Charles Kelsall at Wrexham Football Club"

1951

I played professionally part-time for Wrexham.

McMememy was the manager. Charlie Leyfield was the trainer and Jack Jones the assistant trainer.

Below is an article about my family's involvement in football and how the war years interrupted my football career. The other football photos under this ID number 167 accompany the article and are referred to at various points.

Football in the Family and Community

By Charlie Kelsall

I was born in Buckley on Higher Common Road and when my parents passed away I returned and have lived here for the past 22 years.

My mother's maiden name was Evans, a large family of 6 brothers and 5 sisters. Four of the brothers were very well known footballers, namely Bill, Harry, Jack and Jabez. My Uncle Bill played for the Buckley Engineers who won the Welsh Senior Cup. My Uncle Jack won a Welsh Amateur Cup medal. My Uncle Jabez played for Tranmere and Uncle Harry was a very good defender. As a very small boy I can faintly remember Jack and Jabez playing for Buckley. In later life I always admired their watch chain as this sported their medals. In those days football seemed to be the lifeblood of Buckley and a home match on Saturday was really something special with the main street being packed with supporters. Just before kickoff the Royal Buckley Town Band would march down the street turning into the entrance of the football ground playing at full blast. In fact, this was a day out for many families. (The location of the ground was where the Shopping Precinct is now).

My brother Joe and I must have acquired the genes of our mother's family as we aspired to play football. Joe was an exceptional amateur player who gained a Welsh Amateur International Cap. As a lad I followed to watch him play for the Amateurs who used the Horse and Jockey as changing rooms and played on the field at the bottom of Knowle Lane (which is now covered by housing estates). The best years of his football were spent at Flint Town Club for they had six years of unrivalled success when they won every competition they entered for a period of six consecutive years. As Joe was the team captain, he had the honour of retaining the trophies. His display cabinet at home was packed with silver Cups. After Flint he signed for Buckley Town and became their captain. As a youngster I was always playing football on Saturday so I didn't watch much. But one match I intended to see would be the final of the Pyke Cup at Ellesmere Port. I well remember the day, a fleet of buses and cars packed with supporters made the journey but due to traffic some of the buses arrived a little late. As the passengers were getting off, the referee blew his whistle which caused a stampede to the gates and burst through into the ground. Fortunately, this did not stop the match which happily Buckley won. On arrival back in Buckley the main street by the Council Chambers was crowded with people as the Mayor and Council officials had decided to give a public welcome to the team for winning the cup in the name of Buckley Town. After he left the town team, Joe played for the Castle Firebrick for a few years and finished his playing days with the Buckley Wanderers.

As for myself, I played football at a very early age on the Common land and then with my pals we discovered a small piece of ground at the back of Belmont Crescent which remained our playing area for a long time. I attended St. Matthew's School and played in the football team which won the Flintshire Schools Shield and we were presented with medals for the years 1932 and 1933.

At the age of 10, I passed the entrance exam for Hawarden Grammar School and realized I had no chance of playing in this team until I became older as all the players looked like men. However, there was plenty of football being played in Buckley in such areas as Lane End, Nant Mawr, Burntwood and Mynydd Isa. I played in a team run by Billy Phillips who had a green grocery shop in Mill Lane which had poultry and rabbits hanging over the shop window. He also opened a sweet shop in Lane End. We played on a field near to the bottom of Bannel Lane. At a later period I played for Brook Street and our ground then was behind the houses opposite the Rose and Thistle. To select the team we met in a pig sty at the bottom of Stan Parry's garden.

At the age of 14 I became a team member of Hawarden Grammar but only managed to play a half season due to the team being disbanded as football was being replaced by rugby as our sports master left and his successor was very keen on rugby. From this setback I signed for Mynydd Isa Wanderers and played for two seasons. It was a very good team and enjoyed a lot of success; the team included one of my pals, Tommy Astbury, who later played for Chester.

At the age of 16, I joined the Castle Firebrick team and had the pleasure of playing in the same team as my brother Joe. In our time there, the league was won and we were cup finalists at Caernarvon. As champions of the league we received wristwatches instead of medals. During my time with Castle Firebrick, three of my cousins also played, Edward and Jabe Peters and Harry Kelsall.

At the age of 17, I was again on the move, signed for Buckley Town by Secretary Arthur Jones. I only played about half a season when I was approached and interviewed at my home by officials from Wrexham Football Club and duly signed in May 1939, just one month after my 18th birthday. With the outbreak of War, the Football Association cancelled the league Divisions and split the country into North and South Regions. This meant that Wrexham would play against teams previously we could only hope we would be drawn against in cup competitions. The teams in the war years varied quite often due to call-up for service in the armed forces. During 1940/41 I played against opposing teams Liverpool, Everton, Manchester Utd., Manchester City, Blackburn and Stoke. I have the official Everton Programme, May 22, 1940 for Everton vs. Wrexham.

Everton: Sager, Jackson, Greenhalgh, Mercer, Jones, Watson, Wyles, Bentham, Lawton, Lyon, Boyes.

Wrexham: Jones, Buxton, Snew, Tudor, Kelsall, Smallwood, Coen, Bamford, Hughes, Rogers

In the war years it was common practice for players to guest for other clubs. In one home match at Wrexham, I have happy memories of Stanley Matthews playing outside right, myself at right half and George Hardwick (Captain of England) at right back.

The next chapter in my life concerns my Army Service when in May 1941 I was instructed to report to a Royal Artillery Specialized Training Centre stationed at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. On completion of training I transferred to the 2nd Survey Regiment, this regiment having just returned from France, and at this time stationed at Brentwood. To carry out its special training the regiment moved to Bedford where our quarters were under canvas. From there the next move being to Cromer, our stay in Cromer being very brief. As we happened to be there in December and that we had been kitted out for service abroad, one farewell dance was arranged and as a R.A.F. station was near transport was arranged to escort W.A.A.F. personnel to the dance. The next day we traveled by our own lorries down to Southampton, embarked on the ship and spent Christmas and New Year at sea. 1942/43 when we were on our way to India via South Africa, we sailed through very rough seas and at times it appeared that we were climbing a mountain or sliding down a slope. Our first sight of Africa came when the ship dropped anchor about 500 yards off the Gold Coast. It looked exotic just like looking at a movie with people coming out to the ship to sell their wares. Leaving Freetown we sailed to South Africa and docked at Durban. We disembarked and traveled to a camp about 6 miles away. Our stay lasted about 4 weeks to help acclimatize our bodies whilst awaiting shipment to India. We were informed that our ship had docked and again embarked. This was one of those hell ships we have read or heard about - anything steel or iron was covered with rust and it was infested with rats. We did not sleep or eat very well on that ship and to top it off there was an engine breakdown and we just drifted along. The rest of the convoy and escorts sailed on leaving our ship stranded, thankfully no submarines appeared and eventually the engines restarted and in due time we arrived and docked at Bombay. Leaving the ship we then traveled by train to Calcutta with the journey taking about 4 days. We then journeyed to a camp at a place near to Ranchie; during our stay here we did more training and became more acclimatized to the very hot weather. During this time I had a very bad bout of malaria. Shortly after I left hospital the regiment was ordered to Burma.

It proved to be a very long, hot dusty journey, so dusty that due to lack of washing facilities I caught the skin ailment dermatitis and again ended up in hospital. To top this, whilst there I caught a bug and had dysentery! After remaining there for 3 weeks, arrangements were made for travel to rejoin my unit. Our service in Burma lasted nearly 3 years and apart from the conflict, two incidents remain in my memory. The first being when Lord Mountbatten came to Burma and he had a few words with a small group of us who just happened to be near when he stepped out of his Jeep, the second time when again a small group of us were to be relieved of our duties and to be given a complete rest. We were really stunned when informed we would travel to the Himalayas to Darjeeling, a hilltop resort. We also visited Simla and had the pleasure of being invited to the Viceroy Residence and also the privilege of meeting the then Viceroy Field Marshall Sir William Slim. He had a few words with us and left us to be entertained by his two young daughters who set up some music and I had a short dance with one of the girls. We returned to our unit and we eventually pulled out of Burma and journeyed back to India, this time to a post in the South namely Coombatore (a place near Madras). After a short time there, preparations were being made for a return to Burma when to our relief the war ended when Japan surrendered after the atom bombs were dropped on their cities. Our next journey was a much more pleasant one as we proceeded to Bombay to embark on a voyage home. We arrived in Southampton in August 1946.

On returning home after discharge from the Army I took up my old job at the Metallic Brick Works and resumed my football at Wrexham. It took me a little while to settle down to the pace of football for during the time abroad I played only one serious competitive match. This was a game where I was the only one to be selected from my regiment to play against the touring All Stars International Team from Britain captained by Tommy Walker. I had a good game and was cited in the local newspapers as one of the outstanding players.

My time at Wrexham ended at the end of the 1952 season after playing 64 games in the first team and otherwise ever present in the reserves playing in the Cheshire league. Leaving Wrexham, I then signed for Holywell Town, playing for two seasons in which time we won the Welsh Northern League and were finalists in the Alves Cup. Leaving Holywell, I then played one season for the Buckley Wanderers. The war became a void in my football career having spent five and one half years in the armed forces. I often reminisce about what might have been without those lost years, but I am also gratified in the knowledge that I returned home safely and humbly remember those comrades who gave their lives.

As now an Octogenarian, I look back on my life of attaining enjoyment, comradeship in arms, a loving family life with my parents, sister and brother, a very dear and loving wife and in my twilight years have a loving son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren and many dear friends. May I end by saying "Thanks be to the Good Lord".

Author: Kelsall, Charles

Charles Kelsall at Wrexham Football Club"

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