look at the records, I'd say 1971-72.

Caley Secretary Neil Smith with the dark coat on the left, long time player and official "Porridge" Mackintosh with the dark coat on the right.

Chic Allan to the right of Neil Smith.  Must have been one of the last things he won, because he tragically died by falling off a hotel room balcony in 1972.

Dave Bennett behind Chic Allan?

George Stapledon and Bobby Noble middle of second row.  Dave Johnston second row to the left of Porridge.  Possibly Freddie Neild back left behind Dave J.

Who the two holding the trophy are I don't know.  Is the one on the left Donald Park? 

[IBM]

8 hours ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Caley, early 70s.  I think that's the League Cup - the others (League Trophy, Q Cup, and North Cup) are bigger, and the Inverness Cup wasn't running at the time.  So, from a quick look at the records, I'd say 1971-72.

Caley Secretary Neil Smith with the dark coat on the left, long time player and official "Porridge" Mackintosh with the dark coat on the right.

Chic Allan to the right of Neil Smith.  Must have been one of the last things he won, because he tragically died by falling off a hotel room balcony in 1972.

Dave Bennett behind Chic Allan?

George Stapledon and Bobby Noble middle of second row.  Dave Johnston second row to the left of Porridge.  Possibly Freddie Neild back left behind Dave J.

Who the two holding the trophy are I don't know.  Is the one on the left Donald Park? 

Donald Park and Jim Lynas hold the Highland League Cup after beating Huntly 6-2 in November 1971. 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

That's Jim Lynas?  Most flattering photo of him I have ever seen.  I remember him as being... er... craggier 

[IBM]

13 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

That's Jim Lynas?  Most flattering photo of him I have ever seen.  I remember him as being... er... craggier 

That's what it said in the P&J I would not have known otherwise   You did well with the others.

[IBM]

Good timing from the P&J this week before ICT play them in the league.

 

[IBM]

The 40th anniversary of Caledonian FC winning the Highland League and going through the league season undefeated.

[Yngwie]

If I remember correctly (which is by no means guaranteed) the final match of the season was a midweek home game v Fraserburgh who went 2-0 up before Caley salvaged a draw and retained their unbeaten run.

[IBM]

Here’s one from the P&J today. I wonder who the upstarts are! 
 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I would have been 8 years old and not quite ready for the Young Team !!

[IBM]

[Yngwie]

I was at that one, and still have the programme somewhere. A competitive match but 0-4. Two goals for some young lad Lineker, probably never made the grade and this would’ve been the highlight of his short career.

[+weeman]

Maybe heaven for a few on this site; 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

My Mum passed away last month, so I can now say that that's where she spent the final years of her life, in the care home.  Her room was right at the far end of the home, and I reckoned that it was on the far goal line or perhaps even the terracing, just to the right of those tracks.  Whenever she forgot where she was, my reminder was always "You're on Inverness Thistle's pitch!" 

[The Mantis]

On 4/9/2023 at 8:15 AM, weeman said:

Maybe heaven for a few on this site; 

Is that from Steve Finan’s book? Can’t check it as I’m in Lewis right now. I got a free copy because I supplied the photos from Caley and Stranraer. Quite fancy vol 2 and 3 bút Mrs Mantis has imposed a rule that I have to throw out a book for every one I buy, so 99% of my reading is now on kindle on the iPad.

[+weeman]

16 hours ago, TheMantis said:

Is that from Steve Finan’s book? Can’t check it as I’m in Lewis right now. I got a free copy because I supplied the photos from Caley and Stranraer. Quite fancy vol 2 and 3 bút Mrs Mantis has imposed a rule that I have to throw out a book for every one I buy, so 99% of my reading is now on kindle on the iPad.

I don't know if it's from the book. Someone is selling it on ebay!

[The Mantis]

1 hour ago, weeman said:

I don't know if it's from the book. Someone is selling it on ebay!

Selling what? A page out of a book

[+weeman]

22 hours ago, TheMantis said:

Selling what? A page out of a book

Item description from the seller

Inverness Thistle FC 1995 - 2 Pictures of Thistle's Kingsmills Park.

2 Pictures of Kingsmill Park, 9"×8", After the Club had Moved Out

1995 was 100th Anniversary of First Game

From Lifted Over Turnstile Book.  Large Envelope

Edited April 12, 2023 by weeman
Additional info

[The Mantis]

3 hours ago, weeman said:

Item description from the seller

Inverness Thistle FC 1995 - 2 Pictures of Thistle's Kingsmills Park.

2 Pictures of Kingsmill Park, 9"×8", After the Club had Moved Out

1995 was 100th Anniversary of First Game

From Lifted Over Turnstile Book.  Large Envelope

That’s just crazy. He seems to have photographed the book intact so presumably will tear the photos out or scan them which raises copyright issues. Anyway you can get the whole book on Amazon for £12.99.

[IBM]

Another cup win for Caley. The North of Scotland Cup in 1974 after beating Clach. 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

Front row, second from left - the SLO who doesn't read emails or social media 

[IBM]

A couple of books that might have been on here before.

[+snorbens_caleyman]

Yup - I have them both, with personal inscriptions from the authors, thanks to my father knowing just about everyone in Inverness football.

You may have seen that I was looking for information about Roddy Fraser, who captained the Jags during the 1920s.  It turned out that at that time he stayed at 17 Innes Street (and possibly 14, though the writing on a document isn't clear).

My grandfather, who played for Citadel at the same time, stayed at 23 or 25 Innes Street - both were in the family.

And Rod Clyne's book above starts off by saying that he was born in 1935 “in a little flat at 22 Innes Street”.   Later than Roddy Fraser and my grandfather - but Rod Clyne says that his father played for all four Inverness clubs, most notably Clach - and I have seen his name in an "Inverness Select" team listing in the mid 1920s, in either Alex Main's book about or Bill McAllister's one about the Highland League.

In short, it looks as though in the 1920s you had at least three footballing rivals living very close to each other - not just in Innes Street, but in a small part of Innes Street!

A number of houses at the top of Innes Street were demolished when the Friars Bridge-Longman route was created.  The odd numbers now start at 21, and the even at 12.  I assume that the original numbers have been retained.

[+weeman]

From the 1922/23 Directory

[+snorbens_caleyman]

Here are a few more directories for you, then   - https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A"Inverness+(Scotland)+--+Directories"

It's clear that the railway employed a lot of people from Innes Street.

I believe that the Mrs Smith at number 25 is my great-grandmother.  She was widowed in 1896, but lived on until 1927.  My great-grandfather worked in the loco works which were just outside the station, about where Morrisons is today.  He was flattened by a train as he walked along the tracks into the station, to clock on or off.

The John Robertson at number 25 is probably also a relative.  My father had a cousin, Jack Robertson, who lived on Innes Street, and owned the Esso garage that you see in old pictures of Rose Street.  This is possibly his father.

The earliest photo of my father that I have is in the back garden of number 43.  Along with him is Lamont "Scoobs" Graham - a lifelong friend, and well-known to ex-BB boys of a certain age.  (Also Billy Urquhart's father-in-law, to try to bring this back on topic!)  So I think the Grahams at number 43 are possibly his parents.

[IBM]

Another oldie can you name the players?