Times gone by

[Times gone by]

Sitting on a sun drenched beach in my senior years, dozing off, my mind casts back to the 60's and 70's.

Standing on the wintry wind swept terraces at Watersheddings, cheering on the Rougheyheads,

traveling to away matches sitting on Barlows coaches.

Sometimes arriving only to find 'Match Postponed' due to weather.

I suppose now those days have gone and all the games are played mainly in the summertime.

If anyone reads this especially a couple of names I can recall (Susan Y from Chadderton and Vincent C from Sharples Hall st).

Please reply via the forum I shall be most pleased to hear from you after all these years

Times gone by

[Times gone by]

Thanks for your memories of the joys of your away games.

I wish I could have been over there through the sadness of the Watersheddings sell out. It had a lot of memories for me.

Being 12,000 miles away I find it hard getting to support the team, only through looking at the RL websites do I get any pleasure in following Oldham.

I heard the weekend match is on the RL televised channel, hopefully I can stay awake to watch it through my steaming service.

[Pigeon Lofter]

I always used Barlows in the 70s rather than the Supporters Club coach...used to pop in walking home from school and get a hand-written chit at the counter then count down the days til the weekend! I liked the look of Barlows coaches.....strawberry and cream colour scheme and always clean as a whistle inside and out....probably because they were funeral directors too and had to keep their vehicles looking like new.

There were plenty of superb trips back then!  The only memory of using a supporters club bus was for an evening A team game at Central Park where a few dozen Oldham fans surprised the locals by turning up in numbers and making a disproportionate amount of noise in that cavernous stadium. My father used to be a previous business partner of Jack Bowden who was the licence holder at the RL social club where the supporters club was based and so that was considered enemy territory for me. The only times I went in there was for a bluer than blue Bernard Manning night and sometimes on match days when there were strippers stripping. Great,great days.

There were some edgy times too in the 70s as soccer style hooliganism reared its head when on the road but on a small scale. One violent memory is of some Bradford Northern blokes acting like Berserkers in the Odsal car park after a game there and plenty of Oldham lads got a thick lip that day or worse. Salford had a few nutters too but going to The Willows was always a pleasure. I remember a particular chase through the streets after one game and am lucky to still be around to tell the tale.

Yelloways was another local coach company too,but more geared up for the Latics. They did run coaches to big cup games though and for the Challenge Cup final too.I remember leaving Oldham at midnight in 76 on YWs bus heading for London. We got to Kings Cross around 6 am with massive hangovers and explored a city we had only ever heard about and actually made it to the game....and more remarkable still, made it home again the following day. Great times for sure.

To the OP....if you went on Barlows coaches in the 70s, you must remember Ray Siddall aka Big Sid who had long unkempt hair like a rockstar and had never seen a razor blade in his life. Although he called himself Big Sid he was small in stature but full of enthusiasm and garrulous to a fault. He used to tie Oldham scarfs on each of his wrists and had a swagger like a pillaging pirate on a mission. His mate was a chap called Rex who had a phenomenal hanging moustache but was actually straight as they come (appearances can be misleading!).

 

[wayne_r]

I remember going to see Swinton play at Watersheddings when I was about 10 - so a good few years ago - from memory it was beginning of September, warm and sunny when we left our home in Manchester, so we had summer clothes - at half time it snowed and I was freezing - oh time gone by

[moorside roughyed]

33 minutes ago, wayne_r said:

I remember going to see Swinton play at Watersheddings when I was about 10 - so a good few years ago - from memory it was beginning of September, warm and sunny when we left our home in Manchester, so we had summer clothes - at half time it snowed and I was freezing - oh time gone by

I used to play for counthill school not far from sheddings. Other teams used to dread playing us at home because of the weather. 

[wayne_r]

Oh no...……….my  regret was never seeing Swinton win there