Best of friends and rivals
Introducing our new weekly column serialising a forthcoming book by Shrovetide stalwart BEV OAKLEY
IN 1948, on Shrove Tuesday, after river play down the Seven Archers Fields, Guy Harrison goaled his ball at Clifton.
On Shrove Tuesday, a year later, before going to the game, Don Lowndes went to see his father who was ill in bed in Parwich. Don told his dad he would bring the game ball back to him. He did!
Like his nemesis, Guy, Don was a strong river player and hugger. In 1953, he goaled again at Sturston.
These two men were diametrically opposed in many ways: Looks, means, lifestyles, one an Up’ard, the other a Down’ard. Yet they were great friends and partners in non Shrovetide-related escapades.
I interviewed Don Lowndes on the terrace of his son Terry’s home at Fenny Bentley, accompanied by my niece, Danielle Harrison, whom I introduced to Don as Guy’s granddaughter. He threw his arms around her, hugged her and cried! Such had been the depth of his friendship with Guy. Don, an Up’ard, the son of a Parwich quarry man, was handsome even in old age.
With jet black curly hair, moustache and chiselled features, he could easily have doubled for some swashbuckling 1940s film stars such as Gilbert Roland, John Gilbert or Don Ameche.
Whereas Don was strikingly handsome, Guy Harrison was Dickens’ Abel Magwitch – with a bullish head and solid frame.
Guy never knew his father, living from a young teenager with travellers, returning to live with them after his Naval Service, until he married.
Guy taught Don to box. Don learned his trade as a blacksmith with Barnes of the Market Place in Ashbourne and became known as the “Fighting Blacksmith” in the world of boxing.
He was DABA County Boxing Champion in 1950.
Whilst in the Navy, Guy’s boxing career took off. He was British Navy Middleweight Champion for five years, overcoming both Bartley and Sam Gorman. Guy is featured in Bartley Gorman’s book, King of Gypsies.
The two friends did not leave it all in the ring, however, frequenting the ports, particularly Southampton, to participate in bare-knuckle fights for a purse. Guy had no money; Don was the money man and would put £50 down in a pub: £25 for himself and £25 for Guy.
They took on all comers. They always won!
Through this Guy managed to save enough money to buy two cottages in Wallash, Mayfield, where he lived for the rest of his life, and where sons, Paul (“Neighbour”) and Mark (“Harry”) were brought up.
Guy’s son Mark goaled at Clifton in 1986, on the red marker hanging under the bridge over the river.
He was then married to my sister, Davina and we stood on the bank watching as Paddy Kerr ran in with the ball, taking his long strides, and shouted “It’s Harry’s!”
There was no opposition.
Guy’s other son Paul (“Neighbour”) goaled at Clifton in 2000 when Up’ards were at their strongest.
I worked at Nestle then, managing the staff shop, when before the game, Andrew Eacott, who was working on site with Ken Shipley’s Builders, came into the shop bragging “you lot won’t get past this shop!”
The staff shop was at the back of the factory on Clifton Road with the river on the other side. Ironically, Paul hid the ball at a point level with the staff shop. The ball had been hugged down the river and Up’ards continued to follow on past, thinking John Tomlinson and Co were still hugging the ball.
Steve Bloor and Rich Wheeldon were on their way to Clifton with the ball where Paul was waiting to goal it.
Nowadays, The Harrison Shrovetide tradition is carried on by Mark’s sons (and my nephews) Nick and Nathan. Guy would be very proud.
Few people have had a more colourful and fulfilling life than Don Lowndes: Grass track racing, cars, breeding champion Palomino horses and a love of hunting, shooting and fishing which evolved into preserving wildlife.
Don engineered his own tranquilliser gun and worked with the Home Office, the CIA in America and the Nature Conservancy Council, travelling all over the world, saving the Polenski horses in the Russian Steppes, endangered bulls in the Philippines and rare white rhinos and elephants in Kenya.
Don fell in love with Kenya and its people, creating a school there in memory of his dear wife, Iris. He continued to raise money for the community there until he died.
He was a truly remarkable man who made his mark for good and lived life to the full, Shrovetide Football being a mere part. Indeed, it is the stuff of a feature film!
Don’s legacy at Shrovetide continued with his late son David and Don Junior and nowadays with David’s son Derek and Don’s daughter Linda, who is a marshal at the game.
Although it was the age of the runner in our local game in the 1960s, these two giants still strode over Shrovetide Football on either side.
They were icons of the game when I came to know it and still had an enormous presence.
One became famous in the wide world for worthwhile pursuits while the other began a Shrovetide dynasty which persists today.