Opening Games
9th January 2025
Before the start of each season, we visit the school and speak to all Year 5 pupils, to explain a little about the programme and get them thinking about why they’d like to take part.
Their reasons are always varied and plentiful, from loving art or being interested in football, to wanting to meet residents at the local care home and make new friends.
It’s also a chance to introduce the children to the Archive All-Stars, a collection of cards about football teams and individual players located in and around Lowestoft.
The cards are informed by press cuttings and other documents held by Suffolk Archives; they are part of Lowestoft’s footballing history and, as such, part of the children’s heritage.
Over the coming weeks, Extra Time artists will lead creative sessions to explore new ways of looking at that heritage, both with the children and residents at Manor Farm Care Home.
The participants will share their own stories, discover new ones and celebrate spending some Extra Time together.
The Archive All-Stars …
Name: Trawler Boys
Event: 2008 FA Vase Final
Result: North West Counties League Division Two club Kirkham and Westham beat Lowestoft Town 2 – 1
Lowestoft Score: in 10th minute, Phil Thompson, a Kirkham defender, scored a headed own goal
Name: Terry Butcher
Early Practice Grounds: Lowestoft South Beach
First Competitive Match: Fen Park Primary School
Early Dissappointments: At Lowestoft Grammar School they only played rugby in winter — although he reckons that playing fly-half toughend him up
Name: Women’s Football Association Cup
Founded: 1970
First Competitive Match: Fen Park Primary School
History: In 1921 following a hugely successful match between Dick Kerr Ladies and St Helen’s ladies at Goodison Park, the FA banned women’s football, saying that ‘the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged
Name: Eastern Coach Works Football Club
Special Skills: Building buses
Cartoon: Published in The Hooter, October 1951
History – founded in July 1936, Eastern Coach Works Ltd became the largest full-time employer in the town, with arouind 1,200 employees at its peak. The works closed in 1987 and the site was demolished to make way for the North Quay Retail Park
Name: Co-op Ladies Soccer team
Special Skills: Retail and eating ice creams
Image Taken: 1936 – 1937
History – Like many large companies in Lowestoft, the Co-op supported leisure activities for it’s staff, including the Ladies Soccer team.
Name: Boulton and Paul Football Team
Special Skills: Woodwork
Trophies: Winners of the Lowestoft Sunday League 1965
Blundeston Prison joined the league the following year. As the team consisted of inmates, all their matches were played at home.
Name: The Bally Shoe Factory Football team, known as the Bally Boys
Special Skills: Shoe makers
Appearances:The Sunday League 1968 – 69
History: The factory was located in Raglan Street, where around 300 people were employed, making high-quality shoes and hand bags
Who knew that Lowestoft Ladies Football Team, nicknamed the Waves, won the WFA Cup in 1982/3?
Or that footballing legend Terry Butcher wore out dozens of pairs of boots, playing on sandy Lowestoft South Beach?
The All-Star cards are based on material produced by local newspapers like the Lowestoft Journal and Waveney Advertiser, as well as company and club publications and photographs.
We are indebted to all who produced the original material and thank you for allowing us to share it with schools and care homes in Suffolk.
Of course, the cards can only give a snapshot of the characters involved, but that’s fine, because our Extra Time players will have the chance to find out more details later on in the ‘season’.
For now, though, their first task is to create their own version of one of the All-Stars, which they do under the guidance of community artist, Kate Munro.
… personified
Continue to Match Ready and Skills and Goals
Go back to Souvenir Programme Contents
