Passing reference to Ken Furphy in yesterday’s blog – the manager said to have introduced Z Cars to Workington – recalled Furphy, Greener and Rutherford, Darlington’s near-permanent halfback line of the late 1950s.
Between them, Ken Furphy, Ron Greener and Bill Rutherford – presumably no relation to Jock, Bill really was a Scot – made 1,109 appearances, so good on their feet that the Feethams faithful knew them as Freeman, Hardy and Willis.
Remember Freeman Hardy and Willis, who sounded like they should have been a law firm but actually sold shoes?
Founded in 1875, sometimes abbreviated to FHW and marketed with the slogan For Healthy Walking, the company had 540 stores across the land. They became part of the British Shoe Corporation, some shops rebranded as Hush Puppies, but have now walked off.
Queen of green: Vera Selby
*Impossible to talk of Freeman Hardy and Willis without recalling the delightful Vera Selby. for a time the world’s No 1 female billiards and snooker player, whose father had been manager of the branch in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
A woman of many talents, Vera quietly championed equality. She was the first woman to pot black at the male-dominated St Peter’s Social Club in Byker and, come to that, the first (and probably last) female speaker at Tow Law Football Club. It was 2004.
“You can’t call her an after-dinner speaker” the late and much lamented Charlie Donaghy had announce at Tow Law, “because you’re not getting any dinner.”
Vera bore some resemblance to Anne Robinson, though without the bitter-lemon smile, the Queen of Green not the Queen of Mean. She charmed everyone, addressing a hall as she might a ball – coolly and with great aplomb.
She’d captained the men’s team at Gateshead BRSA club, lived in Gosforth, lectured in textiles and design, been appointed MBE and wrote poetry – which came in useful after the North-East area semi-finals at Shiney Row Club when the doorman refused to let her in.
They took it to the secretary
Whose voice could not be cleaer
No women are allowed in here
We only let in Vera.
She died in March 2023, aged 93.
*The evening after Vera’s masterclass at Tow Law, I’d been up to Crook for a charity football match – players including former Chelsea and Scotland favourite David Speedie.
Speedie had himself made three Northern League appearances for Crook Town a couple of years earlier, on two of those occasions directed by the referee towards first use of the showers.
In his first game, at the Millfield, he’d lasted barely three minutes. The second was at Bedlington. “The ref said I’d threatened to put the entire Terriers subs bench through the back of the dugout” he recalled.
“Maybe I did, but I only meant one at a time.”
Walking it…..Kevin Hewitt
*….and finally, while it has undoubtedly been a tough old season for Ebac Northern League secretary Kevin Hewitt – a head-above-water task magnificently performed – you know what they say about all work and no play.
Kevin, once a one-shot wonder with Langley Park CC, has captained his side to victory – eight wins from eight – in Durham’s Over 60s walking cricket league.
Described as “gentle”, the game’s played competitively but with plastic equipment and a soft ball. Runs, perversely, may only be walked.
Kevin’s characteristically modest. “It was a stroll” he says.
Grass Routes 