Wellow Institute Darts Champions 1971 – 72 From left: Geoff Bishop, Charlie Courtney, Mike Smith, Ralph Smith – all Thorley men with Archie Pocock, Glad and Vic Whittingham from Wellow

We used to go up to the Wellow Institute playing billiards or cards or whatever, the lads and myself, and I came down one night back with my bike, I must have been fifteen, and it was a dark night, just gone ten o’clock, just a little bit of light. I had my head down looking at the ground, and all of a sudden, there was this shape in front of me and ‘bang’. The front wheel went straight between Charlie Bryne’s legs, Ron Hillier was helping him home.  Yes, they’d had a couple, or several, and I went over the top of Charlie Bryne – didn’t do the bike a lot of good, but it did me a lot more harm, it really hurt.  Charlie got up, the air was somewhat blue.  Apart from bruises up his back he had nothing wrong with him.  I got home and put my bike away and I’d taken the top off one of my ankle bones.
And I thought: ‘I’ve hurt my head’.  There was all blood and went to see Dad, who was listening to the radio and he come and had a look.  He said, ‘Mother, I think you’d better come and have a look at this.’ So mum came out in the kitchen – ‘ Oh, I don’t like the look of that’.
Poor old Gran, who was staying with us at the time, she came out and she put it right. She got the scissors out and then cut my hair away and put a plaster on it.    The damage to my ankle made me limp for a while.  Charlie Bryne, he was fine.
Ron Wallis b 1935