大象传媒

I was born at 24 Wampool St, Silloth, Cumberland on 25th September 1917. My mother's name was Emma, daughter of Samuel Maskell and my father was James Wareing originally from Preston. He was stationed at Silloth during the First World War and guarded the artillery post on the golf course. Vickers Armstrong made guns and shells which were tested by firing out to sea at high tide. When the tide went out they recovered the shells and made them ready for inspection.

After leaving the army my father became a docker in Silloth. Tragically he was killed instantly on the bridge at Allonby when he fell off the platform of a bus which had pulled up quickly. He had been returning from a rugby match in Whitehaven.

At school during the late twenties I eventually became head boy and did all the head's odd jobs. In other words I was his "favourite" pupil. My tasks included ringing the bell, putting the pupils in line ready to enter and taking the names of those who were late.

On one occasion the head was giving a dictation lesson but he gave me the job of mending the school - park gates. He did this to avoid having to cane his head boy for a lot of spelling mistakes. In essence my appointment as head boy was designed to keep me out of the classroom as much as possible! So I had a fairly easy life, more or less my own boss and causing the least embarrassment all round on the academic front.

I was tall for my age but despite this I was kept on at school until 16 instead of leaving as normal at 14 years of age. This was done so that my widowed mother could get an extra 5 shillings per week(25p) on her basic pension of 10 shillings. In addition I had a morning paper round which paid 4 shillings per week. I also caddied at the golf club when needed and had a milk round.

In the summer we used to gets lots of people spending their holidays at Silloth and most came by train or bus. So we were there at the station to carry their luggage. Every little helped! In those days we used to swim against the Solway tide the two miles from the landing stage to Long House.

This period continued into my mid teens when I became good friends with Jonty Carr who was brother-in-law to Jim Brough the well known professional Rugby League player. We worked together driving the ashcart collecting rubbish for the council. We spent a lot of time in each others company and courted two girls who also worked together. My girl was Jean Haughing and I usually managed to get Sunday tea. This consisted of eggs and a slice of ham cut from a side hanging from the ceiling.

Eventually we got a contract from Carr's Flour Mill in Silloth to deliver flour and later I worked directly for Carr's. I still have a pension of 拢8 pa from that time which must cost more in administration than it pays out!

We played Rugby Union for the Silloth club starting in 1933. My first pair of shorts were made from a Carr's Flour Mill sack by Jim Brough's mother who was a cousin of my mother. I played full back, fly half, wing forward and centre and became captain in 1938. Jonty and I were often mentioned in newspaper reports on our games. Jonty, a left winger, was already capped by Cumberland when I had my first county trial at Kendal in October 1938. After being promoted at half time from the Possibles I was selected to play against Durham at Sunderland the following week. I went on to play in all 6 of the Northern Section games that season. Although selected as a wing forward, in one game I became a substitute fly half and in another a substitute full back!

In the following year war was looming but Jonty and I did not join the services together. He went into the Navy but I volunteered for the TA. Tragically Jonty was accidentally shot by a friend whilst cleaning the machine gun on a Minesweeper and was buried at sea. That was the end of a very dear friendship. We all carried on the best we could and went our own little ways - work, rugby and women - in that order.

Shortly after joining up we were sent to Lancaster for a 7-day camp. However I was promoted to Lance Corporal and given responsibility for 8-10 men. I was to ensure that they were all in the correct place at the correct time, correctly dressed and well behaved. This didn't mean a thing to me, as next day at camp I was spud bashing with the rest of the group. After the job had been done I asked a pal why he hadn't peeled the potatoes. He explained that he was a NCO. I had not yet put my tape on but learning the first of many lessons I got this done immediately. This was to get me out of a lot of mundane tasks at the camp.

On the day war was declared I was on guard duty at Silloth aerodrome. This meant I was unable to get home to be with my mother who was naturally very worried at what the future might have in store for us.

I have written articles for the web site about my war time experiences which included evacuation from Dunkirk, graduation from Sandhurst and being a crocodile tank commander with The Buffs fighting from Caen through to Calais.

My war ended in March 1945 due to sustaining an injury during a battalion football match : Officers v Other Ranks. The MO would not let me continue as in the event of a tank brew-up my injured knee could have fatal consequences for my crew who would not be able to get past me. It was ironic that the CO's attempt to raise moral and physical fitness in the battalion after some months of inactivity should raise my personal morale supremely by getting me out of the war. Again tragedy struck as the officer replacing me did not survive. So my amazing luck held out and I returned finally to my wife whom I had met in Swindon in 1941 and married in 1942. We were to have three children in the immediate post war years : Pat, Tony and Keith.

Returning to county duty in 1946 I also had the honour of being selected for Northern Counties (Cumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Westmorland) against the New Zealand Army Touring Team at Gosforth. Virtual strangers to one another we were unable to match the bigger, fitter and faster Kiwis in the second half and they were easy winners by the end. Cumberland's season fell away after beating Yorkshire 27-6 at Workington. This lead in part to my decision to sign professional terms for Workington Town Rugby League in September 1946. Although being selected immediately for the game against Oldham in the Lancashire Cup I requested a run out with the A team instead in order to adjust to the different rules and style of play. This caused quite a furore in the local press who had predicted my appearance against Oldham. In my first first team game, against Belle Vue, I kicked a goal from the half- way line.

In a few years Workington, which had only been formed after the war, would become a major force in the game under the captaincy of the legendary Gus Risman. We won the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 1952, the league title and the Championship play-off.

Of course Rugby League was a part time game in those days, even at the highest levels, so I continued as a Salesman for Carr's Biscuits. However Sales did not really suit me and eventually I moved to the steelworks where I stayed until retirement at 63. Whilst in The Buffs I became known as the "Cumberland Colossus" despite being only 5ft 9. However in the steelworks I was nicknamed "Pongo".