“I played 1948 to 1952, then I went and did my National Service and came out in 1954. I quite liked it the first time in the army, so I went back in from 1956 to 1959. I then went up to Torquay United for five years and I’ve been back with Waldon since 1964.

“When I first went in the army we played down Torre Valley North; the pitch sloped and it had a manhole cover and all in it. When I came out of the army, they had moved Waldon out to Steps Cross, and we had Steps Cross for years and years.

“I went over to Oldway Mansion Education Department to see Mr Bearne and try and get a better pitch, and they sent me up to the headmaster at Westlands school. They had Windmill Hill and Quinta, but they didn’t want both pitches so they decided to have Quinta which is nearer to the school. So we had Windmill Hill for a couple of years before they gave it to South Devon Tech College. We rented it from them for a couple of years and then after so many years they sold it off to the Council and that’s why the council have got it now and how we came to be up here. It was 1974 when we moved up here, and the current pavillion went up in 1990, so we had the old pavillion when we arrived.

“I am looking forward (to the changes); any improvement is a good thing. Keith (Aplin) is very keen on getting things done, obviously. I’m 80 now and I just hope I’m going to be around to see all this. Like Keith said, I think it’s been more or less sorted out, it’s just a matter of getting the Council to sign a contract. As soon as they do we can start doing things.

“Keith wants to get into the Peninsula League, but mind you there is a lot of work that’s got to be done here first. As you know, you’ve got to finish in the top two and you’re not going to do that in five minutes.

“I’ve been with Waldon 53 years now and we’ve never won the Herald Cup and we’ve never won the Premiership. People annoy me a little bit, saying, “I’ve got championship medals,” and, “I’ve got this and that.”  I say, “Yes, but you’ve been to three or four top clubs to get it. I’ve been at one club; I want to do it with this club.” Whether I’ll see that, I can’t say. If we get this 40 year lease and get the ground levelled out and this and that done, there’s no reason we shouldn’t do very well. But it’s all a matter of time. The more we can improve up here, the better players we will draw and then maybe we can be going in the right direction to try and get into the Peninsula League. Like I say, things are looking good.”

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Credit sportssouthdevon.co.uk