Gordon Elsey has been kind enough to send Father Andrew some photographs
and details of the St. Matthew's United Football Club
Click on the photos to view larger images...
1st eleven
Winners of ‘Wanderer’ Cup – Redhill and District League.
Played 18, Won 15, Drawn 1, Lost 2, Goals for 84, Against 10.
At Back – Rev. M.A. Daniell, T. Birch.
Standing – G. Lee, E. Cordery, H. Knott, S. Smith, G. Hockett, F. White.
Sitting – C. Glyde, R. Tugwell (Vice-Captain), R. Thornton (Captain), P. Elsey, (Hon. Secretary), A. Eastwood.
In Front – W. Deighton, J. Peat.
My uncle, Percy Elsey, was the eldest of three children, born in Gordon Road, Redhill in 1897.
At the age of 18 he enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment and was mobilized in March 1916.
He served in France and Valenciennes in Belgum. He would have experienced the horrors of the Western Front and was finally demobilized in March 1919. This team picture, taken in 1920 shows him and young men of Redhill just like him, at the end of their first season of club football after the war. I believe that they were catching up on lost youth.
Gordon Elsey
Great Bookham