John Denham (By John Park)
John Denham was a colourful character at least in his dress sense and will always be remembered for his colourful taste in clothing often appearing
in brightly coloured trousers, shirt and jacket which usually clashed but said a lot for his artistic slant as a professional graphic designer and
calligrapher of some repute often teaching the art at a college in London.
John joined Redhill FC having moved to the town from London and quickly made his mark being instrumental in assisting with the development of the
Southern Youth League where he served as Chairman for many years.
John became chairman of Redhill FC in the early eighties and led the Club to the Athenian League championship in 1984 before presiding over the move
to Kiln Brow from the old Memorial Ground in the same year.
One of Johns great attributes was his ability to entice managers of great ability to the club and his conquests in the charm stakes included the
great Barrie Webb who won the Athenian League, John Cooper formally a player for Hendon and Leatherhead and Martin Eede who after several successful
seasons with the Reds left the club for Molesey and then went on to Dulwich and finally Fisher.
John Denham never let the grass grow under his feet and loved to work at the club building or repairing equipment and always had time for all who
knew him. John was a great one for producing a joke - usually a clean one and had a huge affection for all those elderly statesmen such as Arthur
Terry, Ray Summerfield, Noel Matthews and Brian Thomas.
John sadly passed away following a long illness he is sadly missed as someone we were all glad to have counted as a friend, he holds an important
position in our history as a fine leader and ambassador for the club.
Arthur (Joe) Terry (By John Park)
Club President John Park and Chairman Andy Wheeler both knew Arthur from a very early age as the 'Gate Man' at the Memorial Sports Ground and made
countless attempts to get past the ever vigilant Arthur and avoid the three 'old' pence entry fee - they never succeeded he was ever vigilant and
absolutely nobody was going to deprive his beloved 'Reds' of any cash he could lay his hands on.
Arthur was born in 1909 and his earliest memories were of watching the Reds, as time went by he served the Club in numerous capacities including
Vice Chairman but he will always be remembered as the 'Guardian of the Turnstiles' and at some point in the very near future we will honour him by
naming our new turnstiles in his memory.
During his life he raised many thousands of pounds for Redhill Football Club by selling lottery tickets and perhaps more notoriously by charging
late comers to home games a sum based mainly on how much he liked the look of them or how much he thought he could get away with. The Treasurer
would not see much of this cash until the end of the season as a rule but there was one notorious occasion when 'Arthurs Gate Money' WAS presented
early, this followed the infamous 'lock out' when the Club was given just seven days to raise £3000 or be banned from Kiln Brow on a permanent
basis. John Park was Chairman at the time and held an emergency meeting at the old Prince Albert Pub to try to formulate a plan to raise the cash,
everyone was at a very low ebb when in walked Arthur with the best part of £500 in small change, this gesture raised the spirits of everyone and the
remaining £2500 was quickly raised and the Reds swiftly returned to 'The Brow'.
Arthur had one particular close friend with whom he shared a friendship spanning many decades - Ray Summerfield and we will cover Ray's heroic
contribution to the Club in our next article.
Arthur was a 'one off' in the character stakes and remains a treasured memory for so many people both at the Club and within the community,
his ninety odd years were almost entirely spent in Redhill and his local knowledge was second to none making him a regular contributor to local
newspaper articles on the history of the town. Never one to hold back his opinion he was only too pleased to give senior club officials his view of
them, the team and plenty more - Arthur we will never forget you.
Ray Hutchins (By Andy Wheeler)
Over the years I have been asked many times about former great players that represented the club with distinction. This article, or ones similar,
has been published before and it's well overdue an update as we were friends and played many times together. He was one of the highest quality
players ever produced by Redhill.
One of the mosr remarkable players ever to play for Redhill was Ray Hutchins. A product of Roan Grammer School, Blackheath. Nearly every club in the
country was chasing his signature but he chose to signs for the Reds under manager Eric Nicholls. By gaining two England Youth caps against Wales &
Scotland in the 1963/64 season as a non-league player, Ray sent the professional club scouting system into overdrive. It is quite probable that Ray
was the last player from non-league to not just get selected, but play for his country from this very famous squad listed below:
| W H Wainham
| Grimsby Town
| R Noble
| Manchester United
| J Lakin
| Grimsby Town
| T Dawkins
| West Ham United
| M Fidler
| Barnsley
| A E Woods
| Manchester City
| G Arnold
| Aston Villa
| John Hollins
| Chelsea
| J C Brindley
| Nottingham Forest
| Harry Redknapp
| West Ham United
| John Holsgrove
| Crystal Palace
| Peter Knowles
| Wolverhampton Wanderers
| J Bulmer
| Leyton Orient
| A Horsfield
| Middlesborough
| G Simmons
| Brentford
| Don Rogers
| Swindon Town
| E Whitington
| Chelsea
| T Roberts
| Scunthorpe United
| D Norman
| Alvechurch
| J J Kelly
| Doncaster Rovers
| A Cheesewright
| Leyton Orient
| Howard Kendall
| Preston North End
| L Mole
| Middlesborough
| Dave Sadler
| Manchester United
| D Crossman
| Tottenham Hotspur
| B Wright
| Leeds United
| Ray Hutchins
| Redhill
| John Sissons
| West Ham United
| Peter Springett
| Queens Park Rangers
| B Bromley
| Bolton Wanderers
| B Wright
| Aston Villa
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Football became secondary to Ray as he persued a career in accountancy and through the London Chartered Institute, I was able to contact his family
only to be told that he sadly died in December 1999.
A framed photo of Ray Hutchins, a wonderful player in action against Scotland at Ayresome Park, Middlesborough, is proudly on display in the
clubhouse.
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