New Years Day

I remember one New Year's Day just before the war. There was an annual football match between the Lobsters and the Shrimps. The Lobsters were the older fishermen and the Shrimps their sons and their friends. My father was the manager of the N.A.A.F.I at Lulworth Camp and had to do some work early in the morning. On the way home he happened to come to watch the football match. As soon as some of the older fishermen saw him they pressed him to play. Well, play he did. It was a very muddy pitch and I well remember how upset my mother was when she saw him when we returned home. The games were always played in a field at the bottom of Sunnyside, owned at the time by the Yates family.