Last month we had a message from Damon in Canada, who played for WPFC in its early years. Now more memoirs have come our way from another of our old boys. Ian has cleared up the mystery of when and how we started playing in black and white. He also has some of those you-can-laugh-now-but-it-wasn't-funny-then memories of brave defeats. (If you missed Damon's message, you can read it on the Old News page)

I'm Ian Harvey. I played for WPFC from 1982 to1988. I was a pupil at Wlliam Ransom and joined the club with some of my school friends. There were just two teams at that time, the Under-10s and Under-12s.
I’ve read your website and I’m amazed how large the club has become but more so how successful it is. We were a team that loved playing but unfortunately every other team loved playing against us as every week we would get a drubbing. I remember our worst defeat was against Westmill who did us 24-0! Our top goal scorer was Andrew Imrie who bagged three goals in a season and we grabbed one solitary point over three seasons when we drew 1-1 with Purwell up at Little Wymondley - great days!
John Ferguson, John Fisher and Bret and Matt Washington's dad were the coaches when I joined and my dad – Terry - took over as manager of the Under-10s in my first season. I’m sure this had nothing to do with me becoming captain for most of my WPFC career! He used to put together some killer circuits for us on a thursday night at Bowes Lyon school [now Priory School], which he developed further when around 1986 we moved to Hitchin Town’s old training ground next to the main pitch. His efforts never came to fruition as we finished bottom every season. However his motivation and enthusiasm remained boundless. He would give half time team talks like he was managing a team in the World Cup final, only his faith was wasted on us muppets as we'd run around like headless chickens but nevertheless enjoying our footy!
The club was always keen on trips and I remember in 1981, just before I joined, I was invited to a tour round Wembley stadium. In December 1982 we went to Tottenham vs Southampton and in ‘83 we went to watch Watford and even got on Match of the Day. They did a piece on Watford’s family enclosure and as the cameras passed in front of it we all bundled to the front waving and shouting. I believe that’s the only time WPFC made it on the big screen!
I’m in the 1984 photo taken on ransoms rec [see photos from the archives page]. I’m the good looking one in the Spurs kit. To the left of me is Dominic Buck (his brother Kevin was our ‘keeper and I’m sure the experience still haunts him!). Then there’s Andrew Collitt, not sure who the next bloke is but Mark Ferguson is on the left. The front row from the left is Simon Lovewell, Paul ferguson and Andrew Still. Andrew’s dad -John - later joined the coaching staff.
Other people I recognise in the photos are Simon Deacon, Derek Fisher, David Ferris, Stuart Finch, David Waldock and Mark Finch.
I think in 1985 Andrew Collit’s dad, who ran Randalls butchers in Ninesprings, sponsored the team and we finally binned the yellow strip and got a white shirt with black shorts strip.
I have a load of old pics which I will try to dig out and send over to you. It’s great to know WPFC is still going!