Chris Oldnall has been following his home-town football club Kidderminster Harriers since the early 1960s and he has also been chronicling their fluctuating fortunes for around 60 years.
Here, in our monthly feature ‘Harriers Heritage’, he looks at former ‘Harrier Paul Pridgeon who remains bowled over by his memories of playing for the Reds.
AN idyllic cricket ground was one of the more unusual venues to have a natter about the olden days with a former Kidderminster Harriers footballer.
But that’s what happened when I caught up with Paul at the iconic New Road headquarters of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.
Pridgeon, now in his early 70s and living in Shropshire, was a professional cricketer as well as being a tall, solid and reliable defender who played for Harriers during the mid to late 1970s.
He was snapped up from Stourbridge by the then manager Allan Grundy and still has happy memories of his playing days at Aggborough.
One of the highlights he recalled during our chat was carrying out his defensive duties for Harriers during an impressive run in the Welsh FA Cup in the 1977/78 season when they gave Football Leaguers’ Cardiff City a fright.
A great performance at Ninian Park earned them a 1-1 draw thanks to a fine goal from Ray Haywood before losing 3-1 after extra time in the quarter-final replay in front of 2,677 spectators at Aggborough.
Pridgeon added: “It was quite a challenge.
“It was always great playing for a non-league side against Football League opposition.
“Cardiff were a very good side, but I thought we battled hard and made them work very hard in both our matches against them.
“But, of course, we had some good players in our side at the time.”
As well as striker Haywood, Pridgeon’s other team-mates during their memorable Welsh Cup adventure included Phil Mullen, John Chambers, Graham Saint, Bryan Parry. Doug Pash, Bill
Tetley and John Griffiths, who was Harriers’ marksman in their replay defeat.
Staffordshire-born ‘Pridge’ fondly remembers other names associated with the club during his spell at Aggborough including the club’s long-serving secretary Ray Mercer, who passed away in 1995.
He said: “I enjoyed playing at Kidderminster.
“It was a well-run club and Ray was the man who ran most of it.
“He was a legend.
“It was a good place to play at and I always felt the fans there were very knowledgeable.
“They loved their football.”
Although the years have rolled by, ‘Pridge’, who celebrated his 72nd birthday last month, still retains an interest in Harriers’ fluctuating fortunes.
He said: “Of all the clubs I played for – and there were quite a few – I still keep an eye on what they do and how they’re going.
“But I don’t really see many people now who were around then.
“Probably, the only one I really keep in close contact with is Sainty (Graham Saint).”
Meeting ‘Pridge’ at New Road rather than at Aggborough was perhaps not surprising considering he’s still very much part of the scene at Worcestershire CCC, which has seen him this week accept his role as the club’s new president, taking over from Phillip Neale OBE.
Last year, he was appointed as an honorary life vice-president of the county club after being associated with them for more than half a century both on and off the field.
The former pace bowler helped them win three County Championship titles in 1974, 1988 and 1989 and, during his playing career, claimed 530 first-class and 219 List A wickets.
That’s quite a record for ‘Pridge’ whose footballing career at Aggborough came to an end when he joined Ledbury Town during the summer of 1979.
At the moment he’s waiting to watch Worcestershire’s cricketers in action this summer – but still keeping tabs on how Harriers’ season is unravelling as they approach the business end of an absorbing campaign.
